well, 5 percent of the NBA season is now behind us, but teams are still searching for an identity (especially the revamped powerhouse teams, save for a few) or are surprising some people.
the lakers, who began the season without pau gasol, have also now lost the services of andrew bynum (yes, it's time once again for the annual andrew bynum injury party). as such, we haven't seen the lakers' true identity this season and they're not nearly as scary as what we know they can be. so far, kobe bryant's been carrying the team on his back with a couple of 40-point games. ron artest is beginning to find his role in phil jackson's tried-and-tested-and-proven triangle offense, and lamar odom's probably eating more candy. as of this writing, they are holding a 5-1 win-loss slate, and will only get better as the season progresses. although seeing dj mbenga take jumpshots and fail miserably is kind of a joy to watch. now i think it's time to bring out adam morrison and let him shoot, shoot, shoot.
boston? no surprise there. out of all the powerhouse teams that added more weapons on their roster, the celtics have been in top form since game 1. 'sheed and daniels have been great off the bench and the old guys in the starting lineup are still out for blood and another run at the championship. this is one scary team, although their first loss courtesy of the suns shows that they're still vulnerable and aren't capable of going 82-0. still, they're on pace to deliver on rasheed wallace's prediction of eclipsing the 1996 chicago bulls' 72-10 record. brian scalabrine is again competing for a championship and an imaginary finals MVP award.
orlando has been a joy to watch this season. that is one potent team right there. vince carter's gone down with another ankle sprain (what's new), but at least it's still early in the season. dwight's getting his usual 20's and 10's, jameer's working himself back into all-star form, and ryan anderson has been a revelation. his early season play suggests that he wasn't just a bonus in the VC deal. and of course, my man brandon bass still looks like a meaner version of antonio mcdyess.
cleveland? well, for a team that went 39-2 at home last year, they've now lost 2 home games this season. they're still trying to find a way how to effectively make shaq and lebron play together. big diesel takes away so much from lebron's slashing game by just standing there and filling up the paint, and the cavaliers have actually played better with o'neal on the bench. sadly, it seems that coming off the bench hasn't been particularly good for zydrunas ilgauskas, as he has struggled to find his offense because of it. but i'm not saying the cavaliers aren't gonna win a championship, because the 2006 miami heat are still fresh in my mind (yes, that team gave antoine walker his only title). and as long as the referees and the NBA try to make lebron the new face of the league, the cavs will keep contending. but lebron will probably have another crab dribble called against him.
i have (surprisingly) watched spurs games this year primarily because of two things: one, i wanna see manu ginobili swat another bat and endure another beatdown from PETA; and two, i can't believe the spurs got to steal dejuan blair from the draft. that guy's a beast. he can give you an efficient 15-20 minutes off the bench and finish scoring in double figures plus a handful of rebounds. richard jefferson, on the other hand, is still trying to find a way to fit in with san antonio's already-established trio of injury-prone stars - eva longoria's hubby, mr. fundamental, and batmanu.
surprising me this year are the phoenix suns. steve nash is beginning to prove that mike d'antoni didn't inflate his stats and that this team can still win 48-52 games. channing frye, with the help of nash, is now on the road to resurrecting his career and amar'e has finally learned to play with goggles. the suns are running once again, and things could be pretty good for phoenix.
finally, the miami heat have surprised me with their 5-1 start (only the third time in franchise history have they started the season at 5-1). jermaine o'neal is actually looking like he's healthier than cleveland's o'neal and he's out to prove that he isn't as washed-up as people think of him these days. i really think pat riley opted not to add any marquee player this year since he believes in the improvement of mario chalmers and michael beasley, and so far they've shown flashes of brilliance. thankfully, quentin richardson seems like a better fit with miami than he ever was with the knicks, and carlos arroyo and udonis haslem coming off the bench gives the starters some precious minutes of rest (arroyo can score and udonis is the admirable double-double no-complains guy).
