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Monday videos: Barcelona beaten, Cook cookin', remembering Moses and more
Welcome to the week, BallinEurope readers. We’ll get Monday started with a few video clips, stories, links, and some apocalyptic thinking about FC Barcelona. • Now here’s some motivation for Ricky Rubio to, you know, give that Minnesota Timberwolves thing a try: The decent possibility that Barcelona will not recapture the ACB championship title and, […]
Ricky Rubio: An object of faith
Of all the European players who have come down the NBA Draft pike, none – no, not even Darko – has been as polarizing as one Ricard “Ricky” Rubio Vives. And why such derision on both sides of the Ricky Rubio question? Since when has anyone outside the greater Minneapolis-St. Paul area cared so damn […]
NBA in London, game two: DeRozan dominates, Sasha rules, Nets optimistic about future
Say what you want about sending two lottery-level NBA clubs on a cross-Atlantic trip to play a pair of ultimately meaningless games, but not one of the 18,500-plus in attendance for the Toronto Raptors-New Jersey Nets game last night can fairly complain about not getting his/her money’s worth. Those attending the O2 Arena for the […]
And the Oscar (Robertson) goes to: Basketball Movies in 2010
So the envelopes have been opened and the celebratory parties in Tinseltown have yet to truly begin as Hollywood’s version of the NBA All-Star Weekend draws to a close. BallinEurope spent most of the weekend flipping between the ACB, NBA, “Black Swan” and “The Kids are All Right,” and is thus in perfect mindset to […]
OK, Blake, try these dunks imported from Poland
In an exciting if somewhat obvious promotion, the mighty powers of Blake Griffin, YouTube and ESPN have combined forces to allow basketball fans the opportunity to design a Griffin jam in the All-Star Weekend dunk contest throwdown.
From El-Amin to Vilnius: The week in video clips
Okay, how about closing out the workweek with a few videos? BiE knew you wouldn’t mind! So feast your eyes on a half-dozen clip starring the likes of Khalid El-Amin Danilo Gallinari, Jan Vesely, Sofoklis Schortsanitis, Jeremy Pargo and the International Choir of Vilnius! BallinEurope was pleased as punch to see Gallinari score ESPN “Highlight […]
Diana Taurasi flunks drug test, suspended in Turkey
Perhaps a worrisome Christmas it’ll be for women’s basketball great Diana Taurasi and backers of her Fenerbahçe side. In the wee hours of the morning, ESPN reported that a drug test on Taurasi had come back positive for an unspecified illegal stimulant. Said Taurasi’s lawyer Howard Jacobs, “We’re taking it one step at a time,” […]
Pau Gasol versus the vampires (and BallinEurope versus Bill Simmons)
BallinEurope yesterday read the latest anti-Laker screed basketball column by ESPN.com’s Bill Simmons, an alternately funny and blood-boiling confession-style bit about conditioning one’s children to cheer for the “right” sports team, i.e. Daddy’s favorite team. Ultimately, however, The Sports Guy’s affectionate look at dominating your child’s formative years is perhaps best characterized as “disturbing.” And […]
Pau Gasol, basketball all-stars > AIDS
Like many of us old enough to remember, Pau Gasol vividly recalls his thoughts upon hearing that Magic Johnson announced he had tested positive for HIV and thus would retire from NBA basketball. Indeed, Gasol was touched enough by what had happened to his sports hero that he began following an academic path into med […]
Iverson watch: Kevin Wildes' two cents; Besiktas vs. Trabzonsor today
How sad to wake up on Saturday morning and have an otherwise excellent-as-ever Bill Simmons NFL picks column interrupted by one harsh bummer of an assessment from an eyewitness in Turkey: “[ESPN’s Kevin Wildes – you know, the dude that had Simmons’ ‘Book of Basketball’ shot on national TV] attended an Allen Iverson game in […]
Kanter ruled ineligible by NCAA (P.S. Free Enes!)
Bummer. In a pretty major short-term setback to Enes Kanter’s career, the NCAA has ruled that the big Turk is ineligible to play at the college level. ESPN.com reports that “the school will appeal the decision,” which found that “Kanter received benefits above his actual and necessary expenses while playing for a club basketball team […]
Marco Belinelli … for threeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Just before halftime in Milwaukee, pride of Italy-in-New Orleans Marco Belinelli put in the NBA’s top play of the night – no really, it made the “ESPN Sports Center Top 10 Plays of the Night,” the sole basketball clip amid a squall of college (American) football madness – with his insane buzzer-beater against the Bucks […]