Features 668
The streaky shape of a Final Four contender
They live and die off streaks but Efes need to find what they are if they are to make a legitimate Final Four push according to Emmet Ryan On paper this team is stacked. Heurtel, Saric, Granger, Diebler, Dunston, Tyus, Osman, are the type of names that belong on a Final Four roster. This side […]
Shved makes the statement Khimki paid for
Alexey Shved showed why Khimki paid him the biggest bucks but the job is only really beginning writes Emmet Ryan The Moscow derby was never likely to be a blowout. Khimki have invested far too much to simply roll over in the face of CSKA’s extraordinary roster. Still, with Paul Davis effectively broken and Marko […]
Darius Hargrove on Romania, NBA, and his career
Darius Hargrove has been around. Having played NCAA ball for Virginia Union University, Hargrove has seen a great chunk of Europe and is now plying his trade in Romania with U-Banca Transilvania Cluj-Napoca. Andrei Britz caught up with Hargrove for a sit down interview about his career, his hopes for Cluj-Napoca, and his biggest influences. […]
Bernard O’Byrne on Ireland’s resurrection
It’s been a long road back to relevance for Irish basketball, ahead of the FIBA Europe Cup next week Emmet Ryan speaks with Basketball Ireland chief executive Bernard O’Byrne about the sport’s resurrection in Ireland When Bernard O’Byrne took over as chief executive of Basketball Ireland in 2011, the sport was in brutal shape on […]
La Roja reclaims the throne
The Spain everyone feared finally showed up and laid waste to Lithuania in the final of EuroBasket 2015. Emmet Ryan writes about a well-timed ascendancy Pau Gasol didn’t have to do it all by himself today. That lone stand on Thursday night had roused his team mates. Once more they entered hostile territory but this […]
Pau’s band of brothers
Pau Gasol has brought a battered and tired crew back to the big one. Now, Emmet Ryan writes, he must raise them one final time The field of Agincourt lies just 90km or so from here. Next month on 25 October, St Crispin’s day, the 600th anniversary of one of the greatest against the odds […]
A tale of two coaches
Aleksandar Djordjevic and Jonas Kazlauskas had a battle of wits on Friday. It was the Lithuanian supremo who prevailed and is going to the final. Emmet Ryan tells their story This place wasn’t full but it sure was loud. All day the talk was that this was Serbia’s to lose. The only people giving Lithuania […]
Pau fights to the last as Spain overcome France in OT thriller
Pau Gasol refused to quit even when his body begged him to. Pau’s heart told it to shut up and keep playing. It was just enough to stop France, writes Emmet Ryan Pau Gasol had sent the message clear before this game. He wanted to beat France in front of their own fans. He remembers […]
It’s all on Pau
Spain have relied heavily on one man throughout EuroBasket, Emmet Ryan expects nothing to change when they face Greece in the quarter finals He’s battered. 17 years as a pro with most of those seasons extended by playoffs, international duty, or both. On Saturday he wasn’t supposed to play more than 5 minutes at a […]
A rainy day in Lille
Rather than report on every game individually, Emmet Ryan has treated the second day of Last 16 play as one continuous piece. That and it rained 12.00 – My bed, Ronchin I realised something was up. My alarm hadn’t gone off. Turns out it doesn’t work if you turn the phone off. Not to worry, […]
Looking for EuroBasket
Emmet Ryan didn’t go to the arena on Thursday. Instead he hit Berlin to see if he could find an impact made by the tournament on the 3 million people here In the Mercedes-Benz Arena, EuroBasket was everything. In that bubble of basketball, the idea that these games weren’t the most important thing in the […]
Auf Wiedershen Dennis?
Some columns are written drunk, this one is being written while drinking, Emmet Ryan is in a bar in Kreuzberg and he looks a lot healthier than Germany’s hero right now The end was the three. Marco Belinelli scored from deep and Germany’s hopes of beating Italy went with it. Moments beforehand, Germany’s best hope […]