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December 28, 2010

Four Jazz Players Featured on 2011 NBA All-Star Ballot

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utah-jazz-2010

utah-jazz-2010

Al Jefferson, Andrei Kirilenko, Mehmet Okur and Deron Williams are featured on the 2011 NBA All-Star ballot, unveiled today during a special tip-off event in Los Angeles, the Official Host City of NBA All-Star 2011. Fans are also permitted to cast a write-in vote for players not on the ballot. Balloting presented by T-Mobile began this afternoon at 1 p.m. MT. The 60th NBA jerseys All-Star Game, which will air live on TNT and ESPN Radio in the U.S., and reach fans in more than 200 countries and territories in more than 40 languages, will be played at STAPLES Center on Sunday, Feb. 20, 2011.

Williams, a 2010 NBA All-Star, posted 14 points, six assists, three rebounds and four steals in front of his hometown crowd in Dallas during his first career appearance last season. Utah’s leading scorer and assist man is averaging 22.3 points, 10.1 assists (third in NBA) and 4.6 rebounds a game and was named the NBA’s Western Conference Player of the Week for November 8-14. Kirilenko was previously named an All-Star in 2004 and is posting 12.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.1 blocks a game so far this season. While Okur has yet to appear in a game this season as he recovers from a left Achilles’ tendon injury, Jefferson is vying for his first ever All-Star selection. The Jazz’s offseason acquisition from Minnesota is averaging 16.3 points, 8.7 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.4 blocks per game.

2011 NBA All-Star Balloting presented by T-Mobile, with associate partner 2K Sports, allows fans around the world to vote daily for their favorite players as starters for the 2011 NBA All-Star Game. There are several ways fans can cast their votes, including: at each NBA arena; in 20 languages on NBA.com; and through mobile phones by texting the player’s last name to 6-9-6-2-2 (“MYNBA”) or by visiting m.nba.com on any wireless carrier.

For SMS voting, fans can vote for All-Stars any time by texting a player’s last name from their mobile phones on any wireless carrier. Fans can cast one SMS vote per day, per phone number. Message and data rates may apply. T-Mobile customers will receive an exclusive 15 percent discount code to NBAStore.com for voting via SMS voting. Upon voting, T-Mobile customers will get a bounceback message with a discount code for them to use on NBAStore.com.

Fans can vote directly on NBA.com or use their Facebook profile information to help create an NBA.com All-Access account, which enables them to complete a ballot. After submitting their All-Star selections, fans will have the ability to share them with their friends on Facebook and followers on Twitter, and encourage others to cast their ballots.

The NBA All-Star ballot lists 120 players – 60 each from the Eastern and Western Conferences – with 24 guards, 24 forwards, and 12 centers from each conference comprising the list. Voters select two guards, two forwards and one center from each conference.

The 120 players on the ballot were selected by a panel of media who regularly cover the NBA: J.A. Adande (ESPN.com), Marv Albert (TNT), Art Garcia (NBA.com), Marc Spears (Yahoo! Sports), Doug Smith (The Toronto Star) and Ian Thomsen (Sports Illustrated).

NBA All-Star 2011 in Los Angeles will bring together some of the most talented and passionate players in the league’s history for a global celebration of the game. The week leading up to the 60th NBA All-Star Game will feature a full slate of community-enhancing activities, fan festivals and events, including the NBA shorts Cares All-Star Day of Service, the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge & Youth Jam, and NBA All-Star Saturday Night presented by State Farm. NBA All-Star Jam Session presented by adidas, the hugely successful interactive basketball celebration, will return to the Los Angeles Convention Center. Los Angeles and the STAPLES Center will host NBA All-Star 2011, marking the fifth time The City of Angels and the second time STAPLES Center will be the site of the annual celebration. STAPLES Center last played host to NBA All-Star in 2004, and L.A. also hosted the All-Star Game in 1963, 1972, and 1983.

December 27, 2010

Lakers coach against Christmas Day games

Filed under: NBA coach — Tags: , — admin @ 2:56 pm

Fans may be excited about Saturday’s game with Miami, and scalpers may hope to pay for a new Escalade with the proceeds, but the enthusiasm for the Lakers’ Christmas Day game is not unanimous.

Offering an opposing view is one Phillip D. Jackson, decrying the expanding holiday schedule.

