(Ron Lewis' great first half vs Red Star Belgrade earned him a front-page feature on the official Eurocup website during the game)The month of January 2010 was home to a number of significant match-ups from the NBA to Europe. Intense settings become the norm amidst playoff races that heat up with each additional week. As the 1st month of the year wore on everything seemed to culminate into one final week of pivotal games.
1/26/2010: Red Star Belgrade 65 at CEZ Nymburk 60 (Eurocup Top 16 - Game One -)
Ron Lewis & CEZ Nymburk began a journey in uncharted waters on January 26th when they played a Eurocup Top 16 contest vs Serbian power KK Crvena Zvezda (Red Star in English) of capital Belgrade, a club first in Nymburk's history.
Red Star Belgrade of the Adriatic League is one of, if not the most formidable team Nymburk has met so far this season. They boast a talented Serbian front court to go with the lightning quick guard Mike Taylor, who has played in the NBA. Ron Lewis shot out of the blocks quickly with an impressive 9 point & 7 rebound first half performance. The picture up above is a screen capture of Eurocup's official website. It certainly looked like CEZ was in decent shape at this point. But a 3rd quarter where they were outscored 16-8 would prove to be their downfall. The Czech champions probably kicked themselves over this one because while they were indeed contained by Red Star's improved 2nd half defense (holding Lew to only two 2nd half buckets), they still has chances to take that home game. Taylor sank the game clinching free throws though for Belgrade. final 65-60, the leading scorer for Nymburk was Petr Benda, pictured to the left.
A disappointing defeat at the hands of Red Star, but no worries for Nymburk..they would turn those frowns upside down in the next round of Eurocup play ..a lot more on that later :)
Good highlights (or the entire game itself) of Nymburk vs Red Star are hard to come by. But one gentlemen on youtube who actually attended the game at CEZ Arena posted some videos. Looks like they are mostly the 2nd half though.
Here is one of them, his youtube channel here.
1/25/2010: Memphis Grizzlies 99 vs Orlando Magic 94
The Orlando Magic became yet another victim of 4th quarter heroics from Mike Conley Jr. on the 25th. The Grizzlies have been a team not to be messed with at home ever since December 2009. The contest with Orlando followed suit as Memphis either led or traded baskets with the Magic all game. With Memphis up 96-94 with under 30 seconds to go, Mike Conley Jr. dribbled the ball for about 10 seconds at the top of the key, kept the ball on a string, and weaved through 2 guys to find Marc Gasol on a pick roll finish for the game clinching basket. Conley finished with 14 points, 7 assists & 2 steals. This has been an up & down recent stretch for Mike though as he has seen better outings than his most recent game against Cleveland. The Grizzlies next play Houston on the 5th of February.
1/31/2010: AZS Koszalin 76 at Anwil 77 (Polish PLK Regular Season)
George Reese & AZS Koszalin lost a heartbreaker at Anwil in Polish League play on January 31st. Anwil is 16-2 & 2nd in the PLK standings. AZS is now 9-9 and currently sit at 8th place, the final spot for the playoffs. We have not seen many of the polish league teams, but from the records it seems to be a league with parity after the top two teams. AZS's next game will be another tough test against PGE Turow on the 6th. Reese hooped out in January by scoring in double figures in each of Koszalin's 4 January games. He will definitely be in the January top plays vid.
1/31/2010: Limoges CSP Elite 85 vs Pau-Lacq-Orthez 80! (France Pro B League)
The two top teams in France's Pro B league matched up on January 31st. Brent Darby's Limoges team dropped a couple games , making way for the league's other top team, Orthez to claim first place in the league standings. Limoges came into this contest locked in & super focused, hitting their first three shots of the game before a rabid home crowd. The game was back and fourth with tons of highlights, most notably from one of Darby's teammates Alhaji Mohammed who had some nice blocks & dunks. Mohammed had 17 points while John McCord led limoges with 19 points & 13 rebounds. Our own Brent Darby had a very solid outing of 14 points, 7 rebounds, & six assists. One of Brent's highlights came in the 2nd half when he hit an off balance corner three while falling into the crowd! Limoges was able to pull out an 85-80 win and officially tie Orthez for first place in the league standings (both 14-4).
