Category: basketball

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basketball Entertainment NBA Sports Television

The Dwight Howard Situation

I will just like to put this out there now, I’m a big Lakers fan so pardon me if this article has any bias based opinions.

Back in August of last year the Dwight Howard to LA trade went down and my beloved Lakers went to the top of the charts and instant favorites to be serious contenders for our next NBA Championship. Our front court had the most dominant center in the league in Dwight Howard, the best passing big man in Pau Gasol; add to that one of the greatest shooters in NBA history in Steve Nash and one of the best to ever play the game in Kobe Bryant. Fast forward to April of this year and we are swept right out of the playoffs, the ones we just barely crept into, by the San Antonio Spurs. Now Laker Nation awaits July 1st when our next “franchise superstar” in Dwight Howard marches his way into free agency. After watching him this season, I say let him go.

How Laker Nation last saw Dwight during game 4 against the Spurs

This years free agency class is highlighted by Dwight Howard (seeing that Chris Paul will most likely stay with the Clippers) and the teams measuring their interest in the big man revolve around Los Angeles, Houston, and Dallas. Only the Lakers though can offer him their franchise max contract of five years with $118 million dollars along with their history of storied big men and the tradition of winning no matter what. Houston can offer four years with $98 million dollars and their young up and coming star in James Harden. Dallas can offer Dwight the same as Houston. From a money point of view the Lakers are the clear-cut winners and from a historical point of view the Lakers also are clear winners; from a pure basketball point of view though Houston are clear winners as they only need a man like Dwight to contend in the West.

Dwight Howard received a lot of punishment from the media for leaving Orlando the way he did, is that bound to repeat?

Statistically Dwight Howard has been declining over, especially over the past season. Between 2008-2011 Dwight took his Magic team to one Final appearance and a 219-102 record; over the past two seasons with the Magic and Lakers he’s finished with a total 75-55 record. Wow. His offensive production has also dipped sharply; in 2011 he averaged 22.9 PPG, 14.1 RPG, and a 59% FG. In 2013 he was averaging 17.1 PPG, 12.4 RPG, while shooting %58 from the field. Dwight has clearly past his peak production and no team should commit such a large amount of their salary cap or build their team around a star who has already started dropping off. Of course..the Lakers are run by Jim Buss so that’s still possible.

Looking past the numbers it isn’t hard to see that Dwight just cannot handle the pressure of playing in L.A. Playing for the Lakers, especially to be the next franchise player, means you must live up to some huge names and live up to the Laker tradition of winning. The Lakers, since 1960, have sent 25 teams to the NBA Finals, won 11 championships, and have had our court graced by the likes of Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, and Shaquille O’Neal. To top that all off the L.A Lakers have had four of the ten best basketball teams ever (’72, ’82, ’87, ’01), have been run by one of the greatest owners in history by Jerry Buss, and have been coached by the future Hall of Famer in Phil Jackson. If all that wasn’t hard enough to live up to as the next franchise player in Los Angeles, Dwight Howard would be filling the void of the greatest Laker of all time in Kobe Bryant. It’s sad to say that faced with any type of pressure a man like Dwight Howard who stands six foot and eleven inches shrinks back to a normal height.

Perhaps the self-proclaimed “Superman” isn’t so “super” anymore

No matter what the media is saying about the pending free agency of Dwight Howard and no matter what team does land the big man, it will be a question if the team wants to roll the dice on Howard or chooses to pass. Houston is the clear basketball choice for Howard as that team is young and ready to make an even bigger splash next season than they did this past season. A James Harden – Dwight Howard combo would be a mighty force to reckon with no matter who they face. As for my beloved Lakers please Jim Buss do not even approach the table and pick up the dice.

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basketball Sports twitter

Nike “You Showed Us”

The day after Kobe Bryant went down with his torn Achilles Tendon, Nike launched an ad titled “You Showed Us” in a local LA newspaper

“You Showed Us That An 18-Year-Old Could Play With The Best.

You Showed Us That A ChampionShip, An Exhibition Game And A Charity Event Are All Must-Wins.

You Showed Us How To Play Chess While Others Played Checkers.

You Showed Us How To Hit Game-Winner After Game-Winner.

You Showed Us That An 81-Point Game Is A Real Thing.

