Lamar Odom sure wishes he could forget this moment in his basketball career and I’m sure he wishes that Phil could too. A simple inbounds play turns into a ridiculous turnover when Odom forgets to inbound the ball to his teammate before dribbling the ball on to the court. He must have flashed back to his street ballin days. Pretty funny.
Lamar Odumb
…And people say Kobe is selfish
I still remember the first time I saw this ad on televesion. I was absolutely mesmerized. The ad shows various people performing some of MJ’s most recognized manerisms and moves and is a perfect tribute to his legendary career. The ad is just a thing of beauty…from the music, which increses in rythm and intensity as the video pregresses, to the video which is just stunning. I know the ad is old but I think it was one of the greatest basketball ads ever. See for yourself.
Greatest MJ Commercial Ever
Does anyone else think that it is completely ridiculous that Shaquille Oneal is leading all East centers with 522,815 votes to start in the NBA All Star game even though he has played only 4 games so far this season? Now I am a huge Heat fan but personally, as an even bigger basketball fan, I find it insulting to see him ahead of more deserving players…or at least players who have played more than 4 games this season. Oneal’s stats in those 4 games aren’t even All Star material as he averaged only 14 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. At some point, you have to look at what the All Star game is and what it means to so many players. I realize that the game and especially the entire weekend is probably little more than a couple of nice dunks and some laughs for most casual NBA fans but for me, and I’m sure many of you, the All Star game is the first highlight of the season. It rewards players for having terrific seasons and for some players it is as much as a reward as they will get throughout their entire career. I would feel terrible if someones only opportunity was stripped from them simply because some Shaq fans feel like seeing some more of the same again in this years All Star game. I understand they want to support their favorite player but, come on…he’s injured! Give someone else a chance.
Personally, I will be voting several times for Dwight Howard in an effort to offset the Shaq fans who have been flooding the All Star ballot with votes for a player that has already received his fair share of free trips. I hope that you choose to do the same so that we can transform the All Star game back to the meaningful game it was meant to be.
Spread the word.
Cast Your Vote For The NBA All Star Game Here
Allen Iverson will never play another game for Philadelphia 76ers again and the only question anyone is asking is whether or not the Sixers will be better off without him.
Seriously?
Is it really that complicated a situation for everyone to understand that the answer is an emphatic YES. Theres no doubt that AI will be greatly missed in the city of Philadelphia and it is truly unfortunate that he wont be able to retire in the city he has called home for almost the entire duration of his NBA career but lets think this through clearly.
Philadelphia has been in need of a drastic makeover ever since they had their first trip to the NBA finals where Iverson carried that team on his back all through the season and playoffs. That was back in 2001! Thats 5 years that the Sixers have needed to be rebuilt and unfortunately the front office never realized it. Well it looks like they have now and with the impending Greg Oden sweepstakes just around the corner, it looks like they are ready to become serious competitors for the 40 year old looking 19 year old (I mean seriously, have you seen him?). Philadelphia is doing a smart thing by trying to rebuild the team around a very young, marketable and potential superstar. They already have Andre Iguodala (forgive my spelling), Samuel Dalembert and Kyle Korver which with the addition of Oden would give them a slid core of young talented players. Rebuilding is what teams do and thats all Philly is doing. Simple right?
Well what about Iverson…is this divorce better for him too?
The answer is an emphatic YES once again. Iverson is way too great a player to miss the playoffs as much as he has with the Sixers lately and the NBA needs a player like him to be involved in the highlight of their entire year. Iverson is 31 years old but that doesn’t mean that he cant still be the focal point of an offense nor does it mean that he cant be what I call a contributing superstar (like Mcgrady…still a superstar but doesn’t need to do it every night to win). A change of scenery never hurt anyone and I think it will certainly help Iverson provide the answer for another team.
It will definately be weird seeing him wear a different jersey in another city but its all for the best…trust me Philly fans.
By the way, I just wanna answer all those rumors that are circulating about AI maybe being headed to Miami.
NO CHANCE
…but it would be interesting if he did.
The makings of the war for complete sports video game supremacy has been in the works for a long time. EA has had a serious stranglehold over the market for a very long time but with the rise of 2K and the slow but obvious decline of EA, the war is finally here. 2K seems to have finally ammassed a large enough market share of the sports video game industry to make their first real push into EA’s territory. So the question is, who will win?
