Basketball
is a very difficult sport to watch if you don’t know what you are looking
for. Everybody always watches the ball
and fails to recognize what really goes on in a game. If you just watch whoever has the ball, then
you miss 90 percent of the game. All of
the little factors that lead up to the spectacular plays that everybody loves. While a spectator ball watches, they will
only see the end result of a play. If a
person can watch everything that happens away from the ball, then the
spectacular plays will seem very simple.
People love to watch the alley-oop.
But what people don’t recognize is how the person who catches it gets
open. He can’t just run wherever he want
and jump and catch the ball and dunk it.
He has to cut and set up his defender so that another player can set a
solid screen allowing him a chance at getting open. That only involves three of the five players
on the court. The other two have to keep
their defenders occupied so that they stay out of help side and allow the
person coming off of the screen to be open.
If all five offensive players are able to execute their roles
successfully, that doesn’t mean that the play will still work. There are still a billion things that can go
wrong. The defense could switch the
screen which means that the person guarding the screener just starts defending
the person who was supposed to catch the lob.
If this happens then the person who is catching the pass will not be
open even if all five players executed their roles perfectly. The help side defenders could not take the bait
and remain in help defense causing the lob pass to not be open. Let’s just say that everyone does everything
right, the defense doesn’t switch, and the help side defenders take the
bait. Things can still go terrible
wrong. The passer might not be able to
make the pass because his defender might be all over him making it impossible
to throw any pass except for the simplest.
And even if the defender isn’t all over him and he can make a pass,
there is still the problem of making a good pass. The pass has to be high enough for his
teammate to catch and dunk but not too high or else it will sail out of
bounds. If the passer throws the pass
too hard, his teammate won’t be able to catch and finish. If all of that works out and there is a good
pass, the timing still has to be perfect otherwise when the person catching the
ball is at his highest point, the ball will be nowhere near a place that he can
make a play with. Despite all of these
things that can go wrong, it is amazing that so many people are able to
flawlessly execute these plays. To me
this is what makes basketball the greatest sport ever.
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
In
this year’s March Madness, there are a few teams who I could definitely see
being the new Cardiac Pack. One is the
University of Dayton. This team is
currently unranked but they do not get the respect that they deserve. They are a team who made the sweet sixteen
last year and graduated almost nobody.
This team is a quality basketball program who showed us that they were a
team to be respected in last year’s tournament.
Dayton is a team who can definitely make the tournament and will win at
least two games. But because they are
unranked, people will not take them as seriously as they should and will be a
Cinderella team. This team made it to
the sweet sixteen last year and should be able to do it again. Another team who could upset some of the “good”
teams in the tournament is Monmouth. Yes
their bench is the best in basketball, but the people on the court have also shown
that they should not be overlooked.
Monmouth has a win over ranked Notre Dame and UCLA. This team not only brings energy to the court
with their outstanding bench theatricals, but also have proved to everyone that
they are a team who can upset some of the best teams in the nation. But the team that I can’t wait to see in
March is the team that nobody is going to expect. I don’t have any clue what team it is going to
be, but I know that there will be a team who comes out of nowhere and ruins my
chances at ESPN’s one million dollars or Warren Buffett’s one billion dollars
for a perfect bracket. Every year I have
a solid start to my bracket through the first couple of games, but about
halfway through the first day of the first round things always go south for
me. Because of Cinderella teams like
Dayton, I have never won a bracket pool.
This is why I have a love/hate relationship with upsets. I love seeing the good teams lose early in
tight games, but I hate them because it always ruins my brackets and costs me
money. There are some teams that we all
know are going to go far like Kentucky or Michigan State. Both teams are well coached and are in the
top five ranked teams in the country.
But one thing about Kentucky that I hate is how they are basically a
D-league for the NBA. Every year they
have about five new Freshmen who all have outstanding years and then go straight
to the NBA. It is basically a feeder for
the draft, which I don’t like. I enjoy
watching players who stay with their college for extended periods of time like
Jordan did. This is why I don’t think
that Jordan can be compared with Lebron and Kobe. Jordan played four years for North Carolina
while Lebron and Kobe just skipped college.
