COLOGNE, Germany - After the canals of Venice and the Colosseum in Rome, it's the twin spires of the Cologne Cathedral for the Phoenix Suns. The Philadelphia 76ers are here, too, after the Gaudi and Ramblas of Barcelona.

Amare Stoudemire, center, player of the Phoenix Suns basketball team, plays the ball against teammate Marcus Banks, left, during a training session at the Koeln Arena in Cologne, Germany, Monday, Oct. 9, 2006. The Suns will play matches against the US basketball team Philadelphia Sixers and the European teams CSKA Moscow and Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Koeln Arena. Player at right unidentified.[AP]

The two NBA teams are in Germany as part of their preseason tour of Europe and will play each other Tuesday in the Cologne Arena, across the Rhine River from the famous cathedral.

Despite the hassle of travel, both teams see the merits of the trip ¡ª not to mention the food.

"We would do it every year if we could," Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said Monday after practice. "I've watched my players smile and laugh the entire week in Italy and I'm sure they'll do it Germany, too.

"I don't see any negatives. I don't see any downsides. You can really do your work wherever. Only if people start doing too much off the court can it be used as an excuse," D'Antoni added.

D'Antoni said Europe was better at building teams ¡ª witness the losses of the U.S. national teams in recent major tournaments.

"I think that's one of the things that Europe does better," D'Antoni said. "They eat together. They travel together. They really like each other. I'm lucky to have players that do that as well."

Steve Nash, a two-time MVP, said the trip was "really great, great for our unity."

Maurice Cheeks, the 76ers coach, believes the trip is helping his team find its chemistry, too.

"Coming over here to Europe has been great for us to bond, to get our team chemistry together," Cheeks said. "When you come to a different country, guys have to rely on each other. It has allowed us to unite, to get to know things about each other we wouldn't otherwise."

Cheeks believes the 104-99 loss to FC Barcelona last week would also help the 76ers down the road, by adopting something out the Spanish team's playbook.

"A lot of things they did was very useful, and we'll get to look at the tape and break down some of the things they did," Cheeks said. "We took away one option and they had another ... Barcelona had two or three options and this is something we talked about after the game, adding more options to our offense and adding more options on the defensive end, too."

Allen Iverson said the trip was something he would remember.

"We haven't been together for long and it's going to help us get together faster," Iverson said.

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