Grubin, Bjedov Glad to See End of NATO Bombing

The two players seemed dazed by events of the previous two hours, the Sparks’ Yugoslav players who reported late Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon.

And they weren’t talking about jet lag.

The conversation with reporters before the game wasn’t much about basketball, it was about the end of NATO’s bombing of their country.

“Everyone in Yugoslavia was affected by it [the bombing], but everyone in my family is OK,” said Gordana Grubin, a 5-foot-11 point guard.

“My sister lives in Novi Sad, and she had to move because the bombing was too close to her. My parents live in a small village 100 kilometers from Belgrade, and they’re OK. I have cousins in Belgrade and they’re OK.”

Nina Bjedov, a 6-6 forward, lives in Milan, Italy, but grew up in Belgrade, where her parents live. All is well with her family, she said.

Grubin arrived in Los Angeles late Wednesday night, after a Budapest-to-New York-to-Los Angeles route that took 15 hours.

She participated in the Sparks’ morning shootaround Thursday.

Spark Coach Orlando Woolridge was an assistant coach last fall for the U.S. national team’s European tour.

“We played Gordana’s club team in Budapest and we started out having Shannon Johnson [of the Orlando Miracle] guard her,” he said.

“She couldn’t stop her, so we put Nikki McCray [of the Washington Mystics] on her. That didn’t work either. So we tried Sheryl Swoopes [of the Houston Comets]. That didn’t work either. Gordana had 20 at the half.

“I asked her coach afterward if Gordana would be interested in playing in the WNBA, and he said he thought so. He called me at our hotel that night and said she was very interested.”

Now, Grubin and Bjedov said, they can concentrate on basketball.

“I learned in Milan yesterday, before I got on the plane, that the bombing was over, and I was so glad,” Bjedov said.

Said Grubin: “I didn’t know until I came here [the Great Western Forum] for the shooting practice this morning. A TV man told me.”