Video: Best Fan-Recorded Version of Westbrook's Game Winner Ever

You know this is good cause you're so close you can see that back wrinkles on that ref. 

Thanks to the fan who decided to pull out his phone to record this last sequence of the game, I almost feel like I'm there in person when I see Westbrook holster his finger pistols.

I am especially impressed because I have no idea how this fan didn't start jumping up and down or shaking uncontrollably in joy.  I can't even watch the videos I've made of my dog kicking in her sleep without getting serious motion-sickness.

Noteworthy: 11/29/2013

Full night of games as 26 out of 30 teams were in action, including the Rockets doing what looks to be a reenactment of a Mortal Kombat finish.   

Also, Lebron doing unreal pregame dunks and Tim Duncan showing he can still catch and throw down an alley-oop dunk. 

You Ok?

Whoever that lady is, here's Gerald Henderson's apology on twitter for her and everyone else to see.

Way to go, Wes:
Nice game for Wesley Johnson who had 27 points and a nice win for the Lakers who were wearing their home gold jerseys cause the Pistons were wearing their darker Motor City ones.



Everyone clamoring on the interwebs about Wes Johnson's alley-oop dunk, but that Steve Blake wrist flip pass from out of bounds looked really tough too ya know.

Kinda Odd: Rockets with more threes than free throws last night, which makes sense cause you're probably not getting fouled that much when you're shooting all them threes.  Also makes sense cause it was against the Nets who are really bad at defense.

Nice Passing, Rockets:

Poor Omri Casspi is the only who doesn't do anything in that highlight.

Fancy Passes, Lance:





Lance Stephenson was 3 points away from his third triple double of the season and after completing the no-look-mid-air behind the back one to CJ Watson, you are right to think that Lance may have been a little too risky with the ball last night (he wound up with 8 turnovers).

Best part of all these passes?  The scissor skippies he does after seeing the successful baskets that result from them.



Pleased:
Jordan Crawford did get a triple double last night as the Celtics dominated the Cavs.  Lookit how pleased Jordan looks.

Really good game by Serge Ibaka (you know aside from getting spun around by Steph Curry) but that was spoiled by a career high in points from Harrison Barnes who had his game made forgotten by this ridiculous broken play three shot thrown in by Russell Westbrook.



Former Teammates:
In the game between players that have been on both teams at one point or another, the former Knicks and current Nuggets, Wilson Chandler and Nate Robinson did not have the fanciest of stats but they got the win over former Nuggets and current Knicks, Jr Smith, Ray Felton and Carmelo Anthony.

Nate Robinson and all 5 feet and 9 inches of him did a good job stopping Melo on the last possession of the game.  With the way the Knicks are playing, the current Nuggets player definitely rubbed some salt in the wounds of those Knicks by reminding them that they coulda been with the competitive Nuggets, rather than these hopeless-looking Knicks.

More like DeMeanie
No Chris Paul tonight so we weren't able to see if Demarcus Cousins would let Isaiah Thomas shake hands with CP3 in this game.  Demarcus is not playing any favorites, as he himself is also not shaking hands with JJ Redick either.



Deandre Jordan with a huuuuge night.  At the end of regulation he had 9 blocks and 13 boards.  After the overtime period, DeAndre ended up scoring 5 more points (13 total) and 2 more boards (15 total) and finishing just 1 block short of a triple-double.

Other:  Lots of coaches last night (e.g. Erik Spoelstra) joking about the Jason Kidd's cup manuever and one guy wearing a t-shirt with a zinger about it on the sideline of the Rockets/Nets game...Nick Young took a charge in a key moment of the Laker win, so you know i was like "swaggggy deeee" and fist-pumping like crazy....hey Dejuan Blair, Al Horford makes that top of the key shot pretty often, so you might not want to be so far away...Nate Robinson wearing what looks like the pattern of a native american teepee for a shirt.

A Pair of Memphis Grizzlies With John Mayer

Wanted to make this a "Do You Know This NBA Player" post, but i don't think anyone would know who Jon Leuer is even if he wasn't wearing a Justin Bieber wig or some Native-American outfit.

Anyways, it looks like Quincy Pondexter and Leuer are a fan of Mr. Mayer as they were both at his concert or at least backstage with him tonight as he performed at the Grizz's home arena, the FedEx Center.

First, Pondexter looking pretty reserved with his arms by his side while Mayer's hand looks to be on the small of Quincy's back.

via @QuincyPondexter

John Leuer cheesing it a  bit more  than Pondexter and Mayer with a friendly hand-around-the-waist stance.

via @JLEU30

Bonus:  Pondexter did seem psyched to be hanging with John Mayer, despite how that other photo looks.  He also posted this one of Mayer strumming some girl's leg because you didn't really think John Mayer would only take photos with his arms curiously, curiously low on the waistline of his fans didya?

Happy Thanksgiving 2013 Everybody

Hope everyone is enjoying their thanksgiving! A friendly reminder to express your gratitude to either your  family, friends, dog or whoever it may be that you are thankful for.

No games today, but here are some thanksgiving-themed thangs from around the league for your enjoyment:

1. Big Baby Davis and Nic Vujevic being asked to carve some Turkey and also about their fave t-day foods after their win over the Sixers
2. Kyrie Irving Carving Some Turkey while wearing a chef's hat.
3. Lebron is hosting the Miami Heat team at his Ohio home for thanksgiving dinner.
4. The New Orleans Pelicans wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving

Video: Paul George Explaining Why He Loves Grapes

How puh-fect of a nickname we may just have discovered for the player with the most boring name combination in the NBA.  The color commentary basically writes itself:

"George is like a grape, that becomes fine wine with more time (in the nba)." 

