Basketball Highlights 139
Down goes Goliath: Bonn plays David, slays Bamberg in playoffs opener
Biggest shocker of European domestic-league basketball playoffs thus far? David Hein posts this brief report on German Bundesliga no. 8 seed snapping top dog Brose Baskets Bamberg’s 48-game winning streak in the first match of their quarterfinals meeting – there’s even a quality Luol Deng-like buzzer-beater to boot… Telekom Baskets Bonn squeaked into the German […]
Early nominee, Eurocentric buzzer-beater of the year: Juan Carlos Navarro hits half-courter before halftime
Oh, Señor Navarro … you’ve done it again. Long since known as one of Europe’s great clutch players, Juan Carlos produced some more heroics for FC Barcelona yesterday. In the Liga Endesa week 33 game against superpowered rivals Real Madrid, the hosting Blaugrana looked sluggish early and looked to be inevitably suffering from a nine-point […]
Revealed: The EuroChallenge championship curse
Winning the EuroChallenge title is a good thing, right? After all, it’s typically the first Continental trophy to display on the mantelpiece and the champions label wins the club to right to play in the more prestigious (and more big-bucks) Eurocup competition the following season. Well, Uygar Karaca may convince believers otherwise. In the first […]
BallinEurope wants your (Eurocentric) buzzer-beaters!
As the quick-as-a-flash 2011-12 basketball season grinds to a close in the NBA and all over Europe, BallinEurope asks for your help in compiling the year’s most thrill-creating, best-ever-debating, opposition-hating buzzer-beating shots. When the last European domestic league has tipped off its last, BiE will show you the best of ‘em – and hopefully even […]
Spartak St. Petersburg 82, Triumph Lubertsy 73: Epic display of flopping, personal vendetta or match-fixing conspiracy?
Criticizing the referees is the international pastime for fans of every sport as losses are bemoaned and shortcomings blamed on those unloved (and allegedly) myopic zebras. Nothing new here. Cynicism and conspiracy theorizing are particularly rife in this part of formerly Soviet-influenced Europe, with anything up to and including Eurobasket losses. Again, nothing new here. […]
Explaining BallinEurope's Euroleague MVP ballot (plus the top 25 for 2011-12, highlight clips)
In the interests of complete transparency – hey, somebody in Hungary should aspire to such – BallinEurope today presents the outcome of a heavy Euroleague basketball-watching habit plus several hours of intense thought: Namely, the five names that went onto BiE’s media representative’s ballot for 2011-12 Euroleague MVP. Since there’s no way the chosen quintet […]
BC Khimki overcome Caner-Medley, Valencia to take 2012 Eurocup title, 77-68
Congratulations go out from BallinEurope this morning to the first entrant into Euroleague 2012-13, BC Khimki Moscow region, with their win over BC Valencia in the Eurocup championship game yesterday. In a possible Euroleague title-game preview – at least in terms of home bases – the Russian side topped the Spaniards, 77-68. In the consolation […]
Eurocup Championship, Khimki vs Valencia: The Official BallinEurope (sort of) Fearless Prediction™
BallinEurope this morning sends out congratulations to BCs Valencia and Khimki Moscow region for their advancement into the 2011-12 Eurocup finals . The Spanish representative managed to get up to a 20-point lead before fending off a furious comeback by Lietuvos Rytas to take the 80-70 victory. Khimki meanwhile won the battle of Russian sides, […]
Eurocentric play of the night: Robertson block + Ohlbrecht dunk = Fuel for streaking Skyliners
You want your highlight clips? Courtesy David Hein, Germany’s Bundesliga, Fraport Skyliners and good old YouTube, BallinEurope offers one heck of an end-to-end play from the Skyliners’ emphatic 45-point victory over hapless Phoenix Hagen last night. Enjoy! The Fraport Skyliners are streaking towards the playoffs as they have won nine of their last 11 games […]
Bernard Hopkins’ bizarre stat line (sort of) leads Blusens to 82-63 win
Amidst Blusens Monbus’ 82-63 blowout of Mad-Croc Fuenlabrada in Liga Endesa play last night, 39 year-old Bernard “Mister Récord” Hopkins logged one of the season’s more bizarre stat lines. Read his bit of the boxscore: 14 points on 4-of-6 overall shooting and 6-of-7 on FTs; four rebounds; one assist; one steal; five (!) fouls drawn; […]
Hendrix, Maccabi Tel Aviv negotiations “are broken”; FC Barcelona, Real Madrid interested?
Wow, we’re really already talking about the 2012-13 free-agency period? And now that Maccabi is up two games to one on Panathinaikos in their playoff series they’re reading to sever ties with a key component? Apparently, both bylines may be true, as sports talent agency/advisory firm You First Sports announced last night that “Andy Miller, […]
DaShaun Wood goes for 27, Alba Berlin torches Phoenix Hagen, 114-86
While Alba Berlin (22-6) continues to try and claw its way up Germany’s Bundesliga standings at three games behind current top-seed Brose Baskets Bamberg, the team last night got a little relief in the form of a game against relegation-zoners Phoenix Hagen (8-20 and in a three-way tie for 15th place) to put up some […]