On Sunday, February 21, 2016, the defending Eastern Conference Champions, the Cleveland Cavaliers, traveled to the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to take on the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Cavs came in with the third best record in the league only behind the defending Champion Golden State Warriors and the San Antonio Spurs. The Thunder, on the other hand, came into the game with the fourth best record in the league. This game was hyped by many due to the fact that it would pit arguably two of the best current players in the league against each other with both small forwards being absolute juggernauts in LeBron James and Kevin Durant. Both teams also had other stars on their teams with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love for the Cavs and Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka for the Thunder.
The game started off pretty evenly with the Thunder and Cavs battling back-and-forth throughout the whole first quarter. By the time the buzzer sounded after the first 12 minutes of play, the home team led the game 28-27 against the Cavs. However, the second quarter was drastically different, and also very disappointing and underwhelming for the home fans. The Cavaliers, led by Kevin Love, outscored the Thunder the 35-25 to take a 62-53 lead into the second half.
In the third quarter, the Cavs kept up their momentum outscoring the Thunder by 13 points to increase their lead even further to 22 points. The fans hoped for a huge final period from their team to pull off an incredible comeback, but the Thunder was unable to pull off the miracle, and ended up losing the game 92-115, the biggest loss of the season for them.
The two major stories in this game were the rebounding battle and the distribution of work. The Thunder, who are usually a great rebounding team, got out-rebounded by 10 by the Cavs in a lack of hustle. Also, while the Cavs distributed the points evenly throughout the roster, only the big three of the Thunder were able to score above double-digits. Their supporting players will need to work much harder if the Thunder have any hopes of winning an NBA Championship.
Sunday, February 21, 2016
Sunday, February 14, 2016
NBA All-Star Game
This Sunday, the 2016 All-Star Game took place. The All-Star Game pits the fan favorites of the NBA as well as the best overall players in the NBA against each other with players from the Eastern and Western Conference trying to show which conference overall reigns supreme. Overall in the series, the East has shown dominance winning 37 out of the 65 All-Star Games that have been played. However, the West has been the better conference since the start of the 21st Century winning 11 out of the 17 games that have been played.
This year, the All-Star Game was held in Toronto, and it was going to be a historic game as it would be future Hall-of-Famer Kobe Bryant's last All-Star Game of his career as he will be retiring following the conclusion of this season.
The game started off with an interesting tip-off between Kobe Bryant and LeBron James due to the fact that there were no power forwards or centers voted in as starters for both teams. Throughout the first quarter, the players basically played no defense whatsoever as all the players just tried putting on a show for the fans with incredible dunks and alley-oops or three pointers that were out of the range of most NBA players. At the end of the first period, the East led the game 43-40.
The second quarter showed much of the same, as the defensive efforts of both teams were at a minimal. The teams went back and forth with scoring as the West put up 52 points in the quarter compared to the East's 47. Going into the half, the score was an absurd 92-90 in favor of the Western Conference.
As usual, the defense started to pick up a little during the second half, but not nearly as much as it could have. Going into the fourth and final quarter, the West held a 145-136 lead against the Eastern Conference.
In the final quarter, the West asserted its dominance once again finishing the game with a 51-point quarter and holding the East to "only" 37 points. At the end of the game, for the second year in a row, Russell Westbrook won MVP with 31 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 steals.
This year, the All-Star Game was held in Toronto, and it was going to be a historic game as it would be future Hall-of-Famer Kobe Bryant's last All-Star Game of his career as he will be retiring following the conclusion of this season.
The game started off with an interesting tip-off between Kobe Bryant and LeBron James due to the fact that there were no power forwards or centers voted in as starters for both teams. Throughout the first quarter, the players basically played no defense whatsoever as all the players just tried putting on a show for the fans with incredible dunks and alley-oops or three pointers that were out of the range of most NBA players. At the end of the first period, the East led the game 43-40.
The second quarter showed much of the same, as the defensive efforts of both teams were at a minimal. The teams went back and forth with scoring as the West put up 52 points in the quarter compared to the East's 47. Going into the half, the score was an absurd 92-90 in favor of the Western Conference.
As usual, the defense started to pick up a little during the second half, but not nearly as much as it could have. Going into the fourth and final quarter, the West held a 145-136 lead against the Eastern Conference.