"Move over, Vino Bryant, cause Grapes George is coming for your spot"

The list goes on and on!  After sharing some pretty accurate facts about grapes (sweet, not a big fruit, real easy to eat), I'm a bit perturbed by how the video ends.

Specifically, I'm kind of conflicted about the rest of the story of why he and his buddies like to throw his beloved grapes back and forth when they get bored.  That doesn't jive with me as someone who truly loves his grapes and the more cynical side of me will say George is just trying to get paid by doing a commercial for some Indiana-based fruit company.

But I'm too innocent to completely go that route, so I'm hoping that perhaps the part that was edited out was that George and his friends will eat the grapes that they have thrown around at each other.    If that's the case, nothing says true fruit love as eating a bruised and battered fruit that has been touched by multiple hands.  

Noteworthy: 11/27/2013

Dark Jerseys Start the Night Doing Good:  Starting out the night's schedule of games, the darker-jersey away teams were kicking butt.  Pacers, Grizzlies and Heat all won on the road while wearing their regular away blue and black uni's and the Lakers debuted their Hollywood Night Black Jerseys as you can see in the gif up above of three men making some goofy faces and LA hand signs.

Homecoming:  Lebron went back to Ohio to take on the Cavs and dominated the game on way to what seems like very casual 28 pts, 8 reb, 8 ast game. for him  He also made a really good troll face.

Neat:

After getting beat up by the Clippers and losing a close one to the Jazz, the Bulls got a nice win against the Pistons in Detroit.  Lots of talk about the Bulls writing off the season and attempting to rebuild, but good to see that hasn't affected their interest in doing secret handshakes.

Dark Jerseys End the Night Not Doing So Good:
I'm a big fan of the T'wolves alternate black jerseys, but last night they wore those sleeved black jerseys and I think those suck a lot.  Since the Wolves basically fell behind from the get-go, I hope the Minnesota ownership puts all the blame on those yucky t-shirt jerseys and never wear them again.

If you were going to pick a team to end the 11-game winning streak that the Blazers have been on, not sure that I would pick the Phoenix Suns. Well maybe I should start playing more attention to this super athletic Phoenix team, cause last night they played outstanding in taking out the Blazers at home and were led by Goran Dragic's 31 points and 10 assists.

Highlight of the night has got to be Gerald Green grabbing the rebound, outletting the ball to Dragic who throws a half court alley-oop to Markeef Morris who mistimes his jump and while mid-air kicks it back out to Green for the three.  Here it is in video form.

Acrobatic:
Not everyday you see a no-look reverse alley-oop dunk.  Well lookie, there was one last night.



Dethroned:  After holding the NBA title belt for two weeks, the Spurs lost to the Thunder.  So now I need to get working on photoshopping the Thunder holding the belt.

Other: Rockets doing their annual rendition of the dreidel song......Kevin Love instagramed a photo of him and Ricky Rubio doing a face-off switcheroo..lots of good quotes from MWP about last night's loss to the Clipps.

Video: House Shopping with Steven Adams

Who woulda thought that a New Zealand-born 7-foot basketball player would be such a comedian?  Well not to toots my own horn (although i'm about to do exactly that), but since I stumbled onto those Flight of the Concords guys in college, I've kinda gone all-in when it comes to assuming 'kiwi's are generally just funny guys with really neat accents.  Plus, I absolutely noticed how Steven Adams responded to Byron Mullens ignoring his handshake,  so I totally knew that the Thunder drafted a skilled and also pretty entertaining dude.

All it took to show the rest of the basketball-loving community that there was a legit funnyman sitting (literally) on the Thunder bench, was a video following Adams around as he checks out some real estate.

Highlights
Steven Adams asking about why the bathtubs are so small.
Steven Adams asking if the neighbors have a clothesline.
Steve Adams asking if it is the norm to not own a clothesline.
Steven Adams genuinely looking shocked when finding out Americans hang their clothes indoors.

Iman Shumpert's Response To Trade Rumors This Week

"I’m not old enough to read the newspaper yet"
-23 year old Knickerbocker

Noteworthy: 11/26/2013

Reaction:
Nets won last night and Jason Kidd's reaction shows that their 2-point win against the lowly Raptors was one of those rub-the-forehead-in-relief victories.

Switching Places:  While Obama is in L.A., the Lakers went to D.C. and lost a close one.

John Wall hooped pretty well and backed up the idea that if you're going to ignore two wide open teammates on a fast break, you better do a 360 or something.



Overshadowed
Arron Affalo is quietly having a really nice year averaging 22 pts, 4 reb, 4 ast, and a sniper-ly 2.7 threes/game.  Last night he scored 26 points on 4 threes, and 2 steals as the Magic beat the Hawks.

Why aren't people really noticing double-A?  Probably cause he has a rookie teammate dunking over multiple members of the other team.



Quote
Warriors won last night, ending their 3 game losing streak, against the Pelicans.

New Orleans' coach, Monty Williams, described his team's one point loss pretty well, saying "all those 'my bad' plays just added up tonight".  That is a really hip way of describing perfectly the struggles of a team whose all-star point guard is turning the ball almost four times a game.  Also, a barely-20 year-old Anthony Davis is still learning how to become this team's leader and command the ball down the stretch in close games all whilst sporting a unibrow, so the Pelicans have got plenty of growing up and probably waxing to do.

Noteworthy: 11/25/2013

How are you doin', Champs?



Dwyane Wade hammin' it up while Lebron is getting interviewed.  Hmm, so much for all that pressure of 3-peating eh?

Just One:  Roy Hibbert is leading the league in blocks, but he only had one last night.  Out of nowhere and really fierce, but just one block.




The Suns are pretty blog-worthy:
Not content to let Gerald Green have  all the highlights and the mentions on the ole blogblog.

Miles Plumlee had a two-handed rejection and then fast break yammed it.  Also, one of the Morris twins literally dunked it on the tippytop of Birdman's head.



