February 2012 41
Weekly roundup of Germany’s Beko BBL; plus Tony Gaffney’s sick halfcourt shot
Via the Shameless Plug Department, BiE advises readers looking to catch up on German basketball to check out BallinEurope contributor David Hein’s weekly English-language roundup of Bundesliga play – replete with highlights, natch. Featured this week are blurbs on Brose Baskets Bamberg’s nice run, Bayern München’s abysmal road play and a sick shot from halfcourt […]
Rumor: Timberwolves pursue Team Spain connection with Derrick Williams for Pau proposal
Could Pau Gasol be reunited with his Spain teammate Ricky Rubio on the Minnesota Timberwolves? According to Hoops World, Minny management is pursuing such a situation and is reportedly willing to send over rookie Derrick Williams and draft choices to the Los Angeles Lakers for Pau. No comment seems to have been made by Lakers […]
Happy birthday, Team USA killer Oscar Schmidt!
BallinEurope wishes a happy birthday to longtime Team Brazil, Spanish League and Italian Serie A legend Oscar Schmidt, who today is 54 years old. Over a career spanning three decades and five Olympic Games, Schmidt scored a total of 49,703 career points, recognized by FIBA as the most-ever in a career. (The identity of the […]
Roll ‘em! Charlotte Bobcats visit Minnesota, Rubio-to-Johnson connection gets ‘Tubed
When the Charlotte Bobcats come to town, do NBA players consciously seek to create highlight reels? The Human YouTube Highlight Clip himself, Ricky Rubio, was able to demonstrate his ridiculous court vision early and often last night – How difficult is it, after all, to bring the circus to town against an NBA team that’s […]
Bundesliga roundup: Brose Baskets go for 18 threes in blowout; Bayern Munchen loses away again; Howard joins Ludwigsburg
From the land of Dirk, David Hein reports on a few happenings in Germany’s top division of basketball. Read on to find out about the divergent paths of Brose Baskets Bamberg and Bayern München, Matt Howard’s new home, and the Fraport Skyliners’ surprise win last week. Brose Baskets fend off pretenders Ratiopharm Ulm So much […]
Shocker (not): FIBA Europe names Dirk Nowitzki player of the year; Navarro, McCalebb runners-up
To no one’s surprise – certainly not BallinEurope’s, in any case – FIBA Europe today announced its men’s player of the year award would go to the longtime Team Germany/Dallas Mavericks superstar. Less than suspenseful, too, were the results of the top five finishers: Behind Dastardly Dirk came Juan Carlos “La Bomba” Navarro, Bo McCalebb, […]
Minnesota Timberwolves play “Where’s Nikola?”
In a season when Nikola Pekovic finally seems to be coming into his own in the NBA (not too shabby that 18.2 ppg/10.7 rbg average through 20 games), the Minnesota Timberwolves PR folks are apparently having some difficulty locating the 6’11” (2.11m) big man – at least that’s what they’d like you to think. Check […]
Happy Valentine’s Day from BallinEurope (also Pau Gasol and Ricky Rubio)
BallinEurope wishes readers a happy Valentine’s Day today with an expression from that greatest love of all, namely the love of a fan for basketball. At left is our Valentine’s Day card to you, starring those “Latin lover” types Pau Gasol and Ricky Rubio – a match made in heaven. Or in Spain. (A suitable-for-printing-and-framing […]
TBL roundup: Bandirma Kirmizi stuns Fenerbahce Ulker; Morrison, Pops star for Besiktas; Galatasaray holds on to third place
The Turkish Basketball League, rapidly becoming the most competitive European basketball league, saw a number of key games go down this weekend to tighten things up some at the top of the table. While TBL teams gained much international attention for signing big-name NBAers, e.g. Deron Williams, Sasha Vujacic, Ersan Ilyasova, Mehmet Okur, etc., during […]
Batiste buzzer-beater not quite enough; Olympiacos tops Panathinaikos, 78-77
As though Greece didn’t have enough problems on the weekend already, the latest Olympiacos-Panathanikos clash also ended in a bit of controversy yesterday evening. In short, the visiting Greens trailed throughout the game, digging themselves as much as a 20-point hole. However, Mike Batiste and Ioannis Bourousis helped bring PAO back in the second half […]
Why won’t Vladimir Micov dunk? Because “two points is two points”
BallinEurope finally got some time to catch up on some past-due internet reading this weekend, including the immortal Javier Gancedo’s interview with Euroleague Top 16 assist leader Vladimir Micov of Bennet Cantù, perhaps the revelation of European basketball in 2011-12. In the Q&A, Micov touches on subjects including his personal success, Cantù fans and the […]
Basketball diplomacy: Obama plagiarizes self in praise of Danilo Gallinari, Marco Belinelli
Hosting dignitaries and politicos from Italy this week, U.S. president/basketball devotee Barack Obama recently gave an interview to the visiting media as well, naturally taking time to praise Italia’s representatives in the NBA. As self-proclaimed scholar of basketball diplomacy – perhaps the only one on the planet – Enrico Cellini has noticed that Obama’s effusive […]