For
many basketball fans, the month of March is the greatest time. Not because it is spring or because of St. Patrick’s
day but because of the NCAA Tournament aka the March Madness. The March Madness is a 64 team tournament
spread out through the entire month of March and the beginning of April. In the March Madness there is never a year
where there isn’t a Cinderella team who just completely messes up everyone’s
bracket. A couple years ago it was VCU a
team who was ranked in the double digits.
Last year it was Dayton who beat Ohio State and made it into the sweet
sixteen. One of the most heroic stories
is the NC State wolfpack in 1989. This
team was coached by Jim Valvano who took this team to a conference championship
defeating Ralph Sampson perhaps the greatest college basketball player
ever. They had the possibly the hardest
road to make the tournament that year.
They had to win their conference championship just to make it into the
tournament. Once they made it in, they
had to play tight game after tight game.
They got the nickname the Cardiac Pack because all of their games were
so close and had to be decided in the last 30 seconds. One thing that helped this team to their
title was the three point line. The
three ball was instituted that year and allowed them beat teams that had more
skill than they did. Without the three
point line I don’t think that this team would have been able to make it to the
tournament much less win it. This team
did not have an easy road at all, in the final four they had to beat North
Carolina who had the great Michael Jordan on their team. After they beat UNC, they had to play the
best team in the nation. This team was
nicknamed Phi Slamma Jamma because they liked to run the floor and just
constantly dunked the ball. This team
was unbelievably athletic and even had future NBA star Clyde Drexler. But in order to make it to this game, the
Wolfpack had to do things that had never been heard of in basketball. Jim Valvano was the first coach to
intentionally foul and put the other team on the free throw line at the end of
a game to get the ball back. When he
first did it, everyone thought that he was crazy. But once people saw that their opponents weren’t
making free throws at the end of a game and the Cardiac Pack clawed their way
back into games, it quickly became expected in close games.
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
We
can all agree that basketball has had an element of showboating/excessive
celebration/trash talking ever since Allen Iverson and the fab five played the
game. Some players have taken this
showboating/trash talking to new levels like Reggie Miller did. But in my opinion no team has even come as
close to the level of celebrating that the Monmouth bench players have. Although they are relatively new in the whole
celebrating part of the game, I think that anyone who has seen them can agree
that they will go down in history as one of the greatest. The level of creativity that these
benchwarmers possess is comparable to none.
But what makes them great is that they have the creativity but also the
shamelessness to actually perform their awesome celebrations. Many people would take a look at what they do
and say that it is not something to be done in a game or that they should focus
on what is happening on the court. This
takes away from many people’s ability to perform at the level that Monmouth’s
bench does. They are willing to look
past what society and the basketball community would deem as an “appropriate”
way of celebrating a good play made by a fellow teammate. But these four benchwarmers possess the
intensity, creativity, and shamelessness required to get their bench a separate
camera for just their bench. Those stats
are unheard of when it comes to a team’s scrubs. For them to get THEIR OWN CAMERA is something
that has never been done before and provides a role model for all benchwarmers
to look up to. The stunts that these players
perform are comparable only to the best student sections and baseball players
during rain delays. But what really sets
these players apart is the fact that they have such a limited space to work
with. Student sections have the entire
arena to perform their stunts. Baseball
has a whole field. Monmouth’s bench has
a small rectangle of only a couple of feet in area. After dunks these players will create a human
basketball hoop and dunk an invisible basketball. After a deep three, one of the players would “die”
while another would perform CPR until the other two could bring in a hand defibrillator
to resuscitate him. They would play a
down of football after a deep three with a center a QB and a receiver. They would act out scenes from the Hunger
Games. And just go absolutely insane
after any big play. These are the things
that separate them from the rest and cause them to be elite. There are no other teams or student sections
than can compete with their intensity and creativity with such a confined
space.
