ACB 227
FC Barcelona tops Real Madrid, 73-69, to take Spanish title; MVP Lorbek, Mickeal, Vazquez lead way
Congratulations this morning go out to FC Barcelona, winners of the fifth and final game in the Liga Endesa championship, 73-69, over Real Madrid. In yet another cliffhanger, Los Blancos “died with their boots on” as the official league writeup would have it, while the Blaugrana were led by Pete Mickeal (17 points, nine rebounds, […]
FC Barcelona vs. Real Madrid: Stats, highlights heading into El Clasico game five
Tomorrow night will see game five of a series that has lived up to its billing as another “El Clasico.” After dramatic moments aplenty (yes, there will be clips), Real Madrid will head to the Palau Blaugrana for a decisive showdown with longtime rivals FC Barcelona. The folks over at Liga Endesa headquarters have crunched […]
Readying for El Clásico: A look at nine series’ worth of FC Barcelona vs. Real Madrid
With just hours to go before the Liga Endesa championship series pitting FC Barcelona against Real Madrid in what they just had to call “El Clásico,” Spain-based Blog de Basket today takes a look at some of the great matchups for all the Spanish marbles these two have had over the years; the 2012 confrontation […]
Nando de Colo “Waiting for” contract offer, expects Spurs’ call later
Today’s edition of France-based L’Equipe has a brief bit on Les Bleus/Valencia guard Nando de Colo with regard to his immediate future. De Colo was selected by the San Antonio Spurs at no. 53 overall in the 2009 draft and, now that the Valencia BC season has ended at the hands of FC Barcelona, the […]
Euroleague 2012-13: An attempt to deduce the composition (plus Official Fearless Prediction™)
Yesterday, the basketball-centered bit of the Twitter universe was centered in two real-life locales: New York City and Barcelona. Topics in play were the falling of ping-pong balls in New York City and Euroleague’s incipient decision on the construction of Euroleague 2012-13. Hopefully, BallinEurope will get something together on the former later, but for now, […]
Early nominee, Eurocentric buzzer-beater of the year: Juan Carlos Navarro hits half-courter before halftime
Oh, Señor Navarro … you’ve done it again. Long since known as one of Europe’s great clutch players, Juan Carlos produced some more heroics for FC Barcelona yesterday. In the Liga Endesa week 33 game against superpowered rivals Real Madrid, the hosting Blaugrana looked sluggish early and looked to be inevitably suffering from a nine-point […]
Revealed: The EuroChallenge championship curse
Winning the EuroChallenge title is a good thing, right? After all, it’s typically the first Continental trophy to display on the mantelpiece and the champions label wins the club to right to play in the more prestigious (and more big-bucks) Eurocup competition the following season. Well, Uygar Karaca may convince believers otherwise. In the first […]
Never mind the Bullock: Wild rumor has Asefa Estudiantes courting Lamar Odom
For those of you who thought the wild rumors of NBA players coming to Europe for 2011-12 ended with the cessation of the player lockout there, well, here’s another for you. According to Spain-based Sentimiento Amarillo y Naranja, Liga Endesa club Asefa Estudiantes is in the hunt to sign Lamar Odom, who arranged a deal […]
Valencia: Another Title for Another Ex-Yugoslavian?
In the leadup to the 2011-12 Eurocup Final Four tournament beginning on Saturday, Eurosport Turkey basketball commentator Uygar Karaca contributes a series of previews on the remaining quartet entitled “Four Teams, Four Stories” to BallinEurope. Today, Karaca takes a look at Valencia BC. Of course, we have to mention brilliant coaches like Luis Casimiro, Paco […]
Assessment chronicles the rise and rise of German professional basketball
Speaking of German basketball, BallinEurope pushes forth a plug for Euro-Step.net’s piece of today entitled “The Rise of the Germans.” Writer Julios (hey, that’s what it says) takes a look at Bundesliga CEO Jan Pommer’s once seeming pipe dream of making the BBL the top league on The Continent by 2020. Julios gives a generally […]
Bernard Hopkins’ bizarre stat line (sort of) leads Blusens to 82-63 win
Amidst Blusens Monbus’ 82-63 blowout of Mad-Croc Fuenlabrada in Liga Endesa play last night, 39 year-old Bernard “Mister Récord” Hopkins logged one of the season’s more bizarre stat lines. Read his bit of the boxscore: 14 points on 4-of-6 overall shooting and 6-of-7 on FTs; four rebounds; one assist; one steal; five (!) fouls drawn; […]
Possible “Nueva revolución a la vista” in Spain? Fearing contraction, small-market owners meet
Is Europe’s reputed top domestic league actually under threat from within? According to the excellent Spanish-based website Tu Basket, representatives of nine Liga Endesa clubs – Lagun Aro GBC, Fuenlabrada, Lycentum Alicante, FIATC Joventut, Valladolid, Asefa Estudiantes, Gran Canaria 2014, Assignia Manresa, and CAI Zaragoza – are meeting in Madrid today to discuss alleged unfair […]