by Micah Hart
You may recall Chris Paul‘s son went viral back during the NBA Playoffs with his famous Blake Griffin impression.
Chris Jr. has become something of a celebrity ever since, and with his talents increasingly in demand, Papa Paul was required to teach his youngster his first lesson in economics — there is no such thing as a free lunch:
Get paid, young fella.
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by Micah Hart
I know everyone is all abuzz about Steve Nash‘s move from Phoenix to Los Angeles to join the Lakers, with most of the attention being focused on the impact it will have on the basketball court. Me? All I can think about it the opportunities it will provide for him off the court, where Nash has developed quite a little taste for making viral videos.
Here is his latest offering, a retelling of the Batman mythology (complete with over-the-top, Christian Bale-era voice huskiness), starring, directed, and written by Nash:
Nash found the time to make several hilarious shorts while in Phoenix, where the closest thing to a local celebrity is The Gorilla. Imagine what he can pull off now that he’ll be playing in Tinseltown?
Watch your back, Blake Griffin. Funny or Die may have a new NBA sheriff in town.
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by Micah Hart
What a shortened, yet still very long, strange trip it’s been. In a season that felt like we inhaled on Christmas Day, only to exhale roughly two hours ago, I’m already counting down the days until we start this whole thing over again in November.
But before we start dreaming of a fresh start, let’s pause for a few moments to remember some of the fun and funny we had over the course of the 2012 NBA Playoffs, which started somewhat slowly but picked up speed to the thrilling conclusion that was the Finals series between the victorious Heat and vanquished Thunder.
Here’s a look back at the 10 most amusing moments from the last seven weeks:
The Knicks had a lot of hype at one point in the NBA season, but it all began to fall apart starting with a rash of injuries to the likes of Jeremy Lin and Iman Shumpert. At least their injuries occurred on the court though. Amar’e Stoudemire made headlines when he punched a fire-extinguisher case after Game 2 of the Knicks’ first-round series against the Heat, causing a huge laceration and forcing the Knicks’ big man to miss the next game of an eventual 4-1 series defeat.
No one saw it happen, but I have to imagine it went something like this.
In case you forgot, a Spurs fan got this shaved into the back of his head:
For doing so, he got suspended from school, which seems bad, until the Internet found out about it and the Spurs ended up invited him to a playoff game. Miss school AND see playoff basketball? BEST WEEK EVA! By the way, a month later, the kid did it again.
His playoff run may not have lasted long (one game against Denver and five against OKC), but that doesn’t mean Metta World Peace didn’t have time to make lasting contributions, including doing the local weather in Vancouver, being in Vancouver in the first place because he’s filming a movie there based on a novel by Nancy Freaking Grace, and unveiling his new superhero alter ego Metta Man:
by Micah Hart
Blake Griffin‘s hops are so crazy, sometimes it seems like you are watching a video game. The enterprising sorts at SB Nation decided to take that sentiment to it’s logical conclusion:
Boom-shakalaka!
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by Micah Hart
Chris Paul is one of the best point guards in the NBA. I don’t know if his son will follow in his basketball footsteps though — he might be better suited for Saturday Night Live, because he does killer impressions, like this one of Blake Griffin during the postgame news conference after the Clippers’ thrilling win over the Grizzlies:
You’re in LA now, CP3, get that kid in a Groundlings class!
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by Zettler Clay
By the late morning, there will be all kinds of analysis and “best dunk(er) ever” debates over Blake Griffin’s evisceration of Pau Gasol. But there should also be room in that discourse over Gasol’s frontcourt mate Andrew Bynum’s reaction.
Captured by @jose3030:
Good to see a teammate sticking up for a fallen comrade there.
Ladies and gentlemen, presenting to you…The Bynum Face.
*Bonus – If TBF wasn’t enough, look no further than the stands. My man with his hands over his head and two ladies to the left of the basket with mouths agape is sufficient enough to let you know that, well, Griffin isn’t that bad of a dunker.
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by Micah Hart
As everyone knows by now, the compressed NBA schedule will force every team to play three games in three nights at least one this season (42 times in total). With only 66 games to stake a claim to a playoff spot or seed, how teams perform during these killer slates could have a large impact on how their seasons turn out.