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
the (B)east is (coming) back
it's been far too long a time since michael jordan last hoisted the larry o'brien NBA championship trophy and reaffirmed his status as the best in the game. it also was the final time the east declared supremacy in the league, with the west (specifically the spurs and the lakers) snagging 5 straight championships and 8 of the last 11 overall, while articles containing various mockeries of the east have been published by writers and bloggers all over the globe.
but ever since KG and ray allen began wearing green jerseys, power has slowly shifted back to the east. sure, the lakers won the 2009 crown, but the east ain't no pushover any longer. last year alone, the cavs, celtics, and magic were considered serious contenders to the title with only the lakers being the clear favorites out west.
this year, the east will be one step closer to regaining the letter "B" that's supposed to come before "E." too long has the eastern conference suffered humiliating finals defeats.
also, while the west still currently has the established superstars such as kobe, dirk, chauncey, tony parker, steve nash, and amar'e, the east has much of the rising youngsters such as lebron, d-wade, d-rose, chris bosh, dwight howard, rondo, and devin harris. these guys already are scary players but most of 'em haven't even reached their peak. meanwhile, their western counterparts, while still great, now have knees that revolt against them and are experiencing drop-offs in their performance.
it all started in the draft of '03... you know, that draft where the world was introduced to lebron james, dwyane wade, chris bosh, kirk hinrich, and all them guys? a year later the pistons demolished the lakers. a little while later, lebron started attacking the record books. then d-wade won one for the heat. then lebron singlehandedly brought an otherwise mediocre cleveland team to the finals. it's been a great ride for the east from then on.
finally, it's interesting to find out that the east won the 2004, 2006, and 2008 championships, which are all even-numbered years. 2010, perhaps?
it's only a matter of time.
...but we all have to wait for kobe's decline
...i just did a rhyme.
ah, i'll stop now.
but ever since KG and ray allen began wearing green jerseys, power has slowly shifted back to the east. sure, the lakers won the 2009 crown, but the east ain't no pushover any longer. last year alone, the cavs, celtics, and magic were considered serious contenders to the title with only the lakers being the clear favorites out west.
this year, the east will be one step closer to regaining the letter "B" that's supposed to come before "E." too long has the eastern conference suffered humiliating finals defeats.
also, while the west still currently has the established superstars such as kobe, dirk, chauncey, tony parker, steve nash, and amar'e, the east has much of the rising youngsters such as lebron, d-wade, d-rose, chris bosh, dwight howard, rondo, and devin harris. these guys already are scary players but most of 'em haven't even reached their peak. meanwhile, their western counterparts, while still great, now have knees that revolt against them and are experiencing drop-offs in their performance.
it all started in the draft of '03... you know, that draft where the world was introduced to lebron james, dwyane wade, chris bosh, kirk hinrich, and all them guys? a year later the pistons demolished the lakers. a little while later, lebron started attacking the record books. then d-wade won one for the heat. then lebron singlehandedly brought an otherwise mediocre cleveland team to the finals. it's been a great ride for the east from then on.
finally, it's interesting to find out that the east won the 2004, 2006, and 2008 championships, which are all even-numbered years. 2010, perhaps?
it's only a matter of time.
...but we all have to wait for kobe's decline
...i just did a rhyme.
ah, i'll stop now.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
well...
it ain't part of the game, but it happens.
but apparently, invincibility is just an illusion and basketball players are also members of the human race (therefore they also have boiling points and they watch boxing as well).
so what have we learned?
1. better be able to back yourself up.
2. don't sing it, bring it.
3. if you're gonna heckle from the sidelines, better be ready for things like this.
4. or don't heckle at all.
5. especially if it's against a team playing a tightly-contested game.
6. self-control is the key to life.
7. losing self-control can make you heckle a lot OR make you want to punch someone multiple times.
8. shit happens.
- cookies
photos were just found from google search
the thing with basketball fans is that they love to heckle and insult and curse and throw dirty fingers at the cagers playing against their favorite team/s, and they feel invincible while doing it since, after all, there's a barricade which divides the audience from the 10 guys on the court playing basketball.
but apparently, invincibility is just an illusion and basketball players are also members of the human race (therefore they also have boiling points and they watch boxing as well).
so what have we learned?
1. better be able to back yourself up.
2. don't sing it, bring it.
3. if you're gonna heckle from the sidelines, better be ready for things like this.
4. or don't heckle at all.
5. especially if it's against a team playing a tightly-contested game.
6. self-control is the key to life.
7. losing self-control can make you heckle a lot OR make you want to punch someone multiple times.
8. shit happens.
- cookies
photos were just found from google search
Saturday, October 17, 2009
STILL DROOLING...
