NBA rookie Marc Gasol knew it was going to be a tough season with the Memphis Grizzlies in terms of wins and losses, and so it's proving to be.

Voted the ACB's top player last season while starting at center for Akasvayu Girona, the Spain international signed a contract with the Grizzlies and has played big minutes for a very young Grizzlies squad that has been losing.

The team is mired in a seven-game losing streak that on Thursday cost coach Marc Iavaroni his job.

Other than losing games, the biggest difference for Gasol when comparing this season to last has been the number of games played in the NBA.

"It's true that it's much tougher to play this schedule," Gasol said.

"As a rookie, you hit a lot of walls. You're still trying to figure everything out when you're not winning many games.

"If you win more, you probably don't feel it at all."

In Spain, Gasol rarely played more than twice a week but on numerous occasions in North America, he is playing back-to-back contests.

Gasol has even played four games in five nights.

Gallinari Raises Eyebrows With Defense

It's taken Danilo Gallinari longer than expected to start making an impact in New York with an ailing back having kept him sideline, but Italy's latest export to the NBA is finally on the court.

And it's not the 6ft 10in forward's offense that has Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni chirping, but Gallinari's ability to guard both small forwards and shooting guards.

"The biggest surprise I've had from him is his ability to guard twos and threes," D'Antoni said.

"I was thinking he needed to play inside, but he's shown he knows angles and can use his length out on the perimeter.

"There's no reason why he can't become a good defender on the perimeter."

Italy are hoping that Gallinari will play for the country this summer in the Additional Qualifying Round for EuroBasket 2009.

In his last two games with the Knicks - both victories over Chicago and Phoenix - Gallinari has averaged 9.5 points in 17 minutes off the bench.

British Women Put On Brave Face

Great Britain's women suffered relegation to Division B in the EuroBasket Women, but the players are staying upbeat.

The Brits know they did not helped their bid to play at the London Olympics, with basketball's world governing body FIBA have said it wants to be sure the country's teams are competitive before allowing them to take up spots normally reserved for host nations.

After finishing with three wins and three defeats to end up third behind Romania and Finland in the Relegation Round, the British women's primary focus is getting back to Division A.

Rosalee Mason believes her team will bounce straight back.

"We're obviously disappointed that we didn't reach our goal this January, which was to stay in Division A, but we still have positives that we can use to keep moving forward," Mason said.

"Getting relegated tells us we have to work harder at things and that we are there, but not quite.

"We've proved, however, that we are definitely competitive with the best teams in Europe.

"We have come so far from when I first started playing with England, as a program.

"A couple years ago we wouldn't be able to step on the floor with any of these teams but now we are only about two, four or five points from winning these games."