You Showed Us That Gold Still Matters.

You Showed Us How To Take An Ice Bath.

You Showed Us How To Score 30 Points In a Quarter, Twice.

You Showed Us The Mamba Face.

You Showed Us How To Demand Perfection And Demand It From Everyone.

You Showed Us How To Put Big-Boy Pants On.
You Showed Us That You Were Never Out Of It. Ever.

You Showed Us How Inspirational A Pair Of Free Throws Could Be.

 

Now, Show Us Again.”

The ad surprised Bryant, he responded to Nike on his Twitter by saying:

“Thank you @nike for this surprise spread in the paper this am. It touched me beyond words. #showuIwill instagram.com/p/YX3oQxxNr8/

— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) April 21, 2013“

The ad can also be seen here as a video. Overall, it’s a timely and well thought our tribute to a great superstar in basketball. Get well Kobe.

 

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basketball Boston Sports

New York Knicks: “Let Defence Be Your Best Offence”

“Let defence be your best offence.” That was said by Walt Clyde Frazier during the fourth quarter of the Knicks/Boston playoff game tonight, as New York scored a three off a steals from Boston. The three pointer in the final 10 minutes of the game extended the Knicks lead by 21 points, paving the way for what would eventually be a commanding win by New York.

Game 3 of the first round against Boston was played in Boston. But having the home court advantage turned out to be no advantage for Boston, as New York played one of the best defensive games they’ve played in a long time. The game ended with the Knicks stealing the ball from Boston a total of 14 times, and their suffocating defense caused Boston to turn the ball over 17 times.

The final score was Knicks 90, Boston 76. The game really wasn’t as close as the score suggests.

Carmelo Anthony led the scoring for the Knicks with another great effort, putting up 26 points in 37 minutes. Point guard Felton had an all round productive game, scoring 15 points in 35 minutes of play. He also had 2 rebounds, 10 assists and just 3 turnovers. J. Smith also had 15 points, but received a flagrant Type 2 foul and received an automatic ejection after throwing an elbow at Boston’s Jason Terry. Smith’s absence resulted in a four point play for Boston, but shots by Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler kept Boston at bay.

For Boston, J. Green led the team with 21 points in 44 minutes. Paul Pierce had 17 followed by J. Terry with 14.

New York now leads the series 3-0, with game 4 scheduled for Sunday. In the history of the NBA, no team has ever come back from being down 3 games to win a series, so chances that the Knicks will win this series are very high. Game 4 will be played in Boston at 1PM Eastern.

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basketball NBA Sports

The Black Mamba

There is always a sense of urgency on the Los Angeles Lakers team every year from first tip-off to the last game of the season. Every year the team is built, taught, and coached in a “win now” mode. This year is no different and that sense of “win now” is even more urgent than any other time I can remember. The driving force behind this Lakers team to win a championship is once again Kobe Bryant, but this year he has very good reason to be willing himself and his team to victory. You see, father time is catching up with Kobe Bryant and he is in the twilight of his storied career.

Kobe Bryant, aka the “Black Mamba” is playing his 17th season as a pro and he is guaranteed to be around for one last season. In those seventeen seasons he has played 1232 games as of today, racked up over 45,000 minutes, and is currently 5th on the All Time Leading Scorers list with 31,415 points, and this man is 34 years old. Let that all sink in for a minute. Oh wait let me also add he is shooting a near career high field goal percentage, leading shooting guards in assists per game, and is on par to become the 4th leading scorer within the next couple of games. Alright now I will give you another minute to let that all sink in. While I can be  treated to see the explosive play of Lebron James, the effortless scoring barrage from Kevin Durant, and other young NBA players every night, I am still amazed to see a man who has put so much wear and tear on his body still produce at these levels.

Many consider Kobe to be in the Top 5 greatest players to ever grace any professional basketball court, he is also considered the second greatest Shooting Guard (NBA icon Michael Jordan is of course number one here). Looking upon his earned accomplisments, records, and accolades it is easy to understand why his name comes up in such conversation. Bryant has earned numerous awards in his professional career, but let me just name the highlights. He is a 5 time NBA Champion, 2 time Finals MVP, 15 time NBA All Star, 4 time All Star MVP, and has two gold Olympic Gold Medals from Beijing and London.  On top of those NBA accomplisments, Kobe is considered one of, if not the greatest, to ever play for the Los Angeles Lakers organization. The Black Mamaba holds the Lakers records for: career points total, most points in a single season, most played games, and most points in a single game.

