I guess they really did play hard in the NBA All-Star Game on Sunday. According to the L.A. Lakers medical and media relations staff, Kobe Bryant got a broken nose and experienced a concussion after a hard foul by Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat. During the third quarter of Sunday's game, Bryant playing for the West All-Stars was posting up Wade, who was on the East squad, in the low post.
Kobe made a quick spin move to the left baseline, blowing past DWade who hit him in the head trying to block the shot. Wade with two hands chopped down on Bryant's forehead all the way to his nose. It was a strange incident considering there was little to no intensity to that point. What was stranger was the changing diagnosis following examinations.
According to the Lakers, Kobe received a CT scan after the game on Sunday and it said he had a nasal fracture. On Monday, Bryant flew back to Los Angeles where he was examined by Dr, John Rehm, a physician whose expertise is the facial area. Rehm concluded that more tests needed to be done. He suggested an MRI told Kobe to see a neurologist for a better opinion. This was for a foul in an exhibition game. You couldn't make it up. Unfortunately for Lakers fans, it was a true nightmare not a sleepy dream.
Today, the team and fans finally got some news when the neurologist ruled Bryant clear of any concussion-like symptoms. According to team officials, Kobe passed three separate tests but still needs to pass two more by tonight's 7:30 PM Pacific Time tip-off against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
As for Dwyane Wade, he told reporters following the Heat's practice yesterday that he apologized to Bryant face-to-face and in writing. Wade stated he said sorry after the play where the foul happened. Additionally, he sent a text message to Bryant's phone on Sunday night following the game. However, DWade and his head coach had to open his mouth before we all could forget our bad feelings.
According to the Associated Press, he said one selfish statement saying "I don't care what I'm portrayed as...". Well, Dwyane, you're a crybaby. Heat coach Erik Spolestra had a dumber response to all the criticism.
Spolestra called it “a continuation of the theater of the absurd” and whined that "there's nothing we can do about it, about the extreme exaggeration about everything that happens with our team".
Erik, one of your superstars LeBron James, announced he was signing with your team two summers ago on a freaking TV show. You threw this garbage out into the street, now you have to pick it up and throw it back in the trash can.
Showing posts with label basketball. Show all posts
Showing posts with label basketball. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Marquee NBA Thursday pre-game report
The National Basketball Association has center stage tonight in the sports world with two intriguing games. First, the New York Knicks try to beat the Heat in Miami. Second, the Los Angeles Lakers attempt to silence the Thunder in Oklahoma City. Thankfully, TNT will show both games since it’s their night of the week to broadcast.
As far as New York-Miami, the Knicks are a nice, young team led by newcomer Jeremy Lin but remain inconsistent. New York gets up for national TV showdowns versus the defending champion Mavericks and Lakers, 2009 and 2010 champs, while losing at home to terrible teams such as Charlotte (pre-Linsanity), New Orleans, and New Jersey. New York started 8-15, won 7 straight to get to .500, and then alternated losses and wins for last four games. .
Miami is a basketball team this year and not a bunch of rock stars playing basketball like last year. The Heat are on a seven-game winning streak. They are tied with Oklahoma City for the best record in the NBA at 26-7. They are the top scoring team in the league while New York is in the middle of the pack. Lebron James and Dwyane Wade are playing well together. I don’t believe the Knicks will cool off the Heat, Miami should win going away in the fourth quarter.
It’s remarkable that the Los Angeles Lakers are a decent team out west. If you look at their roster, Kobe Bryant is the only all-star player they have. Lamar Odom was traded to Dallas right before the season started. In fact, forward Pao Gasol is rumored to be traded. Kobe went off after a loss in Phoenix on Sunday complaining the team’s management was messing with the players’ chemistry and his teammates need to play harder. Maybe he was angry that the Clippers have a better record and lead the Pacific Division. Yes, the Clippers have two fewer losses than the Lakers right now, 20 wins and 11 losses to 20 wins and 13 losses. The Lakers seemed to fix their problems after a Monday team meeting. That night, they blew out Portland and last night they knocked off the Mavericks in Dallas. Before Wednesday, the Lakers last played a game in Dallas back in May 2011 when they were swept in the second round of the playoffs.
