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Video: Backstage Look at Players Before NBA’s All-Star Practice

February 20, 2011   Brett Pollakoff   No comments

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LOS ANGELES — The NBA holds a public practice for its All-Stars on Saturday morning every year as part of the All-Star weekend festivities. Not much happens of course, other than players going through a few shooting drills for show, and the coaches reviewing the most basic of plays with their newly assembled squad. It’s mainly a chance for fans to see the game’s biggest stars up close and in person, assembled in one place at as intimate a venue as you’ll find in NBA circles.

Before the players took the floor, they were all hanging around in this sort of backstage area which was also open to the media, even though there were no interviews being conducted. Mostly it was the players interacting with each other as if no one else was around.

In the video clip below, you’ll see the majority of the All-Stars doing exactly that.

 

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The Works: The NBA Destroys All Monsters

February 09, 2011   Bethlehem Shoals and Eric Freeman   No comments

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Today in The Works: Monsters invade the NBA, and only players can save us. Enjoy!

Monster Movies

Anyone remember Godzilla vs. Barkley? It was only the most awesome Nike ad campaign of the last thirty years. But if you thought it was a fantasy, you were dead wrong. Charles Barkley was actually commissioned by Japan (back when it had money) to seek out and destroy Godzilla, once and for all — or at least until they needed him for an American remake. It was like the Hellboy series, only with more nervous owners. In this great spirit, and perhaps in the interest of taking on any future monster problems, we propose the following dream match-ups.

Blake Griffin vs. King Kong: After being captured by Clippers owner Donald Sterling during a slum-building project on Skull Island, King Kong is shipped to Los Angeles for display in the Staples Center to make Sterling an easy buck. He escapes, though, and only marauding forward Blake Griffin can save the city from certain doom. After a long chase, King Kong ascends to the top of the fake skyscraper in Universal Studios’ King Kong attraction and plummets to his death. But it’s not Griffin who fuels him — instead, it’s his love for Clippers superfan Penny Marshall, whom he bonded with during the long boat ride back from the island. (EF)

 

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Spike Lee Says Kevin Garnett Needs to ‘Calm the F**k Down’

February 08, 2011   FanHouse Staff   No comments

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Because of his run of on-court antics and temper tantrums, Kevin Garnett is losing supporters and gaining haters by the day. Count filmmaker and Knicks diehard Spike Lee as the newest name on a growing list of individuals unhappy with Garnett’s acts on the court.

In a recent interview with ESPNNewYork.com, Lee was asked what his most memorable conversation was with a player during a game. He cited a “nasty” discussion with Reggie Miller, but also spoke of a expletive-filled clash with Garnett where the power forward “lost it.”

“(Garnett) was cursing me out for no reason,” Lee said of the incident earlier this season. “Maybe because (Amare) Stoudemire gave him 39 points, but take that vulgarity to Stoudemire. I’m not holding you and I did not even say s**t to Garnett the whole game. That really surprised me. He lost it. He was cursing at me the whole game. He needs to calm the f**k down.”

Lee went on to call Garnett’s language “disrespectful” and said he “would never do nothing like that to him.”

 

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Blake Griffin, Four Celtics Headline 2011 NBA All-Star Reserves

February 03, 2011   FanHouse Newswire   No comments

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Blake GriffinNEW YORK (AP) — Blake Griffin is going to his first All-Star game, and Kevin Garnett matched an NBA record with his 14th straight selection as one of a record-tying four Boston Celtics headed for the midseason event.

Rajon Rondo, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen will accompany Garnett, who equaled Jerry West, Shaquille O’Neal and Karl Malone for the most consecutive selections. The Celtics joined the 2006 Detroit Pistons as the only teams to have four players picked as reserves by the coaches.