Not sure if this is already a thing, but I feel like 'good grief, Markieff' is a pretty fun chant for when Markieff Morris comes stomping down the lane.

Brandon's
Two guys, Jennings and Knight who share the same first name and were traded for each other this past off-season played each other last night.  Other than those facts, not much in common between the two. Brandon J. had a well-rounded double-double (15 pts and 13 asts) and was able to restrain himself from getting too shot happy despite playing against his former team.  Brandon K was just coming back from retweaking his hamstring, so it was just nice to see him running the Bucks offense again.

95-96 finals teams except theyre both bad right now

Jazz and Bulls both badly needed a win for their really loyal fan bases.  Since the game was in Utah, glad that the Jazz pulled together the win.  More sad times for Bulls fans who saw Joakim Noah airball one of his free throws that could have won it in regulation.

Reminder:
Paul George is more than just a hyper efficient offensive talent who has the length and agility to guard any player in the league for 48 minutes.

He can also throw down a pretty nice fast break dunk.



I'm a fan:
I've been a Koufos supporter since he came into the league a couple years ago.  I think he throws a mean outlet pass, and I'm glaf he finally got an opportunity to start and play key minutes against the Rockets last night.  Made me proud to be an OG  member of the Koufos bandwagon as he grabbed13 rebounds and scored 8 points in place of the injured Marc Gasol.

Party Poopers:
Nuggets go to Dallas and beat the Mavs as Dirk passed Kevin Garnett on the all-time scoring list and Reggie Miller on the all-time free throws made list.

Niiiiice:  So still early in the season, but the Blazers just won their 11th game in a row.  Two dunks by Lillard to celebrate.

  
Other:  This is Andrew Bogut's tweet about why he's not playing in tomorrow's game against the Pelicans..Two Former Pac-10 guys (Derrick Williams, and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute) were traded for each other last night.

Noteworthy: 11/24/2013

Tough Loss, Guys: Joe Johnson had his best game of the season scoring 34 points on 12 of 18 shooting and knocking down  8 threes.  Sad to say that all those swishes were not enough as the Nets were beat by the Pistons who got 27 points from Rodney Stuckey.

The Bulls got whooped at Staples as they played their first game without Derrick Rose.  They didnt lead once and put up a grand total of 9 points in the fourth quarter.  Tom Thibideau got a lot of fight out of these Bulls last season when they expected Drose to be out, but the team that got walloped by the Clippers yesterday afternoon definitely looked like one that hadn't quite yet recuperated from learning that their best player was done for the season.

Is this really fair?



In case the timing and pass looked too perfect than my answer is thats cuz the pass was thrown by one identical  twin (Marcus) to another identical twin (Markieff). Almost want to say that this is biologically too dominant of a tandem but the Suns are 7 and 7, so maybe its not all about genetics.

Gettin' Kind of Old?

Not for me, but I feel like I've seen Gerald Green do about one of these every other game.

A super rare behind-the-back-through-the-leg-of-your-own-teammate assist

Impressive but as a fan of the solid chest pass, I have to ask for what reason was Jared Dudley trying that pass on the baseline and how come Deandre Jordan who is so good at catching lob passes while running at a gazillion miles an hour could not grab a silly pass while standing still.  Good thing JJ Redick is really good at that jump shooting thing or else this would have just been a wacky turnover. 

Restin':  Russ Westbrook had the night off and Durant and Serge Ibaka both rested for most of the 4th quarter against the Jazz. There must have been some disappointed Thunder fans, but they chose to go to the game where the Thunder was playing a 1-13 team, so they reallt couldn't have expected the Thunder dudes to have to sweat this one out too much.

Not a Happy Weekend: After losing a close one to the Clippers on Saturday afternoon, the Kings got beat on the same court to the Lakers on Sunday night.  This one wasn't as close as the Clippers game, but some similarities included: Demarcus Cousins getting another technical foul and the other' team's starting point guard playing really well.  Example, Steve Blake with 12 assists, including this clever dish.

Other: A new Beats commercial starring KG which seems kind of realistic for all the bad reasons...Andray Blatch scoring on his own basket...Cam Newton did Lebron James' stompstomp dance.

The Battle for the Belt: Will the Spurs Keep Their Streak Going Against the Pelicans?

image from liquidstuff

image via Reddit

NEXT BATTLE FOR THE BELT

 SAS @  NOP

Monday, 2013-11-25 5:30 PDT

h/t 
*kudos to Timothy Lee for the "Keep or Weep" Slogan

Noteworthy: 11/23/2013

A Recap:

After the first quarter, the Kings outscored the Clippers by 15 points for the rest of the game. Unfortunately for the team from Sacramento, they were outscored by 16 in the first quarter and the Clippers ended up winning by one, 103-102.

Just based on the fact that the Kings couldn't overcome that first quarter margin despite how well they generally played the rest of the  game, you could understand the angst that one Demarcus Cousins might feel after yet another loss.  Also, starting out the season 4 and 9 despite the additions of key playmakers in Greivis Vasquez and Carl Landry, is probably not what Cousins had anticipated after choosing to resign with the Kings this past offseason.

Demarcus had a beast of game with his 23-19-7 line (pts, reb, ast), but his technical at around the 2 minute mark was costly and you could argue his big night was all but wasted since the Kings couldn't pull out what would have been their biggest win of the season had they beaten the Pacific-leading Clippers at home.

With that in mind, you can kind of see why Cousins was a bit salty and wouldn't let his buddy, Isaiah Thomas shake handsies.

Some Defense:

Killer chasedown blocks last night featuring

Shumpert gettin' Wall-ed (too easy?)


Kent "no wayz, mo williams" Bazemore

Dang:
In terms of basketball things, it must be really scary finding yourself on an island trying to guard Lebron one on one at the end of the game.

