April 2017 24
Never bet against Billy
Efes came roaring out the gates in Game 4 but it didn’t matter. Olympiacos just took one look at Vassilis Spanoulis and Mr Final Four took care of business, writes Emmet Ryan For anyone else, that start could have phased them. Anadolu Efes came out like a train. A chippy as hell start saw Vassilis […]
Can College basketball increase attention?
March Madness is great. No really, it is. For all the usual complaints about NCAA hoops, of which many are often justified, we can all park our fears once the NCAA Tournament comes around. Cinderella will go to the dance, she’ll do something crazy, somebody will shake their money maker on a big three, and […]
Pero Antic – The giant domestique
Nicolò Origgi on how Pero Antic is a late bloomer who has defined his relevance by embracing his role Basketball, just like cycling, has its own hierarchies. Stars are under the spotlight while role players sacrifice personal glory by quietly contributing in ways that often go unnoticed. That is also the case of the dynamics […]
Doncic shines as Real take vital win in Istanbul
Luka Doncic finally gave us the playoff performance we were waiting for as Real Madrid held off a stern fightback by Darussafaka Dogus to take a 2-1 lead in their Euroleague playoff series, writes Emmet Ryan You all know the result already so let’s look at the main takeaways starting with strong showings from a […]
Forensic Fenerbahce send a message in playoff sweep
The most outstanding aspect of Fenerbahce’s sweep of Panathinaikos wasn’t a big play or individual performance, it was how much more the Istanbul club still clearly has in the tank according to Emmet Ryan Game 3 wasn’t like the first two. There was little drama, Fenerbahce rarely went into the well, and for large parts […]
Podcast – Sweet 16 – Bogdan Rules
Moshe Barda of TeamScout, Aris Barkas of Eurohoops and Emmet Ryan of BallinEurope bring you Sweet 16, breaking down the biggest games and events across Euroleague. The Turkish teams had a big week as three of the four playoff series move to Istabul. Fenerbahce benefitted from the l(ack of) Bogdan Rules while CSKA is looking […]
Steal this column
We’re big in Panama…or rather some folks in Panama like us…or possibly Bulgaria. In short, some people are stealing BallinEurope’s content so we’ve decided to respond as best we know, by messing with them in every manner we can think of A recurring issue for BallinEurope for as long as I can recall is the […]
Milutinov shines as Olympiacos take care of Efes
It was a business-like performance by Olympiacos against Anadolu Efes in Game 1 according to Emmet Ryan, with Nikola Milutinov picking a good night to impress This really didn’t feel like a playoff game for the bulk of the 40 minutes and the credit for that, not blame, should go to Olympiacos who never really […]
Fenerbahce keep their cool to take control
Fenerbahce never let the crowd get to them and, small sample size warning, it looks like Zeljko Obradovic has righted the ship according to Emmet Ryan Given I over-reacted in game, it’s only fair that I over-react to the game. Fenerbahce really looked smart across large parts of this game and got the job done […]
Captain Mancio is back on the ship
Nicolò Origgi on the long journey home for Stefano Mancinelli Just over a decade ago, some then promising young Italian players were starting to make a name for themselves around the Bel Paese and Europe as well, thus catching the eyes of international scouts and drawing high praise from the media. Future NBAers Andrea Bargnani […]
Fearless predictions: CSKA Moscow vs Baskonia
As is tradition on this site, we’re taking the playoffs in reverse order. Emmet Ryan is going to take on each series over the next four days to give his take on who makes it to Istanbul. Last but not least it’s the clash of CSKA Moscow and Baskonia It’s a battle of two Final […]
Podcast – Sweet 16 – It’s Playoff Time
Moshe Barda of TeamScout, Aris Barkas of Eurohoops and Emmet Ryan of BallinEurope bring you Sweet 16, breaking down the biggest games and events across Euroleague. It’s playoff time and that means Sweet 16 is going full court press. We break down all four Euroleague playoff series and give our picks on who is going […]