Now add 2010
Congratulations go out from BallinEurope to the Los Angeles Lakers and Brose Baskets Bamberg for taking national titles last night/this morning, while Montepaschi Siena is one big step closer to ending up Serie A champs yet again.
The last shall be first: You may have heard that the Lakers won their second consecutive NBA title already … in a remarkable display of D and despite notably horrific shooting, Los Angeles managed to overcome a 13-pont third quarter deficit and win, 83-79, over the Boston Celtics in the decisive game seven.
BiE’s favorite highlight? This one involving the Lakers’ 13th man, of course:
In Germany, home team Brose Baskets Bamberg earned a spot in Euroleague 2010-11 by holding on for the 72-70 win against Deutsche Bank Skyliners. The trophy signifies Bamberg’s third German championship, but the first double-title season in club history, having taken the BBL Cup in April.
Brose Baskets’ Casey Jacobsen was named finals MVP, but coach Chris Fleming praised the efforts of Tibor Pleiss on defense and the offense of John Goldsberry, who went for 15 points in the final game.
Hilariously, both coaches commented on one part of Goldsberry’s game: In the post-game, Frankfurt coach Gordon Herbert was quoted as saying that “We have complained the whole series over about the acting by John Goldsberry, who is a great player … I want to emphasize that this statement is independent of the game’s outcome. I will not stand as a bad loser.”
(“Die Schauspielerei von John Goldsberry, der ein großartiger Spieler ist, haben wir die ganze Serie über moniert … Ich möchte betonen, dass diese Aussage unabhängig vom Spielausgang ist, ich will nicht als schlechter Verlierer dastehen.”)
From the other side, Fleming addressed said complaints about Goldberry as well, saying that “although he is slightly built, he … takes a lot of contact. We never had any complaints about flopping with him.”
(“Zu Goldsberry möchte ich widersprechen, obwohl er schmächtig ist, wirft er sich immer dazwischen und nimmt viel Kontakt auf. Wir hatten nie Beanstandungen wegen Floppings bei ihm.”)
Anton Gavel had 16 points for the champions, while Pascal Roller put in 20 and Seth Doliboa added 19 for the Skyliners.
Finally, to no one’s surprise, Montepaschi Siena is on the verge of making it four consecutive Italian titles in decisively beating AJ Milano, 88-75, to take a 3-0 lead in games in the Serie A championship series.
The fat lady was warming up in the wings early in this one, as Siena jumped out to 27-7 lead, had a comfortable 32-11 margin after a quarter, and hit cruise control. Four players scored in double figures for Siena; game highlights can be found here.
And now, we await the crowning of the Serbian Superleague champion … with Partizan Belgrade up two games to zip over Hemofarm Stada and game three tonight, the 2009-10 basketball season would appear to be 18 hours or so from wrapping up.
