BallinEurope, the European Basketball news site

More details have been released about Allen Iverson’s recent conflict with Atlanta police and the subsequent impounding of his Lamborghini last week – or, according to the man himself, one of his 11 or so Lamborghinis.

The Associated Press is today running a story in which law enforcement officials describe Iverson as “angry” to “irate” when pulled over by police on March 30, repeatedly asking “Do you know who I am?” in the midst of an estimated 20-minute rant (imagine that).

Reportedly, Iverson later apologized to the police officers for his disrepect and stated that he was just upset about the state of his club Beşiktaş Cola Turka, currently fighting for a TBL playoff spot.

Nah, BiE’s just kidding about that last bit. A.I. actually “stated he was just upset about his car.”

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Hmmm, it doesn’t appear as though Allen Iverson is any closer to Turkey … and in fact this morning is one Lamborghini short of his complete set.

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Thanks to an injury suffered by Antonio Graves, Turkish side Banvit had been left with a hole in the depth chart at the no. 2 spot plus a free “foreign-born player” spot on the roster – an unfortunate situation for the team, but ultimately a serendipitous chance for Juan Dixon to return to professional basketball in a comeback bid.

Dixon came to European basketball in 2009 after stints with the Washington Wizards, Portland Trail Blazers, Toronto Raptors and Detroit Pistons. Dixon was with Aris for Eurocup play in 2009-10, where he went for a line of 14.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 27.1 minutes per game in the European competition; he signed with Unicaja Malaga in January 2010 and was expected to finish out the season with the ACB club.

The former University of Maryland Terp wouldn’t last long with Unicaja, however, as Dixon tested positive for a banned steroid in early February and was thereafter suspended from professional basketball indefinitely.

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By the time the home side left the floor, the teams resembled members of a schoolyard “Shirts vs. Skins” game, but very little playground bonhomie was evidenced in the aftermath of Sunday’s Iraklis BC-PAOK match in Greece.

PAOK (8-7, tied for fourth place in EƩAKE play) manhandled the homers (3-12, tied for 14th) in the match, 87-68, resulting in a bizarre move of protest demanded by Iraklis coach Georgios Kalafatakis. Gathering the team together at halfcourt, he had his players remove their jerseys and leave them on the floor. The team president stunningly later apologized for his team’s (lack of effort), reportedly referring to their game as “queer” – and not in the sense of “strange.”

(The key word in Greek is “αδερφίστικο,” which defies Google translation, but judging from the backlash, BiE will take the media’s word for it.)

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Romanov: Can you keep a secret?

What American media types might call “Sub-gate” began with the typical rumors growing fungally to a national level: In this case, the theory was that owner Romanov was actually taking slightly less than a hands-off approach to player substitutions. All remained innuendo until one local clip raised the paranoia levels and a second sports station accidentally showed damning footage of Romanov’s game plans.

During last week’s Euroleague match with Power Electronics Valencia, Ilias Zouros (Zalgiris’ third this season, for those of you keeping score at home) was spotted on camera more than once conspicuously consulting a scrap of paper, then re-tucking it into an inside jacket pocket.

More recently, sports journalist Vidas Mačiulis held a 15-minute interview with Romanov which went out on the local Sport1 network. Unfortunately for the Zalgiris front office, a few seconds of very revealing footage shot in Romanov’s office was used as bumper material for the piece. A representative screenshot:

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What in the name of Naismith is going on in Greek basketball? Will Olympiacos and Panathinaikos ever again meet without players having to fear mortal injury? In the first game between the Greek superpowers since last season’s capper known as “The Night of Shame,” Olympiacos ground out a 65-61 win in territory literally made hostile with the final whistle as fire flew at the Reds from high in the stands.

With the win, Olympiacos seizes first place in the EΣAKE standings in a huge momentum shifter; the Reds are now just one of two Greek A1 sides undefeated at home.

BallinEurope could go into more detail about this game, like how Rasho Nesterovic’s deadly shooting led the Reds to the victory with 17 points or about how Vassilis Spanoulis nearly counteracted his awful shooting – a woeful 1-of-9 overall – with his six assists, most to Rasho, in his much ballyhooed return to his former stomping grounds. Or BiE could marvel at a nice defensive battle in the good old Eurostyle couple with a chess match between coaches that saw 23 of 24 players getting at least six minutes of court time.

