Jonas Valanciunas recently appeared in Vilnius alongside a slightly more infrequent visitor to the Lithuanian city, i.e. Santa Claus. Valanciunas and Claus appeared as part of the festivities closing out the latest term at the Kalėdų Senelio Iššūkį, a.k.a. the Sostines Basketball School.

Naturally the prospective Toronto Raptor was challenged to a game of hoops before the thrilled youngsters, though the Team Lithuania big man was forced to play under similar conditions as ol’ Saint Nick, namely with mittens on. Whatever: Valanciunas still enjoyed home-court advantage, believe BiE.

Who won the game? See below for video…

This morning, Lithuania Basketball has Kleiza quoted as saying that in fact he *will* be returning to play for one of his home country’s two powerhouse clubs – L. Rytas or Žalgiris Kaunas – and that’s it’s merely a matter of time.

Reports Lithuania Basketball, in part: “‘We’ll see how things pan out. I can’t say that the negotiations are intense [...] the situation with Lietuvos Rytas is very clear, but I haven’t heard anything concrete from Žalgiris,’ said Kleiza.

“Lithuanian businessman and professional poker player Antanas Guoga, who is a good friend of Kleiza, is ready to cover both the salary of the player and the insurance-related costs.

“Guoga has confirmed that he has spoken to Žalgiris owner Vladimir Romanov about the opportunity for Kleiza to play in Kaunas, but is waiting for [Romanov] to field an offer…”

So just your standard stuff in the Lithuanian media, then…

Below, BallinEurope presents some links, highlight clips and like on some of the competing teams starring Igor Rakocevic, Tiago Splitter, D.J. Strawberry and that Williams guy, among others. O, if only BiE had time to properly cover all this basketball … sorry, the NB-what?

• Rod Higgins of the Basketball Post provides much food for thought going into Montepaschi Siena’s game against Unics Kazan on how Igor Rakocevic affects the Italian side’s game plan: Has Ferdinando Minucci sacrificed trademark defensive trickery at the cost of a faster game with another shooter?

On the other hand, perhaps Minucci’s master plan with Rakocevic is just crazy enough to work … tonight provides another nice litmus test: Unics Kazan is middle of the Euroleague table in terms of turnovers at 13 per game while Montepaschi is fifth in team scoring at 84.0 points per game.

• Once resembling a super team, CSKA Moscow entered last week’s PBL game against Krylya Samara short-handed; with Andrei Kirilenko now out for two games minimum, the situation approaches near-critical mass as the Red Army hosts Žalgiris Kaunas. Will a holey CSKA still have enough against the outmatched-on-paper Žalgiris?

Said head coach Jonas Kazlauskas in the post-game: “The thing that worries me is that Kirilenko is injured seriously. [Milos] Teodosic is injured. Taking into account that [Darjus] Lavrinovic is not practicing with the team yet, [Nenad] Krstic had a high temperature … I don’t want to get back to the difficult situation we had last season.”

So, Krstic’s back tonight while the other three above-mentioned won’t be suiting up; adjust your Euroleague fantasy rosters accordingly.

• Speaking of playing/not playing, Da’Sean Butler won’t be on the VEF Riga roster for the team’s Eurocup game against BC Khimki Moscow region – indeed, BiE believes Butler hasn’t yet left the ‘States and is not even 100% sure that the “European team” the locked-out San Antonio Spur’d claimed to have signed with is in fact Riga – but he’s anxious to get there.

• Which naturally leads to Butler’s NBA teammate Tiago Splitter; he’ll be making his 2011-12 Eurocup debut when his Valencia Basket host Telenet Oostende. Splitter went for an impressive 12 points and 10 rebounds in his team’s squeaker of an 86-83 win at UCAM Murcia in ACB play.

• In the leadup to the Anadolu Efes-Partizan game, um, here’s a picture of Sasha Vujacic:

• More seriously, Anadolu Efes claims they’re close to signing locked-out Dallas Maverick Jose Juan Barea.

• Incredibly, Hapoel Jerusalem posted its first win against Maccabi Tel Aviv in 21 years in a 78-64 shocker on Sunday – and D.J. Strawberry says it “wasn’t even our most important game of the week.” According to Strawberry, that would be Jerusalem’s Eurocup match against Cibona Zagreb.

