Joventut Badalona 19
The old guard stands tall in the Basketball Champions League
There will be one fresh face at the Basketball Champions League Final Four. Indeed, it’s a new venue. Yet the season will climax with clubs that have long been part of the competition battling for the big prize in Badalona. Oh what a difference a couple of months make. When the round of 16 got […]
Where in the world is Ricky Rubio?
There hasn’t been a peep out of Ricky Rubio in months. Is the basketball legend retiring? Will he return to his boyhood club of Joventut Badalona? What about FC Barcelona? Or does he seek to quietly slip away? Emmet Ryan on the mystery surrounding the beloved Spanish star’s future. It’s wild to think that this […]
Ricky Rubio is writing his own story
With Ricky Rubio announcing his retirement from the NBA, Emmet Ryan writes about his own mental health, basketball, and coping with yourself Thursday was a moment for reflection. It’s not the first of its type and it won’t be the last but that doesn’t make it any less important. Ricky Rubio has played his last […]
Ante Tomic quietly forcing his way back into our minds
In the autumn of his career, the Croatian big man is reminding everyone of how he is still the silent threat we used to be awed by and that makes Badalona a threat through the rest of Eurocup following victory over Hapoel Tel Aviv He was never the modern big man. In all of his […]
Derby delight as Badalona put one foot in the playoffs
Laprovittola delivered a gem of a game as Badalona controlled the derby to all but guarantee their spot in the ACB playoffs. Emmet Ryan fluked his way into picking the most important game in Pavello Olimpic in years for this trip and took it all in Derby day, or Derbi day rather, between 8th and […]
Further proof that we need a Badalona vs Real Madrid playoff series
Based on their two meetings in ACB action so far, Joventut Badalona and Real Madrid are only capable of delivering classics when they meet. Sunday’s showdown went down to the wire with Real narrowly taking the win 80-81. Watch the best bits. That result leaves Real in second place in Liga Endesa on 19-4, Badalona […]
Podcast: Interview with Ricky Rubio; wrapping the 2012-13 Euroleague season, NIJT; reviewing The Wrestler
Episode #35 of the BallinEurope/heinnews co-produced “Talking the Charge” podcast series is now available online and is downloadable from iTunes – and o boy, it’s a good one. Days after Olympiacos made European basketball history, we’re still amazed by another incredible run by the Reds and so discuss the context of this back-to-back title victory. […]
Nike International Junior Tournament: Day three roundup
Just over two hours remain before Spain’s Europe’s top youth teams face off in the Nike International Junior Tournament championship game, and so follows a recap of yesterday’s action which ultimately saw FC Barcelona and Joventut Badalona advance, as provided by Net Scouts. The shows that these teams put on in facing a variety of […]
On Hezonja, Todorovic plus a couple of Swedes: FC Barcelona’s future as bright as the present?
As though FC Barcelona’s red-hot play – they’re now at 14-4 overall after an 0-2 start in Spain – weren’t enough to keep European basketball devotees watching, here are two more reasons for you: Mario Hezonja and Marko Todorović. At just 17 years old and despite missing the entire 2011-12 regular season, Hezonja finally got […]
Twenty years ago today: Champions in Europe and USA, 1992
In celebration of certainly still the most significant year in international basketball history, BallinEurope today begins the “Twenty years ago today” series in which we’ll peer back in time through the lens of YouTube to that era of morphing European national teams and Dream Team dominance. In the wake of that Greatest Basketball Team Ever […]
Eclipse watching: All-time records under threat at Euroleague Final Four 2012
For all the history/stat junkies out there – including myself, as BiE readers know – BallinEurope today takes a look at what all-time Euroleague Final Four records might fall this year … and some that seem unbreakable. • Under assault could be the all-time free-throw mark of 56 held by Nikos Galis. Galis set this […]
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 […]