In terms of basketball injuries, an egg on the forehead like Jeremy Lin got from one of Kevin Love's elbows is pretty bad, but I find it most hilarious cause it resembles the head bumps in the cartoons we grew up watching.

Another Recap: Spurs beat up on the Cavs and had a lot of fun in the process.

First, Matt Bonner playin the point on a possession (via poundingtherock)

and then the big three being silly on the bench (thanks, Dime)

Good Stats:

Kenneth Faried was puhfect shooting from the field (8-8) for 18 points along with 14 rebounds as the Nugs are now at .500.

Andrew Bogut tried to fight again, but he probabbly should have focused on helping stop Lamarcus Aldridge who was doing everything on way to a career night of 30 points, 21 rebounds, 3 blocks and 3 steals.

Best for Last:



So much to like here, from Al Horford's shotput pass to Vitor Favrani obviously not closing out properly to Jared Sullinger barely gettin' off the ground on that honorable block attempt.

Other: Steph Curry with kind of a mask on...my fave nba team colors will be back next season as Charlotte will be wearing the purple and teal once again...whether or not you care for Woody Allen, doesn't James Dolan sound kind of like a spoiled bum?

Homan League: Week in Review 11/17 - 11/23

Credit: Matthew Emmons - USA TODAY Sports

A review of action in the fantasy basketball league dubbed "Homan League".   May include free agent pick-ups, trades, DNP's because someone forgot to set their lineup for the early morning Pacific time game.  Also other shenanigans worth mentioning in the fantasy league.  All opinions are exactly that, opinions. So don't take them too personally, and they are mostly mine.

At a glance:
Very different weeks for the two Los Angeles teams as the Clippers played a league high five games while the Lakers only played two.  The Lakers play a two-game-week again starting the 2nd of December, so in terms of fantasy numbers, owners with Laker players will have to take into account the lessened impact for guys like Pau, Steve Blake, Jordan Hill, and Jodie Meeks (TEAM(s): kobeking, Adam Silver).

The Trailblazers have been on a hot streak and specifically guys like Wes Matthews, Damian Lillard and Nic Batum have been producing great in terms of 3PTM, FT%, and points (TEAM(s): League Champion, Sasquatch, kobeking).

Point guard play has been phenomenal this week as John Wall, Mike Conley, Kyle Lowry and Kyrie Irving have all had big weeks.  The most pleasant surprise if you're a fantasy owner or a Mav's fan has got to be Monta Ellis doing his best '03 -Steph Marbury impression averaging 32 pts and 8 assists on the week. (TEAM(s): League Champion, kobeking, Swagger).

Still keeping up their MVP-type numbers for the season are Chris Paul, Anthony Davis, and the White Dwight, Spencer Hawes.  As covered in the Noteworthy posts, Anthony Davis has been blocking everything in sight, averaging over 6 blocks in this past week.  It's true that his steals  haven't been as great as the start of the season, but if you just peruse over his game logs, you'll be shocked at how high his FG%, FT% are and how ridiculous it is that he's only turning the ball over about once a game (TEAM(s): Just Jrue It, Pres(i)ton, S7venbyVII).

Neat Pickups:

Caron Butler (TEAM: League Champion):  Took a couple days after Butler was picked up (15th) to finally get some stats for him (22nd), but boy was it worth it.  In Friday night's overtime game against the Sixers, Butler put up 38 points with 4 threes made and 8 rebounds and 6 assists.

Martell Webster (TEAM: Sasquatch): Webster has continued playing well with Trevor Ariza injury's, regularly logging 40+ minutes in the Wizard's last five games.  Since he has been picked up, Webster has been reliable for a couple threes per game, great FT%, about half a dozen rebounds and a really low turnover rate.

You Must Not Be Happy:

Those Veteran Brooklyn Nets (TEAM(s): S7venbyVII, Jae's Dazzling Squad, Adam Silver, David Stern):  

Deron Williams playing 16 minutes the last two games after going down with an ankle injury once again to the T'Wolves.  He had glimpses of impact 2 weeks ago, but something is really wrong with Williams physically, whether it be the ankle or just his conditioning.

Paul Pierce's shooting has been terrible.  He's shooting 21% from the field for the week and turning the ball over as much as he's grabbing rebounds or assists (3 per/game).

Kevin Garnett is still grabbing 8 boards, and making a couple baskets per game.  Some concerns would be that he hasn't shot a free throw in over a week (he's only shot 5 for the season) so there goes the FTM category.  Plus his numbers have been getting cut and its clear he and coach J.Kidd aren't seeing eye to eye, so things aren't looking bright if you're counting on KG for fantasy impact.

Brook Lopez hasn't played the whole week with his ankle injury.  Really bad times if you're a fan of the talented scoring Lopez, as he was having himself a nice year until the injury.

Joe Johnson is still doing what he does best and that's make shots.  With everyone else either injured or playing like they are ready to retire, Johnson should have all the shots he wants to produce.  Currently, you can count on him for a couple threes and around 13 pts/game which is about the same production as a Gary Neal who is sitting pretty in free agency. 

Omer Asik (TEAM: League Champion) In case you forgot, the top rebounders last season were Nikola Vucevic (917), Dwight Howard (945) and Asik (956).  WIth Dwight joining the Rockets this season, Asik has been bumped to second-string  and although Asik is rebounding at a much lower clip than he was last season,Asik has all the skills and instincts to be leading the league in that category if he was just given more minutes.

Although, Kevin Mchale tried starting Asik/Howard together last week, that experiment was short-lived. Omer has since demanded a trade and in order to drive his market value down, the Rockets have decided to play their project big-man, Donatas Motiejunas, more minutes than the league's rebounding leader from a season ago.

