ALL BALL NERVE CENTER — Denver’s Nate Robinson is out for the season while recovering from surgery on his ACL, but he has kept his social media game tight. Yesterday, Nate posted this video of his usual pregame dancing routine, set to Deion Sanders‘ classic hip-hop anthem “Must Be The Money.” (I’m not the only person who immediately recognized that as Prime Time’s song, am I?)
ALL BALL NERVE CENTER — Denver guard Nate Robinson may be short for an NBA player — or “pint-sized,” as he’s referred to in this new ad for Taco Bell — but being small doesn’t seem to have made his appetite any less potent. Anyway, in this new ad, Nate eats one of these big steak tacos in the locker room while wearing warmups, suggesting they might be in a pregame situation. I guess the Taco Bell people didn’t check with Nuggets coach Brian Shaw…
VIDEO: Nate Eats Tacos
ALL BALL NERVE CENTER — Look, we’ve heard since we were kids that there’s nothing more dangerous than running with your shoes untied. So it’s understandable that when Milwaukee guard O.J. Mayo‘s shoelace became untied during last night’s Bucks/Nuggets game, he needed to get it re-tied as quickly as possible. But deciding to re-tie the shoe during the middle of a defensive possession, while play was going on all around him, seemed to be a curious choice. Luckily Mayo’s man wasn’t involved with the play.
Wait, anyone seen J.R. Smith?
VIDEO: Mayo Ties Shoe
ALL BALL NERVE CENTER — If there’s one thing I’ve learned from attending a dozen All-Star Weekends, it’s that at its core, All-Star Weekend is about the fans. The fans actually select the starting line-ups, and fans travel from near and far to hit up Jam Session and All-Star Saturday Night and the Rising Stars Challenge and, of course, all the parties.
In some broader sense, the All-Star Game is about recognizing the best players from each conference. Sure, there are a couple of rim-rattling dunks and the occasional long-range shot that falls. And if you’re lucky, really lucky, the game is close down the stretch, and then everyone’s competitive juices kick in and you might just get a memorable finale. The main purposes of most participants in the actual All-Star Game? They wear funky uniforms, get a little run in, hang out with their buddies, and then they go back to their own teams for the stretch run and the Playoffs.
But that’s not why I’m watching the All-Star Game. And I think most people tuning in or even attending All-Star are looking to have a similar question answered: Are we not entertained? No matter what the Fun Police tell you, at All-Star weekend, nobody is looking at efficiency stats or plus/minus ratings. We want to see Shaq playing point guard. We want to see Gilbert Arenas joining the Elvis impersonators and dunking off of a trampoline. Simply put: We want the All-Star Game — and the entire weekend, really — to be fun.
So you can argue all you want about who does and who doesn’t deserve to be named to the actual Eastern and Western Conference All-Star teams. Instead, I present to you my annual YOLO All-Stars. (If you didn’t know, YOLO is an acronym for You Only Live Once.) These are the guys who deserve to be All-Stars based on my own vague All Ball Blog criteria. I considered all of the following elements: hilarity; social media proficiency; general swag; likelihood the player will do something memorable; dunking/dribbling/shooting ability; previous Shaqtin’ A Fool appearances; mentions on the All Ball Blog.
To be clear, those categories are listed in no particular order, with no importance or weight to any given specific category. These are just the players I think it would be fun to see in an All-Star Game. If we want to be entertained, these are the players that will give it to us. Meet your 2013-14 NBA YOLO All-Stars…
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Starters
C – Roy Hibbert, Indiana Pacers — Always a blast on Twitter, and a man who appreciates good humor.
F – Chris Bosh, Miami Heat — Will be in charge of all videobombing.
F – LeBron James, Miami Heat — Not only is he a force on Twitter, which is good enough to qualify for the YOLO All-Stars, but he’s also the reigning MVP, so that wins him an invite.
G – J.R. Smith, New York Knicks — In the YOLO All-Star Game, untying shoes will be encouraged.
G – Kyrie Irving, Cleveland Cavaliers — UNCLE DREW!
Bench
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks — The Greek Freak is perhaps the most unconventional athlete in the league, so you never know what he’s going to pull off next. He also loves smoothies, and with the All-Star Game being played in the newly-named Smoothie King Center, what could be more perfect?
Amir Johnson, Toronto Raptors — One of my favorites on social media.
