Panathinaikos 285
The Top 100 Teams in Europe: Calm before the storm edition
All right, another Thursday means another look at BallinEurope’s Top 100 Teams in Europe chart, the last until the big pan-Continental leagues gear up again with sweet 16 action. (BiE was just waiting for the dust to settle in Athens after the PAO-Olympiacos match, but settling may yet be a few days in the making.) […]
Olympiacos pulls off 65-61 upset at PAO, forced to flee rain of fire
What in the name of Naismith is going on in Greek basketball? Will Olympiacos and Panathinaikos ever again meet without players having to fear mortal injury? In the first game between the Greek superpowers since last season’s capper known as “The Night of Shame,” Olympiacos ground out a 65-61 win in territory literally made hostile […]
Flashing back with Olympiacos and Panathinaikos
It’s kinda like time travel, of a sort. From the Plus Ça Change Department via the ever-fantastic and -enthusiastic Basketball Dreamer comes this link to a New York Times story entitled “European Basketball: Passionate Greek Drama” … from 1997.
Notes on Panathinaikos-Olympiacos, most important game of 2010-11
If tonight’s Panathinaikos-Olympiacos match isn’t the most important game thus far in the 2010-11 basketball season in Europe, BiE can’t think of what would be. Of no little significance in this clash of the titans, too, is its status as the first meeting between the teams since the 2009-10 EΣAKE championship final game, a.k.a. “The […]
Euroleague Top 16 round: 10 must-see games (plus Fearless Predictions™)
With another week to kill before the Euroleague Top 16 round begins, BallinEurope is marking up the calendar to note must-see teevee for January to March, getting out the red pens and awaiting the following matchups. January 19: Real Madrid vs. Partizan Belgrade January 19: Efes Pilsen Istanbul vs. Montepaschi Siena. Wow, Group G is […]
The Top 100 Teams in Europe: Now with new formula!
You have commented and BallinEurope has heard. Thanks in large part to the proddings and machinations of a somewhat indignant Y. (BiE’s man in Lithuania), we’ve reworked the formula to determine the official Top 100 Teams in Europe list. Not to go into any boring detail, but Y. was kind enough to install somewhat arbitrary […]
Euroleague Top 16 groupings set
Word has it that an overload of traffic brought down the live broadcast of today’s Euroleague Top 16 draw. So, in case you were shut out, the groupings for the next round of top-level European action looks like so:
10 for 10: BiE’s All-Euroleague Regular Season all-stars
If BallinEurope is spelling “lull” with one L, you know that Euroleague basketball is between stages of play. No matter, BiE has a good argument starter to help wile away a little time before next Tuesday’s draw for grouping the Top 16 round: Announcing the official BallinEurope All-Euroleague Regular Season Team for 2010-11! Though many […]
Official BallinEurope Euroleague Power Rankings: Post-week nine
So Žalgiris gets its coach fired after playing .800 ball through 20 games, Spanish powerhouses lose in Lithuania and Germany, Valencia kills Milano, Efes Pilsen stuns PAO … just another week in Euroleague 2010-11, eh? And after happenings aplenty, it sounds like time for another edition of BallinEurope’s Official Euroleague Power Rankings! Let’s go! Tops […]
Turnover City: Solving the mystery of Zalgiris Kaunas
“Do[es] all the little things with surprising grace and feeling – and an iron will to win.” – characterization of prototypical Lithuanian player in FreeDarko’s The Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac BallinEurope’s latest obsession started with a tweet. Specifically, a message from BiE’s main Lithuanian, Martynas “Air” Pocius. Pocius retweeted a fascinating stat about his Žalgiris […]
Translate this, says Obradovic
Could this be the Greek version of “Practice??!!??!?!” While we all love to dig on those outrageous blowups of coaches or athletes routinely getting repeat views and remixes on boob tube and YouTube, in Europe there’s at least one sort of person who doesn’t: The interpreters. One particularly long-suffering translator working with Panathinaikos coach Zeljko […]
Official BallinEurope Euroleague Power Rankings: Post-week seven
Apologies for the tardiness of this column, dear readers, but the Official BallinEurope Euroleague Power Rankings are just as fun and informative on Sundays as they are on Saturdays! With four teams through into the Top 16 round and several more on the bubble, who’s cruising and who’s losing? BiE says the two dozen squads […]