In the final quarter, the West asserted its dominance once again finishing the game with a 51-point quarter and holding the East to "only" 37 points. At the end of the game, for the second year in a row, Russell Westbrook won MVP with 31 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 steals.
Saturday All-Star Events In Toronto
This past weekend, the NBA held its All-Star Weekend in
Toronto halfway through the 2015-2016 NBA season. The All-Star Weekend has
three days worth of events featuring the best players all throughout the
league. On Friday, the All-Star Celebrity game is played pitting a mixture of
celebrities, former NBA Stars, and WNBA Stars against each other. After that,
the NBA Rising Stars Challenge takes place in which first and second-year
players that have made a name for themselves show off their skills and
potential. On Sunday, the All-Star game is played where the best players all
throughout the league participate in a fun exhibition game. However, the day
that many people throughout the world most look forward to is Saturday. On
Saturday, the competitions take place for players to show off their individual
specialties. The three competitions of the day are the Skills Challenge, the
Three Point Competition, and the Dunk Contest.
The first event of the night was the NBA Skills Challenge, in
which players would compete in a race that involved dribbling, passing, making
layups and/or dunks, and culminating with a three point basket. This skills
competition had a little bit of a twist this year though. Usually, the only
players who would compete in this challenge were guards, however this year, the
guards of the NBA would be competing against the centers and power forwards of
the NBA. There were eight participants in the challenge with four guards and
four big men. The competition was set up in a bracket formation where a player
would have to defeat two of their fellow athletes to advance to the finals. For
the guards, the competitors were Jordan Clarkson, CJ McCollum, Isaiah Thomas,
and Emmanuel Mudiay. For the big men, the players were Draymond Green,
Karl-Anthony Towns, Anthony Davis, and DeMarcus Cousins. In the first round,
McCollum beat Clarkson to advance to the semifinals, Thomas defeated Mudiay,
Towns bested Green, and DeMarcus Cousins eliminated Anthony Davis. The
semifinal round saw Towns defeat Cousins and Thomas taking down McCollum to set
up the big man vs. the guard showdown to see if the taller players in the
league were just as technically sound as the little guys. In the final round,
Towns and Thomas were neck and neck with Towns actually reaching the final
obstacle sooner. In the final seconds, the two were engaged in a three-point shootout
for the win with Towns eventually putting in the basket and pulling off the
major upset.
The second contest of the night was the Three Point
Competition where some of the best three point shooters throughout the league
could see who was really the best shot. Eight participants compete in the first
round and take twenty-five shots with each being worth one point, and nine of
the shots being money-ball shots being worth two for a possible total of 34
points. The top three highest scores advance to the second round where the best
score wins the championship. In the first round, Klay Thompson, Devin Booker,
and Stephen Curry advanced after putting up unbelievable first round scores. In
the championship round, Thompson bested his "Splash-Brother" with 27
points, the exact same score that Curry received when he beat out Thompson the
previous year.
The final competition of the night was the Dunk Contest.
This year's dunk contest was one of, if not the best dunk contests ever
according to many of the people watching. The participants for the Dunk Contest
were Will Barton, of the Denver Nuggets, Andre Drummond, from the Detroit
Pistons, Aaron Gordon, of the Orlando Magic, and the Defending Champion from
the Minnesota Timberwolves Zach LaVine. The first round was typical for the
Dunk Contest, with each participant pulling off entertaining dunks, but none
that really made the crowd explode. However, by the end of the round, it was
clear that two of the participants had really come prepared with amazing dunks for
the final round: Aaron Gordon and, of course, Zach LaVine. In the final round,
the two participants pulled off incredible dunks, and for the first time in the
history of the contest, the two combined to get six straight scores of 50 in a
row. To get these scores, the two both did similar dunks, however, each dunk
became more impressive than the last with LaVine making free throw line dunks
and Gordon continuously jumping over his mascot for his dunks. Ultimately,
LaVine capped off the contest by making a between-the-legs free-throw line dunk
for the win, ending one of the best dunk contests ever.Back-And-Forth Big Ten Race
Throughout the past few weeks, three teams have been playing a game of tug-of-war for the Big Ten Championship: the Maryland Terrapins, the Indiana Hoosiers, and the Iowa Hawkeyes. These three teams have had remarkable seasons thus far, and each team has incredible players, that could potentially lead them to an outright Big Ten Championship.
