NBA fans living in NZ often cop a pretty raw deal when it comes to watching games. ESPN only shows a maximum of three games a week, and if you’re a fan of a team in a small market then you’re forced to forget all about watching games in glorious HD and instead have to resort to streaming grainy footage from dubious websites of questionable legality.
So, where to now? The difficult thing about this ANBL roster system is that players are all rated on a scale of 1-10 based on experience and pedigree, and a team’s squad must fit under 70 points. It’s complicated, and we’ll let the board deal with it. Youth players are cheaper, star players are expensive, college players are automatically a 7 or something. Whatever. Let’s talk brass tax.
This Is How Chris Bosh Celebrated His 30th Birthday - at a strip club in Miami, with Bone Thugs-N-Harmony playing, makin’ it rain dollar bills.
Now, before you start worrying if this decadence is affecting his on-field performance, the last three games before his party he averaged 9.7pts 7.3rebs shooting 1/13 from 3pt zone. Then after his big blowout, he came back fresh and smelling of Cuban (cigars) to score 15 and 8 with 4 steals (3/6 3pters). I hope you’re taking notes, every other NBA player.
New York has a lot of things going for it basketball-wise – NBA headquarters, world famous arena, and the best street ball in the world - so you’d almost definitely assume that they must have an absolutely top-tier team and be challenging for the title every year.
As it happened, the Breakers were already out of the running for the playoffs after results since their last game just didn’t go their way. So this game was a glorified exhibition for the fans, and an occasion to send off the legendary CJ Bruton.
Fresh Prince
1. Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder 31.9ppg, 7.7rpg, 5.5apg)
2. LeBron James (Miami Heat, 27.0ppg, 6.9rpg, 6.4apg)
3. Blake Griffin (LA Clippers, 24.3ppg, 9.7rpg)
June 17, 2010. Almost 20,000 wild fans are crammed into a heaving Staples Centre. This is it. The moment that we dream of as wide-eyed children shooting hoops in the backyard. To hit that winning jump shot, to make that crucial rebound… even just to be there to witness the majesty from the confines of the crowd. It’s the greatest occasion in all of basketball – Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
The Sydney Cricket Ground has gone through an Extreme Home Makeover (MOVE THAT TRUCK!) with the baseball heading to town. The Arizona Diamondbacks play the LA Dodgers in the season opener, which the league has started taking on the road (they went to Japan last year). Hopefully some day they make it to our shining shores. Both games are completely sold out, with the full MLB experience being promised. I mean, foot-long hotdogs and all.
Fresh Prince
The Los Angeles Lakers. Everyone seems to have an opinion on them, whether it’s that they are indeed the greatest team in the league and you’d be an absolute idiot to not support them, or that you must be only a bandwagoner or a fair weather fan if you’re a Lakers supporter. Personally, they are...
Just in case you thought Kevin Durant was gonna cruise to the MVP title this season, LeBron James is sending some aggressive signals to the contrary. Playing with a protective mask on his face, he dropped 61 on the struggling Bobcats – his personal and also a Heat franchise record total. Plus he did it shooting 22/33, with only a legendary pair of big men (Wilt Chamberlain and Karl Malone) ever scoring a more efficient 60+ game.
The topic for this week’s article was spurred by a question posed on a forum that I frequent, and it touched upon an aspect of the game that doesn’t often get its fair share of attention – defence. For something that composes 50% of the game, it’s usually overlooked in favour of its more...
I guess it’s time to turn the attention to seeing off CJ Bruton’s career in style. You simply cannot underestimate the impact that this guy has had not only on this team but also in basketball in NZ. He brought credibility and championship credentials to the Breakers and the 3-peat could not have happened without him. The crowd’s gonna blast the roof off when he gets announced in his final home game.