Kobe is pursuing in tying if not surpassing NBA icon Michael Jordan in rings at six; While many around the league, myself included, do not see this Lakers team even reaching the playoffs, doubters only seem to fuel the Mamba into playing at an all time high for his career. This amazing play has earned him his newest nickname, “Vino”, referring to him only getting better with age. While father time still continues to tick against Bryant’s favor, seeing one of the greatest play in basketball history play at such a level is an honor.

While Byant himself has not confirmed his retirement after his 18th season, there is a lot of doubt of him coming back for one last hurrah. The day Kobe Bean Bryant hangs up his purple and gold armor while be a day of days, as an icon and face of the NBA finally can go home and rest.

Kobe Bryant can be followed on Facebook and his recent Twitter account

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basketball north carolina Sports

North Carolina Basket Ball Team Does The Harlem Shake… Kinda

This is not the real Harlem Shake. We’ve detailed what the real one looks like here already. But as long as these people keep making these videos, well, we’ll thing about showing their video.

This is North Carolina’s basketball team’s version.

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basketball Sports

The Most Amazing Shot You May Have Ever Seen – Video


The video you see above comes from Sunday’s New York Section I Class AA boys basketball championship game between New Rochelle (N.Y.) High and Mt. Vernon (N.Y.) High. As described more thoroughly by Newsday and Patch, Mt. Vernon led the sectional title game by two points with just 2.9 seconds remaining. Game over, right? Anything but.

With New Rochelle holding possession on the opposite side of the court from where they wanted to be, the team enlisted the school’s star quarterback, Khalil Edney (he plays hoops too, obviously) to send the ball upcourt as deep and accurately as possible. Edney got the ball up to midcourt, but it landed in the wrong set of hands, with Mt. Vernon’s Jalen David coming up with the ball.

What happened next defies all logic. David tossed the ball up in the air. The goal was both simple and obvious: He was trying to kill off the remainder of the game without giving New Rochelle the chance to foul and get a final shot.

Yet the strategy backfired spectacularly, because time never ran out. Instead, the toss arched to the left and forward, with the ball eventually landing right in Edney’s hands just behind midcourt with 0.1 seconds remaining. Given an instant chance to redeem himself, Edney didn’t disappoint, drilling a 55-foot shot to hand New Rochelle the most unlikely of 61-60 victories in memory.

h/t Yahoo Sports

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basketball new york knicks Sports

I Am The Reason The New York Knicks Are Winning

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge Knicks fan. I became a fan in the days of Patrick Ewing, John Starks, Charles Oakley and Grand ma, or Larry Johnson as the fans at the Garden affectionately called him. I was never one to miss a game and I followed the team through their ups and downs – and there were a lot of downs.

Yes, I am a huge fan. Now, I even get updates on my cellphone everytime they play.

This season, the Knicks finally found their nitch. They have been on a roll winning more games than they’ve won in recent memory and finally, they have began defending their home court just like the old days. They are once again a winning team and I feel personally responsible for their winning ways.

Why am I responsible for the Knicks winning again? Well it’s simple… I don’t watch them play ball anymore.

Call me superstitious, but I feel that anytime I watch the Knicks play basketball, especially this season, they loose. Take tonight for example. I knew they were playing The Orlando Magic and I wanted to see the game. But because of my luck or lack of, I followed the game on my ScoreMobile app. At some point in the third quarter, the Knicks were up by 8 points. I figured this was a good sign and assumed that they will win. So I decided to watch the rest of the game.

I began watching and immediately, the Magic went on an 11-2 run and led the game. The score when I started watching was Knicks – 69, Magic – 61 with 9 minutes remaining in the third quarter. Three minutes later, the Magic was leading by one point, Knicks 71, Magic 72.

At that point I changed the channel and went back to ScoreMobile on my cellphone.

According to ScoreMobile, the Knicks quickly gained their composure and went on to win the game with a score of 114 to 106. This of course only happened after I stopped watching.

So to all the Knicks fans out there… you’re welcome.

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