San Antonio Spurs 148
On the continued rise of The Dragon
A breakout year from Team Slovenia’s Goran Dragic with the Houston Rockets deserves a look – and some embedded YouTube clips. Today, Sam Chadwick takes that look on BallinEurope. Developing in the cool climate of Ljubljana, Slovenia, Goran Dragic’s rise to basketball success was a game of waiting. After a Slovenian league championship in the […]
British Basketball announces 21-man national team roster, dubbed “strongest Team Britain ever”
Head coach Chris Finch and the British Basketball Federation today released a preliminary roster of 21 players to compete for spots on the host team’s 2012 Olympic team. Given the fairly short modern history of FIBA-level basketball on the ‘Isles, the claim from the federation that this is the “strongest-ever preliminary GB men’s squad” isn’t […]
On the Road to London: Zinedine Zidane, Yannick Noah ♥ Tony Parker
Now available online at YouTube and DailyMotion – not to mention embedded below – is episode three of the short documentary series “On the Road to London” featuring Team France in the runup to the 2012 Olympics. Le troisième épisode is entitled “La Star,” which might perhaps be best translated as “Tony Parker: The Love […]
First half report cards for European players in NBA
At the halfway point of the crazy fast 2011-12 NBA season, BallinEurope flexes the university professor muscles a little bit this morning with midterm assessments of individual performance by the big league’s Continental Players. We’ll be using the European grading system, with 5 being the top score possible and 1 the lowest; the Americans may […]
National Cups: Real Madrid ends 19 years of futility; Beşiktaş, Chalon take first-ever titles; Montepaschi Siena continues dominance
Congratulations go out from BallinEurope today to a quartet of national Cup holders in Real Madrid, Beşiktaş Milangaz, Chalon-sur-Saone and Montepaschi Siena. The former three victories are set to be particularly noted in club annals: Real ended a 19-year drought while Beşiktaş and Chalon both bagged their first-ever championships in their respective national cup tournaments […]
Tony Parker on All-Star nod: “I’m too happy,” “I prefer to live in the present”
And here’s one for the Tony Parker devotees: France-based RMC Sport today quotes Les Bleus’ leader at length on his selection to the 2012 NBA All-Star Game. (Sacre bleu, is it already time to be thinking about the all-star game?) Though much talk is devoted to the San Antonio Spurs’ chances in 2011-12, Parker comes […]
Tony Parker breaks Spurs assist record, goes for 42 in Spurs win
Congratulations go out from BallinEurope to Team France leader Tony Parker, who wrote himself into the NBA record books by becoming the San Antonio Spurs’ all-time leader in assists yesterday – o, and he also went for 42 points in his team’s 107-96 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. Parker eclipsed Avery Johnson’s mark of […]
Eurocentric NBA highlights, bullets: Parker’s big game; Nuggets top Heat; Deng rules over Celtics; Rubio masterful as ever in first start
BallinEurope gets things rolling on Saturday with highlight clips – okay, some links to online stuff You Should Read as well, but the main point is highlight clips, right? This morning, then, a quick look at some excellent performances turned in in last night’s NBA action from the Continent’s top players. Starring Tony Parker, Luol […]
Truth or fiction? Toronto Raptors interested in, propose trade for Pau Gasol [updated]
Spanish-language Blog de Basket has quite the compelling story running today, particularly for Los Angeles Lakers and Toronto Raptors fans; the problem is that BallinEurope.com cannot seem to confirm the story’s veracity or the source reportage. According to Il ‘Blog, the Raptors have advanced an offer of Andrea Bargnani and Jose Calderon to the Lakers […]
Splitter opines Adelman key to Rubio’s success; Ginobili says “impressive”
Most observers are amazed at the early success of Spanish wunderkind Ricky Rubio in the NBA, but at least a couple San Antonio Spurs are claiming to have known this was destined all along. Tiago Splitter, whose Caja Laboral Baskonia met Rubio’s FC Barcelona many a time since the lad debuted in the ACB at […]
The Eurocentric 2011-12 NBA Western Conference preview (plus Official Fearless Predictions™)
Okay, after that Xmas distraction, BallinEurope is ready to write up some more stuff about good tidings and cheer*, namely, the start of the NBA season. With hours to go, BiE’s got just enough time to get in the part two of the Euro-centric big-league preview in this brief look at the teams in the […]
Ho, ho, De Colo! Nando goes Santa Claus
Hey, look, it’s a Christmas card from Nando de Colo via BallinEurope’s man in Italy, Enrico Cellini! Enjoy and happy holidays! With few seconds on the clock, French combo guard Nando “Aladdin” de Colo is the man that Valencia fans want to see handling the ball. Check out the acrobatic fashion by which he knocked […]