Ding ding ding.Originally Posted by deebakes
miracle shot by an aged ray allen
Ding ding ding.miracle shot by an aged ray allen
Wiggins!! Love the suit, what a beauty. Two Canadians in the top ten picks. Canadian first overall two years in a row... Maybe we'll be competitive on the international stage at the next Olympics!
So... Lebron eh
RBP (07-12-2014)
RBP (07-12-2014)
Kobe Bryant blames his shoulder injury on passing 'too much'
By Kelly Dwyer - Ball Don't Lie
In his first public comments since the Los Angeles Lakers announced that he had suffered a torn right rotator cuff, Kobe Bryant went peak Kobe Bryant with his Twitter response:
That is brilliant. And perfect Kobe – a self-aware joke, an endorsement, hashtags and thanks.
More telling? No dour notes, no blacked-out Twitter avatar (as he did during his 2013 rehab from an Achilles tear), no complaints about the struggle being real, nothing for us to chomp down on in wondering if Kobe was game to retire after a third consecutive season was ended by a major injury.
Bryant was never going to retire, regardless of the $25 million he would be walking away from in the process, but it wouldn’t be atypical for him to spend the next few months fuming and lamenting his recent streak of bad luck. It would have been just fine for Bryant to be frustrated before the cloud cleared and the summer brought new hope, but we’re not getting any of that from this tweet. Perhaps we’re reading too much into a stupid Twitter message, but it’s still good to see.
Kobe Bryant, healthy and on the basketball court again, would be great to see. We’re enjoying 2014-15, but this is one benefit of 2015-16 that can’t get here soon enough.
Kobe can probably play a few more years, but not the way he used to. Besides, he alwas had a good supporting cast until two years ago when the Lakers traded their roster to death. I fail to see how the Lakers will manage a successful rebuild as long as Kobe keeps hogging this much cap space.
Remembering Darryl Dawkins: A showman, prankster, self-promoter
By Gordie Jones - CSN Philly
Every time the Sixers and Celtics renewed their blood feud in Boston Garden in the 1980s, former Daily News columnist Mark Whicker once wrote, there were only three people laughing in the entire building before tipoff — Darryl Dawkins, seated on the bench, and the two ballboys at his feet, listening to the Sixer center’s nonstop patter.
Seems to me that’s the best way to remember Dawkins, who died Thursday at age 58, of an apparent heart attack. As a showman and a prankster and an endless self-promoter.
As a guy who always left ’em laughing.
This made Dawkins, a sculpted 6-foot-11, 250-pounder, endlessly frustrating to his coaches, who believed that if only he would take the game more seriously he could deliver on his considerable potential.
But it also made him one of the NBA’s all-time great characters.
A story, courtesy of former Sixers general manager Pat Williams, now an Orlando Magic executive: The team used the fifth pick of the 1975 draft to take Dawkins out of Orlando’s Maynard Evans High School, making him the first high school player to jump to the NBA (one year after the ABA’s Utah Stars took future Sixer Moses Malone, from Petersburg, Virginia).
Dawkins settled in an apartment in South Jersey. One day Williams, a one-of-a-kind figure himself, called to see how his new center was doing.
“This is Dawk,” Darryl said into the phone, “and I’m ready to talk.”
Williams was flabbergasted. This was an 18-year-old kid? And to this day Williams, an accomplished banquet speaker, regrets that he didn’t respond as follows: “This is Pat, and I’m ready to chat.”
Dawkins’ career gathered momentum from there. He picked up a nickname (Chocolate Thunder) from none other than Stevie Wonder, a home planet (Lovetron) from who knows where. He brawled with Portland enforcer Maurice Lucas in the 1977 Finals — Dawkins wound up accidentally slugging teammate Doug Collins instead — and destroyed the restroom in the home locker room afterward, when he felt the other Sixers didn’t have his back.
Then he began demolishing backboards. Did it twice in the 1979-80 season. Called one of them, over a luckless Kansas City Kings forward named Bill Robinzine, “Chocolate Thunder Flyin’, Robinzine Cryin’, Teeth Shakin’, Glass Breakin’, Rump Roastin’, Bun Toastin’, Wham Bam, Glass Breaker I Am Jam.”
He had names for his other dunks, too. Names like the “Sexophonic Turbo Delight,” “Spine Chiller Supreme” and “Yo Mama.”
It has been said that when he was asked if he knew where they signed the Declaration of Independence, his response was, “At the bottom.” And it has been said that when he was asked his favorite color, his response was, “Plaid.”
“I never take anything serious,” he told me in October 2012. “I don’t take myself serious. If you hurt my mother, my kids, my wife, my family, I’d go to jail. I’d be sitting in jail, in a lounge chair with a cigar. But you’ve got to do a lot to make me mad.”
Everybody tried to light his fire, no one more than Sixers coach Billy Cunningham. One day he dressed Dawkins down on the apron of the practice floor. Told him he had to grow up, had to take better care of himself, had to work on his game. And after all that — after a highly successful coach of a team with championship aspirations delivered the sternest of tongue lashings — Dawkins playfully tripped Cunningham as he walked away.
“That was just me,” Dawkins admitted that day three years ago.
