Yeah, we’re gonna do the “Top 10” retrospective thing, but trust BiE: It’ll be mostly painless. (After all, a little reviewing of crazy highlights never hurt anyone – even with a hangover.) These are the stories running on BallinEurope in calendar year 2010 that got the most “reads,” but how many do you remember?
Relive 2010 with BiE through championships Euroleague and FIBA, the NBA offseason, the greatest basketball documentary in years, Allen Iverson abroad and dunks. Oh yes, there will be dunks. Click on any the titles in bold to read the original post. Enjoy and as always thanks for reading BallinEurope.com!
1. Serbian suspicion confirmed: Photo shows Tunceri stepped out
The 2010 FIBA World Championship was a fantastic edition of the international tournament – even if Team USA did bring too much Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook for very serious competition from the rest of the planet – and BiE is loath to cast aspirations on great memories. However, Team Serbia was right to be indignant about the semifinal match against hosts Turkey, specifically the last-second play fumbled by Hedo Turkoglu and recovered by Kerem Tunceri in time for the game-winning shot. Except that this photograph appeared online the next day.
2. Lebron touts wicked dunk from Germany
The undisputed tweeter of 2010 was clearly Lebron, who used the 141-character format to air some controversial views, hyped the virtues of Kevin Love and Chris Paul, and got former University of Dayton baller Marcus Johnson viral-like attention for this wicked jam out of Germany.
Aaaaaaaaaaaand ... Rudy's still with the Blazers
What was the dead period between the FIBA Worlds and Euroleague tipoff like? Well, remember when Fernandez was a talking point on both sides of the ocean…?
4. *The* proverbial nasty dunk. No, really.
Tony Skinn is certain to be a charter member in the BallinEurope Hall of Fame whenever that little doozy is created on the basis of this clip alone. Geez, talk about your leverage…
5. See “Once Brothers” here (while you can)
Well, you can still see “Once Brothers” here, though BiE has had to update the embeds a couple of times … a shoutout to YouTube user DejanBody2010, whose posts BiE’s using, has a pretty excellent European and NBA basketball video collection well worth a look.
6. Partizan Belgrade takes Adriatic League in thriller
The shot seen ‘round the world, thanks to its easy virability (just made that word up – all rights mine) as both a miracle shot, a dagger to end all daggers, and a lesson for the kiddies, i.e. keeping playing until the buzzer sounds. In this woeful 2010-11 season for the Croatian side, BiE swears Cibona is now suffering under The Curse of Dusan Kecman.
7. Euroleague Games Four highlight clips
If LeBron was basketball’s ruler of Twitter, Ricky Rubio rocked BiE’s favorite video sharing website and today the Euroleague’s Rising Star for 2009-10 surely today leads the world in ratio of YouTube views to actual, you know, views. This set of official Euroleague clips features the Human YouTube putting in perhaps his best game of the past season to bounce Real Madrid from the EL tournament round.
In parallel that week, Milos Teodosic and Josh Childress played fantastic games for Olympiacos in their own game four against pseudo-Cinderella story Asseco Prokom, while Pionir stands and Belgrade streets blew up with excitement and frivolity following Partizan’s bouncing of Maccabi Tel Aviv.
8. Allen Iverson’s first game with ‘Cola: Half-empty or half-full?
9. Iverson’s debut tonight
Making a bigger splash than when Childress crossed the Atlantic, Allen Iverson’s decision to take his talent to Küçüksu Beach generated more buzz for any American hoopster in Europe since Dominique Wilkins. One wonders if Turkish basketball will ever see anything approaching the viewing figures for that first Beşiktaş Cola Turka game – and what it would take to do so.
10. No dunks, please, we’re Finnish (or, The Greatest Offensive Foul of All-Time)
Let’s wrap things up with a dunk by Theron Wilson of the Salon Vilpas Vikings … or, wait, maybe that’s not a dunk in Finland. Hmm, well, if you think Finnish basketball is weird, just check out the way they play baseball…
As we await the great stories of 2011, BallinEurope wishes all the readers a very happy new year!