Reports the Jerusalem Post: “Hapoel’s 80-71 defeat at BC Donetsk in its Eurocup opener means its situation inGroup A is already complicated just one game into the regular season, making a home win against Cibona crucial to Jerusalem’s hopes of finishing in the top two and advancing to the last 16…

“Zagreb’s streak of 20 straight years in the Euroleague ended this season and its Eurocup campaign got off to a nightmare start when it was thrashed at home 101-71 by BCM Gravelines of France.

“We need to win our home games in Europe, starting on Tuesday,” Jerusalem coach Oded Katash said. “There is good reason to celebrate after the win against Tel Aviv, but I told the players to put the party on hold until we beat Cibona.”

• Yet another Spur isn’t playing. Tony Parker’s shoulder injury will keep him out of Asvel Basket’s game against Lukoil Acadmic in Sofia; this will mark the first time Asvel plays without Parker since his arrival. Said head coach Pierre Vincent, “We still have a team capable of playing. It is certain that Tony makes a difference, especially in the pick-and-roll. We’ll see if others can take over. And there are other solutions to implement.”

Incidentally, the guard/team executive stated that he and Boris Diaw “have already spoken. If the season is canceled, I will make him an offer for him to come play with me and Ronny [Turiaf].”

• Deron Williams and his Beşiktaş Milangaz meet BG Göttingen in Eurochallenge play tonight. From the In Case You Missed It Department, the Eagles’ troika of D-Will, Semih Erden and Marcelus Kemp wasn’t quite up to spec in TBL play on Saturday; Erdemir handed heretofore undefeated Beşiktaş its first loss of the season by a score of 88-84. Williams went 6-for-16 overall in scoring 16 points and contributing eight assists, Kemp was 5-of-15 for 15 points and Erden battled foul troubles throughout, seeing less than 16 minutes of playing time. In that one, Erwin Dudley (!) was the top scorer for Beşiktaş with 19 points and Zoran Erceg (!!) had 16 points to go with his team-high six rebounds.

It’s been a rough 2011-12 in Göttingen, meanwhile. The team sits dead last in the Bundesliga at 1-8 while going 0-2 in Eurochallenge play, last losing to ZZ Leiden, 80-71, at home in EC play last week.

• No, Linas Kleiza isn’t getting with Lietuvos Rytas any time soon.

Yesterday, FIBA was forced to do a bizarre bit of damage control after Lithuanian media – specifically, who else but powerhouse club sponsor Lietuvos Rytas? – reported that two players competing in EuroBasket had tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs; the piece quoted representatives from the Lithuanian Anti-Doping Agency stated abnormalities had been found and that further testing would have to be done by FIBA on the samples of the two players.

FIBA Europe was quick to deny any such claims, however, soon releasing the following tersely-worded statement on the subject:

“FIBA Europe has dismissed media speculations which claim that two of the players participating in the recent EuroBasket in Lithuania returned a positive drug test.

“FIBA Europe has emphasized that any such news reports are without substance.

“FIBA Europe would have been the first to be informed about positive tests for banned substances during EuroBasket 2011, a tournament that has already been trademarked as one of the best and cleanest basketball events ever.

“On Tuesday, news reports sourcing in Lithuania and reproduced around Europe, were referring to two players who have been tested positive for banned performance enhancing substances during the EuroBasket.”

The lifespan of this rumor through the 21st-century hype cycle – from half-baked rumor to re-reportage online as fact to official denial to tapering off of tweets – with the speed of a fruitfly, and in the squall of commentary at least one Macedonian media outlet took quite the aggressive stance toward their Lithuanian counterparts.

In an English-language piece entitled “Lithuanian Media Still Upset over loss to Macedonia,” an unidentified Macedonian International News Agency (MINA) writer reinterpreted the gossip proliferation of yesterday somewhat freely.

The MINA piece, together with snarky comments provided by BallinEurope, follows.

“Lithuanian media, the same media who predicted their nation reaching the final, even printed tickets for the Spain match before their team even played Macedonia, is now claiming there were two basketball players using Steroids during the European championship in Basketball.”

(Wait a minute, Lithuanian media printed tickets?)

“Some people it seems, just can’t take a loss…”

(Oooh, zing.)

“The Lithuanian basketball federation had said nothing, but the media today claimed ‘for sure’ there were two basketball players using steroids. First it was two Macedonians, then [they] corrected themselves and now [it’s] one Macedonian and one Spaniard. Though frankly, Macedonians did request a doping test for Navarro (who couldn’t miss) as well as for the Greek referee who had 92% of his calls go against Macedonia.”

