fter helping the Chicago Bulls get to the NBA playoffs, Luol Deng is now working hard to try to bring a similar bounce to Great Britain's basketball hopes.

He's back in Britain and hoping to lead the national team to a berth in the 2012 London Olympics.

The 22-year-old native of Sudan moved to London as a child to escape the conflict in his homeland, and eventually worked his way up to the NBA, where he plays for the Chicago Bulls.

"Britain couldn't ask for a better ambassador, not only for all sports, but the country in general," Britain coach Chris Finch said. "He's extremely professional and takes what he does seriously. Whether that's campaigning for humanitarian issues or playing for GB or being a better Chicago Bull."

The hard part is getting the kids in Britain to take an interest in basketball.

"It's not just going to happen overnight -- it's going to take some time. The better we do the more attention the sport will get," Deng said Monday. "With 2012 and the GB team we have a chance. When kids see us play I think it will inspire then and motivate them to take the sport seriously."

The 6-foot-9 forward is scheduled to make his competitive debut in Britain for the national team on Tuesday in Birmingham, with victory against Slovakia in the EuroBasket Division B qualifier crucial to playing in the 2012 Games.

If they get through the group and the playoffs, the team will move up to EuroBasket Division A -- the final step en route to the Olympics.

The women's team, featuring Deng's sister and University of Delaware student Arek Deng, faces a similar predicament.

Luol Deng scored 21 points and Richard Midgley and Robert Archibald added 14 points each as Great Britain began their European qualifying campaign with a comfortable 77-52 victory over Slovakia at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham.

Needing to win all four of this year's qualifiers against the Netherlands, Albania, Belarus and the Slovaks, coach Chris Finch's side made a cautious start with Deng missing four of his first five attempts at scoring.

But the team still built a 13-6 lead on their way to winning the first quarter 19-14, on the back of four points each from Andrew Sullivan and Nate Reinking.

In the second quarter, a Midgley three-pointer and a Deng shot for two heralded the first double-figure lead of the night.

Deng then drove for an assist to Midgley then drove again for a powerful dunk, a tip-in off his own missed shot and another dunk to take the lead to 37-20.

Slovakia, who had beaten Britain in Spisska Nova Ves in last season's corresponding fixture, had scored only eight points in the second quarter but were more aggressive after the break.

...
The Brits showed no mercy in the fourth quarter, starting with two drives from Midgley in a 10-3 start.

Two three-pointers from Reinking and one from Deng then stretched the lead to 32 points with four and a half minutes remaining before a late flurry of Slovakian scores reduced the final deficit slightly.

Great Britain now have a week of training, some of it in Belgium, ahead of their second qualifying game, against Group B leaders Holland in Almere on Wednesday.

Great Britain coach Chris Finch admitted he was nervous before tonight's qualifier.

"I was really anxious over the last couple of days," he said.

But the defensive performance certainly pleased him - and he added: "If you back to last year, if we didn't do anything else we at least defended well.

"Our offensive fluidity isn't quite there yet. But if we control the boards we'll be okay."

Deng impressed everyone, and centre Andy Betts predicted: "He's going to get pressure and publicity because of how good a player he is.

"He handles it well, and the team performance was good - we didn't give them an easy shot all night."

Just keep in mind the international 3 point line is about 3 feet closer to the basket than the NBA 3, which puts it firm into Lu's prior shooting range.

Yeah. So that means that if Deng doesn't shoot 52% or better from then here actually isn't shooting as well as he was during the season when he would hit the midrange shot like it was going out of style.