Serie A 74
Monday hangover: Power struggles in Italy, Spain; Zalgiris’ continued rise; Obama vs. the Lakers Rule
It’s never too late for the ‘Hangover (or so BiE’s telling himself). Excuses aside, following are a few Eurocentric impressions, notes, highlight clips – and the no. 1 reason why Barack Obama is thrilled the Los Angeles Lakers went down in the playoffs last season… • Power vacuum in Italy? Coming into 2012-13, most pundits […]
Shaun Stonerook announces retirement; BallinEurope pays video tribute
BallinEurope today wishes a fond sayonara to longtime Montepaschi Siena staple Shaun Stonerook, who today announced his retirement from Euroleague basketball. Stonerook played in some 113 games for the Italian powerhouse and enjoyed two EL Final Four runs with the team. And so, as is the fashion here at BiE, today we present our YouTube-centric […]
Twenty years ago today: Champions in Europe and USA, 1992
In celebration of certainly still the most significant year in international basketball history, BallinEurope today begins the “Twenty years ago today” series in which we’ll peer back in time through the lens of YouTube to that era of morphing European national teams and Dream Team dominance. In the wake of that Greatest Basketball Team Ever […]
“What has happened here?” The best Euro-centric buzzer-beaters of 2011-12
In clearing out the virtual desk of 2011-12 basketball season stuff, BallinEurope today presents this compilation of the year’s top Euro-centric buzzer-beaters. The requirements to make the list were two: the primary player in the buzzer-beater most be of European nationality or the shot must take place in a game featuring European teams; and the […]
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, […]
Incredibile! Back-to-back buzzer-beaters bring Banco Sardegna Sassari into semifinals
What’s that? You haven’t been watching the quarterfinal round of the Italian League’s playoffs? No problem: BallinEurope’s man in Italy, Enrico Cellini has – and he posts today about just what you’ve been missing, namely two cliffhanging, nail-biting finishes that finished off Virtus Bologna. (Ironically and mournfully, BiE notes Bologna’s elimination as dated the same […]
Revealed: The EuroChallenge championship curse
Winning the EuroChallenge title is a good thing, right? After all, it’s typically the first Continental trophy to display on the mantelpiece and the champions label wins the club to right to play in the more prestigious (and more big-bucks) Eurocup competition the following season. Well, Uygar Karaca may convince believers otherwise. In the first […]
Referee scandals in Russia lead to protest, in Italy to suspensions
A BallinEurope question has been reopened today, to the detriment of Russian professional basketball’s reputation. About two weeks ago, a PBL game which will likely determine the league’s upcoming playoff tournament saw an extremely high number of, let’s say, questionable calls. According to Spain-based SoloBasket, these were certainly enough oddity for the losing side, Spartak […]
A “classic Italian mess”: National basketball federation suspends 15 referees for wearing the wrong uniform
A bit of a weird one from Italy for you this morning … BallinEurope contributing writer Enrico Cellini reports on a symbolic protest within his country’s national basketball league which subsequently saw nearly half the Serie A referees – including the well-esteemed Fabio Facchini, one of two Italians who will be calling games at the […]
Marco Bellinelli: “Chris Paul is the best PG”, “I want to stay in the NBA”
The Italian-language version of MSN news is today running an exclusive interview with Marco Belinelli, the New Orleans Hornet whom the outlet calls “the most American-style” of all three of Italy’s NBAers. Belinelli weighs in on all things NBA; some choice quotes include the following. “Obviously, [Chris Paul] is the best [point guard] in the […]
Win any European dunk contest: James White shows how in six easy steps
To the surprise of few, well-traveled James William White III (a.k.a. James White, a.k.a. Flight) took the Italian Serie A slam dunk contest amidst the all-star festivities taking place there this weekend. White, now of Scavolini Pesaro, brought with him to the contest a résumé that goes back second-place finishes on two levels: the 2001 […]
The Italian Maccabi: Why Montepaschi Siena must win the Euroleague
With the Euroleague quarterfinals tournament beginning later this month, many are penciling in either CSKA Moscow or FC Barcelona as 2011-12 title holders. (Indeed, the odds at a representative sportsbook have the former at 4/5 and the latter at 5/2.) Meanwhile, relative dark horse Montepaschi Siena (running, with shortest odds, at 11/1) may be under […]