Boniface N’Dong
Everything you've always wanted to know about Barcelona vs. Unicaja (in English)
On Saturday, perhaps the marquee matchup on the ACB slate – if for historical significance only – will be the FC Barcelona vs. Unicaja match. The league’s official website has quite the extensive collection of facts ‘n’ figures about this match and the 15-year record of meetings between these two clubs, of which BallinEurope attempted […]
Simply put, Barcelona cruises, 84-73
Guess that game two loss was little more than a speed bump, eh? Anyone who supposed that FC Barcelona was vulnerable after getting taken down by Real Madrid last week (ahem) can again repress doubts about Xavi Pascual’s team after last night’s dominating performance against their ACB “rivals.” That’s right, that “rivals” is in quotes; […]
The Frank Euroleague roundup: Top 16, week two
It’s time for the look back at the wacky Euroleague week that was with Francesco Cappelletti. This week, BallinEurope’s man in Italy examines messing with rotations in Olympiacos and Unicaja; praises Partizan for the potential blueprint win over FC Barcelona; and chides the narcissistic defending champions for their shameful general laziness. No instant replay, Partizan […]
The top 5½ European teams of the 2000s
In closing out the calendar on this decade – not technically, we know, but we’re going with the flow here – BallinEurope today considers the top European teams of the 2000s. (For BallinEurope’s official All-Decade All-Europe All-Star team, click here.) Though only Euroleague championship finalists were considered, domestic league records were also factored in vis-à-vis […]
The Frank Euroleague roundup, week five
Once again, BallinEurope.com contributor Francesco Cappelletti weighs in on all the happenings in Europe’s top basketball league in week five of play in ruminating on just how good FC Barcelona is; on CSKA Moscow’s resurrection due to coach Pashutin and possibly the “heart of a champion”; and on a flashback to one year ago. The […]
Euroleague team preview: Regal FC Barcelona
Over the next few days, BallinEurope.com will be running brief previews on Euroleague teams in advance of Opening Day (well, Opening Day for 92% of the league, anyway). Today, Jaime Martínez Lafargue, editor of the (mostly) Spanish-language website Solobasket.com, takes a look at the monsters from Barcelona. The Regal FC Barcelona roster is simply amazing. […]
The Spanish league explained: Part one
The quality of a national league here in Europe is not given by the value of top teams – every league has a number of top teams – but is more appropriately determined by how good the medium-to-low range clubs are. Spain’s are good like no others are: This is why ACB is today the […]
Ndong stays in Spain, moves to Barcelona
Quite a coup for Regal FC Barcelona was reported by Euroleague officials today: Boniface Ndong, formerly of Unicaja, has come to terms with Barcleona on a three-year deal. Ndong is most known for his shot-blocking: typically playing as a reserve last season, Ndong averaged 1.3 blocks per Euroleague game and 1.0 per ACB game.
Yarone's Weekend Joints
Week 6, the beginning of the second leg in the regular season under the new format, was better than a big fat joint next to a banana-coconut shake with cream on top, on a Caribbean island with Beyonce whispering in your ear, “Did you enjoy my breakfast, darling?” as you’re already thinking about dinner. Ok, maybe not […]
My Euroleague Wednesday
When I came home tonight, I immediately checked on the situation in the different Euroleague games was. And it looked like the two first games of the day would become blowouts: Olympiacos finally beat Air Avellino without any trouble, but the score between Panionios and Real Madrid somehow surprised me as the Greeks were up […]
NIKEiD Fantasy Challenge: Now what?
Currently, it looks like a lot of decisions have been made in the Euroleague fantasy league. The time to gain sure credits is nearly over, and only a few players are still available at reasonable prices to give you good credit boosts. I’m thinking here mainly about players like Mirza Begic (49 credits) or Sergio […]
Yarone's Friday's joints
Sofoklis Schortsianitis (Olympiacos) – No shot attempts at all and only one foul in 7:42 minutes. Only once before has Schortsianitis finished a Euroleague game without a single shot attempt and that was when he played only two minutes. Milos Teodosic (Olympiacos) – How often did you get to see this Serbian scorer finish with […]