Olympiacos 291
Olympiacos wins! Olympiacos wins! Olympiacos wins! (a.k.a. *The* European basketball story of 2011-12)
Let’s put this into perspective. The last time Olympiacos took the Greek national title, they were led by David Rivers and Dragan Tarlać. Vassilis Spanoulis was 15 years old and not near professional club play. Dejan Bodiroga was in the middle of his career and Mirsad Turkcan had just turned 21. Across the pond, Lebron […]
Euroleague 2012-13: An attempt to deduce the composition (plus Official Fearless Prediction™)
Yesterday, the basketball-centered bit of the Twitter universe was centered in two real-life locales: New York City and Barcelona. Topics in play were the falling of ping-pong balls in New York City and Euroleague’s incipient decision on the construction of Euroleague 2012-13. Hopefully, BallinEurope will get something together on the former later, but for now, […]
Red reign forecast? Olympiacos on brink of Greek title after beating Panathinaikos, 84-72
Olympiacos shrugged off both history and the Dimitris Diamantidis-Mike Batiste duo last night in taking game three of the Greek League championship series over rivals Panathinaikos, 84-72. With a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series, the Reds are poised to take its first domestic league title since 1997; historians will of course note that ’97 […]
Ramunas Siskauskas: The BallinEurope video tribute
On Monday, European basketball great Ramunas Šiškauskas announced his retirement from the game: A story that was noteworthy enough for even North Korean sports fans to be notified. In his official statement, Šiškauskas said that he’d “made my choice in the middle of the season. It was not connected with anything specific – I just […]
The BallinEurope All-American Euroleague team (also all-Russian, -Greek and -former Yugoslavian teams)
Now here’s an argument starter for you … with much debate perpetually going on among European basketball fans vis-à-vis the influence of American and/or NBA players on the Euroleague, BiE decided to take a look back at the 2011-12 season in hopes of drawing some comparison on an individual, player-by-player level. Below, then, runs four […]
On Olympiacos Euroleague championship: From crises emerge heroes
European basketball fans know that history was made with Olympiacos’ stunning victory in the 2012 Euroleague championship. And so BallinEurope contributor, the self-proclaimed hoops history junkie Uygar Karaca looks back with perspective on the title bid, reaching all the back to the Great Depression of 1929 through the collapse of the Soviet Union and into […]
Taxi ride in the aftermath: Three Russians, a Turkish driver and the question why
If a picture is worth a thousand words, how much is a YouTube clip worth? Even at tenfold the still image, the figure probably still wouldn’t be high enough for the Tolstoyesque level of descriptive prose necessary to capture the insanity that was the final, say, 12 minutes of the 2012 Euroleague championship final between […]
Live chat: CSKA Moscow vs. Olympiacos for 2012 Euroleague championship
Hard to believe it’s open us — this season just flew by, it feels like, but nevertheless the beginning of the end tips off in about 40 minutes. Can Olympiacos win the biggest must-win of all to complete their amazing run? Or will CSKA Moscow, a team of destiny even before signing Andrei Kirilenko, earn […]
Kirilenko on playing for Utah Jazz, CSKA Moscow: “It’s hard to compare”
Amid a crowd of athletes well-versed in jockspeak, Andrei Kirilenko is a breath of fresh air. Though no controversy-stirrer on the Charles Barkley level (and who is, really, aside from Sir Charles himself), Kirilenko is personable, patient, friendly and fluent in two languages in the interview milieu. Kirilenko arrived late to “open media” session after […]
Live blogging Euroleague Final Four 2012: FC Barcelona vs. Olympiacos
Right, so who gets to meet Kirilenko, Teodosic and the CSKA Moscow boys in the Euroleague championship game? FC Barcelona and Olympiacos will be duking it out for the privilege in about 15 minutes — does Olympiacos pull off the upset their rival Panathinaikos couldn’t or does Barcelona set up what has appeared to be […]
Eclipse watching: All-time records under threat at Euroleague Final Four 2012
For all the history/stat junkies out there – including myself, as BiE readers know – BallinEurope today takes a look at what all-time Euroleague Final Four records might fall this year … and some that seem unbreakable. • Under assault could be the all-time free-throw mark of 56 held by Nikos Galis. Galis set this […]
Game changer? Pascual hints that Navarro is questionable for Olympiacos match
Euroleague pre-event press conferences are typically pretty blah stuff, with the same old rhetoric about team play, the competitors’ greatness, even matchups, defense wins championships, ad nauseum. However, among FC Barcelona coach Xavi Pascual’s loquacious enthusiasm, the Blaugrana leader did drop in one scintillating note. Said Pascual, “Juan Carlos Navarro’s fasciitis problems have returned. At […]