Lynn Greer 23
Podcast: Interviews with Draft Express guru Jon Givony, “Best Unsigned Basketball Player” Dre Baldwin; paean to Obama; The Great White Hype reviewed
Another week, another podcast. The latest episode of the “Taking the Charge” podcast series is now live over at heinnews; this time, Germany-based sportswriter David Hein and BallinEurope run the following gamut. • A quasi-obligatory nod to the recent W notched by Barack Obama, significantly the US’ first unabashed basketball fanatic in the Oval Office; […]
CSKA Moscow takes VTB United League title; first in history-making triple crown?
Congratulations go out from BallinEurope to the 2011-12 VTB United League champions – to the surprise of few, CSKA Moscow. The Red Army’s 74-62 victory over Unics Kazan in a rematch of last year’s final represents not only its second VTB championship in three seasons of the league’s existence, but the first title in a […]
Euroleague Top 16, Week Two, Night One: Six games, 100 facts
Courtesy the Euroleague folks, BallinEurope brings a compendium of facts and figures spanning history and record books regarding tomorrow night’s slate of a half-dozen games – plus lines on the games and highlight clips. Enjoy! CSKA Moscow vs. Anadolu Efes Istanbul • CSKA leads the all-time series between the teams, 8-7. • Nenad Krstic has […]
Unics Kazan 76, Fenerbahçe Ülker 71: Impressions, highlights
Right, now we’re into it! BallinEurope was naturally pleased to see his dark horse elite-eight candidate Unics Kazan defend home court against Fenerbahçe Ülker on opening night of the 2011-12 Euroleague Top 16 round, 76-71 – though it sure wasn’t easy for Unics after they generously spotted the Turkish side a 17-point lead at halftime. […]
Euroleague 2011-12: BallinEurope Official Fearless Predictions™ – in haiku form!
Right, then: It’s finally time. The top professional basketball league in the world (Now that bears some thinking about now, dunnit?) tips off its 2011-12 regular season tonight as Žalgiris Kaunas hosts AK47-armed, Teodosic-toting CSKA Moscow. Almost as anticipated as the actual Euroleague opening game is of course another round of BallinEurope’s Official Fearless Predictions™ […]
Euroleague Power Rankings: First of the Season edition
Right, then. With the last teams advancing into the Euroleague two dozen for the regular season and a break in the Kobe-to-Bologna soap opera today, BallinEurope breaks out an old favorite: power rankings! Once again, the BallinEurope Euroleague Power Rankings are based on current trends, i.e. who’s hot, who’s not. For this edition of the […]
Iverson watch: Tough test in Fenerbahçe Ülker today, change of venue for Eurocup game Tuesday
So Allen Iverson acquitted himself reasonably (though nowhere near perfectly) well in his debut match for Beşiktaş Cola Turka; to riff on the old cliché, however, today is the first day in the rest of Mr. Answer’s European career. In Türkiye Basketbol Ligleri play today, A.I. and the Eagles today draw none other than defending […]
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 10
BallinEurope’s man in Italy, Francesco Cappelletti, wraps up the wrap week of the 2009-10 Euroleague regular season in discussing — among other subjects — how justice was done in the Top 16 accession, why Ricky Rubio deserves our admiration, and how the next four groups look. Who deserves the Top 16 and who doesn’t In […]
Fantasy tips from the Euroleague boss, week 9
Hello and Happy New Year everybody! This is once again Javier Gancedo of Euroleague basketball, hoping that 2010 brings you happiness, fun and a lot of great hoops in Europe’s marquee club competition. I’ve been on holiday for the best part of the Euroleague break and right now I’m very busy. You good people out […]
Big deal Thursday: Greer signs with Fenerbahçe, Brown reups with Zalgiris
Free agent and one-time Euroleague scoring champion Lynn Greer has landed in Turkey. In a much anticipated signing, Fenerbahçe Ülker won the sweepstakes to sign the former Olympiacos guard, inking Greer to a contract of unspecified length. Meanwhile, Zalgiris managed to woo Marcus Brown, the Euroleague’s all-time leading scorer back from Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv […]
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 […]