Marco Belinelli 36
Valanciunas wins duel with Bargnani to put Lithuania in semis
One duel dominated this game and it was Jonas Valanciunas and Lithuania who emerged victorious Jonas Valanciunas utterly dominated Andrea Bargnani from the start but a remarkable resurgence by the Italian nearly saved his side. The Toronto Raptors man had an off-night against Georgia as he looked to still be feeling the effects of illness […]
A rainy day in Lille
Rather than report on every game individually, Emmet Ryan has treated the second day of Last 16 play as one continuous piece. That and it rained 12.00 – My bed, Ronchin I realised something was up. My alarm hadn’t gone off. Turns out it doesn’t work if you turn the phone off. Not to worry, […]
EURO-NBA: Parker strikes gold, Jonas dunks on LeBron, Schroeder’s 7 dimes
Jonas Valanciunas scored 18 points in a losing effort for the Raptors last night but none of his buckets stood out quite like the one above as the big Lithuanian posterised the best player in the game. Valanciunas added 9 boards for his trouble but it wasn’t enough as LeBron James scored 35 points, grabbed […]
EURO-NBA: Parker strikes gold, Jonas dunks on LeBron, Schroeder's 7 dimes
Jonas Valanciunas scored 18 points in a losing effort for the Raptors last night but none of his buckets stood out quite like the one above as the big Lithuanian posterised the best player in the game. Valanciunas added 9 boards for his trouble but it wasn’t enough as LeBron James scored 35 points, grabbed […]
BallinEurope’s Top 10 Euro-centric storylines in NBA 2013-14 season
Though the NBA’s opening night went down yesterday (North America time), the far majority of teams in the Association has yet to tip things off. What better time then, to enumerate 10 or so storylines BallinEurope will be following in 2013-14? (That was a rhetorical question.) Right, then. Here’s what we’re looking at in the […]
EuroBasket: Early run drives Serbia to 2014 FIBA World Cup
A stunning start for Serbia proved decisive as Dusan Ivkovic’s charges won the win or stay home World Cup decider with Italy 76-64. It took Italy a full quarter to realise the importance of this game and they were left with too deep a hole to get out of. Serbia, who suffered horrible starts in […]
EuroBasket: Lithuania beat Italy 81-77 in a classic
Lithuania and Italy served up the quarter final we had been waiting for in EuroBasket 2013. A battle down to the wire where Lithuania finally pulled through to book a date with Croatia. Finally a game worth killing for. The quarter finals were lacking something up until this point. We needed joie de mort. Where […]
Preview: EuroBasket Quarter Finals – Croatia vs Ukraine and Lithuania vs Italy
Three more teams will book their place in the 2014 FIBA World Cup on Thursday as the quarter finals of EuroBasket 2013 conclude. Here’s are take and picks on both games as well as the classification game between Slovenia and Serbia where the winner books a ticket to Spain. Croatia lost their first game in […]
From the free-for-all: Last week’s top five Euroleague acquisitions (plus one from the NBA)
Has it really been almost two months since the Euroleague Final Four? And when did the seasons in Spain, Greece, Italy and the NBA finish up? Time gets exceedingly relative and outright bendy once offseason transactioneering begins as memories of the previous year are quickly disposed for a look to the next and the money […]
Eurobasket 2013: Which NBA players are in, which are out?
Because it’s never too early to start looking ahead to Eurobasket 2013 – wait a minute, there’s only 11 weeks left until tipoff? Definitely not too early, then, to take a look at the formative rosters for the big Continental tournament. While only a few national teams (Croatia and Lithuania among them) have released preliminary […]
On Barack Obama and basketball diplomacy
Note: This piece was first published in February 2012. Hosting dignitaries and politicos from Italy this week, U.S. president/basketball devotee Barack Obama recently gave an interview to the visiting media as well, naturally taking time to praise Italia’s representatives in the NBA. As self-proclaimed scholar of basketball diplomacy – perhaps the only one on the […]
The BallinEurope Eurocentric NBA preview: 25 storylines to watch
BallinEurope’s said it before and fully expects to say it again: Better late than never. Stuff like podcast recording, the day job and, you know, life, has delayed the release of this season’s “Eurocentric preview.” BiE figures he’s morally convinced, since 80% of the NBA hasn’t tipped off as of this writing. We’re doing something […]