The Sixers tired of him after seven seasons, and traded him to the Nets. He also played for the Pistons and Jazz during his 14-year NBA run, his career averages of 12 points and six rebounds shockingly so-so for a guy of his size and skill set.
“People always thought there was more there,” Williams was saying over the phone Thursday. “I’m not sure there was.”
He pointed out that Dawkins wasn’t as big as most centers, that the Sixers had hoped he would grow a few inches when they drafted him, but he never did. And muscular as he was, Williams added, Darryl was a good athlete, not a great one.
Then he arrived at the crux of the matter.
“I don’t know how serious he was about the game,” Williams said. “I don’t think he ever loved the game. He loved the life and entertaining.”
Dawkins played overseas. He played for the Harlem Globetrotters. And later in life he actually got into coaching — imagine that — serving as head man for Winnipeg of the International Basketball Association, the Pennsylvania Valley Dawgs of the USBL and at Lehigh Carbon Community College.
He and his third wife Janice had by then settled in Allentown with Tabitha, Janice’s daughter from a previous relationship, and the couple’s two children.
He also said in 2012 he had become a more spiritual person, and a doting father.
“I’ve grown up some,” he said.
Then he laughed, and talked about what a soft touch he was for his kids — how Janice would tell them no, and he always said yes. He talked about how he had water guns scattered throughout the house. How he goofed on his kids the way he used to goof on his coaches.
And he talked about how Tabitha, who is afflicted with Downs Syndrome, had him wrapped around her finger.
“Tabitha sees the world just for what it is,” he said. “Here’s a 7-foot black guy with a 4-foot-6 little white kid, and people are saying, ‘What’s he doing with her?’ And she says, ‘That’s Daddy Darryl. Do you love me, Daddy?’ … She only knows how you treat her. She doesn’t care about black or white or whatever.”
Darryl taught her to shoot foul shots, danced with her, made her feel special.
Left her laughing.
Everyone else, too. Heck of a legacy.
Moses Malone, NBA Hall of Famer, dead at 60
FOX News
Moses Malone, a three-time NBA MVP, Hall of Famer and 13-time All-Star, died on Sunday at the age of 60.
Fellow Hall-of-Famer Calvin Murphy said Malone died in his sleep from an apparent heart attack, according to FOX26 sports director Mark Berman. Malone was to play in a golf tournament in Norfolk, Va. with Murphy.
Malone, nicknamed the “Chairman of the Boards” for his rebounding dominance, won a title with the Philadelphia 76ers in 1983 and made the All-Star game 12 times in a row, from 1978-1989. During 21 seasons playing pro basketball, the 6-10 center averaged 20.3 points and 12.3 rebounds per game.
Malone’s 29,580 total points ranks seventh all-time, his 17,834 rebounds is third all-time and his 1,889 blocks is 23rd all-time.
The first player to go pro directly from high school, Malone debuted during the 1974-75 season for the Utah Stars of the ABA. He played the next season with the ABA’s Spirits of St. Louis before beginning an NBA trek through Buffalo, Houston, Philadelphia, Washington, Atlanta, Milwaukee and San Antonio.
Malone led the NBA in rebounds per game in 1978-79 and every season from 1980-81 to 1984-85.
He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2001.
Golden State's 23-0 now....and 27 regular season wins in a row overall. 6 more to tie the record, can they do it?
they might, they seemingly really want the record
Oklahoma City Thunder Fans Slam Kevin Durant
By Michael Allen - Opposing Views
Oklahoma City Thunder fans slammed Kevin Durant after he announced on July 4 he was leaving the team for the Golden State Warriors (video below).
Several Thunder fans burned replicas of Durant's jersey, filmed the incarcerations and posted them online, ESPN reports.
The former fans often dropped F-bombs as they burned the jerseys, and some appeared to use their Fourth of July barbecues to cook the clothing they once prized.
Durant's restaurant in Oklahoma City tweeted a picture promoting its barbecue chicken for the holiday, which was met with derogatory comments by fans, according to SB Nation:
You might as well shut down and sell the place.
KD is a traitor, you better look for jobs ASAP.
True, ya'll better find new jobs, and it is truly fitting that you are featuring chicken.
Jam your chicken.
Arguably the angriest fan is Twitter user, LostNUnbound.
He tweeted a picture of a 2009 tweet by Durant that said, "I wanna play with Oklahoma City for my whole career," and added the caption, "The biggest lie of the decade," notes Mediaite.
LostNUnbound also tweeted, "I need to make a list of the things Kevin Durant screwed up, but I don't have enough paper."
LostNUnbound saved his real rant for a YouTube video where he said:
I hope you have a new home in the dumpster with your career! Forget about it bro, you have literally gone from my favorite player to the most hated player I've ever seen in a second, in a tweet, in a single headline! It's the only NBA jersey I have! It's the only one I care about! It's the only one I used to care about! What is this? This isn't even real! This isn't even real! You're not even a part of this team!
Later in the irate video, he uses scissors to tear up Durant's jersey.
WARNING: GRAPHIC LANGUAGE
Tim Duncan retires from the NBA after 19 seasons and 5 championships
The Celtics best the Bulls by 56 last night.In Chicago.
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