(BiE thinks that last part is meant to be ironic; either that or some people just can’t take a win.)

“FIBA issued a quick press release slamming the Lithuanian media for their speculative reporting because the international body had conducted numerous tests and all came back negative. FIBA went even as far as to say that was the ‘cleanest’ tournament ever.”

(Read the FIBA Europe statement, “…any such news reports are without substance.” Wait a minute … is that a play on words?)

“FIBA on its website refused to speculate which national teams or players the Lithuanian media referred to!”

(Perhaps because they’ve put the matter of Navarro and Bo McCalebb’s seemingly supernatural powers in the tournament into an X-file … incidentally, who ends a news story with an exclamation point?)

BiE believes the best solution in order to prevent a war of words between Macedonian and Lithuanian media/blogophiles would be to get them on the court. In such a venue, certain trash-talking might be more appropriate.

And gee, does BiE hope that the Luol Deng-to-Bizkaia Bilbao Basket story published on Krepsinis.net isn’t “without substance” as well!

The "beautiful, enigmatic bastard"

Lazy Sunday? Great: BallinEurope has just the thing to occupy your time! Below run some quality articles and gawk-worthy YouTubes from the week that was in European basketball and NBA lockout land for your perusal. The bullet-point format is in effect and the show stars Danny Green, Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje, Walter Szczerbiak, Spike Lee and Samuel L. Jackson. Enjoy!

• For an excellent and thorough piece on the Real Madrid offense (and concomitant weak interior defense) in light of Thursday night’s Euroleague loss to Maccabi Tel Aviv, check out this work at In The Game. Figures writer Rod Higgins in part: “…it is doubtful that [Real’s] current style will serve them particularly well once the regular season is over. Madrid get most of their wins by simply outscoring their opponents. This means that they have to improve defensively; Bilbao, Milano and Maccabi have repeatedly exposed the weak interior defense of the Merengues earlier in the season…”

• Hey, some positivity for the Lithuanian fans! Roll the top 10 plays by Lietuvos Rytas in October!

• Project Spurs is very proud of their boy Danny Green right now.

• Cameroon hoopster (and one of the game’s great names) Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje was forced to retire this week due to a heart condition. Boumtje-Boumtje played six full seasons in Greece and Germany after playing sparingly for the Portland Trail Blazers and had begun this season with FC Bayern München. Boumtje-Boumtje took one national championship, with EWE Baskets Oldenburg in 2009.

The center became something of a YouTube phenomenon while playing with Oldenburg; the classic “Top 10 Dunks over Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje, 2008-09” as produced by a fan of the team has been removed – you can get an idea of Oldenburgers’ compilation of Ruben’s sadder moments in Germany here and here and here. On the plus side, the following is a nicely done tribute to Boumtje-Boumtje as he appears on the right end of a posterization, done up in the “Amazing Happens” format.

• Speaking of great names, Euroleague official website writer Vladimir Stankovic this morning contributed a nice bit of history on Walter Szczerbiak, the “superstar with the unpronounceable name.” (Really? What’s so difficult about “Walter”?)

• Yahoo Sports ran a slightly random piece about some random weirdness on Twitter due to the NBA lockout. You gotta love the suggestion “to replace the entire NBA with eager and skillful Afghanis,” but BallinEurope still doesn’t get the reticence of American NBA fans to, you know, check out this little association over here called “Euroleague.” Or even that “ACB” thing…

• Still no video posted by Euroleague on Jordan Farmar’s awesome 27-point show against Real Madrid, but here’s the game in its entirety, should you not have the Euroleague pass. The YouTube username for this contribution is given as “DejanBodyIsBack”; BiE’s glad to hear it, as Dejan has long been one of the great providers of European basketball clips to the ‘Tube.

• Is a “Free Kristers” campaign coming? Team Latvia U20 player Kristers Zeidaks has been ruled ineligible by NCAA officials to play with Mississippi State this season, due to participation in professional league play in his home country.

• Hardwood Paroxysm’s Noam Schiller wrote up an awesome bit of work on Andrei Kirilenko, the “beautiful and enigmatic bastard” who just kills in Europe – and how.

