National Leagues 386
On Olympiacos, Panathinaikos, Giannakopoulos and the Greek League mess
The history books will forever record Panathinaikos as having won game three of the 2012-13 Greek League championship series over Olympiacos by a score of 76-72 to complete a three-game sweep. The reality, as is sadly so often the case in Greens-Reds match, was more complicated. With just under a minute and a half remaining, […]
Cinderella story in France as no. 8 seed JSF Nanterre wins LNB title, 2013-14 Euroleague spot (theoretically)
BallinEurope’s favorite European domestic-league champion this season? It’s gotta be JSF Nanterre, yesterday’s crowning of whom as French LNB kings has surely guaranteed who will be the underdog of all underdogs for the 2013-14 Euroleague season. Backing into the playoffs on a three-game losing streak to squeak in by dint of tiebreaker with a regular-season […]
CSU Asesoft Ploiești defend title, become Romanian champions for 9th time in 10 seasons
BallinEurope usually hears from Adi Micinic of Romania-based Total Baschet at this time of year as the country’s league winds up its season. Adi told us last month about possibly the hidden play of the entire tournament there, a beyond-controversial call which ultimately may have stolen CSU Asesoft Ploiești a semi-final win and continued them […]
Highlights: Top five plays from VTB United League quarterfinals
Flawed, top-heavy and not exactly consistent in attendance it may be, but the VTB United League still garners BallinEurope’s attention – particularly come playoff time when ages-old rivalries add new chapters to stories first begun in the days of the Soviet Union. Besides, who needs an excuse to run another YouTube highlight clip…? From the […]
How do you say “buzzer-beater” in Estonian? Tanel Soku shocks TU/Rock with half-courter
Another antagonist has been added to the nightmares of Tartu University/Rock fans: namely, point guard Tanel Soku. Already back-to-back title-holders with nine consecutive wins in Estonian league championship series over Rock, BC Kalev/Cramo Tallinn made it 10 last night thanks to Soku’s heroics. In a back-and-forth game, Rain Veideman was ultimately sent to the free-throw […]
Report: Ksystof Lavrinovic to leave Zalgiris Kaunas for unnamed Russian team
With the sad departure of Tremmell Darden and the mathematical probability of Euroleague advancement very low, things can’t get much worse for Zalgiris Kaunas. Or maybe they can. Just before midnight yesterday, Lithuania-based basketball website Krepsinis.net reported that Ksystof Lavrinovic has received offers to jump ship from more than one Russian team and “will soon […]
Poll: What is Zalgiris' problem in the clutch?
All right, so BallinEurope has been considering the case of this season’s Zalgiris Kaunas — a team that went 17-2 in European competition in calendar year 2012 but has since shown a distinctly alarming propensity for losing close ones — all weekend to the ultimate result of 1,200 words or so coming to no concrete […]
Zalgiris loses to Minsk, drops to 2-6 in tight European-league games; what is happening in Kaunas?
The conversations BallinEurope has with peers in the European basketball blogosphere lately tend to drift toward one team: Žalgiris Kaunas, the hardest luck team in Euroleague basketball. No, wait, strike that. Let’s start over. The conversations BallinEurope has with peers in the European basketball blogosphere lately tend to drift toward one team: Žalgiris Kaunas, a […]
Cup finals highlights: Barca dominates Valencia; Siena squeaks past Cinderella; PAO bests “club of filth” Olympiacos; Korac Cup final postponed
Congratulations go out from BallinEurope this morning to FC Barcelona, Montepaschi Siena and Panathinaikos, perhaps each respectively their nation’s top basketball club, for taking domestic cup titles this weekend. In Spain, FC Barcelona showed no letup after outlasting Real Madrid in Thursday’s barnburner from the Copa Del Rey quarterfinal round and cruised through Valencia BC […]
Messina on Teodosic: “I’m no Dr. Frankenstein”
Just because the Euroleague is off this week, it doesn’t mean the media is closed for business and CSKA Moscow leader Ettore Messina gave international news a little to chew over during the bye. The coach wants you all to know a few things: He’s not a mad scientist animating cadavers, nor can he get […]
Poll: Which is the best European team going into 2013?
Right. So. Especially after this – – and with the calendar page about to be flipped into 2013, BallinEurope’s question is: Which is the best basketball team in Europe right now? Straight by the qualification system, the top four teams in Euroleague round one were Real Madrid, Maccabi Tel Aviv, FC Barcelona and Žalgiris Kaunas […]
Cibona Zagreb to announce Smush Parker, give coach vote of confidence, blasted by Predrag Saric
Now who saw this one coming? According to Croatia-based news outlet Jutarnji, Cibona Zagreb, having just activated the previously in-limbo Dario Saric (not to mention already eliminated from Eurocup play and in a 6-7 hole in the ABA), will announce the signing of Smush Parker. Perhaps best known nowadays for serving as Kobe Bryant’s media-side […]