...OVER THESE KICKS. ZOOM KOBE IV FINALS EDITION.
i promise to be a good boy if santa claus ever decides to drop me a pair.
photo from solemovement.com
- cookies
i promise to be a good boy if santa claus ever decides to drop me a pair.
photo from solemovement.com- cookies
Friday, October 16, 2009
The NBA Season is just around the corner
i thank the folks at 2K sports for releasing NBA 2K10 to keep me sane during the next week while desperately waiting for my dose of new NBA action. we here at airballmen (or what's left of the airball men) have tried to keep ourselves busy with schoolwork but it's just too tough to concentrate especially when the preseason is being televised, thus giving everybody a preview of what's to come.
i know it's a little too early for predictions, but since i'm as mediocre as one can get, i'll share you my thoughts anyway:
1. LAKERS = they were already a talented team when they won the championship last season, but now they're even more intimidating because of the addition of ron artest (intimidating because ron-ron's a great on-ball defender/stopper AND he's ron artest. 'nuff said.). if ron-ron can keep his cool (and control his lust for kobe, as shown below), if andrew bynum stays healthy and realizes he still needs kareem, if kobe keeps being kobe, i expect the lakers to at least make the conference finals. but of course, a fifth title is still very very possible for these guys. and maybe some ron artest music videos.
PREDICTION: 63-19 (if ron-ron decides to be a good boy) 63-19 (because kobe and phil won't tolerate naughty ron-ron)
nothing's gonna stop kobe and ron from doing more disturbing things than this in the lakers' locker room. it's good to be on top of the world, isn't it?
i know it's a little too early for predictions, but since i'm as mediocre as one can get, i'll share you my thoughts anyway:
1. LAKERS = they were already a talented team when they won the championship last season, but now they're even more intimidating because of the addition of ron artest (intimidating because ron-ron's a great on-ball defender/stopper AND he's ron artest. 'nuff said.). if ron-ron can keep his cool (and control his lust for kobe, as shown below), if andrew bynum stays healthy and realizes he still needs kareem, if kobe keeps being kobe, i expect the lakers to at least make the conference finals. but of course, a fifth title is still very very possible for these guys. and maybe some ron artest music videos.
PREDICTION: 63-19 (if ron-ron decides to be a good boy) 63-19 (because kobe and phil won't tolerate naughty ron-ron)
nothing's gonna stop kobe and ron from doing more disturbing things than this in the lakers' locker room. it's good to be on top of the world, isn't it?2. SPURS = old, busted, but still contending as always, the spurs are... well... the spurs. they've been competing for championships (and boring casual fans to death) for 175 years now and they keep replacing their old guys with relatively younger ones to keep their championship window open for at least 2 more years. their 2009-2010 team looks to me like it's capable of winning 55 or more games, and they could give the lakers the toughest competition out west.
PREDICTION: 58-24 (when healthy) 54-28 (when duncan's and ginobili's knees and parker's ankles decide to stage another coup d'etat against them)
we are gonna miss the free
kung-fu lessons by master bruce "lee" bowen.
PREDICTION: 58-24 (when healthy) 54-28 (when duncan's and ginobili's knees and parker's ankles decide to stage another coup d'etat against them)
we are gonna miss the freekung-fu lessons by master bruce "lee" bowen.
3. HEAT = d-wade is a beast. he was the reason the heat won 43 games last season and once again threw his name up there in the "who's the best right now" conversations alongside kobe and lebron. unfortunately, his miami heat haven't really done much in the offseason, instead waiting for the 2010 free agency free for all/royal rumble/power struggle to beef up their line-up. their only notable moves were signing carlos arroyo and quentin richardson. it could be another MVP season for dwyane wade but another 40-win season could be upon them. although i'm hoping tim grover's magic worked on jermaine o'neal at least for this season.
PREDICTION: 45-37 (healthy) 41-41 (if jermaine o'neal and michael beasley don't step up)
i still don't know why pat riley was allowed to sign a 12-year old schoolboy on his team.
PREDICTION: 45-37 (healthy) 41-41 (if jermaine o'neal and michael beasley don't step up)
i still don't know why pat riley was allowed to sign a 12-year old schoolboy on his team.- COOKIES
- photos from Droppin, Basketbawful, and NBA.com
- photos from Droppin, Basketbawful, and NBA.com
Friday, September 4, 2009
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