BallinEurope, the European Basketball news site

Here’s a nominee from BallinEurope for dunk of the week. Check out this slam from Marko Keselj in the third quarter of Valencia BC’s emphatic 97-64 Eurocup win over s.Oliver Baskets Würzburg last night.

What makes this jam particularly ridiculous is the sheer amount of floor space Keselj runs in driving this one home – so call it a road trip. Taking a cross-court pass out well past the arc, the young Serb first blows past Alex King and then posterizes Jason Boone for good measure … truly this is “machaca y vuelve loca.”

Continue Reading…

In clearing out the virtual desk of 2011-12 basketball season stuff, BallinEurope today presents this compilation of the year’s top Euro-centric buzzer-beaters. The requirements to make the list were two: the primary player in the buzzer-beater most be of European nationality or the shot must take place in a game featuring European teams; and the buzzer-beater must take place at the end of a quarter, i.e. no shot-clock buzzer-beaters considered.

Greater weight was given in consideration to the relative importance of the win earned with the highlight shot. Keeping one’s team alive is more important than YouTube glory, after all.

And on with the list. Firstly, honorable mentions go to:

• Travis Diener for Banco di Sardegna Sassari against Fabi Shoes Montegranaro on April 15. Sassari would go on to win in overtime, 79-77, and continue in a successful season which had them ultimately placing fourth in the Serie A. Unfortunately for the purposes of this post, not quite a buzzer-beater.

Continue Reading…

The semifinals are underway in Germany and, as always, David Hein has one eye on the action there. Read on to find out about the Brose Baskets Bamberg-Artland Dragons and Ratiopharm Ulm-s.Oliver Baskets matchups in game one … plus, a bit of distressing news for forward-thinking Oklahoma City Thunder fans.

The top two seeds in the German Beko BBL playoffs defended home turf to start the semifinals as two-time defending champions Brose Baskets blasted Artland Dragons, 103-70, while ratiopharm ulm knocked off s.Oliver Baskets, 77-65.

Bamberg’s win over the Dragons could prove costly, however, as star center Tibor Pleiß went down with a right knee injury in the fourth quarter and reportedly underwent an MRI yesterday to determine the extent of the injury.

Continue Reading…

From the land of Dirk – Nowitzki and Bauermann, that is – David Hein reports on a few happenings in Germany’s top division of basketball. Read on to find out all about Alba Berlin and Yassin Idbihi pick-and-rolling Bayern Munich to death and overtaking ratiopharm Ulm for second place; s.Oliver Baskets Würzburg moving past Bayern Munich – for now; and LTi Giessen 46ers extending their deal with head coach Björn Harmsen.

Berlin basketball fans came out en masse over the weekend to see if their red-hot Alba Berlin could sweep the season series against the publicity magnate from the deep south Bayern Munich. And Alba did not disappoint a sold-out crowd of 14,500 at the O2 World Arena as Berlin’s bench outscored Bayern’s reserves 46-13 in a 73-52 victory. Munich had absolutely no clue how to defend the Berlin pick-and-roll as Alba back-up center Yassin Idbihi scored 15 of his team-high 17 points in the fourth quarter and Berlin won the final period 73-52.

Continue Reading…