Union Olimpija 75
Translate this, says Obradovic
Could this be the Greek version of “Practice??!!??!?!” While we all love to dig on those outrageous blowups of coaches or athletes routinely getting repeat views and remixes on boob tube and YouTube, in Europe there’s at least one sort of person who doesn’t: The interpreters. One particularly long-suffering translator working with Panathinaikos coach Zeljko […]
Official BallinEurope Euroleague Power Rankings: Post-week seven
Apologies for the tardiness of this column, dear readers, but the Official BallinEurope Euroleague Power Rankings are just as fun and informative on Sundays as they are on Saturdays! With four teams through into the Top 16 round and several more on the bubble, who’s cruising and who’s losing? BiE says the two dozen squads […]
Official BallinEurope Euroleague Power Rankings: Regular-season halftime
BiE still can’t claim to totally understand what’s going on in Euroleague basketball in 2010-11 (Real Madrid lost by how many? To *who*?) but at least some of the cream is rising to the top. This latest edition of the official BallinEurope power rankings should probably wait ‘til after some key games over the weekend […]
Secrets to Žalgiris’ early success in 2010-11
BallinEurope’s man from Lithuania, known on these pages as “Y,” was apparently so hyped up by Žalgiris Kaunas’ marvelous win over Caja Laboral Baskonia that he was inspired to assess the Green-and-Whites’ early success in 2010-11. For Y., it’s all about the coach and the bench… Unlike their arch-rivals from Vilnius, Lithuanian side Žalgiris Kaunas […]
Did Mike Batiste’s nasty play cost PAO game, Group D lead?
An otherwise fantastic match between Union Olimpija and Panathinaikos last night was marred somewhat by the beyond-naughty antics of Mike Batiste. With an already tense game at 57-55 in the fourth quarter, Batiste tangled with Saso Ozbolt while ostensibly going for a rebound (though the ball was clearly going off the other side of the […]
Euroleague week three talking points, part II
Five Euroleague games are to be played tonight, each bearing a number of scintillating storylines – well, okay, maybe not the nearly history-bereft Cholet-Lietuvos Rytas matchup, but you get the point. For your perusal, then, a few factoids, bites of information and videos in the leadup to tonight’s action. Enjoy the games, and best of […]
Official BallinEurope Euroleague Power Rankings: Week Three
As we head into week three of EL play, things haven’t quite normalized to preseason expectations, but BallinEurope’s Official Euroleague Power Rankings are looking a tad more normal. Well, except CSKA Moscow’s placement, that is. Rankings are based on current Euroleague record, plus play in other leagues and intangibles (like, for instance, this writer’s preconceived […]
The Frank Euroleague roundup, week two
Francesco Cappelletti’s regular column with BallinEurope is back as our man in Italy takes a look at the after-effects of Euroleague week two action. This time out, Francesco sees European basketball history returning to the old days on the Continent while Balkan squads fight economic problems but dispatch Western European teams anyway. And early on, […]
El Meridiano shocks Real Madrid, 78-67: Reason for panic?
It may be slightly foolish-bordering-on-irresponsible to lament the woes of a traditional powerhouse that’s currently 5-2 overall and (at least for a few more hours) leads the ACB table, but hey. What’s up with Real Madrid? Yesterday saw Ettore Messina’s 4-0 Madrid visit 0-4 El Meridiano Alicante, perhaps too expectantly thinking “win.” Knee-jerk reactions from […]
Highlights from Union Olimpija-Efes Pilsen 2OT thriller
The Euroleague’s game of the night last night and probably ultimately in all of week one was seen in the Union Olimipija-Efes Pilsen battle – and BallinEurope does mean battle – in Ljubljana. By the time the buzzer sounded, some 8,700 had thrilled to only the third double-overtime regular-season game in EL history, with Olimpija […]
Sixty-eight Fearless Predictions™ for 2010-11 Euroleague season
With the EL tipoff game tonight, BallinEurope is feeling devotion … not to mention a rush of Fearless Predictions™ coming on. How crazy can BiE get? You be the judge; here are 68 prognostications on all things Euroleague which you may [laugh uproariously about] ponder. Enjoy the season, everyone! (And sign up for the BallinEurope […]
Official BallinEurope Euroleague Power Rankings: Final preseason edition
The 2010-11 Euroleague season tips off tomorrow? Right, then. Presenting the last preseason – and thus last totally subjective, because we’ll be able to base these things on, you know, wins and losses beginning next week – BallinEurope Official Euroleague Power Rankings™. (Plus lots of video clips.) Enjoy! 1. (↔) FC Barcelona – Yeah, as […]