If you enjoy watching the Turkish big man grab those rebounds and play really good post defense, you'll be pulling for the Rockets to trade Asik to a team where he can start devouring rebounds once again.

Noteworthy: 11/22/2013

Tall Guys Shooting:
Particularly great day of basketball for 7 foot guys and their jumpers. Spencer Hawes' game tieing three, Channing Frye hitting 5 threes in helping the Suns over the Bobcats, Sam Dalembert going 8 for 8 (although most of these were gimmes around the basket), oh and Spencer Hawes one-legged three at the buzzer.  I had to say it again cause it was that nice.  Here it is in slow-mo:



Pau Gasol had himself a nice night as well.  Prior the game, Pau had pledged to donate 1k of every one of his points to the US Fund for UNICEF's relief efforts toward those affected by the typhoon in the Philippines.  This basket was pretty sweet cause Pau had Andrew Bogut faked out of his sneakers.



Pau's last two points on the night were particularly nice too, as he swooshed a fallaway jumper in Bogut's eyeballs.  People on twitter were getting kinda carried away saying that the shot looked like Kobe's but honestly, it was probably more like Marc Gasol's.

Confident:  Paul George is playing really well right now.  His trust in his jump shot is a little show-offy but it did make for a cool-looking vine vid.



Worst:  One of is the worst part of watching sports is seeing the players you root for not being physically able to do what they are best at.  Marc Gasol, Derrick Rose, Andre Iguodola all left their respective games last night with injuries. Terrible.  Praying that their injuries are nothing serious.

Impact Players:  The two hottest teams in the league right now have got to be the Pacers and the Blazers.  The reason for these teams dominating this season is due to the growth of Lance Stephenson in Indiana and the play of Wesley Matthews in Portland.

Stephenson recorded his second triple-double of this season tallying 10 points 11 rebounds and 10 assists along with 4 steals and only 1 turnover.  The Blazers have been winning behind the team's strength in knocking down the three point shot in bunches.

Leading the three point barrage this season has been guard Wesley Matthews.  For the year, Wes is shooting a scorching 54% from the field and 50% from three point land.  Matthews led the Blazers in their win over the Bulls last night with his 28 points and 4 threes.

Fact:  Nick Young is the most entertaining player in the NBA when taking into account his on and off the court antics.

That's my opinion of course and hopefully I'll have the opportunity to show off the majority of my repository of photos and gifs involving Swaggy P.   Here is a creative step-back three from last night:

Other:  This kid is pretty excited to sit next to Rihanna at the Laker game...Amir Johnson shook ref Danny Crawford's hand after getting a technical for hanging on the rim...Marcin Gortat destroyed a towel.

Noteworthy: 11/21/2013

Unfair:
Usually Blake Griffin will guard guys who aren't as big as him or someone who just isnt as skilled.

Kevin Durant is taller and longer than Blake.  Also, he can shoot the heck out of the ball.  Please don't let this matchup happen too often, Doc.

Thunder led from beginning to end on the Clipps probably because they were shooting 52% compared to the 41% by the Clippers and also because once they had the lead they could just give the ball to KD who as I have already said, can score anytime he wants as long as his teammates (lookin at you Russ and Reggie Jackson) give him the ball.

On the brightside:  Chris Paul's double-double record continued for another night and Deandre Jordan swatted the heck out of Russ Westbrook

Slowly but surely:  Derrick Rose is still struggling to get his groove back, but he showed flashes last night that he's still ridicously athletic.  Example, Rose jumping off the wrong leg, probably because he's not completely confident in that left knee yet, and doing a double clutch layup like this.



It didn't help that Luol Deng (3-18) was ineffective and Jimmy Butler is out with a big toe injury probably cause he's still wearing those 15 year old technology crazy 8's.

Other:  Steven Adams is cool if you don't shake his hand, he'll shake his own...the rims in OKC must be really soft cause another guy hit a half-court shot...Shaq took a tumble on TNT last night...

Noteworthy: 11/20/2013

This weekend I called a guy in my men's league Bismack Biyombo because the only offense he played was tossing the ball at the hoop when he was less than 1 feet away.

Nobody in the Men's league I run in could throw down a dunk like the one that Biyombo had last night, but I definitely feel like a jerk for comparing any rec center bro to Biyombo. Clip below confirms that if he ever stepped on a court with me, he could/ probably would tear the rim off in my face. Nice dunk, and I'm very sorry.

Bad Loss: After three quarters, the Rockets were winning 101 to 87 and Dwight Howard was 11 for 11 from the field.  In short, the Rockets were literally getting dunks at the rims unguarded.

Also, they were getting all fancy like with this bang out, courtesy of Chandler Parson being good at sharing

Well, in the fourth quarter Dwight finally missed (he went 1 for 5), the Rockets were outscored 36-19, and ended up losing by 3.  Not much to laugh at if you were a Rockets Fan, but there were some really great fans you can smile at, and highted below.

Hahahaha:

Aside from this happening after Harden hit a big three in the fourth, not positive about what the meaning is of this.  Thats cuz i have no idea what loyalty a guy in a Lions jersey might have when he attends a basketball game between two Texas teams.  Point and stare on, matt-stafford-jersey dude!

Also, thumbs up to this guy for punching the basketball back at Dwight Howard; cause fans can't get T's, so go crazy, everybody.

Expected:  Lebron James making a really gorgeous move on the baseline followed by a slamma jamma.

Unexpected:  Beno Udrih looking like he is pretty good at shots taken after pivoting a couple times.



Back-to-Back:
After beating the Suns at home in Sacramento on Tuesday, the Kings withstood a 44 point barrage and won in Phoenix last night.  Big yahoo for Sac fans as the Kings doubled their season total for wins (4) in beating the Suns twice in the last day and a half.

