Having won all fivematchesso far, the Netherlands extended its team-recordunbeatenstreak to 24games, stretchingback toaSeptember 2008 loss to Australia.
It also has raised the stakes in the top tier to the point where Nebraska (never one to take football lightly) dismissed its coach this year after he shamed the partisans with a won-loss record of...9-3!
It guarantees teams a top-four seeding in the playoffs but not necessarily home-court advantage in a series, which is determined by won-loss record, and Boston coach Doc Rivers said he couldn't even remember talking to the Celtics about winning the division while they were taking the last five Atlantic titles.