NBA/NCAA 1313
Shocker (not): FIBA Europe names Dirk Nowitzki player of the year; Navarro, McCalebb runners-up
To no one’s surprise – certainly not BallinEurope’s, in any case – FIBA Europe today announced its men’s player of the year award would go to the longtime Team Germany/Dallas Mavericks superstar. Less than suspenseful, too, were the results of the top five finishers: Behind Dastardly Dirk came Juan Carlos “La Bomba” Navarro, Bo McCalebb, […]
Minnesota Timberwolves play “Where’s Nikola?”
In a season when Nikola Pekovic finally seems to be coming into his own in the NBA (not too shabby that 18.2 ppg/10.7 rbg average through 20 games), the Minnesota Timberwolves PR folks are apparently having some difficulty locating the 6’11” (2.11m) big man – at least that’s what they’d like you to think. Check […]
Happy Valentine’s Day from BallinEurope (also Pau Gasol and Ricky Rubio)
BallinEurope wishes readers a happy Valentine’s Day today with an expression from that greatest love of all, namely the love of a fan for basketball. At left is our Valentine’s Day card to you, starring those “Latin lover” types Pau Gasol and Ricky Rubio – a match made in heaven. Or in Spain. (A suitable-for-printing-and-framing […]
Basketball diplomacy: Obama plagiarizes self in praise of Danilo Gallinari, Marco Belinelli
Hosting dignitaries and politicos from Italy this week, U.S. president/basketball devotee Barack Obama recently gave an interview to the visiting media as well, naturally taking time to praise Italia’s representatives in the NBA. As self-proclaimed scholar of basketball diplomacy – perhaps the only one on the planet – Enrico Cellini has noticed that Obama’s effusive […]
Block of the week: Pau Gasol caps Lakers’ OT win over Celtics
BiE supposes that Los Angeles Lakers fandom will have to tone down the muttering about Pau Gasol for a bit. In a clutch performance for the Lakers in their 88-87 victory over what might just be the Spaniard’s future club, the Boston Celtics, Gasol finished off his 25-point, 14-rebound with a hustling, instantly YouTubeable block […]
Tony Parker on All-Star nod: “I’m too happy,” “I prefer to live in the present”
And here’s one for the Tony Parker devotees: France-based RMC Sport today quotes Les Bleus’ leader at length on his selection to the 2012 NBA All-Star Game. (Sacre bleu, is it already time to be thinking about the all-star game?) Though much talk is devoted to the San Antonio Spurs’ chances in 2011-12, Parker comes […]
Kobe Bryant vs. Michael Jordan: The visual comparison
Courtesy Baltic Basketball League’s and Facebook user Chamillionaire’s pages, below runs a nice graphic visually comparing the achievements of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, who is often touted vehemently by rabid Los Angeles Lakers fans sometimes bandied about the blogosphere as being on a level with His Airness. And after one glance … well, the […]
Prokhorov to sell New Jersey Nets? Wellllllllllllllllllllll…
At first, the headline is one hell of a stopper: Basketball writer Chris Sheridan tops his latest piece with “Prokhorov to sell Nets, donate fortune.” No, wait, it continues. “…if elected president of Russia.” Ah, well, then. At present, Prokhorov is in Russia in an effort to win votes for his liberal, pro-business Right Cause […]
Ricky Rubio to Nikola Pekovic for the NBA’s Play of the Day
Here it is: Another one for the Human YouTube Highlight Clip’s collection. From the Love-less Minnesota Timberwolves’ 86-84 victory at the Sacramento Kings last night, Ricky Rubio contributed what the NBA official website is calling “The Play of the Day.” In the third quarter, Tyreke Evans lost the handle, and La Pistola swooped in on […]
Tony Parker breaks Spurs assist record, goes for 42 in Spurs win
Congratulations go out from BallinEurope to Team France leader Tony Parker, who wrote himself into the NBA record books by becoming the San Antonio Spurs’ all-time leader in assists yesterday – o, and he also went for 42 points in his team’s 107-96 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. Parker eclipsed Avery Johnson’s mark of […]
Serge Ibaka serves notice to Dallas Mavericks, NBA with 10 blocks
Team Spain’s controversial Eurobasket addition truly teed off the Dallas Mavericks last night on the other side of the pond. Serge Ibaka contributed an awesome double-double (okay, so the 2-of-8 shooting wasn’t so impressive, but still) of 11 rebounds and 10 points in the Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City Thunder’s 95-86 win over the defending NBA […]
Ricky Rubio to Kobe Bryant: “You know you’re getting the silver medal, right?”
Perhaps the most unfairly overlooked aspect in discussions of the difficulties European players face when attempting to adapt to NBA ball is the question of language. Sure, English is the international language of basketball. Sure, there are nearly three times as many English-language students than native speakers. Sure, a great fraction of Europeans grow up […]