EuroLeague 99
Euroleague Final Four flashback: FC Barcelona takes first EL title, 2003
While many of us (ahem) were shocked that FC Barcelona did not qualify for this year’s Euroleague Final Four to be played at the Blaugrana’s venue, Barca made good in defending home court the last time the Spanish capital hosted. In 2003, Barcelona brought a veritable dream team to the tournament to chase the team’s […]
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 […]
Greek sports media pines for 2009, Panathinaikos' return as champions
BallinEurope isn’t the only one flashing back in the leadup to the Euroleague Final Four tournament starting on Friday: Sport.gr is also getting nostalgic, but for a slightly more recent past, namely 2009 and Panathinaikos’ 73-71 championship game victory over CSKA Moscow. See the heavily-weighted pro-PAO video here. (For slightly more balanced highlight clip, see […]
Euroleague Final Four flashback: CSKA Moscow vs. Real Madrid, 1969
The city of Barcelona has hosted the Euroleague Final Four three times before. In 1969, 1998 and 2003; for true devotees of European basketball, the memories of these three events will be nearly as tangible as this week’s on-court action. For those who don’t (or are too young to) remember, BallinEurope this week presents looks […]
BallinEurope's choices for All-Euroleague First Team
Euroleague Final Four week is finally upon us, with the culmination of one unpredictable and fun 2010-11 Euroleague season to come to head in the championship game in Barcelona on Sunday. BallinEurope will be there to cover the action, the talk and the atmosphere later this week; in the meantime, we’ll start seven days of […]
List of 2010-11 European Basketball Champions: Post-Easter holiday edition
Over the long Easter weekend, the playoff picture in several domestic leagues became clearer, some tournaments advanced a round or two and the VTB United League crowned a champion. Below, BallinEurope supplies information on the current situation in European Leagues’ regular seasons and/or playoffs. This list will be updated whenever possible.
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 […]
List of 2010-11 European Basketball Champions
With most leagues drawing to a close and playoffs beginning – not to mention champions already crowned in Albania, Cyprus, Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, Norway and a few regional leagues – BallinEurope returns its “List of European Basketball Champions.” At present, only the above-listed domestic leagues have shut down for the summer; BiE supplies information on […]
Playing with money: Are some European NBA players worth it?
Finally blessed with a bit of time to peruse ESPN’s compelling financial stats as presented in its magazine’s “All About the Money” issue (check them out if you haven’t already; big numbers are fun!), BallinEurope just couldn’t help, well … noodling around with the numbers some more! Over at the big network’s Chicago Blackhawks blog, […]
Saturday night live: Charity pop concert to run during Euroleague Final Four
“Going global takes on special meaning at the upcoming Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four 2011,” reads the PR material and hoo boy do they mean it. Just in case you’re in Barcelona for the tournament and just have a hankering for Spanish pop music, be sure to check out the “Euroleague for Africa 40 Pop […]
Partizan defeats Olimpija, 77-74, for fifth straight NLB title in mysteriously under-covered game
Congratulations go out from BallinEurope this morning to Partizan Belgrade, whose dynasty (or, as the NLB official site would have it, “dominancy”) in Adriatic League basketball rolled on last night when the Black-and-Whites won their fifth consecutive championship. So let’s go right to the official writeup on the game: (AdriaticBasket) – Partizan is the 10th […]
Eurocup Championship: Unics Kazan master plan coming to fruition
Better late than never, as the old expression goes; and in the case of Unics Kazan’s 2010-11 season, continuing to achieve late could prove much better in the medium- and long-term future. Few teams so actively rebuilt and retooled with purpose last offseason as Unics Kazan, bringing aboard Slavko Vranes out of Partizan Belgrade, 2009-10 […]