Back to 2001 NBA Final 3

At the end, it came down to a single position. Down by 1, with just under a minute to go, and Shaq (Shaquille O’Neal) had been fouled out. All they had to do was stop the Lakers, and take the lead. “Playing the clock, no gambling. And if you can’t grab the rebound, tip it. Hey, let’s execute right, all right? Kick their ass out.” But LA simply had so many weapons. Robert Horry buried a three-point at the baseline. The Los Angeles Lakers went up 2 victories to 1.

Making it even worse, suddenly, they were reported that Larry Brown was planning to leave the team at the end of this season because of his health problem. All the Philadelphia 76ers’ hopes were on this season, it was their championship brought them together. And now with their loss in game 3, they had to face the fact that it was all about over. This team has overcome more than any team that I have ever been in love with. And it all starts with this little kid.”

Phily would not win another game, and the Lakers would take the series in 5. But instead of tearing the 76ers apart, it seemed to bring them together.

“He has tried this year every game to do our best, as probably  been most satisfying thing about this whole process. He has been tough about as a basketball player, not a kid. I think he is the greatest joy in sports, because I did not know him well enough. If I would take the time, maybe really know he is about. I think as a coach, a lot time, I didn’t spend enough time trying to know what play he is true about, and understand maybe there way shown him emotional, trying to win, and trying to be competitive. Then, I think he has opened my eyes to that.”

“He has helped me so much since he has been my coach. He has been amazing, and gave me a lot of success than I have been had it. This contribute to him.” “We did this together, me and him, and that is what it continue to be. It’s us.”

There it is, they had put him away, you can start the party out in Los Angeles.

“This team taught me that, you know, you get a group of guys, with characters, you know, you could accomplish great things”

What’s happening with the Pacers?

Since their last win over a team with a winning record, Feb 7th, Pacers have the 6th best record in the East. Although they still hold a three-game advantage over two-time defending champions, the Miami Heat, there are multiple concerns that have signaled an early postseason exit if changes are not made soon.
With 49 wins last season the Pacers were able to prove that even though they may not have the star-power of other top contending NBA teams, hard work pays off. They made the Eastern Conference finals, and were hoping to have an even more impressive and successful season the following year. While the beginning of the season looked like the Indiana team could do it, since then many fans have experienced doubts about their teams potential.
It seems as of recently Indiana has lost sight of the teams potential and focused more on their all-stars potential. Since the announcement of the All-star game, Paul George has suffered tremendously not only offensively, but also on defense. With Roy Hibbert failing to hit double-digits in five of his last eight games, he also has been falling short of expectations.
Not only has the teams star players struggled, but also the defense for the team as a whole has taken a turn for the worst. Originally ranked 1st, the team has slowly but surely crept its way down to 7th. 10 of their 16 opponents scored under 90 points in the beginning of the season, and with their past 16 games they have only been able to hold them to that once.
Indiana has gone 12-8 in they’re past 16 games and although this is not awful, it is nowhere near where the fans, coaches, or players, projected to be at the start of this year. With time to turn it around we all believe they can do it, but changes need to be made fairly quickly.

Philadelphia 76ers to Tank it Home

The Philadelphia 76ers have lost their 25^th game in a row. On Thursday, the 76ers travel to Houston to try and end a losing streak that is one game shy of tying an all time NBA record. The 76ers haven’t won since beating the Boston Celtics back on January 29 when Evan Turner, who is now with the Indiana Pacers, hit the game-winning bucket.

The Houston Rockets are 28-7 this season at home and they are currently in the middle of an intense Western Conference playoff race. In other words, it’s looking like there is a pretty good chance that the 76ers are going to tie the all time losing streak. If and when the 76ers lose Thursday, they will then travel to Detroit on Saturday to take on the Pistons.

Despite the drastic losing streak, surprisingly enough, the 76ers don’t even have the worst record in the NBA. The Milwaukee Bucks own those bragging rights with an embarrassing 13-58 record. With the 76ers trailing the Bucks by two games for the worst record in the league, look for the 76ers to tank it home the rest of the season.

Why tank? Well the 76ers have two lottery picks for next year, and if all goes well, Nerlens Noel will make a healthy debut. Sure, the 76ers barely look like an NBA team when taking the floor, but that’s all apart of the plan.

If the 76ers go on to lose their next three games, the next notable record on the board is the ’71-72 Los Angeles Lakers’ streak of 33 consecutive wins. After that, well then it would be time to cheer to lose all of the final 36 games remaining on the schedule. If the 76ers manage to pull that off, it would arguably be considered as the greatest tanking job in the history of sports.