“It used to be two (games),” Jackson said Tuesday. “It used to be Phoenix and LA and New York and Boston, or New York and Philly or somebody on the East Coast.

“Now I see they’ve got like six games on Christmas. (It’s actually five, with the first at 9 a.m. PST and the last at 7:30 p.m.) It’s like Christian holidays don’t mean anything to them anymore. NBA jerseys Just go out and play and entertain the TV. It’s really weird.

“But it is what it is. We’ve got to go to work and we’ll do what we have to do to make the best of it.”

Later, he added, “I don’t think anyone should play on Christmas Day. Soccer teams don’t play. They take a break. No hockey. I don’t understand it.”

There is, he said, a real challenge in being ready to play on Christmas.

“I don’t know if you can even adequately prepare for these games,” he said. “You don’t have a walk-through the day of the game. It’s just a difficult game. … Little kids are putting batteries in toys, you put their Christmas presents together, there’s all kinds of crazy stuff going on. And now your head’s got to get focused on a game in the middle of the afternoon on Christmas Day. That game is just really hard to measure how to bring focus to it.”

Artest’s new message

Before Tuesday’s game, Ron Artest appeared at a press conference to unveil his new public-service announcement promoting mental health awareness.

This has become a significant cause for Artest — he’s raffling off his championship ring to raise funds for mental health organizations — but he says he’s trying to keep the work in its place.

“I’m trying to be responsible with the message,” Artest said, “and do it in a way where I’m not trying to take away from the team and what we’re trying to do.”

December 22, 2010

Christmas Day NBA: Heat at Lakers, Game of the Season

Filed under: NBA Game Result — Tags: , — admin @ 2:07 pm

Heat vs Lakers

NBA games

We took a look at the upcoming Christmas Day NBA games almost a month ago when the Miami Heat were struggling with an 8-6 record and the LA Lakers were unstoppable with a 12-2 record. Even then when the Heat were still trying to figure things out, were not living up to the hype, and the game Heat-Lakers game looked like it could be a disaster for the Heat, the average price of a ticket to the Heat at Lakers Christmas Day game was still $507 per ticket.

Since then, the Heat have managed to figure things out and are currently on a 12 game winning streak. The Lakers have continued their dominance even though they hit a bit of a speed bump with a 4 game slide and are currently 21-7 winning 8 of their last 9 games. With less than a week until tip-off, this game is looking more and more like the game of the season. Over the past month, the average price of a ticket to this game has gone up $42 to $549 per ticket. As a means of comparison the average price of a ticket to a Lakers home game excluding the Christmas day game against the Heat is approximately $144 per ticket, just 26.2% of the price of the Heat-Lakers Christmas Day.

December 20, 2010

Bryant, Gasol lead Lakers past Raptors

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Bryant, Gasol

TORONTO, Canada – Kobe Bryant scored 20 points and Spanish star Pau Gasol added 19 to spark the reigning NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers past Toronto 120-110 on Sunday for their fifth triumph in a row.

Andrew Bynum added 16 points and Shannon Brown contributed 14 for the Lakers, who completed a seven-game road trip with six triumphs and improved to 21-7 overall, including a league-best 11-5 in road games.

Bynum, coming off the bench in his fourth appearance after being sidelined by right knee surgery, led 57 points from Laker reserves.

“I’m very pleased with the bench,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. “They bailed out the starters in a significant amount of minutes.”

Bryant, who sprained his right pinky against Philadelphia in a victory two days earlier, was also pleased to relax more on the bench at the end of a long road swing while backups saw more time.

“They have been solid this entire trip,” Bryant said. “They came in and gave us a big boost.”

Lithuanian playmaker Linas Kleiza scored a game-high 26 points and grabbed 10 rebounds while Demar DeRozan added 23 points and Spaniard Jose Calderon had 20 points and 12 assists for the Raptors, who fell to 10-18. NBA jerseys

The Raptors, losers of seven of their past eight games against the Lakers, were without Italian center Andrea Bargnani, their leading scorer.

Bargnani was sidelined by a sore right ankle after having missed a loss to Chicago last Wednesday with left knee pain.

“His ankle is compensating for his knee,” Raptors coach Jay Triano said. “He has been limping around because of the pain in his knee and it’s caused irritation in his ankle.”

Toronto went only 3-of-18 from the field in the second quarter as the Lakers seized a 57-49 half-time lead.