Anthony Davis had 8 blocks in the Pelicans win against the Jazz.  That makes for two games in a row he has had 8 rejections as he also registered that total against the Sixers last Saturday.

History Books:  Chris Paul now has the record for most games (12) of at least 10 points and 10 assists to start the season, passing up Magic Johnson, with his 20 point 11 assist 4 steal effort in beating the T'Wolves.

Dirk is now 15th all-time in career points, passing up Reggie Miller, including 14 points in that big fourth quarter mentioned above.

Other: Nuggets are having a 80's night, so the players made a video with them giving 80's themed quotes...both Dwight Howard and Roy Hibbert made threes last night, but Roy's was counted as it beat the shot clock and Dwight's was called off, so basically a metaphor for how the season is going for the two of them...No team in the Atlantic Division is over .500 and the Raptors are leading the division...a blurry photo of Paul George shaking handsies with A$ap Rocky

The "We Are Warriors" Series

I know it's not all that clear what the #wearewarriors commercials are all about, especially after watching only the first of these videos (starring Bogut and Kent Bazemore up above).  However, I did some diligent googlin' and here are some informative deets from nba.com:

The “We Are Warriors” marketing campaign was created last season and is based on the concept that we ALL are Warriors, and everyone contributes to the success of the team. For this season’s television commercials, the Warriors held an open casting call on August 23 at the team’s practice facility, inviting fans of all ages and types the opportunity to show how much they love the Warriors. Fans selected to participate in the team’s commercial shoot were able to work side-by-side with Warriors players on the court and in other various settings that the players encounter every day.

So based on the first commercial, I've learned that the Warriors have some fans who hold down a really low stance on defense and look tiny next to NBA players.  I think there was a really big missed opportunity in choosing to make Bogut the funnyman when Kenneth Bazemore seems to be the one with the natural gifts as a comedian.

The makers of this series did a better job with the second #wearewarriors video, released this afternoon.  It stars Klay Thompson showing that he is a pretty awkward celebrator.



Overall, I'm liking the direction in which this series is going.  If we started with a 'haaaaah' at Bogut abusing a grown man in the post, Klay and his goofy hand guns was a definite 'heeeheee'.

Noteworthy 11/19/2013

Dunks: Some nasty jams from last nights games including Ben Mclemore sneakily slicing past two defenders and Gerald Green still routinely getting his eyes to the rim.

Personally, Jan Veselys steal and fast break finish was my fave one from last night because i think the phrase "Jan Jam" should become a thing soon.  

Boring:  Of the 5 games last night, 4 of the winning teams were the home team.  The one that wasnt...

Upset:  Wizards beat the T'wolves last night behind John Wall's 16 assists and Bradley Beal just making a whole bunch of his shots on way to 25 points.

Suck: The Celtics are pretty bad this season but last night was particularly ugly of a game.  Specifically the starters were 14 for 51 and shot 32% for the game.  That's the reason for that Rondo reaction  above, as he was checking out the stat sheet while sitting on the bench.

Nice Job Wildcats:  Kentucky alums, Terence Jones with a career high 24 points against the aforementioned Celtics and Demarcus Cousins shot more free throws than any other person on his team shot field goals  as he scored 27 and grabbed 12 boards.

Other: Chris Webber analyzing the heat / hawks game tonight...Amare Stoudemire looked really confused for one possession.

Video: That Jean-Claude Van Damme Volvo Commercial, But With Mark Cuban

Have you seen it?  That ridiculous Van Damme and Volvo commercial with the soft cooing of an Enya song in the background?  If not, watch it here and allow me to remind you that many guys in my generation were influenced by J-CVD, so that we thought  that doing the splits anywhere you wish was way cool.

Then think about whether that video would be any more hilarious if you saw the smuggy smile of a certain of NBA owner as the star of that commercial.  Well here it is. Courtesy of those Dallas Mavericks Media guys.

Noteworthy: 11/18/2013

Oh La La:  If you're a fan of point guards finishing around the basket, I present two such clips.  Starting off, Shaun Livingston with the bouncy-ness on Robin Lopez.

And Damian Lillard with quite the twisty-looking layup.

Ugly:  Both the Bobcats and Bulls shot 36% from the field last night, so that explains all the opportunities that Carlos Boozer had en route to his 17 rebounds.

Double-Doubles:  Monta Ellis has been dishing the ball well this season but last night he got his first double double of the season with points and assists (24 & 10).  JJ Hickson scored 18 and grabbed all the rebounds (19) as the next highest person on his team had 6 (K. Faried).

Ouch: Not a good night for the head region

Steph Curry's head got pancaked by Marvin William's torso (warning: it looks as bad as it sounds).

then Chris Paul takes a Tony Allen shin to the lips.

Other: Some bros wore rockets jerseys courtside at the thunder nuggets game..so I guess this is how Tmac wears a suit...Check out this particularly slouchy Jazz fan..I missed out on the fact that Dave Chapelle looks like he's been working out a little and was at the T-wolves game the other night (thanks James for always finding the goodies).

Video: Kids Interview Knicks About Their Fashion Choices

Just when I thought I knew all about the fashion no-no's worn by current Knicks players (Tyson's red boots, and Amare's Ugg and tights combo), Ryan and Jaylah had to go and reveal that Iman Shumpert owns a skirt or a kilt or both.  Also, the Knicks added a free agent forward this summer that is probably the worst dresser of them all.

A good monday fashion reminder to all that just cus you got lots of money and you live in new york doesn't mean you can dress yourself any better than a kid, as evident by these interviews done by some kids.

Noteworthy: 11/17/2013

Fun:

The demar derozan/rudy gay combo may not be providing lots of wins, but the Raps are entetaining as heck and competing to the final buzzer.

a really nice part of that highlight is Kyle Lowry flying by and smoothly transitioning from put-back attempt to celebration fist-pump.

