Chicago Bulls 103
Olympiacos wins! Olympiacos wins! Olympiacos wins! (a.k.a. *The* European basketball story of 2011-12)
Let’s put this into perspective. The last time Olympiacos took the Greek national title, they were led by David Rivers and Dragan Tarlać. Vassilis Spanoulis was 15 years old and not near professional club play. Dejan Bodiroga was in the middle of his career and Mirsad Turkcan had just turned 21. Across the pond, Lebron […]
Jack Dawson loves Rose (Derrick Rose, that is) in “mashup Titanic hilarant”
In the early 1900s, a disaster for thousands of unsuspecting voyagers to America and the trans-Atlantic travel industry in general; roughly one hundred years later, a disaster for millions of Chicago Bulls fans and (by the looks of Tuesday’s chumping at the hands of the Philadelphia 76ers) the team’s 2012 playoff hopes in general … […]
Marco Belinelli: Don’t call me Kyle Korver
BallinEurope’s man in Italy, Enrico Cellini, today gives us a few choice quotes from Italy’s man on the New Orleans Hornets, Marco Bellinelli. In an interview with the Gazzetta dello Sport weekly, Bellini decries the relative drawing power of his NBA compatriots Danilo Gallinari and Andrea Bargnani as opposed to himself; plus, there’s a further […]
British Basketball announces 21-man national team roster, dubbed “strongest Team Britain ever”
Head coach Chris Finch and the British Basketball Federation today released a preliminary roster of 21 players to compete for spots on the host team’s 2012 Olympic team. Given the fairly short modern history of FIBA-level basketball on the ‘Isles, the claim from the federation that this is the “strongest-ever preliminary GB men’s squad” isn’t […]
Highlights from Dennis Rodman’s Easter weekend in Bulgaria
Former Detroit Pistons/Chicago Bulls/Torpan Pojat power forward and Pro Basketball Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman was in Bulgaria this weekend to help that nation’s league celebrate its all-star break and oh yes, he left his mark. Ireland-based The Score reported somewhat hyperbolically that the appearance was part of a full-on comeback to the game by […]
Chicago Bulls produce Euro-centric highlight and lowlight of the weekend
The Euro-centric buzzer-beater of the week? That’s easy: Not only did Team Britain force Luol Deng show great positioning in order to grab the offensive rebound and follow with a game-winning tip-in at the overtime buzzer to upend the Toronto Raptors, 102-101, on Saturday night, his two resulted in the nicely European-flavored Chicago Bulls bagging […]
Clips: More basketball diplomacy by Obama; the Rise of British Basketball
Speaking of Britain and basketball, BallinEurope this morning passes on a couple of Brit-centric clips… Chicago Bulls fan/U.S. president Barack Obama yesterday displayed more of his trademark basketball diplomacy in taking his British counterpart, prime minister David Cameron, to the Mississippi Valley State-Western Kentucky NCAA tournament play-in game in Dayton, Ohio. Obama was proud to […]
First half report cards for European players in NBA
At the halfway point of the crazy fast 2011-12 NBA season, BallinEurope flexes the university professor muscles a little bit this morning with midterm assessments of individual performance by the big league’s Continental Players. We’ll be using the European grading system, with 5 being the top score possible and 1 the lowest; the Americans may […]
And the Oscar (Robertson) Goes To: Basketball Movies in 2011
Meanwhile, over in Hollywoodland … to no cineaste’s surprise, the silent film The Artist was named “Best Motion Picture of the Year” at the 83rd Academy Awards ceremony. While Tinseltown may have had a decent, if not mind-blowing, twelve months of production in 2011 – as evidenced by Woody Allen taking the “Best Original Screenplay” […]
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 […]
Real Madrid wins 81-80 on clutch shot by Nikola Mirotic (or, Sheesh, more good news for Chicago Bulls fans?)
With an league-best 13-3 record, all signs pointing to a deep run in the NBA playoffs and a pleased-as-punch fan base that has long forgotten about the non-acquisition of Dwight Howard, it’s not like the Chicago Bulls need more positivity. Regardless, BallinEurope’s gonna give it to them; as it turns out, their brightest European prospect […]
Eurocentric NBA highlights, bullets: Parker’s big game; Nuggets top Heat; Deng rules over Celtics; Rubio masterful as ever in first start
BallinEurope gets things rolling on Saturday with highlight clips – okay, some links to online stuff You Should Read as well, but the main point is highlight clips, right? This morning, then, a quick look at some excellent performances turned in in last night’s NBA action from the Continent’s top players. Starring Tony Parker, Luol […]