ACB 228
Khryapa snaps Diamantidis’ streak, snags EL Best Defender; Rubio finishes second (Videos? You bet!)
A slightly belated congratulations this morning go out to CSKA Moscow’s Viktor Khryapa, who became the Euroleague’s answer to Dwight Howard in taking the “Euroleague Best Defender” trophy and snapping Panathinaikos’ Dimitris Diamantidis’ five-year stranglehold on the award. Meanwhile, NBA fans need take note: Finishing second was FC Barcelona wunderkind Ricky Rubio in what was […]
Voting now open for ACB “Jugador Revelación” of 2009-10
¡Now here’s an election BallinEurope can get into! (Hey, i’m living in Hungary; what can i say?) Over at the league official website, voting is now open for the ACB’s El Jugador Revelación. It’s kinda like the NBA Rookie of the Year award, but it should be noted, that few of the six candidates up […]
Kaukenas out in Madrid and onto Milan?
And so it goes: With Morris “La Almendra” Almond in in Madrid, Rimantas Kaukenas is reportedly out. Of course, in again Kaukenas may soon be – with Olimpia Milano. Spain-based sports website AS.com yesterday reported that Real will be releasing Kaukenas later this week and that the Serie A team would thereafter sign the Lithuanian […]
Madrid signs Morris Almond through 2012, but is Red Claw enough?
In anticipation of a certain-to-be hard-fought ACB playoff tournament, Real Madrid has welcomed aboard Morris Almond, who averaged some 24.6 points per game this season for the NBDL’s Maine Red Claws and Springfield Armor. The official league website touts Almond as a potential addition to help out Madrid’s outside game (“…un excelente anotador con experiencia […]
Source: Messina sighted in Bologna; Sanikidze coming to Madrid?
BallinEurope is the recipient of a nice bit of hot gossip this morning, for which we’d like to thank our anonymous-by-request source. The source tipped BiE off to a sighting of Ettore Messina in Bologna. According to the source, Messina “wasn’t carrying any shopping bag … just a mobile phone.” So perhaps Messina (last seen […]
Qyntel-to-Madrid rumor story has no legs. Yet.
Devoted BallinEurope reader Radallo dropped us a note the other day to pass along an intriguing little rumor, namely that Real Madrid would be making a play to sign Asseco Prokom’s Qyntel Woods before the ACB playoffs. Through Radallo’s Italian source for the rumor, Basket Net, BiE was able to track down the original story […]
¡Barcelona vs. Madrid today! ¡Rubio! ¡Llull! ¡Navarro! ¡Pete Mickael! ¡Ante Tomic! ¡ACB playoff positioning at stake! ¡Messina’s nightmare continues!
“It’s like a nightmare, isn’t it? It just keeps getting worse and worse.” – Tom Cruise as Vincent Lauria, The Color of Money “I’ll be back.” – Arnold “The Governator” Schwarzenegger, any number of movies Here they come again: For the eighth time this season, Real Madrid attempts to defeat the beast that is 2009-10 […]
Representing the Continent in the 2010 Nike Hoop Summit
Portland, Oregon, will tomorrow see the tipoff of the 2010 Nike Hoop Summit in Portland, a showcase event featuring 20 of the world’s greatest youth basketball players going head-to-head in the 11th annual match between USA and “World” teams. As the official site and concomitant PR material likes to point out, the Nike Hoop Summit […]
Simply put, Barcelona cruises, 84-73
Guess that game two loss was little more than a speed bump, eh? Anyone who supposed that FC Barcelona was vulnerable after getting taken down by Real Madrid last week (ahem) can again repress doubts about Xavi Pascual’s team after last night’s dominating performance against their ACB “rivals.” That’s right, that “rivals” is in quotes; […]
Madrid breaks through, beats Barça, creates blueprint?
Thanks to their powerful standings in European basketball, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid were guaranteed to meet at least six times in 2009-10 going into last night’s Euroleague quarterfinals game; today, that number is seven, as Madrid handed Barça a 70-63 loss, its biggest of the season thus far.
Beyond Vesely: Five European names North America must know for 2010-11
With BallinEurope’s profile piece on Jan Vesely in, today we’re adding a bit of a primer on some other names certain to get increasing mentions in NBA culture from your team’s elimination from the playoffs through to the draft and into the 2010 FIBA World Championships in August/September. NBA fans who want to get in […]
¡Qué jornada! Weekend ACB wrap, highlights
They’re breaking out the superlatives today over at the ACB’s official website, full in the afterglow of a weekend’s worth of mostly tight games or, as writer Malo de Molina put it, “¡Qué jornada!” When the dust settled, Real Madrid (20-5) had beaten fourth-place Valencia (16-9) and wrested second place from slipping Caja Laboral Baskonia […]