One of the great things about tanking is that you have next year to look forward to. Fortunately for the 76ers, they are in that position and they have options to work with. There could always be worse things going on. At least the 76ers aren’t the New York Knicks.

Upset Of The Tourney

As we head into this weekends sweet sixteen match ups, Dan Gilbert, the owner of the Quicken Loan’s billion dollar perfect bracket give away and  partner Warren Buffett can sleep easy. March Madness 2014 can be named the year of the “upsets”, as we concluded the round of 32 there have been 13 upsets, the most shocking being number fourteen seed Mercer Bears defeating number three seed Duke Blue Devils.

Coming into this season the Duke Blue Devils were ranked fourth in the AP preseason polls. With so much talent being put together on one team and coach Mike Krzyzewski leading the charge the expectations were high. The hype of incoming freshman phenom Jabari Parker, returning guard Quinn Cook, and transfer sophomore Rodney Hood the college basketball experts had high hopes for this young Duke team to make a run come March.

Unfortunately, the dreams of Krzyzewski bring a fifth championship to Durham came to a quick halt, as they were upset and shocked by the Mercer Bears in the first round. This is only the seventh time in school history that the team has not made it pass the field of 64, most recently happened in 2012 when they lost to Lehigh.

But, you got to tip your hat to the Mercer Bears they played one hell of a game knocking off an elite contender. Coach Krzyzewski congratulated them on a well played game afterwards in the locker room.

Now the questions begin to brew,

what’s next for the Blue Devils?

Is Jabari going to stay?

Will Rodney Hood return?

None of these questions can be answered just yet, but people can get a gist of what could happen. Duke is and always will be looked at as a dominant basketball school, each year everyone knows they will make the tournament. We know Mike Krzyzewski will reload and recruit the top players in country and have a chance at a title the next year. As for Parker and Hood, according to DraftExpress they have both Duke players being selected in the first round with Jabari being a lottery pick, which we all expected from him being a one and done.

As for the Duke Blue Devils season I see it as quite the disappointment. With such young raw talent and such a great coach and coaching staff it’s a shame a team like this gets bounced in the first round. Coming into the tournament as a three seed and playing a team who nobody has really heard of, I think it’s pretty obvious they overlooked this matchup and in the end cost them their season.

#NewSATQuestions What percentage of brackets correctly picked Mercer to beat Duke? a.) 1% b.) 0.01% c.) 0% d.) What the hell is a Mercer?

— SAT Questions (@QuestionsOfSAT) March 22, 2014

I think the answer we all had was D…

Who needs a coach? Apparently not Carmelo Anthony.

By: Hayes Richardson

The Knicks are hot. Nobody can take that away from them. They’ve won seven games in a row, most recently over arguably the best team in the East, the Indiana Pacers. But what got lost in all of that was Carmelo Anthony’s interaction with head coach Mike Woodson during a timeout late in the game. The Knicks were up by seven points with just under 20 seconds to play, and the camera’s were rolling. Please excuse the language in the video.

A few things to take note of here.

First, are you kidding me Carmelo? What kind of message does “Let’s just go out there and f****** play” send to the other guys on the team? “You know what guys he’s right, why should we listen to this fool, this is Melo’s team.” Let the man draw up the damn play. You’re up by seven with 19 seconds left. Show some respect for your coach, even if he isn’t Red Auerback.

Second, we know you’re a great player, but just because you actually decided to play some defensive for a few games in a row doesn’t mean you don’t have to listen to the coach anymore. There has to be a connection between the team going from mailing it in to becoming the ’95 Bulls once Phil Jackson was hired into the front office.

Third, there is nothing wrong with asking for the ball in the huddle in a close game. In the words of the immortal Jimmy McGinty, “Winners want the ball when the game’s on the line.” I draw the line when you blatantly tell your coach you’re not listening to him, while on camera on national TV, and then pouting after it.

“Winners want the ball when the game’s on the line”

If you’re going to make a statement in the huddle in a tight game, you do it like this. Larry Legend could walk the walk and talk the talk. You deserve the right to make these comments when you’ve won two titles and are one of the best of all time.

Despite all this, I will say that I watched a decent amount of the game and Carmelo was on another planet. He was scary good. I haven’t seen him playing like this in a long time and if he actually continues to play defense who knows what the Knicks can do. He knows that Phil Jackson was brought in to keep him at MSG, and maybe it will actually work.

Bottom line for me is that Carmelo is a great player who can take the Knicks to new heights if he sets his mind to it. That absolutely does not mean that he has the reputation to blow off his coach like that. The game was over. Just pretend that you’re listening.

