BallinEurope, the European Basketball news site

After a disappointing no-show by CSKA Moscow in the first Euroleague Final Four game, BallinEurope hopes that the clash of Spanish basketball superpowers lives up to the “Il Classico”…perhaps the biggest news/speculation regards Nathan Jawai, who was such a force in the playoff round for Barca; at least one Spain-based source claims that the big guy will not play at all. With Pete Mickael already out, this cannot be good news.

As for Real Madrid, it seems like ages since they last suited up for a Euroleague game. Will the long respite hurt or help?

Follow along below with BallinEurope and comment at will; enjoy the game, all!

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Okay, so BallinEurope supposes it’s not technically “live blogging” per se, but here will follow live textual coverage of the first Euroleague Final Four game for 2013. And though to man, the Red Army denies any psychological impact or residue of revenge motivates them this game, BiE can’t help but think the disappointment of 2012 isn’t somewhere in mind…

And so what can Euroleague MVP Vassilis Spanoulis engineer this time? We’ll find out very soon now. Join in on the chat here at BallinEurope.com and enjoy the game!

The eminently quotable Sonny Weems was in fine form before his club’s matchup with Olympiacos in Euroleague Final Four play. See below for his talk with media members in which he downplays the revenge factor going into tonight’s game (of course, Sonny was not one of the half-dozen players who ended up on the wrong side of the big league’s biggest championship upset ever) and speaks of the difference between playing for CSKA Moscow and Žalgiris Kaunas.

And finally, for those who assume that any player worth his salt would automatically eschew European basketball for the NBA, watch to the end for a hint on Weems’ future with the Red Army. (Hint: CSKA fans should be stoked indeed…)

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Talk about your focus. It was evident at media day that CSKA Moscow’s Aaron Jackson couldn’t wait to get down to the business of prepping for his team’s Euroleague Final Four game against Olympiacos. Nevertheless, he elaborated for about 20 seconds on the prospect of facing his highest-level one-and-done tournament game since his days at Duquesne…

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Olympiacos’ Josh Powell is fearless. Faced with the prospect of meeting CSKA Moscow’s talented and towering bigs in today’s Euroleague Final Four match, the former NC State Wolfpack/Los Angeles Lakers forward exudes confidence while feeling no trepidation at all…

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A sober and thoughtful Milos Teodosic spoke with media in the leadup to his CSKA Moscow’s Euroleague Final Four meeting with Olympiacos. The mercurial Milos relates that his team, despite rumors, is not overconfident heading into the match and takes a Nietzschean stand on The Red Army’s shocking loss to the Greek side in the 2012 championship.

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Episode #34 of the BallinEurope/heinnews co-produced “Talking the Charge” podcast series is now available online and is downloadable from iTunes.

With the Euroleague Final Four overshadowing all else in Continental hoops this week, Dave Hein and yours truly were naturally set to chat up the big tournament – after BiE tees off on a sports-related pet peeve (Hint: Go Washington Redtails!), that is.

Just skip the first 10 minutes of the ‘cast if you’re not particularly enamored with American football, as Britain-based John Hobbs of TalkBasket.net discusses the impact (if any) this tournament will have on the British sports landscape. Plus, he offers his take on the CSKA Moscow-Olympiacos match happening tomorrow and BiE is forced once again to defend his choice for 2013 Euroleague MVP.

All this plus a review of one of the best worst basketball movies BiE’s ever seen (and that’s saying something), the hilariously-entitled Michael Jordan: An American Hero.

Check out the entire podcast here or to subscribe from this episode ad infinitum, enter http://heinnews.com/feed/taking-the-charge/ into iTunes or any podcast aggregator.

Thanks for listening and talk to you next week!

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So your Euroleague bracket got busted at some point during the quarterfinal round — No problem! BallinEurope offers a shot at prognosticatory redemption today. We want to know: What’s your prediction for the 2013 Euroleague championship game?

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BallinEurope is sorry that CSKA Moscow and Olympiacos, finalists of that memorable 2012 Euroleague Final Four (one of this association’s best tournaments ever – and readers know just how much BiE hates sports-historical hyperbole) won’t get to repeat their matchup in the climactic game again this year, but at least we get a heckuva revenge game on Thursday.

Once again, Olympiacos goes in as underdog of both this match and to take the tourney – but this out, media members (by which BiE means an overwhelming majority, including BiE) won’t be expecting a bunch of overachievers to be steamrolled by squads apparently more talented on paper. Doesn’t it still seem like the factors are all in Moscow’s favor, though? Here are BiE’s five key questions going into the London grudge match…

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Right, so let’s get a week’s worth of Euroleague hype started the democratic, opinionatin’ way. BallinEurope wants to know: Who do you have winning in the first pair of games and advancing to the championship?

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