April « 2011 « NBA where Miracle happens

April 26, 2011

Does Kobe Bryant Need Ankle Insurance?

Filed under: NBA Stars — Tags: Kobe Bryant — admin @ 10:54 am

kobe bryant

People were left speechless when Nike unveiled Kobe’s low-top Zoom Kobe IV basketball shoe. Basketball and sneaker lovers alike thought it was odd that Nike would make a low-top basketball signature shoe, especially for Kobe Bryant. Kobe Bryant later released the Ankle Insurance video series. The video series consisted of funny shorts that featured Kobe Bryant advertising Ankle Insurance, while highlighting the Zoom Kobe IV.

In last night’s Lakers vs. Hornets game, Kobe Bryant suffered a bad case of “BROKEN ANKLES”. Immediately following his ankle injury, tons of people voiced their opinion about Kobe’s low-top basketball kicks on social media sites, including Twitter. All types of comments from concerned Laker fans to jokes about his low-top shoes was the late-night talk after his injury. To make matters worse, Kobe walked out of New Orleans Arena on crutches with a swollen left foot.
After reading so many opinions, we could not help but think about Kobe’s Ankle Insurance ads, so it’s only right that we allow our readers to voice their opinion. Here’s the questions: Should Kobe invest in ankle insurance or does Nike need to make Kobe a high-top signature shoe? If you say yes or no, please explain why.
Let the debate begin.

kobe bryant

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April 19, 2011

Would Scapegoat Adelman Fit Lakers?

Filed under: NBA teams — Tags: lakers — admin @ 10:06 am

Lakers Basketball

There’s a place for Rick Adelman in the NBA.
But it’s not in Houston anymore.
Hmmm, purple-and-gold anyone?
According to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle, Adelman will not continue as coach of the Rockets.
In four years on the job in Houston, Adelman had a record of 193-135 (.588) and had the highest winning percentage of any coach in franchise history. He also led the Rockets to a 22-game winning streak, second longest in NBA history, and guided the team to its only playoff series victory in 17 years.
Adelman went to Houston to coach a veteran team led by Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming. But due to injuries he had the All-Star combination on the court together for only 72 games.
Now Adelman is being made the scapegoat for failing to make the playoffs – despite winning records – two years in a row.
There’s a place for Adelman in the NBA. Maybe no better fit than drawing the Xs and Os of his player-friendly offense for the Lakers, where he’d be given pieces to win instead of constantly-changing minds. Kobe Bryant needs a veteran who’s been around the block.
Those on the inside of the Rockets have said that team is looking for the “next Gregg Popovich or Bill Belichick.”
Good luck on that count. Under general manager Daryl Morey since 2006, all the Rockets have built is a mountain of empty promises. Morey cannot be held responsible for the chronic injuries to the feet of Yao. But he did maintain faith in McGrady’s ability to carry the team in the playoffs, long before he was beset by injuries.
In Morey’s five years at the helm, the once-proud Rockets franchise has mostly jumped around in so many different directions like a confused bullfrog.
Morey traded the rights to Rudy Gay to Memphis for Shane Battier in 2006 and five years later sent Battier back to the Grizzlies for Hasheem Thabeet, the No. 2 overall draft bust of 2009. Morey drafted Nicolas Batum with the 25th pick in 2008, then traded him to Portland for Darrell Arthur and Joey Dorsey.
Under Morey, the Rockets traded for Ron Artest and let him walk after one season. Then they signed Trevor Ariza to a five-year contract and traded him to New Orleans after one season. Last off-season, the Rockets, in need of a defensive stopper in the middle of the lineup with Yao still on the mend, gave a 3-year, $14-million contract to 35-year-old Brad Miller and then watched him play mostly ineffectively for 17 minutes a night in just 60 games.
Morey deserves credit for bringing in Kevin Martin, Kyle Lowry and Courtney Lee. But after positioning the Rockets with a stack of expiring contracts, the GM spent most of last summer and all of this season saying the team would be in the mix for a big-name star such as Carmelo Anthony, but came up empty.
At the February trade deadline, Morey shipped out Adelman’s best defender (Battier) and his second-best offensive producer (Aaron Brooks). Yet Adelman kept the Rockets’ starless young roster in the rugged Western Conference playoff race until the final days with a 17-8 record after the All-Star break. In the past two seasons, Adelman had 30 different players on his roster and kept the Rockets moving ahead.
Make no mistake about it. As No. 8 on the list of all-time wins (945), there is still a place in the NBA for Adelman. Even though general consensus has Brian Shaw succeeding Phil Jackson, the Lakers would be foolish not to give him a look. Nobody in the profession would make the offense as easy and satisfying to Bryant than Adelman.
If Adelman wants to continue coaching, he’ll be back in the league winning games somewhere next season.
Meanwhile, the Rockets front office will have moved on to someone else to blame.

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April 12, 2011

Heat 100, Celtics 77

Filed under: NBA Stars,NBA teams — Tags: Boston Celtics, Mami Heat — admin @ 9:24 am

Observations from Sunday’s 100-77 victory over the Celtics at AmericanAirlines Arena:

Joel Anthony was terrific. (Yes, actually just typed those words.) You take Kendrick Perkins out of the Celtics equation and Anthony more than measures up in this matchup.
And Mario Chalmers and Mike Bibby offered enough to keep the matchup competitive at point guard. Erik Spoelstra even played the two together at the end of the third quarter.
While this wasn’t necessarily the best of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, it didn’t have to be on Sunday. Think about it, the Heat beat the Celtics in a game Wade scored 14 and Bosh 13 (James had 27).
This time, there was a support system.
Wait, so it could be Heat-Knicks in the first round, and then this in the East semifinals? Will there be enough bodies left for a conference finals?

