Lior Eliyahu 24
Panathinaikos tops Maccabi Tel Aviv, 86-85 to advance; Greens to take on Red Army, history in Istanbul
The 2011-12 Euroleague Final Four field is now filled, as Panathinaikos’ cliffhanger of an 86-85 win against Maccabi Tel Aviv last night sets up a May date with the monsters of CSKA Moscow in Istanbul. (And now, a slight bit of horn-tooting. Note a few Official BallinEurope Fearless Predictions™ made good, i.e. Dimitris Diamantidis as […]
Euroleague Final Four: Last-minute notes, Fearless Predictions™
With just a few hours to go before the Euroleague Final Four tipoff, BallinEurope has just enough time to mull over the matchups and publish more of those good ol’ Fearless Predictions™. (Keep in mind, though, that BiE was a pretty pitiful 1-3 in the playoff round.) Panathinaikos vs. Montepaschi Siena. It’s extremely difficult to […]
Euroleague Playoffs: Games four highlights
And suddenly, the Spanish influence on the Euroleague has been reduced to just one team in the final four – exactly as many squads as Greece, Israel and Italy’ll have. Caja Laboral in the end just didn’t have enough answers for Maccabi Tel Aviv’s depth and star power, while Panathinaikos displayed the blueprint for taking […]
And the nominees in the category of “Best Euroleague Coach” are…
Over at the Lithuanian Perspective, BallinEurope typically contributes to a weekly column entitled “The Wise Men Know” (hey, BiE didn’t choose the moniker). This week, the deadline sadly whooshed past this writer and so no contribution from Os Davis appears in the current edition. However, BiE just couldn’t let this week’s third question – namely, […]
Euroleague Top 16 round: 10 must-see games (plus Fearless Predictions™)
With another week to kill before the Euroleague Top 16 round begins, BallinEurope is marking up the calendar to note must-see teevee for January to March, getting out the red pens and awaiting the following matchups. January 19: Real Madrid vs. Partizan Belgrade January 19: Efes Pilsen Istanbul vs. Montepaschi Siena. Wow, Group G is […]
Sixty-eight Fearless Predictions™ for 2010-11 Euroleague season
With the EL tipoff game tonight, BallinEurope is feeling devotion … not to mention a rush of Fearless Predictions™ coming on. How crazy can BiE get? You be the judge; here are 68 prognostications on all things Euroleague which you may [laugh uproariously about] ponder. Enjoy the season, everyone! (And sign up for the BallinEurope […]
Rumors: Eliyahu back to Maccabi; Bjelica, Haislip to Baskonia
Baskonia fans had better brace themselves for a minor flurry of roster moves in coming days, as Lior Eliyahu may be returning to Maccabi Tel Aviv with the arrival of Marcus Haislip – plus Nemanja Bjelica’s coming aboard as well. Spanish media, via Israel-based Haaretz, this morning reckons that hometown boy Eliyahu is “expendable” with […]
¡Increíble! Caja Laboral Baskonia completes sweep of FC Barcelona, 79-78; Tiago Splitter named MVP
A big congratulations go out this morning to Caja Laboral Baskonia, who achieved what was unthinkable a week ago in completing the three-game sweep of FC Barcelona last night to win, 79-78, and take the 2009-10 ACB title. Regular-season ACB MVP Tiago Splitter was named the series top player after contributing a double-double of 14 […]
Fantasy tips from the Euroleague boss: Final week
Hello everybody, greetings from the Euroleague Basketball headquarters! This is Javier Gancedo of Euroleague.net, in what possibly will be my last SportingBet Fantasy Challenge column this season. If you want to keep me on the page in the fantasy off-season, make some noise! Start a riot! Go to Budapest and demonstrate in front of Os […]
Fantasy tips from the Euroleague Boss: Top 16, week five
Hello everybody, this is once again Javier Gancedo of Euroleague.net, ready for yet another SportingBet Euroleague Fantasy Challenge week. There are two more weeks in the Top 16. The good news is that it is being extraordinary. Nobody would have predicted that no teams would be 100% qualified after four weeks and that the only […]
Gasol FIBA Men’s Player of the Year, wins both expert and popular vote
BiE supposes the only suspense with this award this year was how close things would get and who placed second. So, after the ho-hum announcement that Pau Gasol was chosen FIBA Europe Men’s Player of the Year for a second consecutive time, we today know the answers. In order, then: Not very close at all, […]
The Frank Euroleague roundup: Top 16, week two
It’s time for the look back at the wacky Euroleague week that was with Francesco Cappelletti. This week, BallinEurope’s man in Italy examines messing with rotations in Olympiacos and Unicaja; praises Partizan for the potential blueprint win over FC Barcelona; and chides the narcissistic defending champions for their shameful general laziness. No instant replay, Partizan […]