Andray Blatche, Brooklyn Nets — Eurostep!
Andre Drummond, Detroit Pistons — Will be in charge of Vine videos throughout the weekend.
Metta World Peace, New York Knicks — Still the best.
Lance Stephenson, Indiana Pacers — He may not have made the actual All-Star Game, but I can’t knock his hustle. Besides, he dunked on a ref, which is awesome.
Kevin Seraphin, Washington Wizards — Anyone with a pet snake named Snakey and a skeleton that rides a Segway is a lifetime YOLO All-Star.
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Starters
C – Robin Lopez, Portland Trail Blazers — He’s a nerd and he’s proud of it.
F – Kevin Love, Minnesota Timberwolves — We’ll have him making coffee for everyone.
F – Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City Thunder — If LeBron is on the East, we might as well put KD on the West.
G – Jamal Crawford, Los Angeles Clippers — My favorite dribbler in the NBA.
G – James Harden, Houston Rockets — The beard is fun on its own, but Harden’s also made a heavy push into social media the last few years. Maybe he can perform at halftime.
Bench
Nick Young, Los Angeles Lakers — You can’t have a YOLO game without Swaggy P.
Damian Lillard, Portland Trailblazers — Founder of #4BarFriday.
Tony Allen, Memphis Grizzlies — Perhaps my favorite NBA player to challenge his team owner to a game of one-on-one.
Matt Bonner, San Antonio Spurs — Broken nose and all, Bonner is always entertaining.
Harrison Barnes, Golden State Warriors — Always a candidate to dunk on someone. Or to review an episode of “Breaking Bad.”
DeMarcus Cousins, Sacramento Kings — Hard not to select someone who’s nickname is “Boogie.”
JaVale McGee, Denver Nuggets (Injured) — Really the perfect player for this game.
Nate Robinson, Denver Nuggets (Injured) — Go long, Nate will throw you the pineapple.
So there’s my YOLO All-Stars. Who would you put on your YOLO All-Star team? Let us know below in the comments!
ALL BALL NERVE CENTER — If you’re into the NBA’s most devastating dunks, we’ve got you covered over at the new-and-improved Dunk HQ. But because we’re the All Ball blog and we like to look at the NBA from non-traditional angles, we will focus on the flip side of the NBA’s best dunks: What we want to know is, who got got?
So welcome to Volume Three of The All Ball Posterized Poll. We will check in from time to time and examine the worst of the best, and use a highly scientific polling method to determine which NBA player got dunked on (a.k.a. posterized) the most egregiously. And at the end of the season all of our winners will battle it out to determine who it is that most belongs on a poster.
The winner of Volume One was New Orleans’ Jeff Withey, who was placed on a poster by Lakers’ wingman Xavier Henry, his college teammate. The winner of Volume Two was Atlanta’s Al Horford, who was posterized by Victor Oladipo.
But can anyone top Withey? We have five brand new nominees. We checked in with NBA.com’s own slam dunk specialist, LeMont Calloway, for his informed perspective on the matter. “What I’ll say most about these defenders is that at least they’re trying to show help-side D,” LeMont notes. “There’s a defender or two around the league who wouldn’t even dare, let alone probably couldn’t even make the proper rotation. (Calling you out Boozer!) But, it’s like Bill Walton used to say: What are big men doing trying to take charges anyway?”
Now, to the latest nominees …
1. Terrence Ross on Kenneth Faried
LeMont’s Take: “Not only does this one have all the qualities needed to make it a great posterizer (elevating over a jumping, contesting defender, finishing tough), but the still shot of the play makes for an amazing visual. From Faried’s honest attempt at defending to Ross’ acrobatic cock-back wind-up, you have to appreciate both players’ intensity.”
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VIDEO: Ross on Faried
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2. Kevin Martin on Tayshaun Prince
LeMont’s Take: “No shots fired, but has Kevin Martin ever had a play like this in the NBA? Wanna know what sticks out to me the most about this banger? It’s the fact that Martin’s swagged-out slow walk after the dunk suggests that Kevin Martin posterizers, like a LeBron jam, for instance, are household plays. It’s like Martin is saying, ‘This is what I do.’ Love it!”
