And how was your weekend? BallinEurope was able to check out quite a few matches from The Continent and ‘States this weekend, but as they say, too much is never enough. Right, so let’s get the week started with a handful of video clips and story links from around the basketball universe.
• Starting with the stunner, BiE links to the headline story over at the ACB official ‘site. You don’t need high-level Spanish knowledge to understand, “El Fuenlabrada inflige al Regal FCB su primera derrota de 2011.”
That’s right: Eighth-place Fuenlabrada defended home court against King Juan Carlos and Barcelona, 69-66, to hand the Blaugrana its first loss of 2011. The defeat came despite Navarro’s 20 points on 7-of-15 shooting. Huge for Fuenlabrada was Gustavo Ayón, who dominated the Barça bigs for 24 points and eight rebounds.
With the win, Fuenlabrada reaches 13-10 in the ACB for an identical record with Cajasol in seventh place on the table; the teams are one game up on Eurocup contender Asefa Estudiantes and currently Fuenlabrada would enter the ACB season-ending tournament as the no. 8 seed … and face Barcelona, which holds a one-game lead over Real Madrid in the standings at 19-4 despite the loss.
• Brendan Winters has joined Aris Thessaloniki and may play against Kavala BC on Wednesday … at least according to Greek sources; however, no official word had been given as such by Winters’ current team.
Formerly of Davidson College, Winters went undrafted in 2006 and could not stick with the Charlotte Bobcats. He’s most recently of Hungarian side Atomerőmű SE Paks, where he averaged 14.8 points on 52.0% overall shooting in the national league in 2010-11.
Here’s a goodie from Winters’ European vocation from two seasons ago. As the YouTube contributor explains, “Giants Düsseldorf gunslinger Brendan Winters buries a fadeaway three right in the defender’s grill to beat Ludwigsberg at the buzzer!”
Here’s a taste from Winters’ college days with the Davidson Wildcats:
• Ah, the mysteries of social networking … Who is this guy and does Team Poland have a new secret weapon?
• NBA draftniks surely remember the name Donatas Motiejunas; the Lithuanian big man had been projected as a possible lottery pick in 2010 before he dropped out of contention.
BiE favorite heinnews has a nice interview with the Benetton Treviso player. Motiejunas has been good for 12.4 points and 4.1 rebounds as a starter in Serie A play to go with a line of 12.3 and 5.7 in Eurocup ball; check out this highlight compendium from the Italian side’s 79-72 win over Asefa Estudiantes and remember this guy isn’t yet 20½…
• Finally, apropos of little more than my (and Pau Gasol’s, for relevance’s sake) Los Angeles Lakers torching the San Antonio Spurs yesterday, here’s Shannon Brown achieving flight in the first quarter. The man is only overshadowed by Blake Griffin in astronautics, BiE tells ya … European fans may now begin ripping on NBA officials for allowing an egregious travel on the play.
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