• Spike Lee has weighed in on the NBA lockout: He’s against it and reckons that “…one day, very soon, the Knicks will have an NBA championship.” – major surprises there. However, now might be a good time for a flashback. See below a couple of Nike ads from the 1998 player lockout starring Spike and Sam Jackson (that’s right).

Group A
Cibona Zagreb (4th, Croatia)
Hapoel Jerusalem (3rd, Israel)
BC Donetsk (2nd, Ukraine)
BCM Gravelines Dunkerque (3rd, France)

Group B
BC Khimki Moscow region (2nd, Russia)
PAOK BC (3rd, Greece)
Cholet Basket (2nd, France)
VEF Riga (champions, Latvia)

Group C
Aris BSA 2003 (4th, Greece)
CEZ Nymburk (champions, Czech Republic)
BC Rudupis (3rd, Lithuania)
Gas Terra Flames (champions, Netherlands)

Group D
Valencia Basket (5th, Spain)
Telenet Oostende (4th, Belgium)
Asvel Basket (4th, France)
Lukoil Academic (champions, Bulgaria)

Group E
Gran Canaria 2014 (6th, Spain)
Lokomotiv Kuban (4th, Russia)
Banvit BK (3rd, Turkey)
Fraport Skyliners (3rd, Germany)

Group F
Lietuvos Rytas (2nd, Lithuania)
Le Mans Sarthe (8th, France)
BC Azovmash (5th, Ukraine)
Krka Novo Mesto (2nd, Slovenia)

Group G
Benetton Basket (4th, Italy)
Spartak St. Petersburg (7th, Russia)
Cedevita Zagreb (2nd, Croatia)
FC Bayern Munchen (champions, German second division)

Group H
Alba Berlin (2nd, Germany)
Dexia Mons-Hainhaut (3rd, Belgium)
KK Buducnost (champions, Montenegro)
PGE Turow Zgorzelec (2nd, Poland)

In Vilnius, it wasn’t so pretty or high-scoring, but Galatasaray used a couple of scoring runs and outlasted Lietuvos Rytas to become the third TBL team in the 2011-12 Euroleague season in its first-ever bid in the big league … by the way, does this make the Lithuanian side the outright favorite to take the 2012 Eurocup title or are we still thinking Beşiktaş?

An excerpt from the league’s official writeup and highlights via Lietuvos Rytas TV follow.

(Euroleague) – Galatasaray overcame Lietuvos Rytas, 71-63, at Siemens Arena in Vilnius, Lithuania, to advance to the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Regular Season for the first time in club history. Galatasaray trailed early, but used a 13-2 run to take a 30-28 halftime lead and continued to add to it throughout the second half. Head coach Oktay Mahmuti’s men will play in Euroleague Group D with Asseco Prokom, FC Barcelona Regal, Montepaschi Siena, Unics Kazan and Union Olimpija.

Preston Shumpert paced the Galatasaray attack with 14 points off the bench, Josh Shipp and Luksa Andric added 12 apiece and Jaka Lakovic tallied 10 points and five assists for the winners. Renaldas Seibutas scored 11 first-quarter points for Rytas, but quieted after that and finished with 15. Goran Jeretin added 12 and Steponas Babrauskas had 10 in defeat. Rytas will compete in the Eurocup this season, a competition it won just two seasons ago.

Later last evening, Spirou Charleroi Basket stifled shocking CEZ Nymburk – at one point late taking a 30-point lead – in front of their fans to return for another Euroleague regular season. Spirou is now 6-0 the past two seasons in the Qualifying Round, with all six games played on its home court.

No clips from this match appear to be readily available online (whassup with that?), so you’ll just have to make do with the official Euroleague writeup below.

And don’t forget: The Euroleague regular season tips off on October 17 with CSKA Moscow visiting Žalgiris Kaunas…

(Euroleague) – Belgacom Spirou Basket established itself as the king of qualifying for the second year in a row by routing CEZ Nymburk 79-53 at the Spiroudome in Charleroi, Belgium, to advance to the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Regular Season. The Belgian champs pulled away in the second quarter to take a 34-21 halftime lead and never looked back as the margin crossed the 30-point mark in the fourth quarter.

Chris Hill shined with 21 points and 12 rebounds, Demond Mallet scored 18, Caleb Green had 12, Christophe Beghin 11 and Jiri Welsch dished seven assists for the winners. Head coach Giovanni Bozzi’s squad advances to Euroleague Regular Season Group C, where it will meet Anadolu Efes, Emporio Armani Milano, Maccabi Electra, Partizan m:ts and Real Madrid, which Spirou will host on opening night, October 20.