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VIDEO: Martin on Prince
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3. Taj Gibson on Bismack Biyombo
LeMont’s Take: “Bulls announcer Stacey King knows a poster when he sees it. And if there’s one Bull who has a pretty good resume of big facials, it’s Taj Gibson (ask Nikola Vucevic or a 2011 D-Wade about their Gibson experiences). Game film is key in this game, and if Bismack Biyombo was paying any attention, he’d know that Gibson usually means serious two-handed business at the rim.”
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VIDEO: Gibson on Biyombo
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4. Anthony Davis on Big Baby
LeMont’s Take: “I feel pretty confident calling it right now: Anthony Davis may turn out to be one of the best big man to utilize the pick and roll. A lot of his dunks and alley-oops this season have come in this manner, and he’s only going to keep learning and getting better at it. It just so happens that his play-cousin Glen Davis is part of the education.”
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VIDEO: Davis on Davis
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5. Lance Stephenson on referee Ed Malloy
LeMont’s Take: “No man is safe from getting dunked on. Not kids on Nerf hoops, not unsuspecting rookies, not even referees. How many people can say they dunked on an official and got away with it? Lance Stephenson can, and he’s probably the envy of many a player in the NBA. (I’m sure there are plenty of guys who’d love to dunk one on Joey Crawford.) The Pacers’ spark plug may be ticked off that he didn’t make the All-Star team, but hopefully he was able to unleash some of that anger here, even if it was at the expense of a ref.”
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VIDEO: Stephenson on Ref
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Now we need your vote! Who got dunked on the worst?
VIDEO: Foye Makes It Fun
ALL BALL NERVE CENTER — It’s late here on the East Coast, but I started watching the Nuggets/Clippers game in the second half and had this vague idea that maybe, just maybe, this thing could come down to a game-winning buzzer-beater. And that’s why we’re here, right? But no, that probably wasn’t going to happen. Still, I kept watching, and kept watching…and then Randy Foye happened.
Before we get too far into this, we should stop and explain why we’re here: What is the Horry Scale? For those who are new around these parts, the Horry Scale examines a game-winning buzzer-beater (GWBB) in the categories of difficulty, game situation (was the team tied or behind at the time?), importance (playoff game or garden-variety Kings-Pistons game?) and celebration (is it over the top or too chill? Just the right panache or needs more sauce?). Then we give it an overall grade on a scale of 1-5 Robert Horrys, the patron saint of last-second daggers.
OK, so you understand? For your edification, this is the thirteenth GWBB this season, an incredible pace. Can we keep it up? We’re gonna try. In the meantime, let’s break this shot down…
DIFFICULTY
It was a difficult shot, but that was almost completely of the Nuggets’ making. Down 2 points, with just over six seconds to play, the Nuggets ran an inbounds play that didn’t really seem to put them in a situation to succeed. They threw the ball in to Kenneth Faried just inside the three point line. Faried then turned and tossed it to J.J. Hickson, who was even further away from the basket. What are they doing?! With just over 2 seconds left, Hickson found Foye, cutting toward the top of the key on the right side of the court. Foye caught it, well covered by Jamal Crawford. Foye used Hickson as a quasi-pick, and Blake Griffin switched onto Foye. With the clock ticking down, Foye forced up a long, contested three, from four or five feet behind the line, and he drained the shot. It wasn’t much of a play — the shot was born out of necessity more than anything. But Foye drilled it, which is why we’re here.
GAME SITUATION
It had been a back-and-forth game down the stretch, with both teams fighting to grab the lead. Just moments earlier, the Nuggets were sitting on a two point lead, when the Clips got the ball to J.J. Redick. When the defense ran out on Redick, he half-heartedly drove the lane and eventually kicked it out to an open Matt Barnes on the wing, who drained the three to give the Clips a (temporary) 115-113 lead. Denver got the ball back with 6 seconds to play, with a chance to go for two to tie or three to win. They went for three, although again it seemed to be almost an accidental play. Whenever your play-by-play announcer has time to nervously say “Too much time!” twice, that probably wasn’t the play you were going for. But then, it worked, didn’t it?
CELEBRATION
It’s tough to see well in the clip above, but Foye hit the deck when the shot went in, and moments later, several other Nuggets (Hickson and Faried) hit the court and slid into Foye as if he were a base on a baseball diamond. Then the Nuggets performed several group hugs as they all left the floor. Overall, it was a fairly excited celebration, which was fun to see.