Heads up Jodie Meeks...

Say what you will about Jennings not being a true point guard, but he sure throws a solid full-speed backboard alley-oop.

Freakin' bad:  None of the Kings starters had more than 9 points, 5 rebounds or 3 assists.

Fantastic:  Jordan Hill was going up against a formidable front court of the Pistons with Josh Smith, Monroe and Andre Drummond.  Hill has been playing like an all star and last night may have been his best game yet, as he logged a career high with 27 points and 17 rebounds.

Also, Steve Blake dished out 16 assists and the Lakeshow won.  So keep throwing your streetball oops, Detroit, our former-backup point guard and former-backup power foward lit you up tonight.

This pass from a Grizzly Gasol

Other:  Jodie Meeks celebrated a three last night by skipping back on defense with his mouth open and directly skyward; I cannot find a photo of this, so if you see it, please direct me to it...As of tonight, Tim Duncan and Ray Allen are tied for 21st on the career points all-time leaderboard...D'antoni probably kidding about Kobe in practice.

Noteworthy: 11/16/2013

Rough night for the following:  Pacers, cause they were down by 25 at the half to the Bulls; not the best way to lose their first game of the season.

Glenn Rice Jr, cause he got a reminder of how good Kyrie Irving is at dribbling

(h/t to Hardwood Paroxysm))

For both JR Smith (3-18 from the field, 1-9 from the three) and the Knicks (1-5 record playing at Home after tonight's loss to the Hawks)



Nice one, guys:
3 Timberwolves scored 20+ tonight: KLove, KevMartin, and Nikola Pekovic (no combination of first&last name currently cleverly available).

Westbrook and Durant combined for at least 50 points for the 3rd game in a row but the big story was Serge Ibaka's 20 boards.

Chris Paul now has 10 consecutive games of 10+ points and 10+ assists to start the season tying John Stockton for the second most total in NBA history.

Nice Try, Ty: Lawson with a really nice 28 and 17 but Denver didn't have the lead even once as they loss in Houston to the Rockets.

Good to have you back: Ryan Anderson, made his season debut, and showed he can still shoot the rock, hitting 6 out of 10 threes, 10 of 14 total and racking up 26 points.

Other: After their overtime win tonight, I'm guessing that testy team meeting the Cavs had actually worked..Looks like Kobe is back at practice...Carmelo describing the Knicks season so far..Lamar Odom may be back in the NBA soon...in case you thought that Lebron stopped doing those chasedown blocks, he hasn't.

Homan League: Week in Review 11/10 - 11/16

(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

A review of action in the fantasy basketball league dubbed "Homan League".   May include free agent pick-ups, trades, DNP's because someone forgot to set their lineup for the early morning Pacific time game.  Also other shenanigans worth mentioning in the fantasy league.  All opinions are exactly that, opinions. So don't take them too personally, and they are mostly mine.

Hotness:

Busy week in the NBA as teams like Atlanta, Memphis, Minnesota, Toronto and Utah all played 4 games while a team like Phoenix only played 2 games.  As a result, guys like Al Horford, Mike Conley, Ricky Rubio, Demar Derozan, Rudy Gay, and Gordon Hayward were more valuable than guys with similar production numbers because they played in more games (TEAM(s): Mark Cuban, League Champion, Adam Silver, David Stern, Jae's Dazzling Team, Just Jrue It)

  

Jeremy Lin hit a career high 9 three pointers but also dished out 12 assists that game.  On the year, he's shooting 52%, 47%, 80% (FG%,3PT%, FT%). Marc Gasol put up an 18-8-8-3-3 (pts, reb, ast, stl, blk) game but has been most valuable for his outstanding FT% (86.4%) and low turnover rate (1.1) .  Derrick Favors has been much more consistent this week with his best game coming against a Duncan-less Spur team in which he had 20 pts, 18 boards, 3 steals and 3 blocks. (TEAM(s): Jae's Dazzling Team, S7venbyVII, Clipper Nation)

Some really good single game efforts from role players such as Danny Green's 24 points, 10 rebounds, 6 three effort Jordan Hill's 21 and 11 against the Pelicans or his next game of 18 and 15 against the Nuggets.  The biggest surprise has got to be 76er, James Anderson's 36 point effort on 12-16 shooting and 6 threes made in the OT win against the Rockets. (TEAM(s): Swagger, kobeking, Jae's Dazzling Team)

New Additions:

Steve Blake (TEAM: kobeking):  After getting picked up on Monday, Blake had some impressive efforts of back-to-back-to-back games of 10+ assists.  He's not shooting too well from the field, but he's hitting a blistering 47% from three and has a 1:4 turnover to assist ratio.

Andrea Bargnani (TEAM: Clipper Nation): Technically picked up last week, but this pickup has really paid off this week as Bargs has averaged 20 pts this past week, and also grabbing more than 6 rebounds in that stretch.  Finally looking like he's comfortable in NY's system so hopefully the Knicks don't go ahead and pick up more front-court help that could push him out of the lineup.

J.J. Hickson(TEAM: Pres(i)ton): After JaVale went down, Hickson was picked up and his 10-9 (pts - reb) average has been a nice replacement for McGee.  