One
of the many reasons why I don’t want this season to end is because it marks the
end of a legendary player’s career.
After this season, Kobe Bryant will retire from the game of
basketball. He has truly been one of the
greatest to ever play the game. From the
day that he was drafted to the charlotte hornets in 1996 and traded to the
Lakers as a rookie, we could all tell that he was going to be something great
to watch. Kobe entered the draft right
out of high school. This is something
that not even Michael Jordan did. In high
school, Kobe was the top ranked player in the country. And when he retires at the end of this
season, it will set a record for most seasons played with a single team
(20). In 1997 Kobe took home the slam
dunk contest trophy. By that point
everyone in the world knew that this kid was something special. By his second season, Kobe was named to the
all-star team. Being an All-star in the
world’s best basketball league is an accomplishment but Kobe did it in his
second NBA season ever. One of the major
factors that led to Kobe’s success is have Shaquille O’Neal in the paint. Together Shaq and Kobe won three consecutive
titles for the Lakers in 2000, 01’, and 02’.
Perhaps the only blemish that people can put on Kobe’s style of play is
that he might not have passed enough.
But when you are one of the NBA’s greatest to ever play the game, it’s
okay to shoot the ball more often. Perhaps
the only reason that people may not like Kobe is because he was accused of
sexual assault in 2003, but the charges were dropped. Following a loss in the finals, the Lakers
traded Shaq to the Heat making Kobe the rock of the Lakers. He then became the scoring leader for the
next two seasons and it was then that he scored a career high of 81 points in a
single game. This is second on the all-time
list behind Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 point game.
He won two more championships back to back in 20019 and 10. This marked his fifth championship. Kobe is one of the greatest to ever play the
game he is a 17 time all-star, 15 time all-NBA team, 12 time member of the NBA
All-defensive team, he has led the league in scoring twice, he is ranked third
on the NBA’s all-time scoring list for both regular season and post season, and
he won five NBA championships. He is
compared with Michael Jordan and LeBron James as the best player ever. It will truly be a sad day when Kobe
retires. This will be like when baseball
lost Jeter. Such an iconic player will
be sorely missed after this season.
Another
thing that we have learned through the first 20 games this NBA season is that
the Philadelphia 76rs are absolutely horrible.
I have not seen a team that can suck so bad. Through their first 19 games they have not
won any of them. This is a whole other
level of horrible. It ties the record
for worst start for any NBA team ever.
Not only are they 0-19 but they are currently losing to the Lakers who
are also horrible. I believe that it is
more than safe to say that the 76rs are by far the worst team in the NBA this
year. In my opinion it is not entirely
the players fault though. Although some
of the blame can be placed on the players for not winning, we need to focus on
the main problem which is their front office.
Their general manager has not recognized that they need a guard. For the last couple of years, they have
drafted strictly bigs. To their credit
having a strong paint presence is a deciding factor in many games. But having several first round drafts picks
in the paint is going to do absolutely nothing when there is nobody to bring
the ball up the court. Besides have a
solid point guard, the 76rs need a good shooter. A shooter will help to spread out the floor
giving their quality posts the space they need to create shots and grab
rebounds. The hardest part of building a
team up from nothing is establishing a presence in the paint. The 76rs have an abundance of this presence,
but they lack everything else. It is
very hard to win in basketball without a rim protector, but the 76rs have shown
that it is impossible to win with just trees and nobody that can function
outside the paint. In my opinion, the
76rs are right on the brink of being a good team. Even though their record clearly states
otherwise, I believe that with a good draft next year and one or two good moves
by the general manager, they can become a formidable opponent in the east. Playing a team that has solid big men is very
hard to match up against because there are few other teams in the east that
have post presence of the 76rs. Once the
76rs can provide an all-around team, it will still take the team a little while
to figure out how to win in the NBA. In
a couple of years and with the right moves, I believe that the 76rs can go from
the worst team in the NBA to playoff contenders.
