No disrespect to Grant Hill, Jared Dudley and Jason Richardson, but we figured Kobe Bryant‘s toughest matchup last night would be against his own pride. Going into Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, Kobe was facing the team (Phoenix) that represented his last really bad playoff fail (2006, 2007), so there was a real chance of him going out with Lookin At Lucky blinders and trying to overkill eviscerate the Suns instead of playing team basketball. But on his way to 40 points (13-23 FG, 11-12 FT), five rebounds and five assists, Kobe was like an artist in the way he picked his spots to take over in between letting the game come to him. Read More »
After watching the Celtics manhandle the Magic for the first three quarters of yesterday’s game, and watching their defense contain LeBron James and his supporting cast last week, one has to wonder why the mastermind behind the Celtics’ defense, Tom Thibodeau, is still on Doc Rivers‘ bench. This man deserves to be a head coach, and after the way the Celtics have performed in these playoffs, this is the time when Thibodeau will finally get the opportunity to be the head man. Read More »
Heavy is the crown worn by the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft. With the 2010 Lottery drawing being held tomorrow, we’ll get one step closer to identifying the next name in the lineage — John Wall is the odds-on favorite, but things could change depending on who lands the top spot — of players expected to quickly change the fortunes of a franchise, eventually win championships, consistently sell tickets and in most cases make a near-seamless transition from amateur to professional life.
And it’s only fitting that, as teams are whittled away in this year’s NBA championship race, former No. 1 picks have been at the center of NBA attention. Read More »
If you’re involved with or interested in sneakers in any way, it would have been pretty hard for you to miss all of the releases, re-releases and news of upcoming releases of several new Nike Air Foamposite colorways between this year and last. After making a huge impact with its release in 1997, some of these colorways have made me immediately run to my calendar to mark the release (or re-release) date. With that in mind, here’s my take on the Top 5 Nike Air Foamposite colorways. Read More »
I’ve never been OK with the Kobe-Bryant-As-Basketball-Cyborg idea. Even as his legend grows with each heroic feat; his rank in NBA history moving closer to the head of the table alongside the likes of Jordan, Kareem, Magic and Oscar while each game-winner is met with more incredulous announcer laughter … I still don’t buy into the concept that Kobe is beyond human, beyond flawed.
In my Dime #55 cover story on Kobe, I wrote: “In his 14th pro season, the NBA’s Bruce Lee — a study of focus, precision, efficiency, attention to detail, killer instinct, raw talent, charisma and sheer love of the fight — seems on a mission to prove no injury, illness, danger or distraction will stop him from dominating this sport.” Read More »
It’s almost impossible to watch an NBA game these days without seeing a T-Mobile commercial. But featuring the personalities of Charles Barkley and Dwyane Wade, I’m not complaining. Tonight, they’re launching a new 30-second spot during Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals with two new additions: the Walton Family (Bill, Adam, Nathan and Chris – with a family shout out to Luke) and the Barry Family (Rick, Scooter, Jon, Brent and Drew). And we’re told that this is the first time in 10 years that the Barry Family have all been together. Check out the sneak peek below.
Mike D’Antoni had an incredible run in Phoenix, with four straight seasons of at least 54 wins among the highlights of his tenure. However, his inability to get the Suns to play anything resembling defense ultimately led to the decision not to bring him back in 2008. While defense is the main knock on D’Antoni as a coach, it’s actually his failure to develop a bench that people should be worried about. If there’s one thing that Alvin Gentry has done differently than his mentor in leading this Suns team to the Conference Finals, is build and establish trust and confidence for his bench players. Read More »
Ray Allen and Paul Pierce put the ball in the basket, but the real MVP of yesterday’s Celtics/Magic Game 1 was Kendrick Perkins.
Playing on a sore knee, Perk had more combined turnovers and fouls (10) than he did points and rebounds (6), but Boston’s win hinged on his 1-on-1 defense against Dwight Howard. Coming off a series where he pummeled the Atlanta Hawks for 21.0 points per game on 84 percent shooting from the field (i.e., plenty of dunks), Dwight was held to 13 points on 3-of-10 shooting yesterday. Read More »
If you’re a fan of the ACC, you better watch out for NC State. When I was in Atlanta a couple weeks ago, I got up with incoming freshman Ryan Harrow who said that people should be scared of the Wolfpack. While people already know about C.J. Leslie, Harrow said that the other freshman that is going to make Sidney Lowe‘s squad one of the best in the country is Lorenzo Brown. Check out this mix of Brown getting it done for Hargrave Military Academy this past season. As Hoopmixtape says, “Simply put, he makes the game look easy.”
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