BallinEurope, the European Basketball news site

Game of the week last week? How about last night’s game four of the Montepaschi Siena-Cimberio Varese semifinals series in Italy’s Serie A? National powerhouse and this tournament’s no. 5 seed Siena found themselves nearly on the ropes at 10 minutes to play before slowly coming back with a 24-13 run. With 60 seconds left, it was the visiting no. 1 seed from Varese up, 75-74.

As you’d imagine, Bobby Brown and quarterfinals hero Daniel Hackett played key parts for the defending champs down the stretch … though perhaps not *quite* in the way you’d imagine.

Courtesy Basket Inside – and kudos to them for posting – here’s that how that final 60 seconds of game clock played out.

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Attempting to distract the free-throw shooter into missing the gimme has been proven ineffective perhaps millions of times since Dr. Naismith set down the rules – though this showing put forth by Legadue’s Basket Brescia Leonessa fans could well be the finest effort with the stratagem to date … ah, Italy!

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Once again, Montepaschi Siena survives to play another day: The Euroleaguers managed to win the decisive game seven of the Serie A quarterfinal series at no. 4 seed Armani Milano, 90-80, last night. Below runs an impressive highlight clip of the top 10 plays from the series produced by the Italian league and starring J.R. Bremer, Ioannis Bourousis, Malik Hairston, David Moss (with quite the awesome block), Antonis Fotsis (who reciprocates on Moss), Viktor Sanikidze and, naturally, Pops Mensah-Bonsu.

Daniel Hackett also puts in an appearance within the ‘clip, but with his game-high 25 points in the decider showing his ridiculous range making him a threat from anywhere on the floor, this Serie A veteran gets a YouTube all his own…

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BallinEurope tries to take the responsibilities of Euroleague media partnership seriously and so spent way too much time deliberating over the vote for this season’s all-Euroeleague team/MVP awards. Having been given through last Friday – and after the result of the Olympiacos-Anadolu Efes game was in – to fill out the ballot, let’s just say BiE stayed up late determining just the right order for submission. One can’t take this stuff too seriously, can one?

Of course, every year, the thoughtful media member must first define “Most Valuable Player” Should this title be taken to mean simply the best player within the given association for the given year? Or perhaps the value of Player X to his *team*, i.e. consideration of how much worse X’s squad would have been without him, is most important – though this contention relies on speculation rather than the fact of accumulated stats.

Questions upon questions: What about the defensive contributions which elude statistical measure? Or those intangibles of leadership that a cagey veteran like Vassilis Spanoulis (or Sarunas Jasikevicius, for seven-minute bursts, for that matter) adds to a successful side? And on this note – How much emphasis and importance should be placed on participation with a winning team? The All-Euroleague first team these days has tended to include five players from Top Four teams, rewarding winning with an individual nod. But wasn’t someone having enough of a banner year to get a Montepaschi Siena or Caja Laboral Baskonia much further into the EL season than expected?

You see the can of worms BiE had opened; it’s like this every year.

Regardless, BiE’s ballot is in and after a subsequent weekend of watching more hoops, an examination of the thinking process. The Euroleague ballot is set in the now-fairly standard format: Media partners may vote for five players, with five points awarded to each voter’s no. 1 choice, four to the no. 2, three to the no. 3, etc. Once again, the ‘League is allowing free voting: Any five players regardless of position may be chosen. (At least that part was easy…)

So here’s how BiE’s ballot looked. Continue Reading…

Mark Spears of Yahoo Sports was talking more than a bit off-the-cuff when speculating about Kobe Bryant’s career beyond the Los Angeles Lakers, but some in Italy (and maybe China?) will certainly keep on keeping the faith.

The belief in Kobe someday playing in Italy, a place he calls “my home, “where my dream of playing in the NBA started,” “where I learned the fundamentals, learned to shoot, to pass and to [move] without the ball,” is a long-cherished one in Europe – heck, even Virtus Roma owner Claudio Sabatini believed back in 2011 despite some serious evidence to the contrary…

It seems like a no-brainer, a match made in heaven: The 37-year-old bringing Roma or some other Italian side a glory year a la Arvydas Sabonis. But would that guy with a lot of mileage – A *lot*. How much? Try 1,454 regular-season and playoff games and counting, putting him no. 2 among active NBA players behind Jason Kidd, plus time with Team USA – on his odometer want to play a couple more years? Would Bryant, ever mindful of history, take the risk of being ignominiously defeated in Europe?

What do you think?

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BallinEurope will leave the questions about just how Dennis Rodman ended up taking his distinct breed of basketball diplomacy to Italy after a less-than-uncontroversial visit to North Korea with a few Harlem Globetrotters…

Instead, we’ll just let Taiwan-based Next Media Animation explain things; apparently, The Worm’s mission involves some NBA Jam-esque two-on-two in a match featuring himself and retired Pope Benedict XVI against a roster of priests, evil lawyers, a high-jumping altar boy and possibly a unicorn…

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And now the ladies are getting into the act: Below runs the squad of Italy’s Liomatic Umbertide doing the dance craze that’s ubiquitous today, gone tomorrow. Or maybe not. Notable beyond the okay performance by the lionesses: Just check out the “description” field below this YouTube. “Recorded with Harlem Shake Creator HD for iPhone and iPad,” it reads. Good gods, there’s an app now?

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Not one hour ago, BallinEurope was engaged in a conversation about that utterly viral meme/dance craze The Harlem Shake. BiE scoffed when the other party suggested the ‘Shake is already did. Well, thanks to Sportando, BiE can say it ain’t so as the fever expands into Italy. In short, here’s Biancoblu Basket Bologna getting to it:

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From the folks over at the excellent Hoop Doctors, here’s a GIF called simply “Classic Andrea Bargnani.” BallinEurope, this season at least, is sadly forced to agree…

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So a professional baller getting himself into trouble via a few ill-advised tweets is hardly news, but Daniel Hackett’s popping off on Twitter last night could have long-term ramifications for his standing on Montepaschi Siena for the remainder of 2012-13 and even for Team Italy in the future.

While sitting out Siena’s 72-68 loss at Armani Milano last night, Hackett took to calling out the referee crew for their poor officiating. In bon mots since removed as Hackett shut down his account shortly after tweeting boos, declarations that “this sucks” and ultimately “This is not basketball.”

Sportando and Italy-based Corriere dello Sport report that club officials are reviewing the situation with regard to keeping Hackett on the squad at all, while the former source implies that his position on the national team has become suddenly tenuous.

Prior bad/missed calls by the refereeing corps aside, Siena looks to have helped blown their own game with poor shot selection and generally uncharacteristic non-clutch play. With Milano up three with 40 seconds to go thanks to an overly rushed Siena possession, Leon Radosevic fouled out to give Kristjan Kangur two chances to extend the lead. Both free throws clanged, but the rebound chased down to lead to a corner three from Matt Janning.

After Milano answered with another three, Kangur was the beneficiary of a questionable decision earning him three chances at the charity stripe and, well, let’s just say the game degenerates into whistle after whistle … is this what sent Hackett over the edge?

As for Hackett’s injury, news on the severity and games to be missed are reportedly to be revealed today.

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