The
NBA season has begun and we are almost 20 games deep. We have learned several very important
facts. The first is that the Warriors
are very very very very good. They have
not lost a game all season and have played close to 19 games already. Steph Curry is having another phenomenal season
and I would not be surprised if he won the MVP again this year. He has made an unbelievable amount of threes
already. He has hit 94 which is the most
in the league. The person who is closest
to him is Kyle Lowry who has only made 54.
Paul George is close behind Kyle with 51. If the warriors are able to keep up this
amazing basketball that we have seen over the course of last season and the
beginning of this one, we can expect to see Curry with five or six rings. We can also see Steve Kerr as going down in
history as one of the greatest coaches because his team just refuses to lose
and as we all know, the team is a reflection of the coach. This team has done unbelievable things in
just one season and the start of a second.
One of the largest factors in this amazing performance is the fact that
the chef has remained healthy. In past
seasons since Curry was drafted out of Davidson, he has acquired several
injuries and it is my personal belief that these injuries have held back the Warriors. The first full season that Chef Curry played
he won an MVP and a championship. There
are very few teams throughout history who can compete with the dominance of the
Warriors. The most prominent are the 96’-97’
Bulls. The very team that Coach Steve
Kerr played on with the great Michael Jordan.
Just the sheer amount of wins in a single season by these two teams
makes Steve Kerr a part of the two most winning teams in basketball
history. Last season the Warriors
finished the regular season 67 and 15 with a home record of 39 and 2. Another highlight for this legendary team is
Curry setting a new record for most threes made in a single season with 286
breaking the previous record of 272 that he set in 2013. But Curry couldn’t do this by himself, he
needed the help of his fellow splash brother Klay Thompsen, who combined with
Curry to make a total of 525 threes.
That is the most by any duo in NBA history.
Sunday, October 4, 2015
It is almost time for the NBA season to start! There are several sleeper teams who should do
pretty well this season. One team is the
Indiana Pacers. They suffered a serious
heart break when Paul George had that nasty leg injury. But now that he is back they will be playoff
contenders again. Another team that will
do well is the Toronto Raptors. For the
past couple seasons, they have been on the border of making the playoffs and
not. Some seasons they have and others
they have just missed it. Or they would
start out the season hot and start to lose some of their momentum half way
through the season. We all know that the
Cavs and Warriors will both be playoff contenders. The real question is whether or not Steph
Curry will have the MVP season that he had last year. One thing that led to his success last season
was the fact that he was able to remain healthy throughout the entire
season. From the year that he was
drafted, he had some form of injury that affected his play and held him back
year after year. Last year, he was able
to remain healthy throughout the entire season which caused him to lead the
Warriors to the best record in the NBA and a championship, it also allowed him
to take home the MVP trophy. Other teams
that we need to be on the lookout for are the Pelicans led by Anthony
Davis. Davis has led all teams that he
has been on to greatness. When he was in
college playing with the Kentucky Wildcats, this superstar brought them an
amazing season with under five losses and a March Madness championship. When he was drafted, it became clear that he
would bring whatever team he was on out of the ashes and make them playoff
contenders. Davis is without a doubt the
NBA’s next superstar. I believe that in
the next five years, he will have won the MVP, and with the right coach and
general manager, an NBA championship.
When talking about teams in the NBA who have potential to make the
playoffs, we can’t leave out the Rockets, Thunder, or Bulls. All three of these teams have superstar
power, and great supporting roles. One thing
that has held these teams back are injuries.
Between Derrick Rose’s knees and Kevin Durant’s injuries, the Bulls and
Thunder have missed several opportunities. One thing that has been a major
problem with the three of these teams is selfishness. Russell Westbrook shuts down Durant like nobody
else in the NBA can and Dwight Howard is the laziest center in the NBA. We can’t forget how much Joakim Noah hates
Cleveland for no reason which brings unwanted attention to his team. Another team that has firepower is the LA
Clippers. They have an all-star point guard
and power forward which is a deadly combination and spreads out the floor for
the rest of their players. Between all
of these teams, it would seem that there won’t be any available spots in the
playoffs for other teams. But one thing
that I love about the NBA is that anything can happen. With injuries an ever-present factor, any “bad”
team could rise up and shock us all.
