Mantas Kalnietis 28
From El-Amin to Vilnius: The week in video clips
Okay, how about closing out the workweek with a few videos? BiE knew you wouldn’t mind! So feast your eyes on a half-dozen clip starring the likes of Khalid El-Amin Danilo Gallinari, Jan Vesely, Sofoklis Schortsanitis, Jeremy Pargo and the International Choir of Vilnius! BallinEurope was pleased as punch to see Gallinari score ESPN “Highlight […]
Sub-gate: Zalgiris owner Vladimir Romanov plans player substitutions for coaches
Just when you think things at Zalgiris Kaunas can’t possibly get crazier, Mad Vlad comes through with a heavy dose of weirdness for observers to goggle over – though surely jaded Lithuanian fans aren’t surprised one bit by the Green barrage of oddity now commonplace in the Vladimir Romanov Era. What American media types might […]
Turnover City: Solving the mystery of Zalgiris Kaunas
“Do[es] all the little things with surprising grace and feeling – and an iron will to win.” – characterization of prototypical Lithuanian player in FreeDarko’s The Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac BallinEurope’s latest obsession started with a tweet. Specifically, a message from BiE’s main Lithuanian, Martynas “Air” Pocius. Pocius retweeted a fascinating stat about his Žalgiris […]
Last look at what FIBA Worlds meant to Lithuania
Let’s take just one last gander at the FIBA World Championship before closing the book on that tournament and opening Euroleague play for 2010-11…
How it feels to be a Lithuanian fan
Last Tuesday in the 2010 FIBA World Championship, Team Lithuania completed a huge comeback to defeat the heavily-favored Spain 76-73 – just another win on the way to the tournament round, albeit an exceedingly exciting one, right? Wrong. BallinEurope’s man in Lithuania, known in this space since last year’s LKL championship series insanity as Y., […]
Ricky Rubio gets 'Tubed (also, Mačiulis throws it down)
Here at BallinEurope, we like to refer to (prospective Minnesota Timberwolf) Spanish phenom Ricky Rubio as “The Human YouTube Clip.” Well, in the interests of equal time and my Lithuanian friend Y. shaming me into it after Lithuania’s incredible 18-point comeback for the win against Team Spain last night. Earlier in the contest – y’know, […]
BallinEurope’s 2010 FIBA World Championship power rankings 5.0
Right. It’s time for the final edition – pending Nenad Krstic’s prospective suspension by FIBA – of BallinEurope’s 2010 FIBA World Championship power rankings. Now that Team USA has had it out with Spain and Greece, we can see the picture a little more clearly heading into the tournament tipping off Saturday. There’s a clear […]
Rondo leaves Team USA; FIBA Worlds roster set
It’s a good news/bad news news item for Team USA backers: The good news is that the Red-White-and-Blues finally have their 12-man roster for the 2010 FIBA World Championship roster; the bad news is that the electrifyingly exciting Rajon Rondo won’t be on, having essentially decided to leave the team proactively before his dismissal. Figuring […]
BallinEurope’s 2010 FIBA World Championship power rankings 4.0
BiE was waiting for a result from last night’s Brazil-Argentina game in Spain before preparing this week’s edition of the official BallinEurope 2010 FIBA World Championship Power Rankings. Now that those numbers are in, the long-awaited list may be unveiled; who’s hot and who’s not? In BiE’s opinion, readings off the lay lines of the […]
Big third quarter boosts L.Rytas to LKL championship win over Zalgiris Kaunas, 80-71
Congratulations go out tonight to Lietuvos Rytas, who decisively won the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) championship over arch-rival Žalgiris Kaunas, 80-71. Thus ends a very bizarre LKL playoffs and, for Žalgiris Kaunas, a revolving door of a season at coach with the final four games seeing the team essentially sort-of led by some combination of […]
Coachless in Kaunas, Žalgiris wins anyway to knot up LKL championship series
Now Žalgiris Kaunas is truly entering into uncharted waters. After canning Darius Maskoliunas earlier this week and watching assistant coach Gvidonas Markevičius stomp out of the organization thereafter, Žalgiris owner Vladimir Romanov sent his team into game four of the Lithuanian national league (LKL) championship series headless – unless you count those two guys looking […]
What the…? In Lithuania, Romanov fires third head coach of season midway through championship series
There’s nothing so bizarre – and often barely newsworthy – about the firing of a head coach, even one leading a successful team. Even one who is replacing a legend who was also fired in the same season. But when a coach is fired in the middle of a national championship series, that’s already nearing […]