LeBron in the Dunk Contest?

8.03.09 2:13 pm by Matt

During All-Star 2009, LeBron threatened to “clean up” the Dunk Contest. He hinted that if the rules were tightened up and he talked some fellow superstars into it, he’d participate.

Here’s the thing: sure, LeBron can jump high. REALLY high. But there’s just a limit to how high people can jump. Through the legs and a variant thereof is the go-to move in the finals every year, which leads to boredom, which led to a push toward creativity, costumes, and chicanery of all sorts.

Since LeBron and his superstar competitors can only repeat the through-the-legs so many times, I’m here to bring some ideas to the table for an All-Star filled Dunk Contest.
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Does Artest Make Sense for LA?

7.11.09 11:37 am by Pat

I’ve been following the NBA trades and free-agent signings as closely as I can and, needless to say, there have been some interesting moves.  I said that during this year’s playoffss there were a few legit teams against a handful of pseudo-contenders.  This upcoming season promises to be the opposite of that as several teams have made roster changes that put them in contention for the crown.  The teams everyone seems to be talking about are the Lakers, Celtics, Magic, Spurs, Cavaliers, Nuggets, and now Mavericks with the Shawn Marion acquisition.

The defending champions made the most publicized move of the offseason so far by acquiring Ron Artest and bringing some toughness and defensive tenacity to LA, while providing a scoring threat as well.  In the process, the Lakers lost Trevor Ariza in what essentially turned out to be an LA-Houston swap as these two players just traded teams.  Laker players are eager to sing the praises of the move and are declarining that another three peat is on the way.  Others, including most of the sports writers outside of Los Angeles, don’t know if it was the best option.  I tend to agree with the latter.  Artest is undoubtedly a better scorer and more physically intimidating player than Ariza.  He will help bring some much needed toughness to the Lakers and has years of relatively consistent production/performance in comparison to Ariza.  Ariza was heralded as a great three point shooter in the playoffs, which he was at 47%.  But he shot just 32% from deep during the regular season.  Which number is a better representation of where he will shoot this year?  I don’t know, but I’m leaning towards going with Artest on the offensive end.

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Refereeing 101

6.21.09 12:11 pm by Matt

Editor’s Note: Introducing yet another new writer to theSportsGeeks.com. Here’s Matt’s first post. There are a lot of video links on this one. Click them; its worth it.

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with the NBA. All pictures and videos are property of their respective copyright owners. Please don’t fine me for criticizing officials, Mr. Stern. I don’t have 25,000 dollars! I’m just joking! Really!

I recently visited NBA.com to settle an argument about the kickball rule. While on the site, I stumbled upon a link to “Ask Bernie [Director of Officiating].” I thought about how helpful it was that Bernie would answer questions from referees about some of the trickier rules, but to my surprise, the page was meant for fans!

But what about our dear officials? They certainly have questions too! As a true fan, I’m here to help out the NBA in any way I can. Here’s an FAQ for some of our referees’ biggest questions because clearly they need some help.

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Lakers-Magic: NBA Finals Preview

6.04.09 7:27 pm by Alex

Tonight we’ll see the first game of the 2009 NBA finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Orlando Magic. ESPN likes to point out that these cities both contain Disney theme parks, a form of subliminal advertising since ESPN is part of ABC, which is part of Disney.

Lets look at how these teams got here. Both teams won their conference finals series in 6 games, L.A. defeating Denver and Orlando taking care of  first-seeded Cleveland. It seems like Kobe and the Lake Show have been destined for the finals since day one but Orlando’s first finals appearance since the Shaq days is seen by most people as a surprise. There has been a lot of advertising about a possible Kobe-Lebron finals, but it was not meant to be. The Magic took care of the Cavaliers in 6 games despite an incredible performance from LeBron James.

Dwight Howard and friends were able to stop the one-man show from Akron, but this L.A. team is an entirely different animal. Kobe Bryant is one of the best - maybe the best - players in the league, and on top of that they have a talented roster that, unlike the Cavaliers, is capable of putting together a complete team effort (See Conference Finals Game 6. Five guys in double figures).

The key to this series will be the Lakers’ ability to defend Dwight Howard and the three-point shooters of Orlando. Cleveland frequently left Pietrus, Lewis, Alston and Turkoglu wide open while trying to double-team Howard, a strategy that didn’t work because the Cavaliers big men were unable to defend him, even with help. If the Lakers play up to their potential, they should be able to figure something out to slow them down. I’ll take Gasol, Bynum, and Odom over Ilgauskas and Varejao any day, and Phil Jackson’s track record as a coach is reason enough to think they’ll do a better job defending than Cleveland did.

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Kobe Doin’ Work Running Diary

5.17.09 9:06 am by Alex

Spike Lee’s new documentary “Kobe Doin’ Work”, premiered tonight on ESPN. If you missed it, they’ll be replaying it at least 5 times in the next week. I had to DVR it and was going to tweet my way through it, but I know its annoying when one person’s constant twittering consumes your feed, so I wrote them down here as I watched. Its Simmons-esque, except shorter and with links.

0:00 - Spike Lee stands on the Lakers’ court and tells us some background info. Basically, they filmed Kobe for about 3 hours, and thats it. I was hoping it was more of a day in the life of Kobe. This could be boring.

0:03 - Kobe and company run out on the court. I’m disappointed by the lack of pregame hijinks a la Lebron and Shaq.

0:05 - The camera on the ceiling is cool. They should utilize this more often during games for highlights and such.

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