David Bluthenthal 15
Euroleague week three talking points, part II
Five Euroleague games are to be played tonight, each bearing a number of scintillating storylines – well, okay, maybe not the nearly history-bereft Cholet-Lietuvos Rytas matchup, but you get the point. For your perusal, then, a few factoids, bites of information and videos in the leadup to tonight’s action. Enjoy the games, and best of […]
A look at Gilil/Gilboa's stunning Israeli championship win
In an upset some are calling “history-making” while others (okay, Pini Gershon) grouse about the Israeli league playoff format, Galil/Gilboa pulled off the big upset away over Maccabi Tel Aviv, 90-77. This marked the second time in three years that Maccabi lost in the single-game final after having taken the previous 36 of 37 national […]
David Blutenthal’s 13-word “solution” to Partizan
Israel-based (and Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball-crazy) Haaretz is running a brief story today on David Blutenthal of the home team there. Bluthenthal is apparently as cool as the pool is which the story has him about to dip, which in turn is as bracing as the Pionir crowd. Says Bluthenthal simply: “If we lead from […]
The Frank Euroleague roundup: Top 16, week four
The critical week four of Euroleague Top 16 action is in the books, but Ball in Europe’s man in Italy, Francesco Cappelletti, is still musing on the shifts ‘n’ events thanks to these eight games. This week’s frank roundup wishes Panathinaikos bye-bye, gives mucho deserved props to Pini Gershon, and bestows an “accolade” upon Zabian […]
Euroleague Top 16 draw: The Frank take
The Euroleague Top 16 group draw was orientated, due to the guidelines, well before it started. So, while Group G and Group H were fixed, it remained to see where Maccabi Tel Aviv and Efes Pilsen Istanbul would be directed: to the Barcelona-Panathinaikos group or the Real Madrid-Montepaschi gang. The two teams went into the […]
Yarone's Weekend Joints – Part I
Let the young men play before us Last game of the regular season. Most teams have a “must-win” label on their game, in one way or another. The serious pressure is on. The results can effect the destiny of a whole season. Investments of millions of Euros are on the line. Jobs, too. You’d expect […]
Weekend Joints – Part I
The best moment of the week With less than a minute to go and Maccabi up by a double-digit margin over the multi-million team of Olympiacos, Nokia Arena became the place to be. 11,000 Maccabi fans started to sing from the bottom of their lungs to one of the players on the floor, but it […]
Yarone's Weekend Joints – Part I
Week 8 of the Euroleague presented some unusual numbers in the Zalgiris-Prokom game, a junior big guys battle in Athens, a Turkish delight thanks to veterans and a big tie in the Le Mans battle. Part I will present all that before Part II, in which the games in Barcelona and Roma take center stage. […]
Yarone's Weekend Joints – Part I
Stretch your legs, inhale, exhale, surround yourself with your fave munchies (Tobias, this is where the “pizza delivery” banner should appear!) and get ready for another edition of Euroleague Joints. So here we stand – Group A With three more weeks to play in the regular season, it’s time to take a glimpse at the standings. Group […]
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 […]
Yarone's weekend Joints
Lots of three-ball action took place this week. Some went in with great accuracy. Others will have to pay for the rim damage. Lazos, Erceg and Childress are the most overpaid players of this week, the double OT in Istanbul had two sides, Spencer caught up, Nancy made history, Jennings made us proud, and one […]
Yarone's late Friday's joints
Globalization – The player with the highest VAL on Zalgiris of Lithuania was US center Loren Woods. The players with the best VAL for Italian Montepaschi were Rimantas Kaukenas and Ksistof Lavrinovic from … Lithuania. In fact, the latter two combined for a VAL of 45 while all Lithuanian players on the Lithuanian team combined […]