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On Olympiacos Euroleague championship: From crises emerge heroes +++ Austrian championship: Monster double-double, 21-point lead not enough as Dukes steal Game One +++ Taxi ride in the aftermath: Three Russians, a Turkish driver and the question why +++ Live chat: CSKA Moscow vs. Olympiacos for 2012 Euroleague championship +++ Live chat: Panathinaikos vs. FC Barcelona in Euroleague 2012 third-place game +++ NIJT wrap: Lietuvos Rytas takes title; plus, BiE’s nine European (and one Chinese) prospects to watch +++ Žalgiris Kaunas dance team (attempts to) Cheer Up Final Four fans +++ Kirilenko on playing for Utah Jazz, CSKA Moscow: “It’s hard to compare” +++ Jonas Kazlauskas vs. Dusan Ivkovic: Euroleague history will be made +++ D-Will meets with Prokhorov in Istanbul, snaps in-game pic of Kirilenko +++
Jun
2

74 is the magic number: Nancy takes French title; Barcelona wins game two; Freak City cruises in Germany

While much of the basketball hype from the ‘States in currently focused on tonight’s scintillating NBA championship game six, BiE today runs a quick jaunt through Europe’s championship action, with video-embedded stops in France, Spain and Germany. Official BallinEurope Fearless Prediction™ at the very bottom.

First up, congratulations to new LNB champs SLUC Nancy, who earned a 2011-12 Euroleague bid in nipping Cholet Basket, 76-74, in France’s one-game winner-take-all championship final yesterday.

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Jun
7

Championship basketball: Galatasaray stays alive; Barça, Mavericks take care of business

It’s hard to believe the 2010-11 season is drawing to a close, but so it goes. Leagues in Turkey, Spain and the United States could be all shutting down for the summer (or, in the latter’s case, perhaps a good deal longer) within a week. A brief roundup this morning, then, of action in this trio of top professional basketball associations.

In Turkey, Galatasaray Café Crown defended homecourt against perpetual power Fenerbahçe Ülker, 97-93 in overtime last night, with an admirably balanced attack against the star-powered defending champs.

Eleven players scored in double figures in the game, but while Fenerbahçe’s headliners include studs like Darjus Lavrinovic (16 points, six rebounds, two blocks), Roko Ukic (18 points, four boards), Ömer Onan (18 points) and Sarunas Jasikevicius (12 points, three assists), Galatasaray got nice performances out of less-than-household names Ermal Kurtoğlu (20 points, three assists), Jerry Johnson (18 points, six assists), Joshua Shipp (14 points, 10 rebounds), Preston Shumpert (14 points), and Luksa Andric (10 points, four boards).

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Jun
3

Green reign continues: Panathinaikos tops Olympiacos in OT to take ninth straight Greek title

Panathinaikos defeated rivals Olympiacos last night, 101-94 in overtime, to close out the pro basketball season in Greece and take its ninth straight EΣAKE title and 12th in 13 seasons. The win also marked the incredible 11th Greek league championship for coach Zeljko Obradovic, whose incredible CV also includes eight Euroleague titles, six Greek Cups, two Saporta Cups, one Serbian championship, one Serbian cup, and two FIBA gold medals. (Best European coach ever…?)

Before a full capacity crowd of 25,000, Panathinaikos pulled off the win despite an injury to Dimitris Diamantidis in the first minute of the game. After slogging through the first quarter, which produced an 18-17 lead for Olympiacos, the Greens were buoyed by the performances of Mike Batiste (who ended up with 22 points, 11 rebounds), Antonis Fotsis (22 points), and Nick Calathes (16 points, 11 assists, five rebounds) to grab a 41-39 halftime lead.

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Jun
0

New Romanian champs: Cluj-Napoca upends long-time titlist Asesoft on half-court buzzer-beater

Romania’s Divizia A may be one of the more obscure domestic basketball leagues in Europe, but they’re certainly not lacking in excitement. BallinEurope’s man in Romania, Adi Micinic of TotalBaschet.ro reports in on one heckuva game, replete with stunning clock-expiring finish (totally one of the shots of the year), that went down last night. This video is well worth a watch – and congratulations to new champions U Mobitelco BT Cluj-Napoca, who finally broke CSU Asesoft Ploiesti’s six-year stranglehold on the title.

