BallinEurope, the European Basketball news site

Congratulations go out from BallinEurope to Team France leader Tony Parker, who wrote himself into the NBA record books by becoming the San Antonio Spurs’ all-time leader in assists yesterday – o, and he also went for 42 points in his team’s 107-96 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. Parker eclipsed Avery Johnson’s mark of 4,476 in the third quarter with his final assist of the game.

Below runs a clip of the record-breaker itself, a feed to who else but Tim Duncan; a full run of game highlights may be seen here.

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Team Spain’s controversial Eurobasket addition truly teed off the Dallas Mavericks last night on the other side of the pond. Serge Ibaka contributed an awesome double-double (okay, so the 2-of-8 shooting wasn’t so impressive, but still) of 11 rebounds and 10 points in the Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City Thunder’s 95-86 win over the defending NBA champions. The Thunderer is now third in the league in total blocked shots and blocks per game; Ibaka has recorded at least one block in 19 of 20 games played in 2011-12.

But hey, don’t stop at the brief text description. See below the break for a compilation of all 10 swats, and repeat after BiE: “Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-block-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

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Scene from 2008

Nevertheless, just as certain is the fact that entering the American media environment is the communication equivalent of diving into a tub of alligators. A common fear is of speaking in public? Imagine doing it in another language. Spontaneously. Scrutinized, analyzed and tittered about by tens of millions of rabid fans milliseconds after a tough loss. And all of it done under the glare of those tens of millions’ high expectations – which, essentially, every European basketballer in the NBA faces.

(Yes, BallinEurope knows that some readers must do this kinda stuff all the time – particularly those first two bits. But still. It does boggle this expatriate American’s mind, even after 15 years on The Continent.)

So guess what: The Human YouTube Highlight Clip has produced another moment for the virtual archives, showing good game in the intensely difficult off-court field of trash-talking – against no less an opponent than Kobe Bryant, a pretty fair verbal wrangler himself.

While Kobe has peppered swipes regarding a Team USA-Team Spain showdown in the 2012 Olympic Games to his teammate Pau Gasol, he was recently able to conversate with Rubio briefly when the two teams met last Sunday. Things went down as follows.

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Surely to no one’s surprise, Gazzetta dello Sport gave its prestigious Euroscar Player of the Year Award to Dirk Nowitzki, he of the defending NBA champion Dallas Mavericks. Clearly the favorite to take FIBA Europe’s equivalent award, the Mav was bestowed with the honor on the same night he collected his bling-bling title ring in Dallas.

Enrico Cellini has gathered a few choice quotes from la Gazzetta’s interview with Nowitzki, including the German’s thoughts on his favorite Italian player, meeting Angela Merkel and topping Arvydas Sabonis.

On January 27, Dirk Nowitzki did not play for the Mavericks against the Minnesota Timberwolves but still brought home two interesting souvenirs from American Air Center. As you are reading BallinEurope, you don’t probably care too much about the diamond-encrusted $40K NBA championship ring (courtesy of Mark Cuban) that Dirk received in a touching ceremony (courtesy of Rick Carlisle), do you? Instead, what’s worth reporting about that night is the fact that Wunder Dirk also received the Europlayer 2011 award, an acknowledgement assigned by Italian Gazzetta dello Sport to the best European basketball player of the season.

You may see the ceremony here.

All right, so it wasn’t quite as dramatic as the ring ceremony but still …

Gazzetta dello Sport later published in its printed version an interview with Nowitzki, in which Würzburg’s finest touched on several topics.

Said Dirk on the loss in the 2005-06 NBA Finals to the Miami Heat: “That experience actually helped me – it made me improve: Now I handle the fourth quarter with more intelligence.”

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The hottest team in Europe right now (not named CSKA Moscow, that is)? BallinEurope figures Radnički Kragujevac could be in the discussion. After stumbling to a dismal 1-6 start in Adriatic League play, the recently reformed club has enjoyed a complete about-face and is clawing its way back up the ABA table, currently sitting in seventh place at 9-8. Back home in Serbia, they’re considered one of the favorites (behind Partizan Belgrade, that is) in February’s Serbian National Cup tournament.

