BallinEurope admits to seesawing on the whole NBA lockout thing. On one hand, BiE’s never enjoyed such schadenfreude in any other walk of life and/or big-time media: It’s billionaires versus millionaires in a verbal tussle that only alienates the fan (on any part of the globe, BiE’d daresay). Hey, Europe’s still got basketball, lots of it, right? Plus, there’s always football – either variety.
On the other hand, the truth is that dozens of the world’s greatest players are doing nothing basketball-related, denying everyday fans – call us “The 99%” – the greatest minute-by-minute sports entertainment on Earth. Sure, it’s great to see Andrei Kirilenko, Tony Parker, Deron Williams and Nicolas Batum play well in Continental games *that honestly matter*, but what about Dirk Nowitzki, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Lebron James, Dwyane Wade, Pau Gasol, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera?
Denmark is one rarely associated with great basketball; indeed, 
Despite the 
With Team Turkey bounced from Eurobasket 2011, BallinEurope’s Sam Chadwick takes a brief look back at the play of prospective Utah Jazz big man Enes Kanter during the tournament — and a look forward to speculate on what he can do in the NBA. Will he be a Al Horford type? Can he compete against the tops in the NBA? And he will get any playing minutes? Read on…
After an incredible 13th year with Team Germany came to an end with its defeat at the hands of Lithuania yesterday, Dirk Nowitzki may be contemplating retirement – in fact, the Germany-based Sport 1 believes it’s a done deal.
Sports media and the blogosphere blew up a couple days ago, as 
1. France (2-0) – Les Bleus had their sights on nothing less than taking this thing when the tournament began and pretty much brought an all-star game to do so (luckily for them, La Republique could foot the bill for insurance on five locked out NBA players). With Tony Parker going for 23.2 points per game through five – second-high in the first round after Luol Deng, who was forced to do it all for the thin British squad – and Joakim Noah grabbing 7.8 rebounds per, these guys have proven to be the class of EuroBasket thus far, bringing a big one-game advantage into Group E.
2. Russia (2-0) – In nipping Slovenia in the final game, 65-64, Russia capped the first round of play with the fewest points allowed in the tournament so far at 64.2 points per game – albeit against perhaps the tournament’s weakest group. No matter: David Blatt’s outstanding defensive game plans combined with speedier play and some great individual performances on offense (Vitaly Fridzhon leads all players at 12-of-18 three-point shooting to fight for the unofficial tournament deadshot award with France’s Mickael Gelabale and Serbia’s Marko Keselj; Andrei Kirilenko’s putting in 16.4 ppg) make Russia one of the scariest teams remaining – particularly if they can show the clutch play as against Slovenia.
After a bit of a free day (not 100%, though, BiE can assure you) for BallinEurope, we get back in the game – so to speak – with a few notes, links and of course YouTubes for your perusal before FIBA EuroBasket games tip off today.