But why bother? In the end, it seems, some silly hoops hooligans have eclipsed individual performances, neutralized the news and reduced Olympiacos’ feat in the biggest European game this season to a single W for which its players almost paid with their bodies.

After the Night of Shame, EΣAKE officials beat down Olympiacos financially in punishment for poor security and fan misbehavior. BiE expects Panathinaikos to receive some reprimand for this aerial assault; unfortunately, it seems, little good can come of fines. Olympiacos started the season playing before empty houses and look where they are today … d’you think PAO can take the hundred-thousand euro hits?

A fascinating compilation of game highlights, replete with appropriately angry rap, put together by the brilliant folks at Sport.gr follows. The insanity begins at about 5:20.

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Diana Taurasi may be facing a two-year ban from competition outside the United States and has already been released from Fenerbahçe, but some of her fans in Turkey aren’t giving up the fight to get allegations of doping overturned.

The following letter was recently sent to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) by an unnamed group of supporters (the epistle even appears in media without closing or signature) complaining of some unfair charges levied against she who is/was formerly thought to be among the all-time greats:

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Fan violence extreme enough to result in injuries to players and law enforcement officers, FIBA sanctions and fines, Prime Ministerial denouncements, official apologies, and now high-level hacking in the name of basketball: Who knew Eurochallenge ball could get so controversial?

The distinctly un-Christmas atmosphere has tinged the international competition ever since the craziness that followed Cyprus side Apoel Nicosia’s 82-80 victory over TBL team Pınar Karşıyaka on the island on December 21. Immediately following the game’s conclusion, the hometown fans threw rocks, chairs and other debris onto the court, according to club executives in attendance.

(The below video certainly bears this out, by the way.)

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For all those debating the wisdom and/or point of Allen Iverson’s playing in Turkey, BallinEurope asks you to consider the career of Steve Francis in China, which, according to an early-morning report today, is over after just 13 days and four games.

The Beijing Shougang Ducks will cut Francis today, a day after his second consecutive DNP was recorded and two days after he refused to attend a practice on Christmas Day.

Francis had played a total of 14 minutes for the team and naturally clashed with coach Min Lulei; according to local news Francis became “quickly frustrated with Min over his lack of minutes and felt as if the team was merely using him to sell tickets and merchandise.” Min cited conditioning as a key factor in Francis’ lack of playing time.

“I don’t know if other coaches would give him the minutes he wants, but the whole team has been working hard in practice,” said Min to media. “Actually, I had planned to let him play today but the first quarter we got down by too much.”

Francis’ debut consisted of all of 17 seconds in the fourth quarter. In his second appearance with the Ducks, Francis managed two fouls and two turnovers versus one assist and zero points in four minutes of play against Shandong.

Yao Ming’s long-time former teammate also generated a little controversy in CBA land when he was caught flipping off referees in derision after a technical foul call on a teammate.

A source close to the situation was quoted as saying, “[Francis] didn’t fly all the way out to China to just sit on the bench.”

The disastrous experiment now over, Francis is expected to return to the ‘States before the end of 2010.

Perhaps a worrisome Christmas it’ll be for women’s basketball great Diana Taurasi and backers of her Fenerbahçe side. In the wee hours of the morning, ESPN reported that a drug test on Taurasi had come back positive for an unspecified illegal stimulant.

Said Taurasi’s lawyer Howard Jacobs, “We’re taking it one step at a time,” Jacobs said. “I’d rather not say what it is at this stage, they’ve only tested the ‘A’ sample. Somehow it leaked over in Turkey.” (Pun surely unintentional.)

Taurasi has been suspended from the team by Turkish basketball officials in an unfortunately timed punishment: The former U Conn Huskies leader has missed the three games with the team.

Despite Taurasi’s absence, Fenerbahçe stands at 8-0 in FIBA Euroleague Women qualifying round play, having spent the offseason building a monster squad which also includes Team Serbia’s Ivana Matovic, Team Australia’s Penny Taylor, and Team Hungary’s Anna Vajda.

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