EuroBasket 2011 126
Team Russia’s first opponent in 2012 Olympic qualifiers: Jetlag (really?)
With months to go before the London Olympic Games, some Russian media sources may already be panicking, based on concerns quoted from Alexey Shved vis-à-vis the FIBA qualifying tournament scheduled for July in Venezuela. The CSKA Moscow guard told Russia-based media service RIA Novosti that “Of course we’ll try. But flying for 15 hours changes […]
Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Beşiktaş vs. Banvit today in Turkish Cup final
Today sees the culmination of the Turkish Cup with a stunning finals matchup between Beşiktaş Milangaz – who took out Euroleague Top 16 side Galatasaray on Thursday – and the TBL’s fourth-place Banvit. Key to the former’s success in reaching the Cup match was BallinEurope fave Pops Mensah-Bonsu, who contributed an insane double-double in the […]
Shocker (not): FIBA Europe names Dirk Nowitzki player of the year; Navarro, McCalebb runners-up
To no one’s surprise – certainly not BallinEurope’s, in any case – FIBA Europe today announced its men’s player of the year award would go to the longtime Team Germany/Dallas Mavericks superstar. Less than suspenseful, too, were the results of the top five finishers: Behind Dastardly Dirk came Juan Carlos “La Bomba” Navarro, Bo McCalebb, […]
Posters absoluts & Monsterdunken: The Eurocentric slam dunk of 2011 – plus 25 others
Before BallinEurope signs off for 2011, let’s give a late Christmas gift to the dunkaholics out there, shall we? Below runs a collection compiled through the year featuring dunks by Europeans, on Europeans or perhaps simply in Continental games. The first 20 will listed by competition, followed the top five runners-up and the champion jam […]
In defiance of Bertomeu, Žalgiris Kaunas fans sing on
In the spirit of ’11, BallinEurope’ll call it “Occupy Euroleague.” CEO Jordi Bertomeu made official a Euroleague decree at the start of the 2011-12 season which banned the performance of national anthems before games. (BiE kinda agrees with this dictum, actually, as most rosters are stocked with Europeans while clubs are owned/controlled by corporations and […]
The Eurocentric 2011-12 NBA Western Conference preview (plus Official Fearless Predictions™)
Okay, after that Xmas distraction, BallinEurope is ready to write up some more stuff about good tidings and cheer*, namely, the start of the NBA season. With hours to go, BiE’s got just enough time to get in the part two of the Euro-centric big-league preview in this brief look at the teams in the […]
The Eurocentric 2011-12 NBA Eastern Conference preview (plus Official Fearless Predictions™)
While basketball lovers are getting something of a Christmas gift this season in the December 25 NBA opening day – BiE says “something of” there because this belated debut is kinda like your parents saying, “Well, we’ll just give you your birthday gift at Christmas.” When your birthday’s in October – BallinEurope would like to […]
Jaycee Carroll, Nik Caner-Medley: Proud to be Azerbaijani?
One hot-button topic in the European basketball world got a bit more heated yesterday: Word has it that The Azerbaijan Basketball Federation has opened talks that would install American-born players Jaycee Carroll and Nik Caner-Medley on the men’s national team in preparation for Eurobasket qualifiers. Twitter tremors on the acquisitions – and let’s just call […]
The official BallinEurope ballot for FIBA Europe Men's Players of the Year: Nowitzki, Navarro and…?
BallinEurope just loves season- and year-ending polls, and every December FIBA Europe offers hoops devotees the opportunity to participate in the naming the Continent’s Players of The Year. And while the winner of the award for 2011 – a.k.a. the Year of Dirk – is surely a no-brainer, the FIBA ballot calls for electors to […]
FIBA denies EuroBasket doping rumor; Macedonian media trash-talks Lithuanian counterparts
Though Team FYR Macedonia eliminated hosts Lithuania from the 2011 EuroBasket tournament in mid-September, a certain amount of talk-trashing about the match continues in the blogosphere. Yesterday, FIBA was forced to do a bizarre bit of damage control after Lithuanian media – specifically, who else but powerhouse club sponsor Lietuvos Rytas? – reported that two […]
Turiaf debuts for Asvel Basket in 92-77 loss to SLUC Nancy
For those of you wondering about Ronny Turiaf’s debut with Asvel Basket, well, it was a bit of a mixed bag of results on Sunday. After resolving insurance issues, the locked-out New York Knick started for Asvel as Tony Parker’s side hosted defending LNB champions/ Euroleague team SLUC Nancy. Turiaf looked good enough in his […]
Profile: Bojan Bogdanovic, no. 31 overall selection in 2011 NBA Draft
Funny … after the 2011 NBA Draft, was BallinEurope completely alone in guessing the New Jersey Nets got a steal of a pick by landing via trade with the Miami Heat the no. 31 overall selection Bojan Bogdanovic? BiE’d like to think not. After all, contributions to Cibona Zagreb last season in the Adriatic League, […]