Sarunas Jasikevicius 98
Official Fearless Predictions™: Spain vs. Slovenia, Lithuania vs. FYR Macedonia
Now things are getting interesting. Eight teams remain in EuroBasket 2011, and tonight two will be eliminated from contention for the European championship. These teams will join with the losing teams of Thursday play in a playoff round to determine the all-important no. 5 and no. 6 finishers; this two sides will join nos. 3 […]
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 2011 round two: Impressions, links, notes and highlights
With just two days (and one game per team) remaining in 2011 EuroBasket round two, BallinEurope takes a brief look at some issues and trends going down in the tournament – plus links and YouTubes, of course. Read on for quips, quotes and clips. • Importance of remaining games. Of six games left to play, […]
Fenerbahçe Ülker outlasts Galatasaray Café Crown, 91-88, for TBL title
BallinEurope this morning congratulates newly-recrowned 2010-11 TBL champions Fenerbahçe Ülker, who topped Eurocup side Galatasaray Café Crown, 91-88, in game six of the championship series. This marks the fourth championship for Fenerbahçe in the last five years and a defense of their 2009-10 title. Fenerbahçe’s big guns were all firing in the game, with five […]
Championship basketball: Galatasaray stays alive; Barça, Mavericks take care of business
It’s hard to believe the 2010-11 season is drawing to a close, but so it goes. Leagues in Turkey, Spain and the United States could be all shutting down for the summer (or, in the latter’s case, perhaps a good deal longer) within a week. A brief roundup this morning, then, of action in this […]
Kestutis Kemzura names 20 to preliminary Team Lithuania roster
Team Lithuania coach Kestutis Kemzura this morning named 20 players to his preliminary squad in advance of the Eurobasket 2011 tournament. The home team will be returning seven players from the side that took bronze in the 2010 FIBA World Championship and including one NBAer – but not Linas Kleiza. Returning from the surprise of […]
Euroleague Final Four flashback: FC Barcelona takes first EL title, 2003
While many of us (ahem) were shocked that FC Barcelona did not qualify for this year’s Euroleague Final Four to be played at the Blaugrana’s venue, Barca made good in defending home court the last time the Spanish capital hosted. In 2003, Barcelona brought a veritable dream team to the tournament to chase the team’s […]
On the map, in the news: Maccabi Tel Aviv legend Tal Brody
One old-timer’s name popping up in the news lately is former Maccabi Tel Aviv/Team USA great Tal Brody. Actually, to define Brody as “great” in his years with Maccabi is overwhelming understatement, as the man’s career has weaved a thread through the club’s and, to an arguable extent (and o, it will be argued; see […]
Euroleague Top 16, games six: Notes, natterings and Fearless Predictions™
The quest for the 2010-11 Euroleague title is officially reduced by 50% tonight as a full slate of games completes the Top 16 round of play; three games remain relevant to the final eight round and BallinEurope below takes a brief look at each, together with YouTubes and the ever-popular Fearless Predictions™. Enjoy the games! […]
Euroleague Top 16 highlights: Day one
It wasn’t exactly the most inspiring set of Euroleague basketball games last night, with all four losing sides “held” under 60 points and nearly all blown out. (The operative verb gets quotation marks because the three crushed teams all shot under 40% overall with incredibly abysmal numbers from beyond the arc, to some extent helping […]
FC Barcelona: Anticipating Maccabi Tel Aviv clash with brief video review
Since BallinEurope has been shamefully derelict in his duties as high priest of the Church of Rubio this season, let’s run some FC Barcelona clips in preparation of the defending Euroleague champs’ incipient matchup against thus far the top 2010-11 EL team Maccabi Tel Aviv! In Euroleague terms, Barça was last seen taking out BiE’s […]
Dream Team Europe nips 1960 Team USA, 107-106, in Festivus Invitational opener
The first annual BallinEurope Festivus Invitational Tournament tipped off today, brought to you incidentally (they probably even haven’t heard of BiE) by the sports simulation website What If Sports. Opening up the tournament is BiE’s own (slightly modified) Dream Team Europe, who hosts that original dream team, the 1960 Team USA squad that destroyed all […]