Where Will Amazing Happen

I came upon this spoof of the Amazing campaign of the NBA.  It's funny because we were just laughing about this clip in the office a few months ago.

Heart of a Champion!

Darius McNeal volunteered to take free throws.... he volunteered to miss them. Such gestures would be normally deemed crazy, but not when those missed free throws are for a fellow player who lost his mother.

How I wish i can see gestures like this every single day! I guess there are a lot of good things happening, we're just drowning in a sea of bad.

Would Have Loved to See Grandpa Play!

It's tough being in college. I guess it's tougher when you're a 73 year old aspiring Basketball player. But Ken Mink has skills and was actually in the varsity team of Roane State Community College in Tennesse, filling the 2-guard spot. However the National Junior College Athletic Association has found Mink, who actually started his college basketball career in 1956, to be ineligible after flunking Spanish.

Too bad I wish i could have seen the guy shoot the lights out, especially after claiming to have won the Tennessee state free-throw championship hitting 19 of the possible 20.

Ammo Gets Traded and VladRad is Ok with it

Yes this is not much of a big news, Adam Morrison (Ammo) was traded for VladRad the past week or so. Morrison, drafted but Air Jordan himself, wasn't used much by Coach Brown mainly because of his playing style and memories of his old haircut.

AP Photo/Rick Havner

As much as this looks like to be a trade to give some salary cap relief, I wish that this time, for Jordan's sake, Ammo flourishes and display the offensive capability he did back in college so that he turns out to be an OK player.

Meanwhile VladRad has some words to say about the Lakers system, according to him... "Phil's system, great as it is, doesn't give a role player much opportunity". This is a crappy response. I haven't heard from guys like Randy Brown, Jason Caffee, Dickey Simpkins, Bill Wennington, Stacey King, Will Perdue, Scott Williams, Mark Madsen, Stanislave Medvedenko... all Jackson role players about their playing time, as they were simply that, Role Players.

He should have done more last finals instead of just standing in front of Paul Pierce and see the look on Pierce's eyes as one basket after another was piling up on the boston Scoreboard.

Suns Will Burn Themselves if Amare is Traded

Barry Gossage/NBAE/Getty Images

I don't know about you, but I wouldn't trade a stud like Amare Stoudemire. The guy's practically a guaranteed basket. If the Suns are not doing very well, it's because they're not playing the right kind of basketball. Terry Porter's decision to give Shaq the touches instead of Amare is highly questionable for me. Granted that Shaq's ego is practically bigger than the sun, he's no longer THE Diesel, he just has to settle being the third fiddle in this concierto. But Terry Porter doesn't think so, that's why Amare is acting up. Steve Kerr should better wiseup, both him and Porter should watch the re-runs of D'Antoni's Suns so that they'll have an idea of how to win (almost) and how to have fun!

Shmifty Two....You Get The Idea

Blah blah blah...Lebron James had a 52-point, 10-rebound, 11-assist...over the Knicks at MSG,...clear message: "Forget Kobe..." Blah blah blah...let's put this achievement into context...these are not Pat Riley's Knicks...these are Mike D'Antoni's Knicks...is still the best at cementing the greatness of a player from the opposing team.

But I want to hear from the Bekshoot folks: which performance was more impressive for you? Kobe's or King Crab's?

And what's next for the world's most famous arena? Boston's Big Three scores thirty apiece?

ABL: We Could Have Used a Kobe

Many of you might not know, but Ateneo has its own basketball league called ABL (Ateneo Basketball League). I'm not sure how long it has been there - I'm thinking over a decade already. At any rate, this year, me and my Computer Science course mates decided to form a team and join the league! We're composed of Computer Science graduates from different batches (from Cabs to Jino, all the way to my batch).

So far, here's how we've fared against the veterans of the league:
First game: we lost by 27 points. Second game: we lost by 17 points. Third game: we lost by 52 POINTS. We really could have used a Kobe to score 61 points - nanalo pa sana kami.

Our next game will be this Sunday at the North-east Greenhills basketball court, in case anyone would want to watch how to let opponents grab 100% of their offensive rebound opportunities.

