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“Sinister”: Zalgiris Kaunas owner to form political party, fight for “sport, culture, art”
What’s up with the bizarre mix of politics and basketball going on in Europe? While Barack Obama butters up Italia with references to Danilo Gallinari and Marco Bellinelli, New Jersey Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov is stumping in Russia on an apparently futile bid for the presidency there. And now … well, let’s just say Lithuania […]
If Žalgiris Kaunas misses Top 16, does Milovan Rakovic return to Montepaschi Siena?
Though Žalgiris Kaunas club director/former interim coach Vitoldas Massalski has categorically stated that no changes to the Greens’ roster will be forthcoming until the end of the Euroleague regular season, this can hardly stop the speculative future-gazing in Lithuania and beyond. To wit: Yesterday, the Lietuvos Rytas website ran a report stating that Milovan Rakovic […]
Linas Kleiza: Actually, I will be playing in Lithuania during NBA lockout
What gives? Days after Lithuania-based Basket News reported that the former Olympiacos/current locked-out Toronto Raptor wouldn’t be playing for Lietuvos Rytas any time soon, Linas Kleiza – or at least reportage regarding Linas Kleiza – has made a 180º turn in viewpoint in the past week vis-à-vis returning to Europe. This morning, Lithuania Basketball has […]
Highlights from Ty Lawson’s epic Twitter venting (P.S. Unicaja over Žalgiris, 85-78)
Has a Europe-based basketball player ever garnered so much attention in one day on Twitter? Those who follow locked-out Denver Nugget/current Žalgiris Kaunas baller Ty Lawson on the ‘site watched for a span of two hours as a complaint about practice snowballed into a barrage of speed tweeting among Lawson, detractors and supporters. The story […]
Chicken move or clever maneuver? Conspiracy theorizing on Spain 96, France 69
With not nearly enough time spent in Lithuania, BallinEurope doesn’t wish to make any generalizations regarding the national character vis-à-vis tendency to conspiracy theory. Having been based in Central Eastern Europe for plus-10 years now, however, BiE knows how it goes, with “it” here representing “management of professional sport clubs well above and beyond normal, […]
Serious devotion: Lithuanian chains self to tree for more Euroleague TV coverage
While waves of protest action in Egypt continue to dominate headlines worldwide, a single man’s own stand against tyranny in the Baltics went mostly unnoticed; however, for his bravery and determined single-mindedness, Šarūnas Šimaitis is surely a shoo-in for this week’s prestigious and always hard-fought Lithuanian Basketball Freak of the Week award. (Yes, BallinEurope knows […]
Euroleague Top 16 round: 10 must-see games (plus Fearless Predictions™)
With another week to kill before the Euroleague Top 16 round begins, BallinEurope is marking up the calendar to note must-see teevee for January to March, getting out the red pens and awaiting the following matchups. January 19: Real Madrid vs. Partizan Belgrade January 19: Efes Pilsen Istanbul vs. Montepaschi Siena. Wow, Group G is […]
Official BallinEurope Euroleague Power Rankings: Post-week nine
So Žalgiris gets its coach fired after playing .800 ball through 20 games, Spanish powerhouses lose in Lithuania and Germany, Valencia kills Milano, Efes Pilsen stuns PAO … just another week in Euroleague 2010-11, eh? And after happenings aplenty, it sounds like time for another edition of BallinEurope’s Official Euroleague Power Rankings! Let’s go! Tops […]
Vainauskas: Lietuvos Rytas (still) good enough to get into EL Final Four
Proving once again that, even when no games are being played, there’s never a dull moment in Lithuanian basketball, BallinEurope’s man in Lithuania (whom we know simply as “Y”) reports that a team executive there seems to have a bit of a slippery grasp on hard reality – and it’s not even Vladimir Romanov! Lietuvos […]
Sixty-eight Fearless Predictions™ for 2010-11 Euroleague season
With the EL tipoff game tonight, BallinEurope is feeling devotion … not to mention a rush of Fearless Predictions™ coming on. How crazy can BiE get? You be the judge; here are 68 prognostications on all things Euroleague which you may [laugh uproariously about] ponder. Enjoy the season, everyone! (And sign up for the BallinEurope […]
Gershon out in Tel Aviv, Sakalauskas in in Kaunas
A couple of news bites this morning on some high-profile coach firings and hirings in European basketball. In Tel Aviv, Pini Gershon is out as head coach and heavy rumor-mongering has Maccabi picking up current Team Russia/former Aris Thessaloniki head coach David Blatt as a replacement. After two telephone meetings with club management, Maccabi officials […]
The 2009-10 NBA Finals: BallinEurope's official fearless prediction
As if BallinEurope would miss a chance to make a fearless prediction … especially in what is probably the biggest club championship in the world, i.e. the NBA Finals. But first, allow BiE to consult with others before dropping my easily predictable predication out there.