Lithuania 200
Lithuanian hero in Florida: Deividas Dulkys cool as ice, sinks FTs to seal FSU’s first-ever ACC title
Florida State University SG/SF Deividas Dulkys is no stranger to high-pressure NCAA basketball, having gained experience in March Madness last season with his university team; the Lithuanian showed that coolness in the clutch yesterday, with his 15th and 16th points of the game coming with 3.9 seconds on the clock. Despite some distraction techniques – […]
“Sinister”: Zalgiris Kaunas owner to form political party, fight for “sport, culture, art”
What’s up with the bizarre mix of politics and basketball going on in Europe? While Barack Obama butters up Italia with references to Danilo Gallinari and Marco Bellinelli, New Jersey Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov is stumping in Russia on an apparently futile bid for the presidency there. And now … well, let’s just say Lithuania […]
11-for-11: BallinEurope’s Most 11 popular stories from 2011
So 2011 may have been few people’s favorite year personally, European basketball fans have certainly got to be taking solace in the fact that the past 12 months featured a seriously great run of Continental-flavored hoops. To wit, in 2011, we enjoyed: • an exciting round of Euroleague playoffs which included FC Barcelona’s surprising tournament-round […]
Posters absoluts & Monsterdunken: The Eurocentric slam dunk of 2011 – plus 25 others
Before BallinEurope signs off for 2011, let’s give a late Christmas gift to the dunkaholics out there, shall we? Below runs a collection compiled through the year featuring dunks by Europeans, on Europeans or perhaps simply in Continental games. The first 20 will listed by competition, followed the top five runners-up and the champion jam […]
Message from Zalgiris Kaunas fans after national anthem rendition
BallinEurope got this note posted in comments on the recently-run piece regarding Žalgiris Kaunas fans raucously singing the national anthem prior to games in response to a Euroleague ruling for 2011-12 which bans formal performance of anthems. Ran the comment: “BallinEurope, you can update your article with the pic i posted: Žalgiris fans showing this […]
In defiance of Bertomeu, Žalgiris Kaunas fans sing on
In the spirit of ’11, BallinEurope’ll call it “Occupy Euroleague.” CEO Jordi Bertomeu made official a Euroleague decree at the start of the 2011-12 season which banned the performance of national anthems before games. (BiE kinda agrees with this dictum, actually, as most rosters are stocked with Europeans while clubs are owned/controlled by corporations and […]
In Lithuania, Jonas Valanciunas vs. Santa Claus
Only in Lithuania would an NBA first-round draft pick take on the spirit of Christmas himself on the basketball court – and get more fan support. Jonas Valanciunas recently appeared in Vilnius alongside a slightly more infrequent visitor to the Lithuanian city, i.e. Santa Claus. Valanciunas and Claus appeared as part of the festivities closing […]
Sonny Weems caps Žalgiris Kaunas win in memorable fashion
Think Žalgiris Kaunas fans are happy Sonny Weems has no out-clause? The Greens were able to stay alive in Euroleague play last night, rising their record to 2-5 in besting Unicaja Malaga in Lithuania, 67-65, thanks in no small part to some clutch play from their American import. Weems accounted for the final points of […]
Ty Lawson announces swansong with last (?) tweets from Europe
Ty the Twitterer posted a couple of tweets this morning, informing Žalgiris Kaunas fans that he’ll be suiting up for the Greens one more time. Wrote Lawson: “I would like to thank the Zalgiris organization and fans for allowing me the opportunity to play for them. I enjoyed the experience.” And the formerly locked-out Denver […]
Highlights from Ty Lawson’s epic Twitter venting (P.S. Unicaja over Žalgiris, 85-78)
Has a Europe-based basketball player ever garnered so much attention in one day on Twitter? Those who follow locked-out Denver Nugget/current Žalgiris Kaunas baller Ty Lawson on the ‘site watched for a span of two hours as a complaint about practice snowballed into a barrage of speed tweeting among Lawson, detractors and supporters. The story […]
Chicken move or clever maneuver? Conspiracy theorizing on Spain 96, France 69
With not nearly enough time spent in Lithuania, BallinEurope doesn’t wish to make any generalizations regarding the national character vis-à-vis tendency to conspiracy theory. Having been based in Central Eastern Europe for plus-10 years now, however, BiE knows how it goes, with “it” here representing “management of professional sport clubs well above and beyond normal, […]
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 […]