Eugene Lawrence paced Nymburk with 10 points. The Czech champs, who impressed Saturday by knocking out BC Khimki Moscow Region, never got on track against Spirou. In addition to its shooting woes, Nymburk was also outrebounded, 48-32. Head coach Ronen Ginzburg’s men will now play in the 2011-12 Eurocup Regular Season.

Welsch opened the scoring with a fastbreak layup for the hosts, who soon got another just like it from Justin Hamilton. When Tornike Shengelia banked in a runner, Spirou was up 6-0. Petr Benda broke Nymburk’s drought with a tip-in, but it was clear already that Spirou planned to rev up the tempo to test Nymburk’s energy reserves on its third game in as many nights. Beghin owned the inside with back-to-back baskets for a 10-2 Spirou lead and a quick Nymburk timeout. Tre Simmons hit his first basket after that, and soon Lawrence got on the scoreboard, too, cutting the difference to 10-9. Hill’s free throws for Spirou were then matched by a running jumper from Simmons. When Mike Lenzly broke loose for a fastbreak layup, Nymburk had its first advantage at 13-12. However, Green’s corner triple put the lead back in Spirou’s hands, 15-13, after 10 minutes.

The defenses continued to dominate in the second quarter, blocking shots and drawing charges until Lamayne Wilson tied it up, 15-15, with a baseline jumper. Spirou reacted with quick baskets by Hill and Welsch, which was saying something with points at a premium now. Nymburk looked too tired to get to the basket, while Hill popped high off the mark to down a jumper at 21-15. Green’s next points, on a breakaway dunk, ignited the crowd, and Mallet did so even more with a nothing-but-the-net triple at 26-17. Once Green scored on a three-point play and Mallet on a transition jumper, it was 31-17 and Nymburk looked rudderless. Simmons got a two-pointer and Radek Necas a pair of free throws to fall before halftime, but in between, Mallet struck from long range again, assuring Spirou a comfy 34-21 halftime gap.

The home team came out for the second half looking to end the game early. A Hill triple and a Mallet layup lifted the Spirou advantage to 18. Petr Benda stepped up and nailed a long jumper, but it was not enough to change the momentum. Hill nailed another three to put 44-24 on the scoreboard. Lukas Palyza got to the hole for a layup only to see Toko Shengelia better him with a basket-and-one. Beghin put the hosts up 21 from the line and Mallet made it 22. Mike Lenzly’s free throws and three-pointer had little impact as Mallet came back from downtown. Four Pavel Pumprla free throws drew Nymburk to 54-36 entering the final quarter.

Beghin made it 20 at the start of the fourth quarter. Nymburk never quit and Lenzly laid his body out for a loose ball, but the shots simply did not fall. Pumprla shined for a moment with a steal and slam. Mallet ended any doubts about the outcome with a triple before a Welsch steal set Hill up for a layup-plus-foul, which also landed Benda a technical foul. After Hill sank three free throws and Beghin two more, the lead hit 68-38. Lawrence drained a three for Nymburk and then got to the line as the visitors never stopped playing. Palyza also connected from downtown. But the Czech champs’ efforts were now too little, too late. The local fans sang over the final minutes as Spirou marked a second straight season in the Euroleague.

Songaila: Best hope for Galatasaray upset?

Lietuvos Rytas vs. Galatasaray Café Crown Galatasaray looked impressive in dispatching Asvel Villeurbanne (O, Tony Parker, où êtes-vous?) and putting up 93 points, the highest total registered in qualifying round games thus far. Better yet, the high-profile additions to the already solid Turkish team’s roster appear to be working perfectly: Jaka Lakovic and Darius Songaila contributed a whopping 40 points combined in the win.

On the other side of the court, Lietuvos Rytas has taken care of business against both opponents faced – KK Buducnost and Cibona Zagreb – with their margins of victory 19 and 16 points, respectively. L.Rytas started the match with the intriguing and somewhat unexpectated combination of Jonas Valanciunas and Vilmantas Dilys at the forward spots, showing the depth this team brings; security they’ll surely need against the long roster of Galatasaray – heck, on paper, the Turkish team may actually have *more* talent man for man.