Marko Savkovic today takes a look at Radnički’s comeback, particularly in light of exciting things from American players David Simon and Michael Scott.

“Until one’s star fades the other does not begin to shine,” goes a well known Serbian proverb. While news of the week depicted Hemofarm’s imminent collapse, the players of Radnički Kragujevac meanwhile reserved their time under the spotlight. After a disappointing start, they have beaten the likes of Red Star Belgrade, Cibona Zagreb and Partizan, to mention just a few, and are a strong – some even argue the strongest – contender ahead of the Serbian Korac Cup.

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Ever since the Los Angeles Lakers’ dreary loss to the Orlando Magic last Friday and straight through to yesterday’s brickfest in a loss to the Indiana Pacers, this fan’s thoughts are turning to – OK, now nearly obsessed with – making a trade to shake things up.

First and foremost, BallinEurope feels for Pau Gasol. While the Lakers’ game right now might best (and most charitably) be described as “disorganized,” particularly in the offensive sets where The Triangle is no more, it *feels* like Kobe is subtly, slowing freezing out Gasol.

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With an league-best 13-3 record, all signs pointing to a deep run in the NBA playoffs and a pleased-as-punch fan base that has long forgotten about the non-acquisition of Dwight Howard, it’s not like the Chicago Bulls need more positivity. Regardless, BallinEurope’s gonna give it to them; as it turns out, their brightest European prospect can play in the clutch as well.

Prospective Bull/Euroleague “Rising Star” Nikola Mirotic again came to the fore last night to prevent an upset of his Real Madrid at Unicaja Malaga. In Los Blancos’ 81-80 victory, Mirotic played 25 minutes to help matters with six rebounds, two blocks and 6-of-9 shooting for 12 points, none as important as his clutch shot in the final second.

Below the break, watch how Mirotic burns Jorge Garbarosa and Luka Zoric on the way to the hole to throw in a buzzer-beating runner off the glass with 0:00.5 or so remaining in the game – dagger!

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Amidst a 93-85 Minnesota Timberwolves victory over the Detroit Pistons, Ricky Rubio produced yet another for the YouTube annals. Just watch. (P.S. How can this guy not be considered the no. 1 candidate for NBA Rookie of the Year?)

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BallinEurope gets things rolling on Saturday with highlight clips – okay, some links to online stuff You Should Read as well, but the main point is highlight clips, right? This morning, then, a quick look at some excellent performances turned in in last night’s NBA action from the Continent’s top players. Starring Tony Parker, Luol Deng, Tiago Splitter, Ty Lawson, and of course a certain Spanish point guard you may have heard something about…

• Tony Parker contributed perhaps his best NBA performance of 2011-12 last night, with 20 points and nine assists to lead the San Antonio Spurs to a 99-83 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers. Fellow TrueHoop blog 48 Minutes of Hell does some “Statistical Sleuthing” in an excellent piece on Parker’s play in the paint and at the rim this season, for ages a strength for the Spur.

After crunching the numbers, 48 Minutes’ Aaron McGuire deduces that “The fact is, Tony Parker has been playing atrociously, *especially* at the rim, and it’s tough to say whether this should make Spurs fans excited or terrified. Why excited? It’s easy to simply chalk this up to small sample size and assume he gets better as the year goes on, which would be an instant improvement to San Antonio’s already gelling offense. Terrified is more obvious — if this represents a permanent change in his game, the Spurs are essentially down to *no* all-star caliber offensive players.”

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If the hard-rhyming, not-even-in-America-playing Jonas Valanciunas can inspire a song, the Human YouTube Highlight Clip is certainly fit material for crooning. Sort of, anyway. Brooklyn-based electronica performer Oneohtrix Point Never is working on a musical homage to La Pistola, this week releasing a three-minute long tune appropriately entitled “Rubio” on Soundcloud.

If you ask BiE, this track may be excellent ambient, but isn’t it far too Tangerine Dreamy for a high-energy mover and shaker such as Rubio? Just like Ricky himself, BiE keeps waiting for “Rubio” to bust out from the restraints of slow tempo to lead a fast break, perhaps infusing some trickery along the way. (Track runs below.)

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