Shmixty One

Following the news that Lakers center Andrew Bynum would be out for at least two months due to a torn ACL, Kobe Bryant scored 61 points in a win over the Knicks at MSG, sending out a clear message: "Forget Lebron; KB24 in NYK in 2010!!!!"

But seriously...

This marks the highest ever total for a player inside the Garden, previously held by Bernard King (60), and also the highest total of an opponent, previously held by G.O.A.T. Michael Jordan (55). Remember how big a deal that 55 points was back then against the defense-minded Knicks?

So let's put this achievement into context by pointing out a couple of facts: (a) these are not Pat Riley's Knicks, and (b), these are Mike D'Antoni's Knicks. These Knicks are in serious need of another Starks, or hell just even another Christie.

But all in all, 61 is still 61 and is still an amazing feat. It's good to know that the Knicks organization is still the best at cementing the greatness of a player....from the opposing team.

PBA is Back!

The Philippine Basketball Association is back, at least in my consciousness. For the past years, I've been bored with the play and actually felt aghast with the seemingly laziness of players in the court. Certainly watching collegiate basketball was better as the players were more into it, the passion just oozes out of the TV. We'll from the games I've watched, passion of PBA players seem to be oozing out right now as well.

Here are some notes I've taken:
- The absence of Chino Trinidad in TV color commentary is very welcome
- Reynel Hugnatan's hairstyle gives him an attitude
- Chot Reyes attire is always entertaining. He would certainly be the favorite subject of most sports bloggers if he was coaching in the NBA.
- Courtside reporting is sometimes welcome, however if you get ladies who seem to have no passion about the game, I feel embarrassed about it
- Tony Dela Cruz's hustle! He reminds of NBA's Mark Madsen
- Jeffrey Cariaso's handle, The Jet, is no longer applicable. Every time he enters the court though the commentators never fail to remind us that he's an old man.
- Tim Cone has been Alaska's coach like FOREVER
- How many PBA players have been nicknamed "The Scavenger"?!?! Harvery Carey is being called one right now. It seems that when players start getting alot of rebounds consistently they start calling him that.
- Mac Cardona loves to be booed. He also loves to shoot 3-pointers. So does Ren-Ren Ritualo.
- Willie Miller, 2-Time, 2-Time, 2-Time. Nuff Said!

Shaq Love...

Before the 08-09 NBA season begun, Aleks, Jonray and I had a post-dinner discussion regarding the upcoming NBA season. I watched Shaq just last night so and was impressed with his summer camp interview. And with team mates like 2-TIME MVP* Steve Nash and the then-goggled Amare Stoudamire my hopes were up with my beloved PHX Team.

I declared in the conversation that Shaq still has it, and the Suns would be a formidable team with a healthy Shaq and would definitely benefit with the more time spent over chemistry. Aleks and Jonray don't believe that Shaq is still a factor in a league where 7 footers are made millionaires for being one. I dared them to name at least 10 centers who could be better than the current Shaq, and surprisingly they were able to give those names... is Shaq no longer that good?!?!

When the All-Star reserves were named I was vindicated, Shaq is one of the reserves named. This is not because he has been one 14 times prior. This is because he's playing his best basketball since leaving Miami Heat. He has been channeling the old DIESEL every once in a while.

What i love to see though is for Shaq to dominate the likes of Andrew Bynum and D Howard. That's asking for too much, but that's what I like to see even though only for a few moments, heheheheh.

As of writing the Suns is 25-20. Hope it gets better. I'm not asking for Shaq to win another championship, but seeing him deep in the playoffs is entertaining especially when he gets mike time.

Crab Dribbling

See a comprehensive acticle from Basketballful regarding Crab Dribbling that Lebron James recently had.

The article had chock-ful of diagrams and videos enough for Lebron to think twice in whenever he's reasoning out if a travelling call was a bad one.

Definitely the Shoes

I was recently informed by Cricket that Kobe is now trailing King James, CP3 and D-Wade in the MVP race. I think it's the shoes.

MittelMitte: Kobe Bryant's Sneaker Effectiveness Matrix 2008-09