Greece 147
Sergio Kerusch crushes with jam against Kyle Hines, Olympiacos
Right, so here’s a dunk of the week candidate for you. Former Western Kentucky Hilltopper and current rookie Sergio Kerusch got, like, 20 feet of air while posterizing Kyle Hines badly for his Aris Thessaloniki against Olympiacos on Sunday night. Though Kerusch’s jam gave the underdog visitors a 44-43 lead going into halftime, the Euroleague […]
Olympiacos at Panathinaikos tonight; Zeljko Obradovic urges restraint
Tonight will see another edition of The Continent’s traditionally most insane of all derby matches in Athens as Panathinaikos hosts Olympiacos at 7pm local time (6pm CET; noon EST). European basketball fans have come to know what to expect from whichever side of fans packs the house for a Greens vs. Reds war, namely this […]
PAOK’s Joanna Barnes “frustrated”
Mark another player down as, shall we say, somewhat disillusioned with the European basketball experience … and this one’s coming from the ladies’ side. Joanna Barnes, currently playing with the PAOK Women’s team, blew off some steam in that favorite 21st-century virtual venting arena, Twitter. Tweeted Barnes this morning: A part of me wants to […]
Sour grapes or serious allegation? Reds GM implies PAO favoritism, use of performance-enhancers
In a ceremony to mark the opening of the 2011-12 professional basketball season in Greece, Olympiacos GM Christos Stavropoulos rather bit the hand that feeds him a bit in making some rather harsh allegations – okay, implications – about official favoritism given his club’s chief rivals Panathinaikos. “These days, our country is passing through difficult […]
Anadolu Efes takes Two Nations Cup, “teaches Olympiacos a lesson”
Congratulations to Anadolu Efes for convincingly taking the inaugural Two Nations Cup two-day basketball tournament, winning the final match over Euroleague competitor Olympiacos, 87-62. Efes bested defending Euroleague champs Panathinaikos on Saturday to play for the cup. Olympiacos, meanwhile, had advanced by knocking out Fenerbahçe Ülker, which ultimately ended up in third after taking out […]
Chicken move or clever maneuver? Conspiracy theorizing on Spain 96, France 69
With not nearly enough time spent in Lithuania, BallinEurope doesn’t wish to make any generalizations regarding the national character vis-à-vis tendency to conspiracy theory. Having been based in Central Eastern Europe for plus-10 years now, however, BiE knows how it goes, with “it” here representing “management of professional sport clubs well above and beyond normal, […]
Greece’s clubs owe players money … lots of money
While NBA franchise owners are crying poverty (reportedly, some 20 of 30 clubs are losing money), at least the players get paid. And while speculation on which NBAers will play in Europe during a 2010-11 full-season lockout continues – Whoever thought a Sonny Weems-to-Žalgiris deal would be so compelling? – we can now assume that […]
Angelopoulos brothers resign Olympiacos management; blame corruption, “unethical attacks”
Those Maloofs of Europe, George and Panagiotis Angelopoulos, have apparently given up their ownership of the Olympiacos franchise and they’ve done so in a big way. In their (apparently philanthropic) run with the Reds going back to 2004, the pair have become known as running one of the freest spending operations in Europe – yet […]
Pop Quiz: The Euro-/NBA-centric year in basketball
Just because the NBA Draft is over, the big league is heading toward a lockout, and the top European teams are thick into the wheeling/dealing of off-season acquisitions with an eye to 2011-12, that’s no reason to forget your history. Were you paying attention this season? Test your knowledge with the official BallinEurope 2010-11 season-ending […]
Championship basketball: Galatasaray stays alive; Barça, Mavericks take care of business
It’s hard to believe the 2010-11 season is drawing to a close, but so it goes. Leagues in Turkey, Spain and the United States could be all shutting down for the summer (or, in the latter’s case, perhaps a good deal longer) within a week. A brief roundup this morning, then, of action in this […]
Green reign continues: Panathinaikos tops Olympiacos in OT to take ninth straight Greek title
Panathinaikos defeated rivals Olympiacos last night, 101-94 in overtime, to close out the pro basketball season in Greece and take its ninth straight EΣAKE title and 12th in 13 seasons. The win also marked the incredible 11th Greek league championship for coach Zeljko Obradovic, whose incredible CV also includes eight Euroleague titles, six Greek Cups, […]
Greek championship: Olympiacos comes back in final five minutes to take game three, 76-68
Though a bit distracted by referees’ calls early, Olympiacos survived to play another day in the Greek championship series, thanks to an amazing 15-2 run to close out the game against Panathinaikos for a final score of 76-68. The Greens led early as the Reds carried some heavy weight after two games that some felt […]