January 2011 40
Top 100 Teams in Europe: Tops in ACB tops on Continent
The changes begin near the top in this week’s edition of the BallinEurope Top 100 Teams list, as Montepaschi’s third consecutive Euroleague loss dumps the Italian side down to no. 3, passed by their most recent vanquisher, Real Madrid. The top 20 stays fairly stable thereafter, with some jostling of position but no seismic shifts. […]
ACB race tightens: Madrid, Baskonia escape; Unicaja slips further on table
With 19 of its 34 weeks nearly complete, the ACB race is tightening quickly, as evidenced by three games of last night which were decided by a combined four points. (This just in: Real Madrid 62, Assignia Manresa 61, so surely BiE’ll have clips from that soon as well.) You want highlights? BallinEurope’s got your […]
Give him a Guinness: Streetballer Filipy shatters record in Barcelona
Saturday night action in the ACB produced three adrenaline-pumping roof-raising finishes (BallinEurope will post video clips momentarily) but the only Guinness record-shattering performance took place before hundreds in Barcelona, where no game was played. Streetballer Rubén Alcaraz, a.k.a. “Filipy”, managed to keep a basketball spinning on a single fingertip (okay, thumb tip, to be specific) […]
From El-Amin to Vilnius: The week in video clips
Okay, how about closing out the workweek with a few videos? BiE knew you wouldn’t mind! So feast your eyes on a half-dozen clip starring the likes of Khalid El-Amin Danilo Gallinari, Jan Vesely, Sofoklis Schortsanitis, Jeremy Pargo and the International Choir of Vilnius! BallinEurope was pleased as punch to see Gallinari score ESPN “Highlight […]
BallinEurope’s completely relativistic 2010-11 All-Star Team (or, What? You’ve never heard of Bambale Osby?)
With most domestic basketball hitting a halfway point and the Euroleague into its second round, BallinEurope today pays tribute to some outstanding individual performances by naming its all-star team. No relative merits or penalties were assessed for the league in which BiE’s all-stars compete, and domination in one league was a top criteria for making […]
Worth another look: Khalid El-Amin's Upset of the Year capper
Readers of BallinEurope know that BiE loathes hyperbole in sports reportage. But seriously, Lietuvos Rytas upending Caja Laboral Baskonia, 89-86, in Spain last night? Upset of the 2010-11 season thus far, no? So below the break runs a short clip of heroics from Khalid El-Amin, who contributed 22 points on crazy 7-of-8 overall shooting, and […]
Sub-gate: Zalgiris owner Vladimir Romanov plans player substitutions for coaches
Just when you think things at Zalgiris Kaunas can’t possibly get crazier, Mad Vlad comes through with a heavy dose of weirdness for observers to goggle over – though surely jaded Lithuanian fans aren’t surprised one bit by the Green barrage of oddity now commonplace in the Vladimir Romanov Era. What American media types might […]
Messina, Madrid to Garbajosa: You’re free to leave (perhaps to Unicaja, Cajasol or Lagun Aro)
Forced to make roster moves with the arrival of Mirza Begic, Real Madrid coach Ettore Messina yesterday placed former Toronto Raptor forward Jorge Garbajosa on the transfer list This morning, Spanish sports news outlets are abuzz with the news that at least three serious ACB suitors have stepped forward to express interest in obtaining Garbajosa: […]
On Team Germany, Bayern München and Dirk Bauermann’s Catch-22
When fans think of European basketball superpowers, typically names like Spain, Greece, Russia and even Lithuania or Italy tend to enter early into any discussion. At least one national program wants to change this conception – and thus far appears to be a paragon of success which others might do well to follow. To wit, […]
Top 100 Teams in Europe: Barcelona back to no. 1
BallinEurope took a little extra time with the Top 100 Teams in Europe list this week after a suggestion that certain ACB teams were getting the shaft of non-inclusion in the calculations – and so the pool has been widened accordingly. In calculating the Top 100 for this week and heretofore, all teams in major […]
Salute to Salu: Amateur takes flight, BBL dunk contest
Germany’s Bundesliga Basketball League held its All-Star Game and related festivities yesterday in Trier. A full-capacity crowd of 5,738 devotees was on hand to watch a Northern side top their Southerly rivals, 114-104; MVP was Kyle Hines of Brose Baskets Bamberg. But hey, let’s get on to the real centerpiece of any all-star weekend: The […]
Iverson gets surgery Tuesday; wants to play “several more years”; could head to Cleveland (yeah, surrrrrrrrrrrrrrre)
Nearly a month after his last game with Beşiktaş Cola Turka, BallinEurope still misses Allen Iverson. A.I. was just coming into form with the Turkish club when a rumor-enflaming leg injury took him out of action and back to America for treatment. Surgery will be performed on Tuesday to remove an “undetermined growth in his […]