Jure Zdovc 9
Referee scandals in Russia lead to protest, in Italy to suspensions
A BallinEurope question has been reopened today, to the detriment of Russian professional basketball’s reputation. About two weeks ago, a PBL game which will likely determine the league’s upcoming playoff tournament saw an extremely high number of, let’s say, questionable calls. According to Spain-based SoloBasket, these were certainly enough oddity for the losing side, Spartak […]
Official BallinEurope Euroleague Power Rankings: Post-week nine
So Žalgiris gets its coach fired after playing .800 ball through 20 games, Spanish powerhouses lose in Lithuania and Germany, Valencia kills Milano, Efes Pilsen stuns PAO … just another week in Euroleague 2010-11, eh? And after happenings aplenty, it sounds like time for another edition of BallinEurope’s Official Euroleague Power Rankings! Let’s go! Tops […]
Euroleague week three talking points, part II
Five Euroleague games are to be played tonight, each bearing a number of scintillating storylines – well, okay, maybe not the nearly history-bereft Cholet-Lietuvos Rytas matchup, but you get the point. For your perusal, then, a few factoids, bites of information and videos in the leadup to tonight’s action. Enjoy the games, and best of […]
The Frank Euroleague roundup, week two
Francesco Cappelletti’s regular column with BallinEurope is back as our man in Italy takes a look at the after-effects of Euroleague week two action. This time out, Francesco sees European basketball history returning to the old days on the Continent while Balkan squads fight economic problems but dispatch Western European teams anyway. And early on, […]
Interview: Michael Tolajian, director of “Once Brothers”
Tomorrow night will see the ESPN premiere of the latest in its “30 for 30” documentary series, “Once Brothers.” This film focuses on the Yugoslavian basketball squads of 1988-1991, dream teams that included rosters filled with names such as Vlade Divac, Drazen Petrovic, Toni Kukoc, Dino Radja, Predrag Danilović, Stojan Vranković, and Jure Zdovc. When […]
On the origins of the Dragon-Machine feud
From the always-busy Whoda Thunk It Department comes a real mind-boggler of a statement regarding tonight’s Western Conference Championship game six: The matchup of Sasha “The Machine” Vujacic on Goran “The Dragon” Dragic matters. After the Phoenix Suns’ bench absolutely immolated the Los Angeles Lakers in game four of the series – The Dragon Was […]
"Once Brothers": Will Divac's Team Yugoslavia movie play on ESPN?
An intriguing, albeit unsubstantiated, rumor hit the English-language bit of the internet today. Apparently, ESPN’s much-touted “30 for 30” series, in which independent directors create from start to finish a short documentary on a sports subject, will be taking on a film entitled “Jednom braća” (“Once Brothers”). “Once Brothers” is a documentary film about the […]
Euroleague team preview – Union Olimpija: Time to change destiny?
What to make of Union Olimpija’s chances for 2009-10, especially in light of the Euroleague-opening demolition suffered at the hands of Maccabi Tel Aviv? Guest writer Matjaž Žbogar, chief editor at Prostimet.si, gives us reasons for optimism about the green-and-white’s chances, together with a heavy dose of, um, realism. Slovenian powerhouse Union Olimpija was once, […]
Ouch! Slovenia's Udrih out for Eurobasket
Bad news for Team Slovenia heading into Eurobasket 2009 (and not great news for the Sacramento Kings for 2009-10, either, really): A Slovenian national press agency story of yesterday confirmed that Beno Udrih will not be able to participate in the tourney due to a knee injury. Udrih suffered a knee injury in Wednesday’s friendly […]