Euroleague Men´s basketball

RheinEnergie (1-3) hosts Group A rival Prokom Trefl Sopot (2-2)
Thursday, 23.11.06 in Dusseldorf, Germany


RheinEnergie is a rookie in the Euroleague competition, which is the NBA of Europe. Fresh off their historic road win at Climamio Bologna last week, the Cologne team was looking for their second win. This team features four players from the United States: Demond Mallet, Marcus Faison, Immanuel McElroy, and Ronald Burrell, while the coach, Sasa Obradovic, is from Serbia & Montenegro. Ronald Burrell averages 18.75 ppg over the last four games. Ronald Burrell was a big reason the German champs won their first-ever Euroleague game. Burrell had 21 points, 13 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals.

I was was quite impressed with the game.. RheinEnergie beat Prokom Trefl Sopot 84-80 in a battle to the very end. The pace of the game was quick and exciting. The teams displayed a strong ability to find the open man. There was much less one on one and much more team play then in the NBA. Also, there are more pure shooters in the Euroleague. Plays are actually ran with picks and cuts, and team basketball is enforced. Also, it was amazing that all of the big guys can shoot, pass and put the ball on the floor!

Something that was surprising was that the facility was somewhat empty. In other words, the seats were not close to being filled. However, it was a Thursday night and in my experience here is the attendence count in German basketball is always almost cut in half during the week. For what reason, I do not know exactly. Also, soccer is the main sport in Germany of course. Basketball does not get the numbers like soccer does. The biggest difference between the NBA and the Euroleague is probably the amount of money. The chance to make millions of dollars lures players to the NBA, not the basketball.

FIBA Euro Cup game in Wales

The trip to Wales was exhausting. We flew from Wesel airport (near Dusseldorf) into London. The problem came when we had to travel to Wales from London. The bus that came to pick us up was a small 16-seat bus, with no trunk space for baggage. The 16 people in our entorage had to squeeze into this small bus and basically put the bags around us, leaving no space. It was torture, with no leg room and bags pushing on my legs for almost 4 hours. Obviously, they did not give us the perfect conditions leading up to the game, however, we were able to pull out a win over the Rhonda Rebels for our first FIBA Cup win!

One thing that was a bit funny was that fact the people from Wales speak English, however, it was quite difficult to understand them! I had to really focus on what someone was saying. The biggest thing was the accent and then the use of some words. As far as what the place was like, I really have no idea. I only had a little time to look around while sitting in the bus. However, from what I did see, it seemed like a really nice place, with a lot of history. A place that I wish I had time to explore! Our next FIBA Euro Cup game is on Wednesday at home against Priolo, Italy.