Currently, the Iowa Hawkeyes have the lead in the Big Ten with a conference record of 11-2. They are one game ahead of both the Maryland Terrapins and the Indiana Hoosiers who both only have a conference record of 10-3. However, both Maryland and Indiana have beaten the Iowa Hawkeyes on their own floors so they both hold the tiebreaker over the Hawkeyes. Luckily for Maryland, they only had to play the Hawkeyes once this year, and it was a home game, so if Iowa and Maryland finish at the top by the end of the season, the Terrapins will automatically win the Championship due to the tiebreaker. However, the Hoosiers in Indiana are not so lucky. On March 1, the Hoosiers will have to travel to Carver-Hawkeye Arena where Iowa will have their chance to even the series. Each of the three teams who have a decent shot at the Big Ten Title have five remaining games with a varying range of difficulty regarding the opponents they will face.
Indiana has arguably the hardest path to win the Big Ten Championship. They start off with a fairly easy home game against Nebraska that will most likely be a confidence booster game for them. Next, they host the Purdue Boilermakers, who definitely have a shot at handing them another loss. After that, they head over to face a pretty bad Illinois team who sit at the bottom half of the conference. This schedule does not seem too difficult yet, but they play the two best teams in the Big Ten to finish off their season. On March 1, as stated above, the Hoosiers will have to travel to Iowa City to take on the Hawkeyes, and then, just five days later, they will play their final regular season game against the Maryland Terrapins.
Maryland's path to Big Ten Championship is considerably less difficult than that of Indiana's, however, the Hawkeyes schedule is about the same range of difficulty. In order to win, they will need the Hawks to stumble somewhere during their five remaining games. After a loss to Wisconsin, the Terrapins will look to rebound against a bad Golden Gophers team in Minnesota. Next, they will have to face the Michigan Wolverines, who defeated them earlier this year in Ann Arbor. Then, they travel to face Purdue on the road. After that, they play an easy game at home against Wisconsin, and then they finally finish their season in Indiana against the Hoosiers.
The Hawkeyes, as I mentioned before, have a similar strength of remaining schedule as the Terrapins. First, they travel to Penn State to take on the Nittany Lions. Then they will host a Wisconsinteam that has bested both of their two foes in the Big Ten Race. This will be a must-win game for the Hawkeyes who cannot afford a misstep to close out the season. Following that game, they will travel to face a Buckeye team that has the same conference record as the Boilermakers. Finally, they will finish off their season at home against Indiana, and then on the road against Michigan.
Currently, the Iowa Hawkeyes have the lead in the Big Ten with a conference record of 11-2. They are one game ahead of both the Maryland Terrapins and the Indiana Hoosiers who both only have a conference record of 10-3. However, both Maryland and Indiana have beaten the Iowa Hawkeyes on their own floors so they both hold the tiebreaker over the Hawkeyes. Luckily for Maryland, they only had to play the Hawkeyes once this year, and it was a home game, so if Iowa and Maryland finish at the top by the end of the season, the Terrapins will automatically win the Championship due to the tiebreaker. However, the Hoosiers in Indiana are not so lucky. On March 1, the Hoosiers will have to travel to Carver-Hawkeye Arena where Iowa will have their chance to even the series. Each of the three teams who have a decent shot at the Big Ten Title have five remaining games with a varying range of difficulty regarding the opponents they will face.
Indiana has arguably the hardest path to win the Big Ten Championship. They start off with a fairly easy home game against Nebraska that will most likely be a confidence booster game for them. Next, they host the Purdue Boilermakers, who definitely have a shot at handing them another loss. After that, they head over to face a pretty bad Illinois team who sit at the bottom half of the conference. This schedule does not seem too difficult yet, but they play the two best teams in the Big Ten to finish off their season. On March 1, as stated above, the Hoosiers will have to travel to Iowa City to take on the Hawkeyes, and then, just five days later, they will play their final regular season game against the Maryland Terrapins.
Maryland's path to Big Ten Championship is considerably less difficult than that of Indiana's, however, the Hawkeyes schedule is about the same range of difficulty. In order to win, they will need the Hawks to stumble somewhere during their five remaining games. After a loss to Wisconsin, the Terrapins will look to rebound against a bad Golden Gophers team in Minnesota. Next, they will have to face the Michigan Wolverines, who defeated them earlier this year in Ann Arbor. Then, they travel to face Purdue on the road. After that, they play an easy game at home against Wisconsin, and then they finally finish their season in Indiana against the Hoosiers.
