Panathinaikos 264
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 […]
“We are the best team in Europe”: Euroleague Final Four sound bites
The Euroleague officially opened the festivities for the 2011 Final Four yesterday with a squall of press conferences, publicity and media events – but BiE will give you the short version, as presented in video form by the big league itself.
Vranković: “Montepaschi Siena very good, Panathinaikos better”
Stojko Vranković is no stranger to championship-level basketball: In 1996, he and Dominique Wilkins led Panathinaikos to its first-ever Euroleague title, played in two EL Final Fours with Aris Thessaloniki, and won Olympic silver medals with Team Yugoslavia and Team Croatia. The former Boston Celtic gave an interview to Sport.gr on the eve of the […]
Euroleague Final Four, 2011: Some trivia and factoids on this year’s tourney
As with any major sport tournament these days, the informational factoids flow freely through fandom, giving both typical fans and stat addicts extra stuff to look for in the games ahead … and who is BallinEurope to buck such a habit? Below run a few interesting milestones, achievements and straight-up trivia about the 2011 Euroleague […]
Euroleague Final Four flashback: FC Barcelona takes first EL title, 2003
While many of us (ahem) were shocked that FC Barcelona did not qualify for this year’s Euroleague Final Four to be played at the Blaugrana’s venue, Barca made good in defending home court the last time the Spanish capital hosted. In 2003, Barcelona brought a veritable dream team to the tournament to chase the team’s […]
Greek sports media pines for 2009, Panathinaikos' return as champions
BallinEurope isn’t the only one flashing back in the leadup to the Euroleague Final Four tournament starting on Friday: Sport.gr is also getting nostalgic, but for a slightly more recent past, namely 2009 and Panathinaikos’ 73-71 championship game victory over CSKA Moscow. See the heavily-weighted pro-PAO video here. (For slightly more balanced highlight clip, see […]
BallinEurope's choices for All-Euroleague First Team
Euroleague Final Four week is finally upon us, with the culmination of one unpredictable and fun 2010-11 Euroleague season to come to head in the championship game in Barcelona on Sunday. BallinEurope will be there to cover the action, the talk and the atmosphere later this week; in the meantime, we’ll start seven days of […]
Greek basketball in 2010-11: Worst season ever?
While Olympiacos continues to chase history in a story that will be continued tonight against Kolossos Rhodes while seemingly on the way to another memorable finals clash with rival Panathinaikos, some are not so positive about the current state of Hellas’ game. Sport.gr writer Costas Papantoniou gives a rundown of what he calls “the worst […]
Greek League wrap: Olympiacos perfect, Panathinaikos breaks records against Panellinios, AEK relegated
Despite playing without Vassilis Spanoulis and Theo Papaloukas, Olympiacos kept its date with the history books in easily defeating Iraklis Thessaloniki last night in front of a mostly empty stadium, 83-44. The Reds thus conclude the EΣAKE regular season at 26-0, becoming the first team ever to do so and the first to go undefeated […]
Olympiacos tops Panathinaikos in OT, 87-83; two games away from Apollonian feat
Greek powerhouses Olympiacos may have been bounced from Euroleague competition, but Reds heads have surely already forgotten all about Montepaschi Siena and that lot as their side rips through Greek basketball. In finishing off rivals Panathinaikos, 87-83 in overtime, just before midnight last night, Olympiacos completes the season sweep of the Greens while extending its […]
Monday videos: Barcelona beaten, Cook cookin', remembering Moses and more
Welcome to the week, BallinEurope readers. We’ll get Monday started with a few video clips, stories, links, and some apocalyptic thinking about FC Barcelona. • Now here’s some motivation for Ricky Rubio to, you know, give that Minnesota Timberwolves thing a try: The decent possibility that Barcelona will not recapture the ACB championship title and, […]
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 […]