GRADE
It was a tough shot — fading left and shooting right. Although, again, this was mostly Denver’s own doing. It wasn’t much of a play, wasn’t much strategy involved. I’d give this two Horrys, except that it was a really, really long three, and I enjoyed the celebration. So I’m giving this three Horrys….
What say you? How many Horrys would you give Randy Foye’s GWBB?
ALL BALL NERVE CENTER — Denver Nuggets guard Nate Robinson is a native of Seattle, and a huge football fan — he actually played football in college at University of Washington. He is also a vocal and avid fan of the Seattle Seahawks. Which means the last week or so may have been a bit awkward, as Robinson’s Seahawks prepare to play in the Super Bowl this weekend against the Denver Broncos. Still, Robinson can’t go against his hometown team, as he recently explained to the Denver Post…
“Even though I’m with the Nuggets, I can’t go against the grain. I’m going with Seattle… Pete [Carroll] recruited me when he was the head coach at USC, and I actually gave him a verbal (commitment),” Robinson said. “I’ve been to a couple of practices this past summer, and Coach Carroll said that he’ll have me hoist the ’12th Man’ flag next season.”
If there was any question where Nate’s loyalties lie, Nate and his friends filmed a couple of Instagram videos that serve as an unofficial Super Bowl preview. These videos represent what Nate thinks Seattle’s defense (and New York’s weather) will make life like for Denver QB Peyton Manning. Also, these videos represent what life would be like if Peyton Manning was somehow forced to use a pineapple instead of a football…
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(via TNLP)
ALL BALL NERVE CENTER — A few weeks back, we noted that since Denver coach Brian Shaw banned junk food from the Nuggets’ locker room, the Nuggets had gone into a tailspin. Of course, since that post they’ve gone 6-3 and apparently turned things around. There is no official word on whether the junk food ban has been lifted or not, but judging from the recent culinary focus of some of the Nuggets’ social media accounts, it seems food remains on their minds.
JaVale McGee, for instance, recently celebrated a birthday, and at his party he was presented with a birthday cake. But not just any cake — this one has a mustache on the side, as well as a jug of water, since we all know Javale is about that #juglife.
And then going one further, at least when it comes to using food as a personification device, is Nate Robinson, who got a pizza with his face on it. Amazing …
Look familiar? Thanks to my @pepsi and @pizzahut folks for the delicious pie! #StateOfNate http://t.co/pSTkMiwpcz—
Nate Robinson (@nate_robinson) January 19, 2014
(via TNLP)
ALL BALL NERVE CENTER — With All-Star voting drawing to a close, teams are trying harder than ever to get out the votes for their players. Just last week we saw the Wolves release a Kevin Love promo video, and now the Nuggets are trying to get Ty Lawson some last-minute support.
The new Nuggets’ video lives over on Facebook, plays off of ESPN’s “This is SportsCenter” campaign, and makes the point that the speedy Lawson is a pretty handy guy to have around the office.
(Except, apparently, on movie nights.)
It hasn’t been the easiest time for the Denver Nuggets. Injuries to Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, JaVale McGee, an eight-game losing streak and a bizarre Andre Miller-Brian Shaw feud has rendered their season’s course rocky.
But one constant has been the Manimal, the dreadlocked warrior born by the name of Kenneth Faried. Is he an offensive juggernaut? Uh-uh. Does he make the occasional boneheaded play? Uh-huh. It doesn’t matter…because he gives you one thing that negates any of his negatives.
He gives you highlights. On Thursday night, the Thunder came into town and the Nuggets thoroughly dismissed them. But as the saying goes, you can’t make an omelet without cracking some eggs and Oklahoma City broke a few on Faried:
VIDEO: Kevin Durant puts Kenneth Faried on skates
Then later on, Reggie Jackson executed a nifty/powerful/stealth Euro-dunk in his grill:
VIDEO: Kenneth Faried feels the wrath of Reggie Jackson
Not to be deterred, and in true Manimal fashion, he cracked a shell of his own:
VIDEO: Kenneth Faried gets busy on Kendrick Perkins’ layup attempt
Though Durant broke his right ankle and Jackson threw down a basketball on his noggin, his sticktoittiveness shouldn’t be lost. He may get stuffed by John Wall at the rim, but he’ll make the game-saving block and game-winning bucket in the same game. All evidence points to a man who stays focused on his vengeance, one fast-twitch stride at a time.