We were able to get this game, and were pretty much exhausted after the viewing. Why because the french announcers go crazy after every single bucket. It was a really intense game with a hot crowd.
-Video of couple of Darby's Js in the 1st quarter. He hits a three, and then after some foul shots by Orthez comes right back and sticks another jumper.
1/29/2010: EWE Baskets Oldenburg 68 vs Alba Berlin 59! (German League Regular
Season)
As we started checking boxscores last weekend, one game piqued our interest more than the rest. The setting, Oldenburg, Germany. The teams, EWE Baskets Oldenburg, the defending champions vs the German League leader Alba Berlin. The result? well you already knew what it was going too be.
Berlin defeated EWE without Jason Gardner in a early season matchup. Not only is Alba great in Germany, they are also very solid in Europe as well with a 7-1 Eurocup record. But on this evening they met up with an Oldenburg that would display commendable heart. Berlin jumped out to a seemingly insurmountable 18-4 run. But Oldenburg clawed back into it, and eventually grabbed the lead late int he 2nd quarter. BBL All-Star Je'Kel Foster had his best quarter in the 3rd period, hitting 3 important three-pointers. He finished with 15 points in total with 11 points, 4 assists, & 2 steals! After gaining control in the 3rd quarter, EWE would not look back, they were able to fight off every Berlin bucket & come away with a hard fought 68-59 victory. EWE is now 2nd place in league standings at 15-6 behind 16-4 Berlin, but more importantly, this game sent a message to Alba & the rest of the league that the defending champions will not just give their title away without a fight. Well done boys.
No video of the game yet. It is funny how all kinds of videos show up whenever EWE loses a German league game, and you can find other Berlin games, like victory over EWE earlier in the season. But Alba fans don't want to upload their defeat to EWE, we wonder why lol..oh well..
Here is a new fan video of EWE Baskets posted on Youtube.
Ron Lewis & CEZ Nymburk began a journey in uncharted waters on January 26th when they played a Eurocup Top 16 contest vs Serbian power KK Crvena Zvezda (Red Star in English) of capital Belgrade, a club first in Nymburk's history.
Red Star Belgrade of the Adriatic League is one of, if not the most formidable team Nymburk has met so far this season. They boast a talented Serbian front court to go with the lightning quick guard Mike Taylor, who has played in the NBA. Ron Lewis shot out of the blocks quickly with an impressive 9 point & 7 rebound first half performance. The picture up above is a screen capture of Eurocup's official website. It certainly looked like CEZ was in decent shape at this point. But a 3rd quarter where they were outscored 16-8 would prove to be their downfall. The Czech champions probably kicked themselves over this one because while they were indeed contained by Red Star's improved 2nd half defense (holding Lew to only two 2nd half buckets), they still has chances to take that home game. Taylor sank the game clinching free throws though for Belgrade. final 65-60, the leading scorer for Nymburk was Petr Benda, pictured to the left.A disappointing defeat at the hands of Red Star, but no worries for Nymburk..they would turn those frowns upside down in the next round of Eurocup play ..a lot more on that later :)
Good highlights (or the entire game itself) of Nymburk vs Red Star are hard to come by. But one gentlemen on youtube who actually attended the game at CEZ Arena posted some videos. Looks like they are mostly the 2nd half though.
Here is one of them, his youtube channel here.