DeRozan scored 19 points in the third quarter but the Lakers led 86-79 to start the fourth quarter and went on a 13-7 run. Toronto never closed within six again.

December 15, 2010

NBA Breaking News: Los Angeles Lakers Trade Sasha Vujacic To New Jersey Nets

Filed under: NBA Stars — Tags: — admin @ 2:19 pm

Los Angeles Lakers

Los Angeles Lakers

According to ESPN, the Los Angeles Lakers have just pulled off a three-team trade with the NBA jerseys authentic Nets and the Houston Rockets, whereby the Lakers would acquire veteran forward Joe Smith from the Nets in exchange for Sasha Vujacic.

New Jersey will also send forward Terrence Williams to the Rockets and will receive the LA’s 2011 cheap basketball jerseys first round pick and Houston’s lottery protected first round choice in 2012.

The deal cannot be officially authorized until December 15th per NBA rules restricting the trading of off-season acquisitions, of which Joe Smith was one for New Jersey.

According to ESPN, the Los Angeles Lakers have just pulled off a three-team trade with the New Jersey Nets and the Houston Rockets, nba shorts whereby the Lakers would acquire veteran forward Joe Smith from the Nets in exchange for Sasha Vujacic.

New Jersey will also send forward Terrence Williams to the Rockets and will receive the LA’s 2011 first round pick and Houston’s lottery protected first round choice in 2012.

The deal cannot be officially authorized until December 15th per NBA rules restricting the trading of off-season acquisitions,  nba jerseys of which Joe Smith was one for New Jersey.

December 14, 2010

Boston Celtics Rajon Rondo Is Hurt: This Is Not Stopping Him From Winning

Filed under: NBA Stars — Tags: — admin @ 1:53 pm
rajon rondo

rajon rondo

The Boston Celtics record sits at 19-4. A big part of this is the play of all world point guard Rajon Rondo. Earlier in the year it was disclosed that Rondo had plantar fasciitis. NBA jerseys authentic This painful injury did nothing to stop Rondo from dominating the NBA by leading the league with an otherworldly 14 assists a game. He is also playing his usual disruptive defense recording the more steals than anyone not named Chris Paul.  nba jerseys However, his recent stretch of play is also remarkable. Rondo is playing with a hurt hamstring and has guided Boston to eight wins missing only one game (A Boston Win) despite tweaking that hamstring badly.

During that stretch let us review some of these performances. Against the Raptors in his first game back from injury, he notched 14 assists. The next game against  cheap basketball jerseys Cleveland he scores 23 and sets up 12. Rondo was clearly hurting against Portland and still scored 10 points and set up 10 more. That Portland game saw Rondo fall in pain at least three times, but he kept getting up and competing.  Against Chicago he puts up an eye popping 19 assists against Derrick Rose. Hurting against Charlotte, he still leads the defense and ends up with 5 steals. These performances are solid, but they are even more impressive when you realize that he is playing with the pain of not only his hamstring, but the plantar fasciitis is still taking its toll.

Rajon Rondo is a special player. He cares not about the pain of his body or the numbers. He only wants to win. He knows the Celtics chances of winning are better with him in the lineup. nba shorts This means Rondo plays with the pain. The pain is the price of tasting victory in his mind. He also makes sure the pain does not change whatever it takes to win approach. Pain or not Rondo is coming to win. This is why Rondo is going to be the face of this franchise soon.  Remember Go Green Or Go Home!!!!!!!!!

December 9, 2010

Kobe Bryant Supernatural Tour Hits Manila!

Filed under: NBA Stars — Tags: — admin @ 1:57 pm

Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant

Finally we’ve got the fresh – off – the – email press release from Nike Philippines re Kobe’s visit! Read about your chance to get to meet the man himself!

August 28, 2007, Manila - Kobe Bryant’s Sept. 5 Manila visit begins with the basketball superstar meeting kids from Eliseo Belen Charity at Nike Park, NBA jerseys authentic The Fort at 2 PM. Aside from being a worldwide basketball phenomenon, Kobe Bryant is also known for his generosity in bringing smiles to kids worldwide and his one-day visit in Manila begins with Kobe spreading smiles to Filipino youth, Nike Philippines disclosed recently.

