BallinEurope, the European Basketball news site

Even Down Under they’re talking about European ball and the NBA lockout. New Zealand Breakers CEO Richard Clarke today (or yesterday Antipodean Standard Time perhaps…) announced a couple of Euro-tinted roster moves by his defending Australian National Basketball League champs.

According to New Zealand-based The Press, national team member Thomas Abercrombie will eschew playing in Europe as he has re-signed with the Breakers for 2011-12. The 23-year-old Abercrombie had reportedly seen European ball as a stepping stone on his path to the NBA but also reckons he’ll get oodles more playing time for his NBL team.

Clarke went on to state that Team New Zealand sharpshooter Kirk Penney has also reupped for another season, but that the player’s contract has an out clause should Penney sign with a European club before August 1. Penney played in Europe from 2005-07 in stints with Maccabi Tel Aviv, Žalgiris Kaunas and Alba Berlin.

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Retrospective time comes again to BallinEurope! But hey, who doesn’t like an excuse to watch a bunch of air-raising slam dunks? Following are 20 of the best dunks pulled off in Europe, by Europeans or on Europeans; whether historically significant or not, all have one thing in common: That awesomeness inherent only in a proper jam. Enjoy a year’s worth of emphatic twos from BiE!

• How great is everything going for Maccabi Tel Aviv this season? They even produced one of the greatest jams of the calendar year with Jeremy Pargo’s bitchin’ double-posterization in which first he breaks ankles before jamming it over (through, really) the hapless Zalgiris Kaunas big man.

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Yeah, we’re gonna do the “Top 10” retrospective thing, but trust BiE: It’ll be mostly painless. (After all, a little reviewing of crazy highlights never hurt anyone – even with a hangover.) These are the stories running on BallinEurope in calendar year 2010 that got the most “reads,” but how many do you remember?

Relive 2010 with BiE through championships Euroleague and FIBA, the NBA offseason, the greatest basketball documentary in years, Allen Iverson abroad and dunks. Oh yes, there will be dunks. Click on any the titles in bold to read the original post. Enjoy and as always thanks for reading BallinEurope.com!

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Congratulations this morning from BallinEurope to both the USA’s and the Czech Republic’s women’s teams after last night’s FIBA World Championship final. The Stars and Stripes overcame the homers, 89-69, but the Czechs can certainly take pride in a fine tournament performance. Hana Horokova was named tournament MVP.

Official FIBA writeup follows.

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After an off day Sunday, the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Women restarts today with some notable matchups – but figure the real fireworks to come on Wednesday night.

Today, defending FIBA world champions Team Australia and Olympic titlists Team USA are still undefeated and are both facing teams characterized as desperate for wins and with very little to lose.

Greece takes on the Opals two days after squeaking past Senegal to advance to the second round. And in what BiE’s guessing will be Team USA’s biggest scare to date, the Stars and Stripes get Canada.

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Taurasi seeks revenge

Another full slate of games is going on today in the Czech Republic with the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Women entering game three of pool play.

Team Canada and Team Japan managed to turn in the first surprises of the tournament yesterday in overcoming China and Argentina, respectively, but otherwise it seems like business as usual. As this is being written, the Americans are holding a double-digit lead against heretofore undefeated France, presumably leaving Spain alone with the triple-headed monster of USA, Russia and Australia among the lossless teams.

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Let’s take just one last gander at the FIBA World Championship before closing the book on that tournament and opening Euroleague play for 2010-11…

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And now, the conclusion of the 2010 FIBA World Championship. In hindsight, it looks like a meeting made inevitable by destiny: Hosts Turkey riding their home advantage and deploying its strongest roster since 2001 (if not ever) to meet the world’s basketball public enemy no. 1, Team USA.

Since no one needs reasons to watch this game, BallinEurope will simply enumerate a few things BiE’ll be watching for in tonight’s sure-to-be-stirring FIBA championship – and offers a fearless prediction or two, naturally.

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BallinEurope can hardly believe that the final four round of the 2010 FIBA World Championship is here … this fascinating and fun tournament wraps up this weekend, and BiE is happy to see The Continent well-represented and definitely well self-acquitted.

Without further ado, here are twelve bits ‘n’ bites to enjoy going into the Lithuania-USA and Turkey-Serbia games tonight from across world media.

• Nenad Krstic, who correctly prognosticated that “We will make Team Spain congratulate us,” won’t hedge his bets in this game but does promise that Team Serbia will be ready and will play their game.

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"Seed" surely saw

“Celebrate good times,” as they say, “come on!”

Of course the folks in Lithuania need no such exhortative encouragement after blowing past Team Argentina last night, 104-85, to reach the 2010 FIBA World Championship final four. The tournament has represented an awesome achievement for Europe in general, with three of the four teams remaining, and specifically for Lithuania; who’d’ve figured the wild-card entry entering the tournament at 40/1 would be in a prime position for a medal at the end?

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