Lastly, here’s a nice GIF of Melo going to work, because who doesn’t love to see Kris Humphries get crossed up every once and a while.

 

Tribute to the Almost-Cinderella Stories

By Josie

After the craziness of the college basketball regular season and conference tournaments, we expected nothing less from the month of March and the first weekend of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament did not disappoint. Upsets abounded in the first round (or the second round I guess, if we’re going to be technical).

The tourney started off with the Dayton Flyers upsetting the Ohio State Buckeyes, but their year is not over yet, so we move onto those tiny teams who dazzled early then fizzled out. An ode to those teams who realized, there may not be next year, or even next round, so they made us cheer for them, even though it would destroy our bracket.

So here’s to you, Mercer, who’s stunning upset of Duke was half the reason that the state of North Carolina was shut out of the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 1979.

 

To North Dakota State, who proclaimed their Cinderella status to the twitter world.

And finally, to Stephen F. Austin, who’s four point play over the usual Cinderella suspect and the guys who keep bringing the  mid-major back, VCU , had us all wondering if the “F” could possibly stand for Final Four.

Sadly, these moments were fleeting, as all three teams went onto lose their next round game and were left out of the sweet sixteen. The magic run may not have been there this year, but there’s always next year (maybe, pending that they either play top ranked teams non-conference or win their conference tournaments) but, still, we salute you, almost-Cinderella stories, even if you cost us a chance at a billion dollars

GO FLYERS!  

 

 

Back to 2001 NBA Final 2

Allen Iverson thought the Los Angeles Lakers was where the stars at and the mall of stars, but he was the brightest one in the Staples Center.

The Philadelphia 76ers barely had time to enjoy their victory in game one after they got news that Aaron McKie had broken his ankle. “The fact the Aaron McKie is trying to play, Eric Snow is playing and George Lynch is trying, just tell you a little bit about what it seems about”, a voice from 76ers’ player. Allen had celebrate his 26th birthday in the Staples Center, and he said that he had learned from his mistakes in order to get better.

The 76ers’ good feeling carried for them little less than a half in game two. By half time, the Lakers, the Lakers were up by 49 to 47. And in the fourth quarter, LA won up by as many as 12. Larry Brown called a time out, and said, I don’t know what hell is gonna happen in this game, but we gotta a series, all right, we gotta figure out how to play better. The last desperation made them cut the lead to 2, but in the end, the Lakers had the victory.

As the series shifted to Philadelphia, the 76ers was ready to face the biggest test of their season. All their plans had pointed to this moment, and the entire city seemed resonate their hope. If the 76res’ dreams were come true, game 3 and Philadelphia was the time. A win here will keep them the series, a loss will be crushing.” A lot people didn’t even think we will be here, but it’s about heart.” Allen said that before game 3.

The 76ers played one of the most toughest games in the season, every time the Lakers tried to put them away, they came back stronger.

To be continue.

Building For The Future

As the 2014 NFL draft approaches quickly, the real question is who will go number one? The Houston Texans posses the number one pick after displaying a pitiful 2-14 record last season, but have not made a clear cut choice on who they will draft Clowney? Manziel? Bortles?

In my opinion this would be a no brainer, Jadeveon Clowney is the clear number one pick, it has been years since the NFL has seen someone display this type of talent. At the NFL combine last month Clowney displayed freakishly good numbers, posting a 4.53 for his forty time, which was the fastest among defensive linemen. He added a 37.5 inch vertical, which was among top three linemen, and had a 10 foot 4 inches in the broad jump, which also put him in the top two among defensive linemen.

The Texans has been in this situation before, in 2006 they drafted outside linebacker Mario Williams with the first pick, which seem to fair out well for them. Williams played five successful season with the Texans, becoming a three-time pro bowler.

As for the rest of the draft picks two through ten anything can happen, the St. Louis Rams access the number two pick, which they acquired via trade with the Redskins. They aren’t searching for that offensive weapon like some teams in this draft, most NFL analysts like Bucky Brooks have the Rams taking a OT like Jake Matthews from Texas A&M.

The Jacksonville Jaguars have they number three pick and our in the market for a quarterback that can make plays. Chad Henne struggled last season throwing just 13 touchdowns and 14 interceptions finishing the season with a 31.9 QB rating, which was among the lowest in the NFL. Most NFL analysts have “Johnny Football” headed out of Texas and straight to Jacksonville. As for his performance, Manziel did not have the most outstanding numbers at the combine, but he did what he had to do. He placed among the top five in all QB tested categories, but chose no to throw but to wait for his pro day at A&M on March 27th.