In the afternoon, Kobe will headline the Kobe Supernatural Manila Event at the Phil Sports Arena (Ultra) where he will share his training regimen with young Filipino ballers. Gates will open at 3PM.

Tickets to the Kobe Supernatural Manila nba shorts Event will be distributed for one day only on September 1st 12:00PM at Nike Park, The Fort. Tickets are free of charge on a first come, first serve basis and only two tickets will be given per person.

Kobe fans can also tune in to radio stations, Magic 89.9, Wave 89.1, RX 93.1, and NU 107.5 to win tickets to see Kobe in action!

In addition, Nike will be launching a special Kobe Tour Tee for the occasion, which will be available on September 1st at select Nike stores.

Kobe Bryant serves as a basketball icon, inspiration and role-model to a lot of our young Filipino athletes and Nike Philippines is proud to bring him closer to his fans,” cheap basketball jerseys said Nike Philippines Country Marketing Manager Melissa Crucillo.

The one-day visit is developed as an opportunity for Kobe to work with Filipino kids and to inspire them to work towards realizing their hoop dreams,” Crucillo added.

The September 5 Manila visit is part of Kobe Bryant’s Supernatural Asia Tour 2007. nba jerseys To be launched during the tour is the new version of Kobe II, part of the Fall 2007 basketball footwear product line. The shoes will hit the Asian markets on Sept 6.

December 8, 2010

LEBRON, WADE, BOSH DOMINATE ATL; BOOZER FINALLY MAKES HIS MARK

Filed under: NBA Stars — Tags: , , , — admin @ 1:55 pm
bosh_heat

bosh_heat

You ever spent hours working on a project, then within five minutes it became totally useless? That’s how it was for whoever on the Atlanta Hawks production staff spent their time making fake movie posters hyping the Hawks as “The Road Warriors” because they went into last night’s game in Miami with a 7-2 road record, best in the East. nba jerseys About five minutes into the first quarter, however, before they could even show the graphic, LeBronand D-Wade and Bosh led the Heat on a 14-2 run and built a lead Miami would never lose …

This was the game we envisioned when the Heat trio first joined forces. LeBron (22 pts, 7 rebs) started off sticking pull-up jumpers in transition, and though he didn’t score in the second half until the last four minutes, finished by attacking the rim and catching one particularly nasty tomahawk dunk. nba shorts Wade (26 pts, 10 rebs, 3 stls) scored in transition and made big defensive plays in crunch time. And Bosh (27 pts, 10 rebs) took anybody who wanted some into his low-post and high-post chambers, making Josh Smith and the ATL bigs bounce like the view from Jennifer Love Hewitt’s treadmill … One timeMo Evans had a clear-path layup when LeBron caught him and yelled “Gimme that s***!” as he slapped it off the glass. cheap basketball jerseys LBJ was called for goal-tending … Mike Bibby got a technical when he drove to the rim and the refs missed him getting fouled. We don’t blame him.

The guy goes to the rack for the first time in a month and he can’t get a call? Ridiculous … DJ Khaled, Timbaland and Birdman were all sitting courtside. (1) That would be a sick collaboration album, and (2) Khaled looked like the Kool-Aid man in his giant red shirt … Let’s forget those first two debacles and just call Bulls/Rockets Carlos Boozer’s Chicago debut. In a head-to-head matchup with Luis Scola — a.k.a. the South American version of himself — Boozer put up 25 points and 9 boards and kept Chicago in striking distance late in the fourth quarter by cleaning up his teammates’ misses and getting to the free-throw line … NBA jerseys authentic With 10 seconds left, Houston was up three and needing a stop. The only true three-point shooter on the floor was Kyle Korver, but he was in the midst of a 1-for-7 night, so Derrick Rose (30 pts, 7 rebs, 11 asts, 5 stls) took it upon himself to drain a buzzer-beating trey in front of two defenders. In the extra frame, Rose won it for the Bulls by going back to his regular playbook of attacking the rim, and Brad Miller — who for some reason decided he was Reggie Miller on Saturday and took 9 threes — couldn’t hit a shot down the stretch … Leave it to Stacey Kingto ruin a perfectly good game by cackling, “Houston, we have a problem!” after the Rockets’ final play didn’t work. Way to break out the original material.