The Hawkeyes, as I mentioned before, have a similar strength of remaining schedule as the Terrapins. First, they travel to Penn State to take on the Nittany Lions. Then they will host a Wisconsinteam that has bested both of their two foes in the Big Ten Race. This will be a must-win game for the Hawkeyes who cannot afford a misstep to close out the season. Following that game, they will travel to face a Buckeye team that has the same conference record as the Boilermakers. Finally, they will finish off their season at home against Indiana, and then on the road against Michigan.
Sunday, February 7, 2016
Troublesome Week For Top Ten
This past week has been a struggle for a few of the top ten ranked teams in the NCAA Men's Basketball League. Number 8 Texas A&M has lost twice since the last rankings were posted as did Number 2 North Carolina. Yesterday also marks the second time Oklahoma lost while they were ranked Number One, and they will likely be replaced by the time the next rankings are released.
Iowa Knocks Off Illinois
On Sunday, February 7, 2016, the Iowa Hawkeyes traveled to Illinois to take on the Fighting Illini. The Hawkeyes, who were ranked 5th in the AP Top 25 poll and 7th in the USA Today Coaches' poll ended up winning the game 77-65.
Outstanding performers include Peter Jok who scored 23 points for the Hawkeyes, Jarrod Uthoff who had 18 points, and Adam Woodbury who added 10 points and 14 boards.
This win puts Iowa in first place in the Big Ten race after Indiana failed to finish the job against Penn State.
Outstanding performers include Peter Jok who scored 23 points for the Hawkeyes, Jarrod Uthoff who had 18 points, and Adam Woodbury who added 10 points and 14 boards.
This win puts Iowa in first place in the Big Ten race after Indiana failed to finish the job against Penn State.
Friday, February 5, 2016
The Oklahoma City Thunder
While there are many great sports all throughout the world, my favorite has always been the amazing sport known as basketball. Ever since I was a kid, basketball has always been a major part of my life. Whether it be watching basketball at a Hawkeye game, playing basketball with my friends, or even just playing a basketball video game, basketball has just always been something I enjoyed. Because of this, it is natural that one of my favorite things to watch on television is the NBA. While I also enjoy watching NFL games on TV, or other sports, basketball has always been the sport I was most excited to watch, and one of my absolute favorite teams to watch in the NBA has to be the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Growing up, my dad was always a huge San Antonio Spurs fan. He remembered the good old days back when David Robinson was still in his prime and when Tim Duncan had just entered the league out of Wake Forest. Because of this, my dad had basically programmed me to like the Spurs. For a while they were the only team in the NBA I cared about. However, as time passed and as the Spurs got older, I began to start watching some of the younger, and in my opinion, more exciting teams throughout the league. One of those teams happened to be the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The first time I really started watch the Oklahoma City Thunder was during the 2010-2011 NBA Playoffs. As I usually do, I tried watching every playoff game that I could, but I understood that some were much more exciting than others. Because of this, I did not watch much of the Thunder's first round in the playoffs where they defeated the Denver Nuggets four games to one in the best-of-seven series. However, I did pay attention in their next series against the Memphis Grizzlies who had just upset, to the dismay of my father and I, the San Antonio Spurs. Back then I was only 11 years old, so I was really upset that the team that I thought was my favorite lost, so naturally, I rooted heavily for the Oklahoma City Thunder, wanting them to absolutely demolish the Grizzlies.