1/25/2010: Memphis Grizzlies 99 vs Orlando Magic 94
The Orlando Magic became yet another victim of 4th quarter heroics from Mike Conley Jr. on the 25th. The Grizzlies have been a team not to be messed with at home ever since December 2009. The contest with Orlando followed suit as Memphis either led or traded baskets with the Magic all game. With Memphis up 96-94 with under 30 seconds to go, Mike Conley Jr. dribbled the ball for about 10 seconds at the top of the key, kept the ball on a string, and weaved through 2 guys to find Marc Gasol on a pick roll finish for the game clinching basket. Conley finished with 14 points, 7 assists & 2 steals. This has been an up & down recent stretch for Mike though as he has seen better outings than his most recent game against Cleveland. The Grizzlies next play Houston on the 5th of February.
1/31/2010: AZS Koszalin 76 at Anwil 77 (Polish PLK Regular Season)
George Reese & AZS Koszalin lost a heartbreaker at Anwil in Polish League play on January 31st. Anwil is 16-2 & 2nd in the PLK standings. AZS is now 9-9 and currently sit at 8th place, the final spot for the playoffs. We have not seen many of the polish league teams, but from the records it seems to be a league with parity after the top two teams. AZS's next game will be another tough test against PGE Turow on the 6th. Reese hooped out in January by scoring in double figures in each of Koszalin's 4 January games. He will definitely be in the January top plays vid.1/31/2010: Limoges CSP Elite 85 vs Pau-Lacq-Orthez 80! (France Pro B League)
The two top teams in France's Pro B league matched up on January 31st. Brent Darby's Limoges team dropped a couple games , making way for the league's other top team, Orthez to claim first place in the league standings. Limoges came into this contest locked in & super focused, hitting their first three shots of the game before a rabid home crowd. The game was back and fourth with tons of highlights, most notably from one of Darby's teammates Alhaji Mohammed who had some nice blocks & dunks. Mohammed had 17 points while John McCord led limoges with 19 points & 13 rebounds. Our own Brent Darby had a very solid outing of 14 points, 7 rebounds, & six assists. One of Brent's highlights came in the 2nd half when he hit an off balance corner three while falling into the crowd! Limoges was able to pull out an 85-80 win and officially tie Orthez for first place in the league standings (both 14-4).We were able to get this game, and were pretty much exhausted after the viewing. Why because the french announcers go crazy after every single bucket. It was a really intense game with a hot crowd.
-Video of couple of Darby's Js in the 1st quarter. He hits a three, and then after some foul shots by Orthez comes right back and sticks another jumper.
1/29/2010: EWE Baskets Oldenburg 68 vs Alba Berlin 59! (German League Regular
Season)
As we started checking boxscores last weekend, one game piqued our interest more than the rest. The setting, Oldenburg, Germany. The teams, EWE Baskets Oldenburg, the defending champions vs the German League leader Alba Berlin. The result? well you already knew what it was going too be.Berlin defeated EWE without Jason Gardner in a early season matchup. Not only is Alba great in Germany, they are also very solid in Europe as well with a 7-1 Eurocup record. But on this evening they met up with an Oldenburg that would display commendable heart. Berlin jumped out to a seemingly insurmountable 18-4 run. But Oldenburg clawed back into it, and eventually grabbed the lead late int he 2nd quarter. BBL All-Star Je'Kel Foster had his best quarter in the 3rd period, hitting 3 important three-pointers. He finished with 15 points in total with 11 points, 4 assists, & 2 steals! After gaining control in the 3rd quarter, EWE would not look back, they were able to fight off every Berlin bucket & come away with a hard fought 68-59 victory. EWE is now 2nd place in league standings at 15-6 behind 16-4 Berlin, but more importantly, this game sent a message to Alba & the rest of the league that the defending champions will not just give their title away without a fight. Well done boys.
No video of the game yet. It is funny how all kinds of videos show up whenever EWE loses a German league game, and you can find other Berlin games, like victory over EWE earlier in the season. But Alba fans don't want to upload their defeat to EWE, we wonder why lol..oh well..
Here is a new fan video of EWE Baskets posted on Youtube.
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