Griffin, the Rookie of the Year favorite of the Clippers, will be playing on his home floor in the Feb. 20 game at Staples Center. Joining him on the Western Conference team were Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili of the NBA-leading Spurs; forwards Dirk Nowitzki of Dallas and Pau Gasol of the Lakers; and guards Deron Williams of Utah and Russell Westbrook of Oklahoma City, who joins Griffin as the lone first-time selections.

Chris Bosh will go to Los Angeles with Miami teammates LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, who were elected as starters. The other East reserves picked Thursday were Atlanta’s Joe Johnson and Al Horford.

 

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Blake Griffin, Four Celtics Headline 2011 NBA All-Star Reserves

February 03, 2011   FanHouse Newswire   No comments

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Blake GriffinNEW YORK (AP) — Blake Griffin is going to his first All-Star game, and Kevin Garnett matched an NBA record with his 14th straight selection as one of a record-tying four Boston Celtics headed for the midseason event.

Rajon Rondo, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen will accompany Garnett, who equaled Jerry West, Shaquille O’Neal and Karl Malone for the most consecutive selections. The Celtics joined the 2006 Detroit Pistons as the only teams to have four players picked as reserves by the coaches.

Griffin, the Rookie of the Year favorite of the Clippers, will be playing on his home floor in the Feb. 20 game at Staples Center. Joining him on the Western Conference team were Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili of the NBA-leading Spurs; forwards Dirk Nowitzki of Dallas and Pau Gasol of the Lakers; and guards Deron Williams of Utah and Russell Westbrook of Oklahoma City, who joins Griffin as the lone first-time selections.

Chris Bosh will go to Los Angeles with Miami teammates LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, who were elected as starters. The other East reserves picked Thursday were Atlanta’s Joe Johnson and Al Horford.

 

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The Works: All-Star Game Alternatives

January 31, 2011   Bethlehem Shoals and Eric Freeman   No comments

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Today in The Works: How to fix the All-Star Game. For real.

Do Something New

Every year, the All-Star Game happens, and every year, there are angry fans galore at the players selected. Some do so out of rank homer-ism; others, a inflated sense of morals and justice. Just as bad, though, is the stale nature of the game itself. For too long, the West was the best, and the East got slaughtered every year. Now, things are leveling out, but it could still use a shake-up.

Bigs vs. Smalls: Red Auerbach’s Celtics teams used to play regular big vs. small scrimmages, which the guards and wings usually won on the strength of their quickness and passing. Those contests informed Don Nelson’s entire coaching philosophy, for better or worse, and the NBA certainly looks like a game of speed and skill rather than brute force these days. On the other hand, tall stars increasingly find themselves playing outside of the paint — whether it’s Kevin Durant as a wing scorer or LeBron James as a do-everything beast.

Those new realities suggest that a contemporary matchup between big and small stars wouldn’t necessarily go to the guards. Divide teams by the median height — let’s assume it’s 6-foot-8, give or take an inch — and enjoy the bizarre matchups like LeBron on Chris Paul, or Kevin Garnett on Kobe Bryant, or a swarming turnover-based attack by the smalls that leads to as many fast-break points as possible. It might be hard to set up systems in time to make this game as interesting as possible, but it’s experiment worth trying. It’ll entertain and teach us something about where basketball stands in the modern age.

 

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2011 NBA All-Star Starters Revealed, What About the Reserves?

January 27, 2011   Chris Tomasson   No comments

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Denver coach George Karl likes to say each All-Star squad should have 15 players, rather than 12.

It’s a great idea for the West this season, with there about to be some serious snubs. As for the East, 10 seems a better number this season in a conference that after the top teams has as much depth as the local park’s kiddie pool.

Perhaps the East should concede two spots to the West. Throw in that Houston’s Yao Ming, named the West starting center, will miss the Feb. 20 Game in Los Angeles, and that would give the West 15 players with All-Star recognition.

The starters were announced Thursday night, and there wasn’t anything to complain about other than how ridiculous it was that fans (hello, China) continued to vote for Yao in bunches even after it was announced Dec. 17 he was out for the season with a foot injury. Even before then, he was averaging 10.2 points in a meager five games.

