At some point during the fourth quarter, as the Hawks were getting all they could handle from the Rockets and seemed on the verge of their first home loss of the season, Dominique Wilkins said the same thing you’re gonna hear from a bunch of opposing team announcers about the Rockets this year: “This is a GOOD basketball team!” in a surprised tone … In what might have been the most entertaining finish of the year, Houston went up by seven midway through the fourth when Aaron Brooks dusted Joe Johnson on a crossover/hesitation along the baseline for a layup. Read More »
For the weekend’s edition of Reebok Still Talkin’ Quote of the Day, we take it back to the days of the VHS tape. Here are some of the best sound bites from players from the late 80s and early 90s like Byron Scott, John Salley, Reggie Miller and the great Larry Bird. Read More »
Every day The700Level.com runs a feature called “Today in Philly Sports History.” Today’s feature looks back at this date in 1984 when Dr. J and Larry Bird basically tried to kill each other at the Boston Garden.
For a franchise that supposedly doesn’t have any money, the Grizzlies went all-out for their home opener. After introducing the Pistons to the theme from Beverly Hills Cop (cute), the Jumbotron showed a dramatic over-the-top video where Allen Iverson and Rudy Gay talked about “Grizz Nation” and defending homecourt. Then the DJ put on a Michael Myers/Halloween-inspired track, and the Jabbawockeez appeared at midcourt to dance. THEN they brought out Three Six Mafia, wearing Memphis jerseys and performing “Stay Fly” to bleed into the player intros, complete with smoke machines and everything else. Read More »
Kobe and Captain Jack’s rivalry is nothing compared to what has apparently been brewing since the early 90s between two of the greatest point guards of all time. Isiah Thomas and Magic Johnson were so close during their playing days they famously exchanged a kiss before tipoff of the 1988 NBA Finals. I’m sure when Zeke heard Magic and the “Hick from French Lick” were co-authoring a book, he expected to take some shots from Larry Bird (he did fire him in Indiana), but he was blindsided by Magic. Read More »
In 25 years as league commissioner, David Sternhas seen his fair share of great players from Michael Jordan to Larry Bird to Kobe Bryant. So who’s his favorite all-time player? Stern recently told Rick Harrow from The $ports Take (Versus) in an episode that runs on Oct. 27, that he’s quite the fan of the King. Read More »
One sequence defined last night’s Lakers/Nuggets national TV preseason game: In the second half, after Kobe Bryant had already come out of the locker room with That Look in his eye, he pulled off his new favorite move on Kenyon Martin; getting him in the air with a pump fake and spinning a quick 360 to his left, dropping a jumper as K-Mart harmlessly floated back to Earth. Then on the Nuggets’ ensuing possession, Kobe jumped a passing lane and finished with a breakway one-hander, slapping on the bottom-teeth snarl as an exclamation point … Read More »
Today the Associated Press posted this video of Chris Paulmaking an amazing trick shot. CP3 throws the ball off a beam on the ceiling, which bounces off the floor to bank in. The shot is very reminiscent of the old Larry Bird and Michael Jordan McDonald’s commercials. With shots like this, let’s hope that the NBA invites Paul to compete in the H-O-R-S-E comptetiton at next year’s All-Star Weekend in Dallas.
At first glance, the Indiana Pacers have all the characteristics of a bad franchise. They missed the playoffs last year. They were ranked 28th overall in attendance in 2008-‘09. They appear on national TV a whopping three times this season (two of those are NBA TV). And the average basketball fan probably couldn’t name more than three players on their roster.
But the funny the about it is, they aren’t that bad. Read More »
