Arvydas Sabonis 50
EuroBasket power rankings, post round one edition
The 2011 FIBA EuroBasket tournament gets things started again today, after the 12 advancing teams get in a couple days’ worth of hard-earned rest. With the dust now settled, BallinEurope takes a look at how the dozen sides look going into the second round of play (numbers in parentheses represent each team’s win-loss record brought […]
Live blogging EuroBasket 2011: Lithuania vs. Spain
Surely this game needs no introduction: It’s the defending European champions against the red-hot, lightning-quick Lithuanians. Lithuania is a player down, but there’s still that 13th man of the crowd and the straight-up willpower of the home team backs by 16,000 volts of tradition, neither of which should be underestimated. Get ready for a wild […]
*The* question: Why is Lithuania so passionate about basketball?
It’s a question for the ages and one that BallinEurope has wondered about in contemplation for years. Last night’s post-game press conference following the Lithuania-Poland EuroBasket match saw an answer delivered, summing things up rather succinctly and satisfyingly. With Team Lithuania head coach Kestutis Kemzura and BiE fave Martynas “Air” Pocius before the assembled media, […]
Portland says goodbye to Hall of Famer with Arvydas Sabonis Day
It might have been the last look Portland Trail Blazers get of one of their greatest big men in a good long time and as this is written, Arvydas Sabonis is most likely back in his home country of Lithuania. Last week saw Sabas receive his final honor as an NBA player at his induction […]
Career retrospective: Arvydas Sabonis, Hall of Famer
In honor of the legendary Arvydas Sabonis, the man Scottie Pippen once called “The greatest European basketball player ever to play the game,” entering the Basketball Hall of Fame, BallinEurope this morning reruns its career retrospective on the big man’s incredible career. Quite a collection of rare Sabonis footage exists in the collective consciousness of […]
Euroleague Final Four, 2011: Some trivia and factoids on this year’s tourney
As with any major sport tournament these days, the informational factoids flow freely through fandom, giving both typical fans and stat addicts extra stuff to look for in the games ahead … and who is BallinEurope to buck such a habit? Below run a few interesting milestones, achievements and straight-up trivia about the 2011 Euroleague […]
Video clips: Championships, cheerleaders, Carroll crushes, Barcelona loses (again)
Happy Monday, everyone. To get that week started right, BallinEurope has compiled a healthy-sized video play list at which you may goggle over morning coffee. From all corners of Europe (and Portland, Oregon) came the action last week as the barrage of title-awarding begins on The Continent. • First up: BiE offers congratulations to Žalgiris […]
Arvydas Sabonis: A career retrospective, via YouTube
BallinEurope sends out huge, 7’3” congratulations this morning to all-time great Arvydas Sabonis, finally inducted into the Professional Basketball Hall of Fame alongside luminaries such as Chris Mullin, Dennis Rodman (whoa, that’s still weird), Artis Gilmore, Tex Winter, “Goose” Tatum, Tom “Satch” Sanders, Tara Van Derveer, Herb Magee, and Teresa Edwards. A tribute in the […]
Sunday viewing: The week in basketball videos online
What else are you doing on this Sunday (BiE means between this afternoon’s ACB games and tonight’s domestic league action, that is)…? Check out a few videos posted to the ‘net this week, courtesy (mostly) of YouTube and BallinEurope…
Sabonis on expansion into Europe: “It depends on the NBA”
Lithuanian legend Arvydas Sabonis recently gave a brief interview to Erildis Budraitis of Balsas.lt – later picked up by the official website of Žalgiris Kaunas – in which the big man reminisces about life in the NBA and speculates on the presently American league’s future a bit. A few interpreted excerpts follow. Balsas: Do you […]
Dream Team Europe nips 1960 Team USA, 107-106, in Festivus Invitational opener
The first annual BallinEurope Festivus Invitational Tournament tipped off today, brought to you incidentally (they probably even haven’t heard of BiE) by the sports simulation website What If Sports. Opening up the tournament is BiE’s own (slightly modified) Dream Team Europe, who hosts that original dream team, the 1960 Team USA squad that destroyed all […]
Introducing the 2010-11 BallinEurope Festivus Invitational Tournament
As a holiday present to the audience, each of you has received courtside tickets to the first annual BallinEurope Festivus Invitational Tournament. Thanks to the miracle of totally BiE-unaffiliated (and totally mind-blowingly awesome) website What If Sports, we can bring together great players of the past and present for true dream matchups – and without […]