Woops-y:
Looks like there were some roster mistakes as David Lee was benched and guys like Tyreke Evans, Cory Brewer and Jamal Crawford were not played and they all had above-average games this week.  Most definitely the reason why of JJ's team is probably going to lose big to Jae's Dazzling Team. (TEAM: Sasquatch)

Made the theoretical right decision in starting George Hill over Jodie Meeks and maybe more debatable right decision in playing Shawn Marion over Jared Sullinger.  The results were the complete opposite as Sullinger put up 26 and 8 while Jodie Meeks had his best game of the season knocking down 5 threes and racking up 25 points. (TEAM: Adam Silver)

Some serious bad luck with guys missing games such as Dion Waiters with some unknown sickness, Josh McRoberts's personal reasons, and both Trevor Ariza and Brandon Knight's bad right hamstrings.  If I wasn't so illogically attached to these guys, you would think I'd drop them since they aren't producing much anyways  (TEAM: Just Jrue It)

Noteworthy: 11/15/2013

Way to go: Roy hibbert just missed a triple double by 2 blocks...Josh Smith had 5 steals and 4 blocks..Lebron had 39 on 14-18 shooting and Joe Johnson went length of the court for this floater game-winner.



Never mind that 3 weeks ago we thought that a game between the Nets would be a blowout and Joe Johnson actually was shooting terribly going 5-18 until that last bucket.

Lance Stephenson being Lance Stephenson



if you missed the Antoine Walker-like shimmy he did, watch it again.

Wannabe:  Lebron doing the Dirk against Dirk's team.

Wow:

Woopsy:



Other: Kings fans are really good at being loud...

Video: A Dunk Contest with Rasheed Wallace

Thanks for hiring Sheed, Detroit.  I know he's been impactful already in teaching Andre how to be a better defender, but look at how much more funny he makes Andre's vine.  Just Awesome.

Noteworthy: 11/14/2013

Only 2 games last night but they were dandies.

Jeremy Lin was back in New York tonight as the Rockets played the Knicks.  Chandler parsons was pretty giddy after Jeremy's dunk.

Some pretty unstandard nba things happened last night including,

Dwight Howard getting his shot blocked by definitely-not-DPOY, Bargnani.

as well as Carmelo Anthony hitting an off-balanced heave of a three pointer which was called off. Lots of controversy for you to read about that play and how it affected the ending of that game, if you missed it.



Thunder v. Warriors game was too ridiculously entertaining that I neglected writing and just started renactingthe plays on my mini-hoop.  The sequence of plays that ended it:



Basically I'm leaving the recording of this game on my DVR for a little while.

Other:  The best gif involving both ricky rubio and kevin martin...

Noteworthy: 11/13/2013

Shooter:  Arron Affalo didn't miss much last night, hiting 8 threes and going perfect from the free throw line.  Here is video of all those 3-pointers he made.

Jeremy Lin also had a career high, with 9 three-pointers made.  He also dished 12 assists but turned the ball over 8 times and the Rockets lost to those overachieving Sixers.

Firsts:   "I never had a triple-double at any level, not middle school, high school, anywhere.'' - Tony Wroten after recording his first triple double last night against Houston.  It was also Wroten's first start of his career.

A lot of Assists: Ricky rubio and Chris paul both dished out 16 and stole the ball 3 times in leading their teams to victory.  Here is one particularly cool pass from Ricky:

Hmmm...Those Brooklyn Nets, who were supposed to be challenging the Heat and Pacers in the eastern conference just dropped to 0-4 on the road after getting beat by the Kings last night.

Welp:  Someone definitely should have stopped the dribble drive.  A very simple-looking game winner by Lillard



Pretty: Serge Ibaka and Matt Barnes got tossed out right before the half of the game between the Clipps and Thunder, which is probably a big reason why the Clipps made such a big run in the 3rd quarter.  However, Serge Ibaka was still in the game on this play and couldn't stop it from happening:



Nice Job:

The Jazz finally won last night.  Enes Kanter lookin' ridiculous after the game.

Knicks won on the road in Atlanta last night, getting a really good game from Andrea Bargnani for the second game in the row.  He also had this save which kinda looked like an accidental wraparound pass



You Block me, Tiago Block you:
John Wall, the one man fast break stopper.

Tiago Splitter, the stopper of John Wall (on this play at least).


HEHE: 
annnnnnnnnnnnnd my favorite highlight from the night because Kanye kind of once said..

 "HOW COULD YOU BE MO HARKLESS"


Other: Westbrook hit a three right before the half yesterday and then gave a high-five to Scott Brooks.  I cannot find this on video or as a gif, but it was hilarious, i promise...Cool dude at the head of the post is me at the Clippers/Thunder game last night...here is a video of Jordan playing beer pong while the part of that Jay-z song where Jay-z sings about Jordan is playing in the background...Classy Dwight Howard, actually the opposite...there will be some Dwyane Wade-inspired bow ties and ties for sale.

A Look at This Year's Christmas Jerseys

We are officially nearing 40 days until Christmas, and as a result all around us we can see signs of the coming holiday.  KOST 103.5 is starting their christmas music tomorrow at 3PM and yesterday, pictures of this year's "Christmas"-themed Jerseys were tweeted out as modeled by some of our fave players.  I don't know about you, but this continuing trend of using christmas themed jerseys is neat to look at, just like the holiday-themed shoes that have been the rage since the late 2000s.  Of course the classic Laker Gold and Chicago Bull home reds should never be replaced, but I'm a fan of special holiday uniforms as long as they are on par with the St. Patrick's day all-green jerseys, and/or they have additional subtle designs such as Denver's Christmas game shorts from last year .

However, the trend toward sleeved jerseys has got to stop man.  The beauty of the sleeveless NBA jerseys has always been that it in itself represents the sport.  Whether it be in some peewee city league or in the high school to the college ranks, everyone wears a sleeveless top; although many now will also layer in all kinds of other sleeved shirts (lookin at you Vince Carter and 2012-2013 Dwight Howard).

Please save us from having to wear sleevies by NOT buying these jerseys.  You can look at the whole spectrum of these yucky jerseys on nba.com as well as them being modeled below:

First, a smirky Derrick Rose and sleepy Iman Shumpert via Phil Hecken

a shiny Dwight via Jeff Zillgitt

and standard Lebron James celebration pose,via Jim Ice