U Mobitelco BT Cluj-Napoca is the new Romanian national champion. The team coached by Marcel Tenter (Tab Baldwin’s former assistant coach at Cluj-Napoca during the 2007-08 campaign, now in just his second year as head coach of a senior first division team) beat CSU Asesoft Ploiesti, 64-61, in Game 6 of the Divizia A final of the 2010-11 season. Cluj wins the series by 4-2.

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May
0

Romania: Cluj-Napoca pushes Asesoft to brink, nears historical feat

With five games down in Romania’s Divizia A finals, not only has U Mobitelco BT Cluj-Napoca come to within one win of snatching the title from six-time defending champs CSU Asesoft Ploiesti, they could also tonight hand the celebrated franchise its most ignominious defeat ever: The club’s *first-ever playoff series defeat.* Reports BallinEurope’s man in Romania, Ari Micinic of TotalBaschet.ro:

On Saturday, CSU Asesoft Ploiesti played host to U Mobitelco BT Cluj-Napoca. The home team won by the score of 68-56 to move the series back to Cluj-Napoca. U Mobitelco now leads the best-of-seven series three games to two.

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May
9

List of 2010-11 European champions: Nearing the finish edition

While some domestic leagues will seemingly be hosting playoffs right through to next season’s tipoff – BiE’s looking at you, ACB, French LNB, Serie A and Ligat HaAl – the great majority of European basketball associations have named their champion for 2010-11 … or are very close to doing so.

Below runs BallinEurope’s updated roundup on the current situation in regular seasons and/or playoffs in the Continent’s domestic leagues. This list will be updated whenever possible.

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May
11

List of 2010-11 European Champions: Return from Barcelona edition

BallinEurope apologizes for the recent two-day drought of content in an attempt to catch up on “the day job” since returning from the Euroleague Final Four tournament. To (hopefully) make up for this dearth a bit, and in honor of Panathinaikos’ stirring win in the big league, BiE today presents an updated version of its List of 2010-11 European Champions.

See below for a roundup on the current situation in regular seasons and/or playoffs in the Continent’s domestic leagues. This list will be updated whenever possible.

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Jun
0

Montepaschi Siena crushes AJ Milano again to take Italian title, 93-69

T-Mc led the way for MPS

It’s official: Montepaschi Siena closed out European club basketball last night with yet another emphatic win, taking game four of the Serie A championship series, 93-69, to complete a sweep of outmatched AJ Milano – and a perfect 10-0 run through the Italian League playoffs.

Siena rode the hot hand of Terrell McIntyre, who went for a big 28 points in 28 minutes of floor time, including 6-of-10 on threes. Romain Sato and Ksistof Lavrinovic went for 16 points/six rebounds and 15/4, respectively.

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Jun
1

Melee in game two, forfeit in game three give Partizan Belgrade Serbian Superleague title

Typically, BallinEurope would lead such an entry with “Congratulations go out to…” For reasons that will soon become apparent, however, BiE the morning will simply acknowledge the awarding of the Serbian Superleague championship title to Partizan Belgrade. For just when you thought the ending to the Greek League championship was shocking and disappointing, the Serbian Super League season has ended with a forfeit due to an understatedly ugly incident in game two between perpetual Serbian champions Partizan and Hemofarm Stada.

In a hard-fought game, the score was 78-77 with little time left to play in the fourth quarter when Lawrence Roberts brought the ball up for Partizan, then hoisted a three-pointer. Underneath the rim, as reported by English-language outlet The National Turk, “a battle ensued to get the ball under the board in case of a rebound but at that moment both [Partizan’s Aleks] Maric and [Hemofarm’s Rasko] Katic fell to the ground after losing their balance but Maric was seen throwing a punch.

“Maric then got up and was seen confronting Katic about the incident though it was he who seemed to have started the whole thing.”

The immediate result was this:

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Jun
51

List of 2009-10 European basketball champions

League play is now accelerating to a close all over The Continent, and BallinEurope’s “List of European Champions” page gets more updates.

Most men’s domestic leagues have completely closed up shoppe for 2009-10, but BiE has also listed a few details on where other leagues stand at present; links are provided where possible.

If no information follows a country’s name, that simply means BiE has yet to find anything on the basketball league there. However, this page will be updated throughout the next couple of weeks as associations close the books on the 2009-10 season; watch this space for updates, as they say.

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