With that in mind, we’re going to keep track of each of the 42 three-plays to see which teams take advantage and which teams fall apart. Up next, the L.A. Clippers, who played three straight from Mar. 20-22.
Some teams, when faced with the three-for-all challenge, choose to look big picture and not worry so much about the individual outcomes of such a difficult stretch of games. And by some teams, I mean the Dallas Mavericks.
The Clippers? Something tells me that will not be the case with them as they embarked on their second threeplay of the season. With rumors of unrest and discord swirling around them, how they performed over this span could end up shaking the team to its core:
Game 1: Pacers 102, Clippers 89 – A bad start for the Clips, but a loss to the Pacers isn’t the worst thing in the world. Blake Griffin had 23 points and 10 rebounds, but was 2-7 from the foul stripe. BG, you have got to work on your free-throw shooting dude. It pains me to dislike a single part of your game. -2 points
Game 2: Thunder 114, Clippers 91 - LA gave up 66 first-half points to Oklahoma City, which I’m not sure is a great recipe for success in this game. This was the first outing for Derek Fisher in a Thunder uniform after being unceremoniously dumped by the Lakers at the deadline. Maybe it wouldn’t have been such a big deal if he’d been ceremoniously dumped? -1 point
Game 3: Hornets 97, Clippers 90 - This one hurt. I don’t care if it was their third-in-three, you can’t let Chris Paul lose his first game back in New Orleans. Yeah this was the Super Bowl for New Orleans (Even Jason Smith played like a Saint — too soon?), but no amount of motivation should be enough to overcome the talent differential between these two squads. For shame, LAC, for shame. 0 points
Interestingly enough, there have now been four teams to go undefeated (Heat, Bulls, Thunder, Suns II), and four to go defeated, as the Clippers put up -3 points and join the lowly ranks of the Mavericks, Suns I, and Pistons in the winless column.
Nothing of note came out of the previous three teams putting up a bagel. Will that be the case for Vinny Del Negro and the Clippers?
Up next: The Bucks and Pacers both play three straight Mar. 22-24.
Three for all Top Ten:
– Miami Heat (15 points)
– Chicago Bulls (13 points)
– OKC Thunder (12 points)
– Phoenix Suns II (10 points)
– New Jersey Nets II (8 points)
– Atlanta Hawks (8 points)
– Houston Rockets (7 points)
– Portland Trail Blazers (6 points)
– L.A. Clippers (6 points)
– Philadelphia 76ers (6 points)
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by Micah Hart
Blake Griffin is like Conan O’Brien — he can’t stop. He’s going max effort after the ball all day every day, and if that means ending up in the seats, well, so be it:
I don’t think I’d ever get food if I were sitting courtside. Too much can go wrong. I gotta say though, the woman who absorbs the bulk of the collateral damage reacts infinitely better than I assumed she would.
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by Micah Hart
Blake Griffin is arguably the most exciting player in the NBA, and here at NBA.com we’ve shown you almost nothing but BG highlights since he first set foot on the floor for the Clippers. But if we are going to poke fun at guys like JaVale McGee and … well mostly JaVale, it feels like we have to show this as well.
I’m going to go on record and say that Blake may have several of the best dunks in NBA history, but this is also probably the worst pair of FTs of all time. See what I mean:
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that before in an NBA game. I have a feeling this week’s episode of Shaqtin’ a Fool will hit a little close to home for the Diesel.
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by Micah Hart
In case you were thinking the NBA, its fans and its media had become incapable of paying attention to anything other than Jeremy Lin and the New York Knicks, I hope All-Star Weekend put that notion to rest. Lin made an appearance Friday night in the BBVA Rising Stars Challenge, but that aside the weekend was mostly Lin free. I say that not to complain or to be smug — just to note that when Lin is not part of the storyline we all seemed capable of avoiding trying to shoehorn him into it.
Having said that … with all of our attention on Orlando, there were a few Lin-related items that slipped through the cracks, and now that we are back to regularly scheduled programming, here’s a rundown:
I think that about catches us up for now. At least for the next few hours.
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Catch up on every single game-winning buzzer beater during the season and see how it rates on the Horry Scale.