December 2, 2010

Sons of former NBA stars highlight Legends Classic

Filed under: NBA Stars — Tags: — admin @ 11:53 am

NBA stars

NBA stars

Rice, Dumars, Horford and Hardaway will take the floor tonight at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City for the Legends Classic.

But this isn’t a reunion tour for former college and NBA players.

Sons of those greats will be competing in the fourth annual Legends Classic men’s college basketball tournament, which starts tonight at 5:30 p.m., NBA jerseys authentic with Georgia Tech and Texas-El Paso. Michigan and Syracuse follow at 8 p.m.

The tournament resumes on Saturday with a 5:30 p.m. consolation game and the championship at 8 p.m.

Michigan boasts three sons of ex-NBA players with Tim Hardaway Jr., cheap basketball jerseys Jon Horford (son of Tito Horford) and Jordan Dumars (son of Joe Dumars). Glen Rice Jr. plays for Georgia Tech.

Like any other player, they have had to earn their right to play, but what they have other players can’t emulate. They have spent so much time around basketball at the highest level, their basketball IQ is greater than most players their own age.

“Everybody thinks we’re working hard but once you get into the gym where you can see NBA players working, you realize how hard they work,” nba shorts Hardaway Jr. said. “Ever since I was a kid watching my dad and watching Pat Riley, watching them practice. Nothing compares to an NBA practice. Nothing.”

Hardaway is already starting for the Wolverines as a freshman. He’s second on the team averaging 14.3 points, and also has seven assists and three steals in three games.

Michigan coach John Beilein would love to give Hardaway a year to be seasoned, but Hardaway has proved too valuable to stay on the bench.

“In some situations you’d like him to be coming off the bench as an 18-year-old freshman, but with Manny Harris going pro last year early, Tim has earned the right to start at small forward,” Beilein said. “He has a lot to learn, but he’s very receptive to being coached.”

Even though these players have fathers who have been through the system with being recruiting and playing in college, Beilein says their parents didn’t act any differently than others.

They all just wanted to ensure their children were going to the right place where they weren’t going to get special treatment.

“Every one of those parents got to where he got to be because of hard work,” Beilein said. “And that’s all they’ve encouraged me, just work my son hard. nba jerseys Make him earn everything. It’s really been easy. It’s been seamless thus far.”

Of course, dad has been there to offer advice. The first thing Hardaway’s father told him was to watch out for referees.

“Expect no calls,” Hardaway said. “The Big Ten is rough. So that’s what I’m expecting.”

But it definitely went deeper than that. Hardaway Sr. is a five-time NBA All-Star and played for five different teams, including the Miami Heat. He was one of the best point guards in the game during his 14-year career from 1989-2003.

He expected a lot from his son even though their games are different. Hardaway’s father kept telling him what to do on the court and during practices. He got on his son’s back a few times.

“Once he sat back and watched me play he realized I was doing everything he has taught me to do and I was trying my hardest,” Hardaway Jr. said. “He said, ‘I’m sorry, I apologize. You’re doing everything I taught you to.’ Right now, he’s just telling me to get out there and work hard, to not worry about anything and just play your game.”

Dumars, a sophomore guard who transferred from South Florida, has been limited by injuries.

“He’s just probably in shape now,” Beilein said. “He’s not going to be ready to play for two or three weeks and will have to earn his playing time. Because of his injuries, it’s been a rough battle back. But he’s shown a great promise in the time he’s been healthy.”

Glen Rice Jr., a sophomore guard, came to Georgia Tech and immediately helped. He became one of the easiest athletes to coach because of his background.

Rice Jr., knew things about basketball that can’t be taught in high school. He learned it all from watching his father, a three-time NBA All-Star who won an NBA title with the Los Angeles Lakers and NCAA title with Michigan.

“He really is a very smart player and I imagine being around the game as much he’s been around the game his whole life has helped him,” Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt said. “But he’s got to still take another step. He’s got to go from a guy that is maybe the fourth or fifth guy on the scouting report to now being on the top of the scouting report.”

Rice is averaging 9 points per game and is second on the team with 11 assists. He also leads the team with a 60 percent field-goal percentage (15-for-25 shots).

Michigan’s Jordan Dumars knows where Rice got his basketball smarts.

“That’s where I basically got it from,” Dumars said. “I’m sure that most kids growing up, they watch what their parents do and they want to emulate them. It just so happened that my dad was an NBA player so he impacted me a lot.”

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