In the first game, the Grizzlies upset the Thunder at Oklahoma City, and I became very doubtful that this team would beat the team that took down the Spurs, but I still tried to remain optimistic. In the second game, the Thunder struck back with a win, and a little glimmer of hope began to awaken inside of me. I started to really appreciate this team that I had never payed an attention to in the past. They had a great roster with Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant along with Serge Ibaka and James Harden. Little did I know that all four of these players would absolutely explode to become amazing basketball players in the years to come. They were also very exciting to watch, with Russell Westbrook's explosiveness and Kevin Durant's unbelievable shooting range. Serge Ibaka was also very exciting because he was a hustle player who could always come up with a huge block when he was needed and James Harden could always provide a much-needed spark coming off the bench. As the series between the Grizzlies and the Thunder progressed, the teams went back-and-forth with each game more exciting than the next. One of the games even went to a triple-overtime with the Thunder eventually winning after a monstrous 40-point performance by Westbrook. Eventually, the series came down to game seven, which would be played at Oklahoma City. After a triple-double by Russell Westbrook and an incredible 39-point barrage by Kevin Durant, the Thunder came up with the W and advanced for the first time since their move to Oklahoma City to the NBA Western Conference Championships. Unfortunately, they lost to a very talented Dallas Mavericks team who went on to defeat the Miami Heat for the NBA Finals Championship.
When the next season began, the Thunder became the team I had the highest priority for in terms of who I wanted to watch. As the season went on, I began to realize that although my dad had raised me to be a San Antonio Spurs fan, the Thunder were my knew favorite team. That season, the Thunder went all the way to the Finals after beating my dad's favorite and my former favorite team, the Spurs to play against the Miami Heat. Unfortunately, they lost in the Finals after five games, but I knew the team still had more potential and the years to come would be great.
I was very upset, however, during the off-season to learn that James Harden had chosen not to re-sign with the Thunder and instead sign with the Houston Rockets. I understood his decision, though, because former head coach Scott Brooks refused to play him in the starting five, wishing him to stay as a sixth man coming off the bench. Harden, believing he had much more potential instead chose to move to Houston where he would play as the star player and always have the ball in his hands during the last seconds of the game.
This transaction proved to be very crucial in Oklahoma City's next season. The Thunder did have a great run that season, finishing the regular season as the top seed in the Western Conference. However, the eighth-seeded team that they went up against happened to be the team that now had their former third-best player, James Harden. The Thunder ultimately went on to win that series 4-2, but it came at a cost. During the second game of the series, Russell Westbrook, who had never missed an NBA game in his entire career, was injured during a play for a loose ball, and was declared out for the rest of the season after a knee surgery. Without James Harden, and now without Westbrook, Kevin Durant was unable to carry his team past the second round where they lost against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Over the next few seasons, the Thunder began to grow as a team and adjust without Harden. Durant was able to win MVP for the first time the following season, and the season after that, Russell Westbrook became tremendously better getting a whole lot of triple-doubles. Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant are one of the many reasons I like the Oklahoma City Thunder. I think they have a great roster with, in my opinion, two of the most talented players in the NBA, and I think if they can develop a good bench, they can once again be a top contender for the NBA Finals. I also just really enjoy the traditions at OKC such as the fact that at every home game in the Chesapeake Energy Arena, all the fans remain on their feet until a Thunder player has scored a basket. The team colors are also a reason I like the Thunder as I think Blue, Orange, and White go really well together. The Thunder are just, in my opinion, an incredibly excellent and exciting team, and I will continue to root for them for a long time.
This transaction proved to be very crucial in Oklahoma City's next season. The Thunder did have a great run that season, finishing the regular season as the top seed in the Western Conference. However, the eighth-seeded team that they went up against happened to be the team that now had their former third-best player, James Harden. The Thunder ultimately went on to win that series 4-2, but it came at a cost. During the second game of the series, Russell Westbrook, who had never missed an NBA game in his entire career, was injured during a play for a loose ball, and was declared out for the rest of the season after a knee surgery. Without James Harden, and now without Westbrook, Kevin Durant was unable to carry his team past the second round where they lost against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Over the next few seasons, the Thunder began to grow as a team and adjust without Harden. Durant was able to win MVP for the first time the following season, and the season after that, Russell Westbrook became tremendously better getting a whole lot of triple-doubles. Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant are one of the many reasons I like the Oklahoma City Thunder. I think they have a great roster with, in my opinion, two of the most talented players in the NBA, and I think if they can develop a good bench, they can once again be a top contender for the NBA Finals. I also just really enjoy the traditions at OKC such as the fact that at every home game in the Chesapeake Energy Arena, all the fans remain on their feet until a Thunder player has scored a basket. The team colors are also a reason I like the Thunder as I think Blue, Orange, and White go really well together. The Thunder are just, in my opinion, an incredibly excellent and exciting team, and I will continue to root for them for a long time.
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