Sunday, September 27, 2015
With the new NBA season exactly one month away, we can only assume that everyone is getting very excited. Me personally, I cant wait to see how the Cavs are going to be looking this season after resigning Tristan Thompson for a 3 year 53 million dollar contract. We should be looking at the new season with some very high standards. Especially when we will be having all of our players back from injuries. Kyrie Irving will be good to go for the start of the season and we all know that he is hungry for the title that we would have won if he didn't get hurt. Also Kevin Love will be back in action after he suffered a torn laberum at the hands of Kelly Olynyk. I am also very happy to see Anderson Verajao back and ready to play. I know for a fact that he is ready to finally get that championship ring for the city that he has been with through thick and thin. Another player that is coming back and we are all very happy to be seeing in the Cleveland jersey again is Mo "Money" Williams. We all remember when we were thinking about trading him and he begged us to let him stay. Well we welcome you back to Cleveland with open arms Mo, and we know that you are going to be a crucial asset in this upcoming season. Other players that need we need to be looking at this season on the Cavaliers roster are JR Smith and Iman Shumpert. Both had a sub-par performance in the finals last season and they are both going to be key players this season. JR and Kyrie will both be helping to extend the range this season causing the floor to be more spread out allowing players like LeBron and Mozgov to post up. When we are talking about the Cleveland defense we all know that Shumpert will be there locking up some of the NBA's best. But how can we talk about Cleveland defense without bringing up Matthew Dellevadova. He is without a doubt the most hardworking, toughest, scrappiest, player in the NBA. We all remember how he SHUT DOWN Steph Curry in the finals. Delly single-handed took the MVP and neutralized the threat in the finals. What more can you ask of a back up point guard....... except for him to score twenty points as well. And leading the charge for this hungry and healthy team will be LeBron James. This one man turned around Cleveland basketball and made it something that this city could be proud of. With this healthy roster, we will be looking for a great season and hopefully Cleveland's first championship.
Sunday, September 20, 2015
Basketball is, in mine and many others opinions, the greatest sport to ever be played. It is also one of the toughest sports to be played at any level. Some might say that hitting a baseball is much harder but I would disagree. The thing that makes basketball such a challenging game to be played is the fact that it requires an individual to be quick, fast, powerful, tough, have finesse, great vision, have an unbelievable amount of hand-eye coordination, and to be able to work as a small part of a larger group. It requires five individuals to have all of these qualities and for those five individuals to be able to play as one flawless unit that executes every play with precision, speed, accuracy. It also requires the team to put aside their own personal agendas and to do things for the team that nobody would want to do. It requires all players to exhibit an amount of hustle that is unparalleled by any other sport. In order for a team to be good, they have to spend countless hours conditioning, working on their shot, and going over several plays that will be used at any point throughout the game until the team can execute them in their sleep. If one player on the team isn't able to execute a single play, it brings the entire team to their knees and forces them to completely regroup. This is one thing that makes basketball a game that is significantly harder to play than something like baseball or football. If a person is not working like a clock, then the team will still be able to get by because the play might not be in their general direction. But with basketball, if one player has a mental lapse for even one second on the defensive end, it can lead to disaster. And if that mental lapse happens on the offensive end, then it forces the team to regroup giving the defense the upper hand for that possession and possibly on the other end of the floor. In short, basketball requires each individual player to be a much more diverse athlete than any other sport, while requiring to have the same kind of skills and athleticism that all other sports require. It forces them to take all of the hardest parts of other sports and roll them into one player. It is impossible to be a "specialist" in basketball because if you cant perform all of the required traits of a basketball player, then you won't see the floor.
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