Dwyane Wade LeBron James Celtics

Bosh earned a place in the Slobber Hall of Fame with his argument over a loose ball that earned a second-quarter technical foul.
Bibby opened 0 for 4 from field. Good thing he was in there for his defense. (He did have his moments in the second half, in at least keeping the Celtics defense honest, with his threat.)
Chalmers then played with an I’ve-come-to-regain-my-job look about himself.
The Jo-el disaster show was in full go early on, before Anthony came on strong. On one first-quarter sequence, he first caught LeBron with an elbow going for rebound, then passed out a foot from rim, then bobbled a pass out of bounds. Joel Anthony, where amazing happens.
But Anthony also was huge off the boards in the Heat’s center roulette.
The Celtics’ 10 first-half rebounds were a season-low, matching Boston’s fewest for any game since 2002.
Ray Allen attempted to throw an alley-oop pass to Jermaine O’Neal in the first quarter, assuming O’Neal can jump. Why would he assume that? Turnover.
This time it’s a sprained left thumb for Mike Miller, who was lost in the first half. That either is a concern or acceptance of the reality that James Jones now assumes that role.
The Heat were conducting ridiculous crowd-killing giveaways during stoppages. The lengths this team has gone to kill the crowds this season is remarkable. Sunday was particularly poor timing.
Two fouls on Bosh with 10:15 to play in the first quarter. Juwan Howard entered. No, not a comforting moment. But one the Heat also withstood.
The fall of Erick Dampier is just odd. A week ago, he had his best game with the Heat, against New Jersey. Just this past Wednesday, he was starting his 22nd consecutive game. Sunday, he was inactive. Spoelstra said the goal is to rest Dampier’s sore knees in coming days.
Spoelstra on the feel of Sunday’s game, “It started to feel like the playoffs last week.”
The Heat already are hard at work on their Knicks and 76ers playoff edits, with the first round matchup likely not to be determined until Wednesday’s season finales. “Our video guys haven’t slept the last three, four nights,” Spoelstra said.
Spoelstra, though, said he only is looking at the closing schedule. “I’m not wasting any of my energy on that right now,” he said.
Spoelstra said he is glad the closing schedule has meaning. “I think the NBA prefers this kind of scenario,” he said. “That’s the way it should be. This keeps everybody sharp.”
Spoelstra said it is important the Heat stay on top of their game. “We’re playing this all the way through,” he said.
Asked in the pregame media scrum for the best way to defend Rajon Rondo, Spoelstra replied, “You got any ideas.”
Of the Rondo experience, Spoelstra said, “There will be a handful of plays that he has never attempted before, that are unpredictable, and you cannot script them. You have to prepare for the unexpected.”
Celtics coach Doc Rivers wanted to have nothing to do with the notion of Sunday being a “message” game. Going in, he said, “The whole message thing: If we win this game, I don’t think that’s going to make them not want to play us in the second round. If they win, I don’t think it’s going to send a big message to us.”

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April 6, 2011

KOBE BRYANT’S EDUCATION BACKGROUND

Filed under: NBA Stars — Tags: Kobe Bryant — admin @ 10:04 am

Kobe Bean Bryant was born August 23, 1978 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is the son of Joe “Jellybean” Bryant and Pamela Cox Bryant. Joe Bryant is a former Philadelphia 76ers player and Los Angeles Sparks head coach. Bryant is the youngest of three children and his parents only son. Bryant spent much of his childhood in Italy. The family moved there for his father’s basketball career. Bryant attended high in the United States. He completed High School at Lower Merion High School in the Philadelphia Suburb of Lower Merion.

Bryant’s SAT score of 1080 would have enabled him to receive a basketball scholarship to multiple colleges. However, at the age of seventeen, Bryant went directly to the NBA. He was only the sixth player in NBA history to go directly from high school to the pros. He would have chosen Duke University had he decided to go to college first.

In 1996, Bryant was the third overall draft pick for the Charlotte Hornets. On July 1, 1996, a trade was made for the Los Angeles Lakers to obtain Bryant’s draft rights. Only being seventeen, Bryant’s parents had to cosign his contract with the Lakers. Bryant was able to sign the contract on his own when he turned eighteen before the season began.

At the time of contract signing, Bryant was the youngest player to ever play in the NBA. His career with the Lakers has spanned over a decade now, and Bryant has become one of the most famous and successful basketball players of all time.

Bryant led the NBA in scoring during the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons. In 2006, Bryant scored a career high 81 points against the Toronto Raptors. That is the second highest number of points scored in a game in NBA history, behind the legendary player, Wilt Chamberlain. Bryant was awarded the Most Valuable player award in the 2007-08 regular season and led the Lakers to the 2008 NBA Finals. In the 2008 Summer Olympics, Bryant won a gold medal as a team member on the U.S. Men’s Basketball Team. Bryant also led the Lakers to two more NBA championships in 2009 and 2010.

Currently, Bryant is married Vanessa Laine and they have two children.

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