EA has been here for far too long to be pushed out in one single blow. They own way too much of the market and have too devoted and loyal a fan base to be seriously hurt by 2K or anyone for that matter. Described as “the evil empire”, Electronics Arts has dominated the sports video game industry with titles in every sport including Madden, NBA Live, NHL and many others. They spend more money than anyone to develop and fine tune their games in order to ensure that their titles are the best available however, recent titles from EA have been less than perfect and have raised many questions concerning EA’s attention to detail. A number of bugs as well as a lack of original and innovative ideas have left their games open to a number of bad reviews. EA has avoided criticism for many years thanks in part to great game development but also thanks to a lack of competition. 2K’s arrival to the forefront of the sports video game industry has given EA’s games something to be compared to and the comaprisons have drawn mixed reviews. While some feel that the combined effect of EA’s loyal following and their practically unlimited supply of money is just too big a hump for 2K to overcome, others feel that 2K’s innovative ideas and different approach to the sports simulation concept (they are much more of a simulation while EA is more arcade) has already brought them this far and can only bring them further. EA released NBA Live 07 way before it was ready and was criticized for the many bugs and lagy online gameplay that plagues the game while NBA 2K7, although suffering from poorer graphics, benefits from its many different gameplay modes (including Street Mode) and all around better performance and was rewarded with better reviews. 2K’s games have begun to outperform EA’s and that is a serious threat to EA’s “monopoly”.
So the question is clear…which company will prevail?
Not really a fair question since chances are both will survive and most likely thrive in this lucrative industry.
So the real question is…where does your loyalty lie, EA or 2K?
318 points in one game and it wasn’t even the NBA record.
The Phoenix Suns and New Jersey Nets played through 4 quarters and two overtimes until the Suns finally came out on top 161-157. The game was at the very least, one of the highest scoring games in NBA history and is raising even more questions than there already were about that new ball that everyone seems to hate. The game was completely offensively oriented with neither team really playing any defense what so ever. The game had 34 lead changes and 21 ties which just tells me that neither team was able to put 2 or 3 stops together on defense. I really wonder whether this game was good or bad for the NBA?
In the last year, the NBA has been critisized veferishly about their “secret” exploits to “improve” the game and get the results they want. Last year, the Miami Heat battled the Dallas Mavericks for the NBA championship and while I was extremely happy with the result (Miami in 6…Wade MVP), I couldn’t help but wonder what was going on. Throughtout the entire playoffs but much more so in the Finals, the calls seemed to be going Wades way all the time. Many people believed that Stern was trying to influence the outcome of the series through the referees so that he would never have to hand the NBA championship to Mark Cuban (aka “The Anti-Stern”). End result…Miami wins and Cuban goes home empty handed. Stern couldn’t be happier. This year, Stern introduces a new ball and nevermind what its “supposed” to do. We all know that Stern and the NBA has wanted more scoring for a while and with scoring up in the NBA this year (exeplified by this 318 point game), its pretty clear what this ball was really meant to do.
The game was good and bad for the NBA depending on where your looking at it from. From a general perspective the game was great because of how much publicity it generated for the sport. Unfortunately, the game was terrible for serious basketball fans because of how little it exemplified what we love about the NBA. Where was the defense? Seriously, where was it?
Either way you look at it, there is at least one person happy with the game’s outcome…but honestly, I am a little tired of sacrificing the fundamental values of our sport just to make Comissioner Stern happy.
I must admit that the new and improved Kobe Bryant has really impressed me with his unselfish play, his belief in Phil Jackson’s system and coaching style as well as still possesing his super human ability to take over a game whenever needed. I mean you gotta admit, the Lakers look pretty good early.
Kobe Bryant changed his jersey number from the number 8 to the number 24 to represent how much greater than Michael Jordan he thinks he is (come on, hes not fooling anyone). He did it against my advice, which was to change his number to 81 to represent his unbelievable accomplishment of scoring 81 points in a single game. I mean dont you think that changing his number to 81 would have been pretty cool or at least much less insulting to MJ?
The Lakers are 12-5 and are currently leading their division, a division that includes championship contenders like Phoenix and the Los Angeles Clippers and look to be a championship contender themselves. Bryant is averaging just (lol) 26 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists per game but the difference he makes goes much deeper than just statistics. His new attitude toward the game seems to have rejuvinated Phil Jackson. The Hall of Fame coach looks happier than hes looked in a LONG time and that triangle offense is really starting to kick in. Lamar Odom is playing like he did back in Miami (sigh) and Andrew Bynum is starting to make everyone understand why he was drafted so early. In the last two weeks, the Lakers have wins against the Nets, the Jazz, the Clippers and the Pacers…all of whom can easily be considered playoff teams.
Kobe said that by changing his jersey number from 8 to 24 he is signifying a shift from the first half of his career to his second half and I thought…huh? But to be fair, he has done exactly that. Bryant has distributed the ball like it was a $4 million eight-carat, purple diamond ring (jk Kobe) and has therefore created a team that doesn’t rely on just one player to score anymore. The offense is built around several key players and offers a much more diversified attack which easily explains the Lakers 12-5 record.
Now I’ll be the first to admit, I am NOT a Kobe fan. I am however, just another sports fanatic who believes in giving credit where credit is due and right now, #24 deserves just as much as anyone.