The East starters will be Orlando’s Dwight Howard at center, Miami’s LeBron James and New York’s Amar’e Stoudemire at forward and Miami’s Dwyane Wade and Chicago’s Derrick Rose at guard. Other than Yao, West starters named were Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant and Denver’s Carmelo Anthony at forward and the Lakers‘ Kobe Bryant and New Orleans’ Chris Paul at guard.

Now, on to the reserves. After the coaches cast their ballots, here’s who should be announced next Thursday as well as which players might be ticked off:

 

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The Works: Who Are the NBA’s Ten Best Ten-Year Vets?

January 26, 2011   Bethlehem Shoals and Eric Freeman   No comments

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Today in The Works: Old people we admire, and why. It’s very subjective.

Still Awesome After All These Years

The NBA is largely a young man’s league, a place where athleticism and youthful energy can still get a team far. Teams, though, depend on the efficiency and smarts that usually only come with experience. However, at some point age becomes a weight rather than a positive. The players who can play great even into their dotage deserve praise, and that’s why we decided to honor the 10 best players with 10 years of experience. Odd picks belong to Eric, evens are from Shoals (except for 7 and 8, which somehow got swapped because we forgot math).

 

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NBA All-Star Voting: Stoudemire, Rose Move Into Starting Lineup

January 15, 2011   Brett Pollakoff   No comments

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Amar'e StoudemireThe NBA released its final update to the fan voting for the All-Star game, two weeks before the official results are announced live on TNT on Jan. 27. And this one was more interesting than most, thanks to two of the five spots in the Eastern Conference’s starting lineup changing hands.

Amar’e Stoudemire — in most people’s opinion, and even that of his former head coach, the league’s MVP to this point — overtook the injured Kevin Garnett, and now holds a lead of over 93,000 votes for one of the two starting forward spots. Garnett’s teammate, Rajon Rondo, was similarly surpassed by another MVP candidate, Chicago’s Derrick Rose. Rondo missed some time due to injury, but the way Rose has been playing, he might have eventually surpassed Rondo in the fans’ eyes anyway. Rose now has a cushion of over 54,000 votes.

These appear to be the only two real races for spots in the starting lineup, as the rest of the margins seem to be too great to overcome over the next couple of weeks. Dwight Howard, LeBron James, and Dwyane Wade are the East’s leading vote-getters (in that order), while out West, there were no changes to what appears to be a solid starting lineup of Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, and the ever-popular All-Star vote recipient, Yao Ming. Yao is obviously injured and out for the season, so David Stern will get to choose his replacement in the starting lineup — likely Andrew Bynum or Pau Gasol, but it wouldn’t be a complete shock to see him go with Tim Duncan, either.

The top 10 vote-getters at each position are listed below:

 

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Alvin Gentry: Right Now, Amar’e Stoudemire Is MVP

January 07, 2011   Brett Pollakoff   No comments

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Amare StoudemirePHOENIX — Amar’e Stoudemire made his return to Phoenix on Friday as a member of the opposing team for the first time since bolting for a max deal with the Knicks last summer. Stoudemire has been playing as well as he did with the Suns — if not better — and has unquestionably been the centerpiece of the Knicks’ turnaround so far this season.

Stoudemire’s play hasn’t gone unnoticed by his former head coach Alvin Gentry. And in fact, before the teams hit the court, Gentry went as far as to say that Amar’e is the MVP to this point of the season.

“Right now, I would say he was,” Gentry said. “I think if you take what he’s done for his team — you know, and I mean obviously everybody is going to say, well, how can you say that with LeBron? But (with the Heat), you’ve got LeBron, you’ve got another guy that could be MVP, and another guy that possibly could. You’ve got three guys down there.

“(In New York) it’s just him, and he’s playing at a really really high level, and his team has been successful. If I was voting right now, I would probably say that he would be my vote at this stage of the season.”

 

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