Eurobasket 2009 96
Interview: Ten minutes with Romualdas Brazauskas
In every single professional basketball game ever played, one team on the floor goes full bore the whole time the clock is running, yet is invisible. In fact, the team that plays this way best serves the fans by remaining absolute unknowns and making as little perceptible impact on the match as possible. We’re talking […]
After Eurobasket, the future: Part Two
In part two of Ball in Europe’s look at Europe’s top teams following Eurobasket 2009, Francesco Cappelletti contributes his analysis of present and future for those nations who did not finish in Eurobasket’s top four. Part one, featuring looks at Spain, Serbia, Greece, and Slovenia, may be found by clicking here. FRANCE Absences: Mickael Pietrus, […]
After Eurobasket, the future: Part one
Ball in Europe contributor Francesco Cappelletti wraps Eurobasket 2009 with little surprise and a long view on the future of Europe’s premiere national basketball programs. Today, analysis on the tournament’s top four finishers. It was simply a result that we could take for granted: Spain at the top of Europe, with silver medalist Serbia beaten […]
BallinEurope's Alternate Eurobasket 2009 All-Tournament Team
While the FIBA folks duly announced their EuroBasket 2009 All-Tournament Team directly after Spain’s thrashing of Serbia last night – and a dandy quintet it is, too – BallinEurope would like to extend some approbation to a few other ballers, some guys who proved revelatory in assisting their teams’ success almost as much or even […]
From BiE to Team Spain: ¡Felicidades!
If this were America, i’d be searching for hyperbole right now, calling the 2009 edition of Team Spain the greatest Spanish team ever, the greatest European team since dissolution of the Soviet Union, the greatest non-USA squad ever assembled … but instead, BallInEurope humbly offers congratulations to the fantastic Spaniards for finally achieving Eurobasket gold. […]
Eurobasket 2009 championship: Serbia can win if…
“Let’s be realistic. Spain is a great team” – Nikolas Zisis, Greece That’s the lead quote over at the Eurobasket 2009 official site, and it’s good enough to lead here at BallinEurope.com as well on the morning of the final game. Firstly, congratulations to Spain and Serbia for getting into the final game after a […]
Eurobasket 2009, lucky day 13
This tournament just keeps getting better and better. Whether you dig the comeback or prefer a back-and-forth tug of war, Eurobasket 2009 had basketball lovers all smiles yesterday with a pair of fantastic contests truly reflecting the excellence of this field. And today there’s *four* more games? Nice. Jumping right in, then…
Eurobasket 2009, day 12: Quickie thoughts, congratulations, predictions
Whoa, a bit too much Pau Gasol for Team France last night, eh? Now that was the Spain everybody’s been wanting to see, if only as an object to hate on. And congratulations to Serbia as well, for just playing a wonderful game in basically brushing aside Russia; i’ve not been so happy being wrong […]
France over Spain, damn right! (or, Eurobasket 2009 fearless predictions for day 11)
With all due respect to Turkey and Slovenia, two teams which have often gotten the short of the stick in the BiE fearless prediction series in Eurobasket 2009, what fun is making picks if you don’t mix in some upsets? And taking France to win the tournament right now is quite the stretch, for two […]
Betting on basketball: Riffing on reassessed Eurobasket outright winner odds
We’re down to the final eight in Eurobasket 2009 and so now might be a good time to, um, reassess those investments made at the beginning of the tournament – which is to say, start covering on some still-shaky (or straight-up *gone*) wagers made before the tourney tipped off…
Hack-an-Asik and other fearless predictions for Eurobasket 2009, day 10
How do you explain “they should swallow their whistles” to someone who knows nothing about sports? (And I mean really nothing; we’re talking live-six-years-in-Chicago-during-the-Jordan-Era-and-still-not-know-the-difference-between-Bulls-and-Bears nothing.) That was my situation during large portions of the second and third quarters of the France-Greece game last night as to the wife’s chagrin I yelled at the TV. While […]
Allen Iverson comes to Europe! Sort of…
No, really. Allen Iverson today touches down in Europe to play a little ball. Unfortunately, Iverson hasn’t finagled his way out of a just-signed contract with the Memphis Grizzlies and finally gotten with Olympiacos; A.I. arrives instead to promote his line of Reebok sneakers. But he’ll be playing some basketball, too. As the tour moves […]