As we all know Johnny Manziel is one of the most hyped players in this draft. Some scouts question his size and strength in comparison to other NFL players, but I believe Manziel has all the skills to be a successful quarterback in this league. A perfect comparison could be Russell Wilson, who was listed at a 5’9 at the combine, but surpassed all odds won a Super Bowl in just his second year. By no means am I saying Johnny Football will win a Super Bowl in just two years, but I do believe he has a chance to great things in the league if the right team and coaching staff can scoop him up.

As how the rest of the draft will play out, no one real knows who will fall where. You have talented players like Clowney and Manziel who eat up the headlines and have NFL scouts going crazy, but there is so much young talent throughout draft that you might even see teams trade down and still come out with an immoderacy amount of talented players. I believe the quarterback position can be pin pointed as one of the deepest positions in this draft, players like Blake Bortles, Teddy Bridgewater, Derek Carr are all players capable enough to help turn a struggling franchise around if placed in the right setting. As for Clowney and Johnny Football we can all sit back and wait in anticipation to see if they can live up to the hype.

The future of the Lakers doesn’t look so bright

  This year has not been the season that LA Lakers fans were hoping for. With a standing record of 22-42, it leaves people wondering, what is happening to their team. One of the major concerns coming from fans, players, coaches, and managers is if Kobe Bryant will be able to return to the game for the remainder of the season.

Only 6 games into the season, after recovering from a torn Achilles from the previous year, he ended up fracturing his tibia. Since the payoffs are not looking like a likely outcome for the Lakers, it does not seem worth it to rehab Bryant to a speedy recovery possible risking another injury in the future. As a 35 year old recovering from an injury will only take more time and more dedicated rehab, and with a franchise worse 48 point loss to the Clippers, there is really no rush for him to recover for the remainder of the season this year.

This year could be blamed on many mistakes and losses for the team, including losing Dwight Howard in the summer prior to the start of the year. As of March sixth, it was said that the Lakers have the fifth worst record in the NBA, tied with the Utah Jazz, holding a record of 21-40.

So what can fans look forward to? With a season going this poorly thus far, it is highly likely the team will land a top draft pick in the 2014 draft, which will help bring some hope, and a light at the end of this seasons dark tunnel for the team. However considering the players they have now, it looks as though the team will not have a lot of flexibility I terms of signing major contracts. With Kobe Bryant earning $23.5 million, it puts a constraint on the ability to freely select players of value. The team is definitely in need of another star player to bring the team fresh, new talent, and the fans excitement.

    Overall it seems as though the Lakers do not have a prosperous season ahead. Although there is always time for a turn around, their main attraction is out with an injury. Kobe Bryant’s return could help bring publicity and enthusiasm back to the struggling team, however it does not seem like his return will be any time soon.

Philadelphia 76ers on Pace to Set Losing Record

The month of February wasn’t too nice to the Philadelphia 76ers. The team managed to go an embarrassing 0-11 during the month and gave up over 100 points in each of those loses. Now the Sixers have managed to lose 17 in a row and are nine games away from tying the 2010-2011 Cleveland Cavaliers for most consecutive loses.

In each of the 17 straight loses, the Sixers margin of defeat has been right around 19 points. So right now, it’s safe to say that the Sixers are doing a fantastic job of being losers. The schedule doesn’t look to promising for the team, either. After their home game against the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday, the Sixers play the next seven of eight games against opponents with records well above .500. That includes playing the Chicago Bulls twice, San Antonio, Houston, and Indiana.

For those who thought that losing was the worst news, think again. Tickets for Wednesday’s game against the Kings are going for as low as $8. Attendance in general hasn’t been up to par this season, as could be expected. In fact, the only packed house in the past two months came at the first of the month when the Sixers retired future Hall of Famer, Allen Iverson’s jersey.

It’s hard to argue that the Sixers aren’t tanking at this point in the season with the way they have hacked away at their roster. So what is there to look forward to if you’re a Sixer’s fan? Not much.  Well your franchise is currently second in the “tank rank” for worst record in the NBA, but is purposely “tanking” what the franchise needs at this point? Is  Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker or Joel Embiid the answer to your problems? I personally beg to differ.

To me personally, I think tanking should be fraud upon in all-professional sports. We have athletes getting paid millions of dollars to go out and not give it their all? I consider that borderline robbery. Front offices in professional sports should hold teams accountable for those sorts of things, but that’s just my crazy opinion.

If there is one thing everyone can agree on, it’s that everyone wants to see the Sixers make a run at the 26 game losing streak. So let’s all jump on the bandwagon and root against the Sixers!