The Oklahoma City Thunder contain a lot of thunder and lightning in their offense. On Sunday, Kevin Durant reached the 50-point mark for the first time in his career scoring 51 in a overtime win over Denver. That wasn’t all. Russell Westbrook put in 40 points while Serge Ibaka collected 14 points, 15 rebounds, and 11 blocks. These three players accounted for 105 of the Thunder’s 124 points against the Nuggets. Last night, Westbrook pumped in 31 while Durant added 28 in a victory over Boston.
The Thunder had 72 points in the first half against the Celtics, some teams don’t get 72 in an entire four-quarter game. However, Oklahoma City gives up as many points to their opponents as they pick up themselves. Last night versus and Boston and Monday against New Orleans, they almost blew leads of 25+ points. Boston trailed 83-56 (27 point deficit) with 7:07 left in the third quarter. The Celtics chipped away and with 3:31 remaining in the game, they cut the lead to six points at 108-102. Monday night, the Thunder led the Hornets by 26 points at 68-42 with eight and a half minutes to go in the third quarter. From that point until a minute remained in regulation, they were outscored 49 to 29. Oklahoma City did hang on to win 101 to 93.
The Thunder’s attempt as a team to play defense is like TNT NBA analyst Charles Barkley’s effort to play good golf. Both of them try but miserably fail. Oklahoma City should win tonight since they are the home team in their matchup with the Lakers. Nevertheless, I would pick L.A to win a best-of seven series in the postseason. I will go with Kobe, Andrew Bynum, and the Lakers with or without Pao Gasol versus Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and the Thunder. At least Los Angeles can some play defense.
In short, I predict the Heat over Linsanity and the Thunder over the Lakers tonight because they’re playing at home. However, there is a long way to go. The All-Star break is this weekend. This is the end of the first half of the NBA season, they still have to play the second half.
As far as New York-Miami, the Knicks are a nice, young team led by newcomer Jeremy Lin but remain inconsistent. New York gets up for national TV showdowns versus the defending champion Mavericks and Lakers, 2009 and 2010 champs, while losing at home to terrible teams such as Charlotte (pre-Linsanity), New Orleans, and New Jersey. New York started 8-15, won 7 straight to get to .500, and then alternated losses and wins for last four games. .
Miami is a basketball team this year and not a bunch of rock stars playing basketball like last year. The Heat are on a seven-game winning streak. They are tied with Oklahoma City for the best record in the NBA at 26-7. They are the top scoring team in the league while New York is in the middle of the pack. Lebron James and Dwyane Wade are playing well together. I don’t believe the Knicks will cool off the Heat, Miami should win going away in the fourth quarter.
It’s remarkable that the Los Angeles Lakers are a decent team out west. If you look at their roster, Kobe Bryant is the only all-star player they have. Lamar Odom was traded to Dallas right before the season started. In fact, forward Pao Gasol is rumored to be traded. Kobe went off after a loss in Phoenix on Sunday complaining the team’s management was messing with the players’ chemistry and his teammates need to play harder. Maybe he was angry that the Clippers have a better record and lead the Pacific Division. Yes, the Clippers have two fewer losses than the Lakers right now, 20 wins and 11 losses to 20 wins and 13 losses. The Lakers seemed to fix their problems after a Monday team meeting. That night, they blew out Portland and last night they knocked off the Mavericks in Dallas. Before Wednesday, the Lakers last played a game in Dallas back in May 2011 when they were swept in the second round of the playoffs.
The Oklahoma City Thunder contain a lot of thunder and lightning in their offense. On Sunday, Kevin Durant reached the 50-point mark for the first time in his career scoring 51 in a overtime win over Denver. That wasn’t all. Russell Westbrook put in 40 points while Serge Ibaka collected 14 points, 15 rebounds, and 11 blocks. These three players accounted for 105 of the Thunder’s 124 points against the Nuggets. Last night, Westbrook pumped in 31 while Durant added 28 in a victory over Boston.
The Thunder had 72 points in the first half against the Celtics, some teams don’t get 72 in an entire four-quarter game. However, Oklahoma City gives up as many points to their opponents as they pick up themselves. Last night versus and Boston and Monday against New Orleans, they almost blew leads of 25+ points. Boston trailed 83-56 (27 point deficit) with 7:07 left in the third quarter. The Celtics chipped away and with 3:31 remaining in the game, they cut the lead to six points at 108-102. Monday night, the Thunder led the Hornets by 26 points at 68-42 with eight and a half minutes to go in the third quarter. From that point until a minute remained in regulation, they were outscored 49 to 29. Oklahoma City did hang on to win 101 to 93.
The Thunder’s attempt as a team to play defense is like TNT NBA analyst Charles Barkley’s effort to play good golf. Both of them try but miserably fail. Oklahoma City should win tonight since they are the home team in their matchup with the Lakers. Nevertheless, I would pick L.A to win a best-of seven series in the postseason. I will go with Kobe, Andrew Bynum, and the Lakers with or without Pao Gasol versus Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and the Thunder. At least Los Angeles can some play defense.
In short, I predict the Heat over Linsanity and the Thunder over the Lakers tonight because they’re playing at home. However, there is a long way to go. The All-Star break is this weekend. This is the end of the first half of the NBA season, they still have to play the second half.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Linsanity
Who is Jeremy Lin and what is Linsanity? Well, Jeremy Lin is an undrafted point guard out of Harvard University who is now playing for the New York Knicks. Since he was inserted at point guard, the Knicks have won six straight games and have gone from a team floundering below .500 to a group one win away from an even win-loss record. A little over a week ago, that seemed impossible Lin was sitting on the bench earlier in the season hoping he could get a chance. With New York struggling for a decent point guard, Lin was picked by head coach Mike D’Antoni to play a bigger role. Lin had barely seen any action, playing less than ten minutes a night in 8 games and only 20 minutes in another contest against Houston. That changed on February 4th.
The Knicks were 8-15 and fans were yelling for D’Antoni’s firing as coach. In a home game versus New Jersey, Lin scored 25 points and dished out 7 assists in 36 minutes of action in a 99-92 victory. Two nights later on February 6th, D’Antoni moved Lin into the starting lineup against Utah. Lin played an astonishing 45 of 48 minutes in his start while scoring 28 points and handing out 8 assists. New York won their second straight game, 99-88. On Wednesday, February 8th, the Knicks travel to Washington, D.C. to face one of the NBA’s worst teams, the Wizards. With Kobe Bryant and the Lakers coming to New York on Friday, it looked like a potential letdown in Washington. However, Lin had his first career double-digit points and assists game in the NBA. The double-double included 23 points and 10 assists.
The Knicks had won three in a row with Lin as the point guard but they faced the L.A. Lakers. Comparisons were made between Lin and Lakers star Kobe Bryant. Bryant flashed out on the NBA scene as a high-school basketball whiz in 1996-97. The hype was incredible for a regular-season game featuring two teams with average records. The Knicks were 11-15 at this point while the Lakers were 15-11. The Lakers are a good but not an elite championship team. Nevertheless, with two of the Knicks starters out of the lineup in Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire, Los Angeles had an advantage. With his teammates struggling to score, Lin asserted himself more offensively. He collected 38 of New York’s 92 points in the game. Lin hit 13 of 23 field goal attempts and 10 of 13 free throws. The Knicks won again despite only having two players besides Lin score more than 10 points. New York had won four consecutive games with a two-game road trip coming up in Minnesota and Toronto.
In Minnesota, Lin had his worst game statically but his teammates stepped up instead. Steve Novak had 15 points including a three-point shot which tied the score at 98 with under a minute to go. Iman Shumpert pumped in 20 points while Landry Fields added 19 and Tyson Chandler pitched in with 12. Lin scored at least 20 points for the fifth straight game but shot an awful 8 for 24 including making only 1 of 13 attempts in the second half. He even missed the first of two free throws with five seconds left before making the second to give New York the lead.
Last night in Toronto, Lin again played reckless and out of control for most of the game. He committed a career-high eight turnovers while his team fell behind by 17 points. His opposing guard, Jose Calderon was lighting him up offensively and defensively. Calderon had 12 of his 25 points in the first quarter . Lin turned the ball over on three straight Knick possessions in the second.
After the third period and with the Knicks trailing by 9, D’Antoni switched defenders on Calderon selecting Iman Shumpert to guard him. Shumpert shut down Calderon allowing Lin, a weaker defender, to concentrate on offense. Shumpert stole the ball away from Calderon with the Raptors leading by 5 in the final two minutes and dunked at the other end to make it 87-84. The Raptors missed on their next possession thanks to a Tyson Chandler block. Lin led New York down the floor trailing by 3 points. He dribbled fearlessly into traffic, got fouled by Toronto big man Amir Johnson, and flipped the ball in while falling.
Like in Minnesota, Lin swished the free throw when he needed to tie the game. The Raptors again failed at getting a basket and the Knicks had the ball with 43 seconds left in regulation. Shumpert tried banking a shot off the rim as the 24 second shot clock ticked down. It clanged off the rim but Chandler grabbed the ball and passed back to Lin with 20 seconds. Lin held the ball twenty-five feet away from the basket as he setup the last shot. He started to dribbled forward while Calderon backed away fearing Lin would move past him. Instead he stopped and shot a long three-pointer over him and straight into the hoop with less than a second to go. Lin finished with 27 points and 11 assists and the Knicks continued their winning streak at six games.
The crowd in Toronto erupted like it was Madison Square Garden in New York City. The Raptors held a special Asian Heritage Night in honor of Lin, American-born but raised by Taiwanese parents. Thousands of Asian men and women screamed gleefully for one of their own excelling in a sport of basketball born in North America. Thousands of Knicks fans cheered back in New York as their team which looked down and out a week ago is now a contender for a playoff spot.
This is Linsanity, if that is an actual word. He was a high-school standout in Palo Alto, California near the University of Stanford. He was not offered a scholarship even though he was two-time Most Valuable Player in his school’s district league. He was named the scholar athlete of the year in Northern California and the player of the year by two local San Francisco newspapers. Somehow, he had to leave not only the Bay Area but the west coast to get noticed academically and athletically by Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts near Boston.
Lin scored 1,483 points in 4 years at Harvard ranking him fifth in school history. Lin was an all-around player with more than 450 rebounds, 406 assists, and 225 steals, a combination never achieved before in Ivy League play. No NBA team, including the Knicks, bothered to draft Lin out of college. The Dallas Mavericks signed him for five games of summer league action in 2010.. His hometown team, the Golden State Warriors, released him after 29 regular season games of limited playing time in 2010-11. Lin never gave up, got an opportunity, and proved that stereotypes are just labels and do not represent a whole group. Every person is unique and so is Jeremy Lin.
The Knicks were 8-15 and fans were yelling for D’Antoni’s firing as coach. In a home game versus New Jersey, Lin scored 25 points and dished out 7 assists in 36 minutes of action in a 99-92 victory. Two nights later on February 6th, D’Antoni moved Lin into the starting lineup against Utah. Lin played an astonishing 45 of 48 minutes in his start while scoring 28 points and handing out 8 assists. New York won their second straight game, 99-88. On Wednesday, February 8th, the Knicks travel to Washington, D.C. to face one of the NBA’s worst teams, the Wizards. With Kobe Bryant and the Lakers coming to New York on Friday, it looked like a potential letdown in Washington. However, Lin had his first career double-digit points and assists game in the NBA. The double-double included 23 points and 10 assists.
The Knicks had won three in a row with Lin as the point guard but they faced the L.A. Lakers. Comparisons were made between Lin and Lakers star Kobe Bryant. Bryant flashed out on the NBA scene as a high-school basketball whiz in 1996-97. The hype was incredible for a regular-season game featuring two teams with average records. The Knicks were 11-15 at this point while the Lakers were 15-11. The Lakers are a good but not an elite championship team. Nevertheless, with two of the Knicks starters out of the lineup in Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire, Los Angeles had an advantage. With his teammates struggling to score, Lin asserted himself more offensively. He collected 38 of New York’s 92 points in the game. Lin hit 13 of 23 field goal attempts and 10 of 13 free throws. The Knicks won again despite only having two players besides Lin score more than 10 points. New York had won four consecutive games with a two-game road trip coming up in Minnesota and Toronto.
In Minnesota, Lin had his worst game statically but his teammates stepped up instead. Steve Novak had 15 points including a three-point shot which tied the score at 98 with under a minute to go. Iman Shumpert pumped in 20 points while Landry Fields added 19 and Tyson Chandler pitched in with 12. Lin scored at least 20 points for the fifth straight game but shot an awful 8 for 24 including making only 1 of 13 attempts in the second half. He even missed the first of two free throws with five seconds left before making the second to give New York the lead.
Last night in Toronto, Lin again played reckless and out of control for most of the game. He committed a career-high eight turnovers while his team fell behind by 17 points. His opposing guard, Jose Calderon was lighting him up offensively and defensively. Calderon had 12 of his 25 points in the first quarter . Lin turned the ball over on three straight Knick possessions in the second.
After the third period and with the Knicks trailing by 9, D’Antoni switched defenders on Calderon selecting Iman Shumpert to guard him. Shumpert shut down Calderon allowing Lin, a weaker defender, to concentrate on offense. Shumpert stole the ball away from Calderon with the Raptors leading by 5 in the final two minutes and dunked at the other end to make it 87-84. The Raptors missed on their next possession thanks to a Tyson Chandler block. Lin led New York down the floor trailing by 3 points. He dribbled fearlessly into traffic, got fouled by Toronto big man Amir Johnson, and flipped the ball in while falling.
Like in Minnesota, Lin swished the free throw when he needed to tie the game. The Raptors again failed at getting a basket and the Knicks had the ball with 43 seconds left in regulation. Shumpert tried banking a shot off the rim as the 24 second shot clock ticked down. It clanged off the rim but Chandler grabbed the ball and passed back to Lin with 20 seconds. Lin held the ball twenty-five feet away from the basket as he setup the last shot. He started to dribbled forward while Calderon backed away fearing Lin would move past him. Instead he stopped and shot a long three-pointer over him and straight into the hoop with less than a second to go. Lin finished with 27 points and 11 assists and the Knicks continued their winning streak at six games.
The crowd in Toronto erupted like it was Madison Square Garden in New York City. The Raptors held a special Asian Heritage Night in honor of Lin, American-born but raised by Taiwanese parents. Thousands of Asian men and women screamed gleefully for one of their own excelling in a sport of basketball born in North America. Thousands of Knicks fans cheered back in New York as their team which looked down and out a week ago is now a contender for a playoff spot.
This is Linsanity, if that is an actual word. He was a high-school standout in Palo Alto, California near the University of Stanford. He was not offered a scholarship even though he was two-time Most Valuable Player in his school’s district league. He was named the scholar athlete of the year in Northern California and the player of the year by two local San Francisco newspapers. Somehow, he had to leave not only the Bay Area but the west coast to get noticed academically and athletically by Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts near Boston.
Lin scored 1,483 points in 4 years at Harvard ranking him fifth in school history. Lin was an all-around player with more than 450 rebounds, 406 assists, and 225 steals, a combination never achieved before in Ivy League play. No NBA team, including the Knicks, bothered to draft Lin out of college. The Dallas Mavericks signed him for five games of summer league action in 2010.. His hometown team, the Golden State Warriors, released him after 29 regular season games of limited playing time in 2010-11. Lin never gave up, got an opportunity, and proved that stereotypes are just labels and do not represent a whole group. Every person is unique and so is Jeremy Lin.
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