Euroleague Final Four 54
Euroleague Final Four flashback: Kinder Bologna wows Palau Sant Jordi crowd, 1998
While Barcelona has played host to the Euroleague Final Four three times before, the Palau Sant Jordi has served as home venue only twice; the first of these was in 1998, some eight years after the stadium was opened. That year’s EL Final Four featured Kinder Bologna making the big tournament for the first time […]
Jeremy Pargo to play for Team Georgia? Nah.
Reports of Jeremy Pargo’s impending Georgian citizenship have been greatly exaggerated, it seems. Earlier this week, English-language Eurobasket.com reported that the Georgian Basketball Federation is willing to offer All-Euroleague nominee Jeremy Pargo a passport. To wit: “Reports says that the Georgian federation are considering naturalizing Pargo so [that] he will play for Georgia in Eurobasket […]
“We are here to work”: Opening up the post-Euroleague semifinal quotebook
Since last night’s games ended, it’s been a blur of press conferences and meetings for us here in the press section at the Euroleague Final Four … so here’s another round of wit ‘n’ wisdom from the men guiding and playing the games. On winning “Yesterday, we played beyond our limits. My players gave everything. […]
“This is the Final Four”: The Euroleague quotebook going into the semifinals
A quick collection of quotes for you, collected yesterday and today at various press conferences and media meetings. With just hours to go before tipoff, enjoy a bit of wit and wisdom from coaches and players on BallinEurope. On Paris “It is […] special to have the Final Four in Paris. This is the city […]
Adieu for now; see you in Paris!
Well, the big games are just about upon us: Starting on Friday, the Euroleague Final Four — as well as the Nike International Junior Tournament final four — will be played, and another Euroleague season will be in the books. Naturally, BallinEurope will be in Paris this weekend to cover the on- and off-court action, […]
Euroleague Final Four head-to-head matchups: Partizan Belgrade vs. Olympiacos
Whoa, the Final Four starts in two days? Almost unbelievable. But enough digression! Yesterday, BallinEurope presented a brief position-by-position rundown of Friday’s FC Barcelona-CSKA Moscow game. Today, a consideration of the late game, Partizan Belgrade vs. Olympiacos. Similarly to the early game, Partizan-Olympiacos also features a matchup between classic plucky underdog versus season-starting prohibitive favorite. […]
Fun to be at the C-S-K-A: Euroleague Final Four fight songs
One area in which European basketball has it all over the American game? Fight songs! Indeed, this is one bit of international sporting lore that is mostly missing from stadia and arenas all across the U.S., a few more rabid university fan groups notwithstanding. Before anyone from the other side of the ocean can complain, […]
Turin gets 2011 Euroleague Final Four
Congratulations go out from Ball in Europe this afternoon to the basketball-organizing folks of former Winter Olympics host city Turin, Italy, who have been awarded the Euroleague Basketball Final Four tournament for 2011. The venue will be the 16,600-seat Palasport Olimpico, which saw Eurocup action in 2008 and 2009. Official Euroleague press release follows. (Euroleague) […]
Ball in Europe’s 10 Most Popular Stories of 2009
Like any blog, Ball in Europe would ultimately mean nothing without its readership; you are the ones for whom our website is for. In the general taking stock of the year that was, Ball in Europe today presents the top 10 most popular posts on the website in 2009. These are the stories that captured […]
Betting on basketball: Who makes the Euroleague Final Four?
Along with the obligatory odds for outright winner of the big enchilada, the bookmakers at Euroleague/Ball in Europe sponsor Sporting Bet have also released odds on your team to make the Final Four – well, OK, especially if your team is Greece- or Spain-based. And speaking of those twin national teams, what are the odds […]
Interview: Ten minutes with Romualdas Brazauskas
In every single professional basketball game ever played, one team on the floor goes full bore the whole time the clock is running, yet is invisible. In fact, the team that plays this way best serves the fans by remaining absolute unknowns and making as little perceptible impact on the match as possible. We’re talking […]
Reviewing the last play of Panathinaikos vs. Olympiakos
For some reason, I felt like reviewing the last play by Olympiakos, in which they had 13 seconds to tie the game and send it into overtime. At first, it looked like Yiannis Boroussis missed the post-up move and lost the game for Olympiakos. It was hard to see since Boroussis is a very(!) passionate […]