But there’s no way BiE can go against a Lithuanian side after the heartbreak of EuroBasket 2011; the Official BallinEurope Fearless Prediction™ here has Lietuvos Rytas 90, Galatasaray 87 … but another performance like yesterday’s by Songaila and Galatasaray might just sneak past.

Spirou Basket v. CEZ Nymburk. Is Nymburk ready to make the step up to the big league? After holding Banvit BK to a qualifying-round low point total of 57, the Czech side handily beat frequent Euroleague participants BC Khimki Moscow Region, 86-79, in what the EL official site calls “the biggest upset of the season so far.”

Or was it? Against Khimki, Nymburk simply showed its strengths while keeping the battle for the boards irrelevant. A nice barrage of jumpshots from the likes of Tre Simmons and Pavel Pumprla got the team off to a 21-3 lead, a deficit few teams (including the so-cold Khimki) could overcome. Nymburk showed amazing ball movement and displayed excellent judgment in finding the open man – more often than not, one of the aforementioned deadshots.

Spirou Basket, meanwhile, has the distinct home-court advantage; indeed, after surviving quite a scare against BC Donetsk, the Belgians are now 5-0 in the Euroleague Qualifying Round in the past two seasons on their home floor. And luckily for them, they found their game against Alba Berlin in the final 25 minutes or so of yesterday’s 74-63 win – the defense was solid, the experience players shone, and it all without Mickael Gelabale – to appear ready against the Czech Republic’s plucky underdogs. Official Fearless Prediction™: Don’t call it boring, call it stoic. Hometown Spirou wins, 73-67.

For your amusement and edification, then, BallinEurope presents a collection of highlight clips, quotes, previews and notes for of games played and to be played … and we’re doing this TrueHoop Network-, i.e. bullet-, style. Enjoy the games!

• A decent English-language preview of tonight’s BC Khimki Moscow region-PGE Turów game is up on the former club’s official website, though BiE suspects the Thomas Kelati quotes went from English through Polish on their way back to English.

A representative sample: “The upcoming meeting with Turow certainly arouses in me only positive emotions. … Nicely to meet with former partners and coaches. But I understand well that it’s just emotions and wonderful memories. At the court there will be fight. I defend the colors of BC Khimki and will do everything for our victory and going further.”

Sure, it’s understandable, but perhaps something was lost in the translation of the translation.

• The serious underdogs of Turów, meanwhile, assure fans that they “Won’t lay down” for the former Euroleague side.

• A Czech-language version of an interview with CEZ Nymburk head coach Ronen Ginzburg has the interviewer asking, “[The Euroleague Qualifying Round games are] played at the very beginning of the season. Is it a little strange when one of the highlights of the season will come before the team’s regular schedule?”

While Ginzburg quickly defers into talk about “an honor just to be here,” the coach does state that “this game should be one of the highlights of the season.”

For an American, such tournaments – particularly a one-game knockout competition to determine qualifiers – are one of the outstanding oddities of European basketball. Although BiE wonders if the NBA will have to adapt this format for the 2011-12 “season” … it would at least put the Charlotte Bobcats fans out of their misery early. And the end result can’t be any weirder than the 1999 final featuring the Ewing-less New York Knicks versus the San Antonio Spurs.

• Naturally, Lietuvos Rytas fans have been dutifully posting videos in the afterglow of their team’s victory over Buducnost Podgorica; directly below are the red-and-black-centric highlights.

• For those of you who only have eyes for Jonas Valanciunas, this one compiles his nice 11-point, eight-rebound, two-assist, one-steal performance against the Montenegrin side – a measure of revenge for the bouncing handed his Team Lithuania at the hands of FYR Macedonia in the Eurobasket quarterfinals, perhaps…?

• A quasi-inspirational promotional for the virtues of Asvel Basket fandom appears on the French club’s website, but just two questions: When did Asvel Basket ever “rule the world”? And is the team mascot’s jersey number really 69?

• Before tonight’s game, surely the most important event of the week in Galatasaray land was the visit paid to the club by Kobe Bryant earlier in the week. No word on whether a contract offer was made or if Kobe is willing to play in TBL ball this season…

• Here’s Lucca Staiger in the post-game press conference after Alba Berlin’s 82-60 immolation of BiE fave VEF Riga.

• And how about a fight song? Here’s Lietuvos Rytas’: