ALL BALL NERVE CENTER — Last night in New York City, a handful of NBA franchises looking for a little luck gathered in Times Square to try and beat the odds. That’s right, it’s the annual NBA Draft lottery, where the best of the worst vie for the first pick in the NBA Draft. I showed up and brought my cell phone camera along with me to see what went down behind the scenes.
Let’s get to the pictures …
I arrived in Times Square right around 6:30 p.m. and fought my way over to the ABC Studios, where they shoot “Good Day America” or “Today This Morning” or whatever they call it — one of those morning shows that airs when I’m still asleep. There’s never really a good time to be in Times Square, because it is consistently crowded and busy and bustling, but 6:30 p.m. must be just about the worst time. Add in that it was humid and in the mid-80s today, and Times Square felt a bit like being stuck in a mosh pit. Or at the bottom of a mosh pit. (more…)
Off the court, he’s a funny dude, what with his good-natured sense of humor about himself, getting into his former favorite sport, his Twitter humor and so forth. He’s also been active in the Minnesota community and holds an annual coat drive (this is the fourth such one) to benefit Minnesotans in need this winter. Love coulda went with the standard stare-at-the-camera-and-read-cue-cards approach to drum up support for his cause.
But that wouldn’t be a very Love-ish way to handle this, would it?
You may have noticed it’s the offseason, which means we have plenty of time to sit around and think about many of the things that make it fun to be an NBA fan. Here at All Ball, we’ll be passing the time until the start of the season with a new series, the Fave Five. Each week will count down a list of the five best, or worst … somethings. We’ll try to get creative with it. Plus we’re taking requests! If you have a suggestion for a Fave Five post, give us a shout and you may see it appear in this space over the next several weeks.
You may not know this about me, but if you have read enough posts on All Ball you’ve probably seen enough links to surmise that I am a big fan of Saturday Night Live.
And with the start of the new season just around the corner, it got me to thinking: When will the next NBA player get a chance to host of the show?
Historically speaking, SNL invites a “sports figure” on average about once a year (this includes broadcasters, professional wrestlers, etc). Last year our own Charles Barkley became the first athlete to host for the third time, but overall basketball representation on the show has been sparse. Aside from the Chuckster, only Michael Jordan and LeBron James have ever hosted. Clearly, Lorne Michaels does not think much of the NBA’s collective comedic talents. But is that deserved, this allegation I’m making up on the spot?
It seems to me in this day and age there are more NBA players being funny than ever, and it’s just a matter of time before someone else gets a crack at being not ready for primetime.
But who? In this week’s Fave Five, we rank the top candidates to take to the stage in Studio 8H:
5. Roy Hibbert
The bonafides: A rising star on the NBA’s comedy scene, Hibbert has aligned himself with some very funny people in his burgeoning career. He’s guested on Parks and Recreation (the funniest show on TV for my money), hung out at Roscoe’s Chicken N Waffles with comedian Chelsea Peretti, and topped it off with Ben Schwartz‘s hilarious audition video for Hibbert’s cheering section. He seems pretty comfortable on camera — here he is from last year’s playoffs on Jimmy Kimmel:
Has he been featured on Funny or Die or Taiwanese animation? Not yet, but given who he hangs out with, it can’t be too long.
Most mornings I wake up to the sound of an alarm clock, angry that my sleep has been interrupted and cursing myself for getting to bed so late, but not this morning. Today I awoke to the sound of a text message, an alert from my partner in crime Sekou Smith that while I was sawing logs, the one and only Patty Cakes, aka Australia’s Patrick Mills, had hit a game-winning buzzer-beater (scroll to about 1:36:30 to watch it all unfold) against Russia in Olympic play earlier today and it was time to wind up the Horry Scale machine. Ask Sekou, and you shall receive.
For those that 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 Clippers-Nets game), and celebration, and give it an overall grade on a scale of 1-5 Robert Horrys.
How does Pat Stacks stack up? Let’s take a look.
Difficulty
This shot reminds me a lot of Kevin Love‘s “Are you not entertained?” game-winner over the Clippers from last season. The shot itself is fairly easy (a mostly straight-on 3-pointer), but the credit for that goes to the excellent screen set by Matthew Dellavadova that frees Mills for the open look. Russia gets two defenders over to try to harass, but it’s too late — the ball is out and the ballgame is over.
Game Situation
Russia leads Australia 80-79 thanks to Vitaliy Fridzon‘s free throws with 4.1 seconds left. There is some time to work with, but the Aussies trail so there is no margin for error if they want to pull out the win.
Importance
The game actually had little chance of affecting the positioning for either team in the knockout stage, as Australia clinched a quarterfinal bid with a win over Great Britain on Saturday and Russia was previously undefeated and through as well. In fact, either way the Aussies will most likely take on the U.S. in the quarters pending Team USA’s game against Argentina later on Monday, so this could be the last celebration the ‘Roos.
Celebration
This has been an excellent tournament for Mills, who re-signed with the Spurs earlier this summer, and set the tournament high with 39 points against GB. I love his reaction here. As the crowd erupts and his teammates race to mob him, Mills triumphantly walks down the court with one fist raised in the air.
Grade
4 Horrys. I got chastised by Horry himself during our NBA TV segment for judging these things too harshly, so I’ll take his advice on this one. The shot was well executed, the celebration was great, and Australia trailed at the time. Even though the stakes were low given that both teams had already qualified to move on, come on — it’s the Olympics. The importance of everything is elevated.
This was pretty fun — joined the GameTime pregame show before Wednesday night’s games to break down the season’s best Horry Scale moments, with the scale’s patron saint himself there to critique my grades:
The prevailing thought amongst Robert Horry, Kevin Martin, and Dennis Scott was that I judged too harshly this season, which is amusing because most emails I received from the fans seemed to suggest I was too lenient. Guess you can’t please everyone!
Here is my final ranking of this year’s six Horry Scale recipients – how would you rank them?
6. Derrick Rose beats Milwaukee – This low because I hate seeing a PG of his caliber settle for a long jumper. 5. Luke Ridnour beats Utah – Difficult floater, but no resistance from the Jazz defense.
4. LaMarcus Aldridge beats Dallas – Aldridge sure does make this look easy.
3. Luol Deng beats Toronto – Only tip-in of the season, Bulls trailed by 1.
2. Kevin Love beats L.A. Clippers – Perhaps in hindsight should have graded higher, especially coming in in the city where he played his college ball.
1. Kevin Durant beats Dallas – Set the bar high the first week of the season and was never topped. The ball barely touches the net from almost 30 feet!
Agree? Disagree? Let us know in the comments.
UPDATE: A reminder folks, the shot has to beat the buzzer to be considered. As great as Jeremy Lin’s shot to beat the Raptors was, there were still tenths of a second left on the clock. Doesn’t qualify. A man’s gotta have a code…
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A sad day in the NBA, as Ricky Rubio‘s sensational rookie season comes to an end thanks to a freak knee injury suffered at the tail end of Friday night’s loss to the Lakers. Rubio has been even better than advertised in his rookie season, and his dazzling passing and infectious enthusiasm will be sorely missed.
This has been a tough season for all the players due to the compressed schedule, and we’ve seen many good players go down with injuries as a result. And as sad as I was when Hawks’ C Al Horford went down, for example, I don’t think any player’s misfortune has been as widely met with dismay as Rubio’s has. Just take a look at the outpouring of support on Twitter from some of the NBA’s zeitgeist when the news broke today:
LeBron James (@KingJames) — S/O to Ricky Rubio! Have a speedy and successful recovery
Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) — Praying the Ricky Rubio has a speedy recovery!
Dwyane Wade(@DwyaneWade) — Ricky Rubio’s injury isn’t 1 that any basketball fan wanted 2 C. He’s had an amazing rookie season & has brought life back 2 a franchise. Chris Paul (@CP3) — Prayers out to @RickyRubio9 and hoping for a speedy recovery!
Kevin Love (@kevinlove) — Love my teammate and friend @rickyrubio9. Here’s to a quick recovery. We will miss you.
The recovery time for Rubio’s injury usually takes 6-9 months, which means he will likely miss this summer’s Olympics as well — a big blow to the Spanish national team’s chances. His Spanish mates chimed in as well:
Pau Gasol (@paugasol) – All my support to my friend and mate @rickyrubio9 after knowing the hard news about the results on his knee injury. Rudy Fernandez (@rudy5fernandez) — All my support to my friend and mate @rickyrubio9 Jose Calderon (@josemcalderon8) — All my support to my big friend and teammate @rickyrubio9. Hard news about his knee. He’ll be back stronger
Several other NBA players offered their prayers and condolences:
Stephen Curry (@StephenCurry30) — Prayers to Ricky Rubio. Keep your head up and hoping for a speedy recovery. #Classof09
DeMar DeRozan (@DeMar_DeRozan) – A speedy recovery to Rubio! Mario Chalmers (@mchalmers15) — prayers goin out to @RickyRubio9. No NBA player wants to go thru that. keep ya head up and get that knee stronger Baron Davis — (@Baron_Davis) Rubio smh. Damn ! Praying for you! Wishing you a speedy recovery. You will be stronger than ever!!!! DeAndre Jordan (@deandrejordan) — praying that @rickyrubio9 has a speedy and complete recovery… Greivis Vasquez (@greivisvasquez) – Que triste la lesion de Ricky Rubio, le deseo una pronta recuperacion. Anthony Tolliver (@ATolliver44) — Praying for @rickyrubio9 ! Extraordinary healing is coming your way! Keep your head up
There aren’t many players in the league with the kind of court vision and offensive creativity that Rubio possesses. Here’s to a complete and total recovery, and hopefully a full season in 2012-13.
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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 Minnesota Timberwolves, who played three straight from Feb. 28 – Mar. 1.
Game 1: Timberwolves 109, Clippers 97 – I get the feeling that if Derrick Williams goes on to have an All-Star caliber career, many will look back at this game as the first time he really flashed that kind of potential. Coming off a disappointing performance in the Dunk Contest, Williams dropped 27 on the Lakers off the bench, scoring inside and out as Minnesota started the second half right with a huge road win over the Clippers. 3 points (1 for win, 1 for road, 1 for +10)
Game 2: Lakers 104, Timberwolves 85 - Williams’ hot shooting at Staples unfortunately didn’t carry over the next night, as the Masked Mamba dropped 31 on Minnesota, which was playing without Kevin Love (illness). The T’wolves clearly missed their All-Star, as no player scored more than 14 points and the team shot just 5-19 from downtown without the league’s 3-point champion. -1 point
Game 3: Suns 104, Timberwolves 95 - Another game typical of what we might expect from a team finishing three games in three nights. The Timberwolves were in it early, leading by five at the half, before running out of steam in the second half and losing by nine. 0 points
2 points for the Timberwolves, just like the last time, but they did face a somewhat unique challenge in this one. Not only were all three of their games on the road (which we’ve seen only a handful of times this season), but each game was their opponent’s first game after the All-Star break. Maybe not such a big deal against the Clippers, but certainly a disadvantage against the Suns.
Up next: The defending champion Dallas Mavericks get their lone crack at the threeplay, with three straight contests Mar. 8-10.
Only three game-winning buzzer beaters so far this season. A product of the condensed schedule? Complete coincidence? Whatever it is, here’s hoping the second half of the season brings a few more of them.
For those that 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 Clippers-Nets game), and celebration, and give it an overall grade on a scale of 1-5 Robert Horrys.
The Timberwolves, like any young team with talent but lacking in crunch-time experience, seem to find themselves in a lot of games that come down to the wire. They are getting that experience quickly — the last Horry Scale entry also featured a Timberwolf. Tonight’s heroics were provided by Hang Time Blog favorite Luke Ridnour. Let’s see how he stacks up to his teammate:
Difficulty
This shot was pretty easy, thanks in large part by the Jazz deciding that defense wasn’t really necessary on their part. After making quick work of Gordon Hayward, Ridnour gets into the paint where Al Jefferson lurks. Jefferson stays at home though, and Luke gets a pretty uncontested look at a floater for the win. To be fair, that shot is pretty delicate regardless of whether it’s contested or not, but any point guard worth his salt should have that in their arsenal.
Game Situation
The Timberwolves trailed by 16 with 9:36 left to play, but went on a tear to take a two-point lead with 22.3 seconds left to play. Jefferson then tied the game against his former team on a jumper with 7.0 seconds left to play, and the Timberwolves called timeout and took the ball out at half court. A pretty decent set up for Minnesota, with plenty of time to get a shot off and no penalty for a miss.
Importance
Utah and Minnesota are both on the fringe of the playoff chase, and in the loaded West every win counts. This is particularly nice for the Timberwolves, especially given how they lost the other night.
Celebration
Ridnour gives the traditional two fingers pointed skyward, and the team rallies around to congratulate him by the bench. It’s always great when a shorter player does something — always more exciting when one of his teammates picks him up to celebrate.
Grade
2 Horrys. All in all a fairly pedestrian buzzer-beater, largely due to the Jazz’ defensive indifference, but I’ll give it an extra Horry due to both teams’ proximity to each other in the race for the 8 spot in the West, plus the terrific fourth-quarter comeback to get them in position to win in the first place.
What do you think?
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The Association has a tendency to use a lull as bait; just when you think the cadence of the season is figured out, something happens to heighten — or floor — the senses. On a 10-game Saturday night, copious highlights are a given. But what made last night unusual was the swat party invites.
Twenty-one players recorded two or more blocks. Twelve players rejected three or more shots, to wit:
Three Blocks Tayshaun Prince Timofey Mozgov Tyson Chandler Jared Jeffries Elton Brand LeBron James Joel Anthony Kris Humphries Tyrus Thomas
Five Blocks Serge Ibaka
Six Blocks Marc Gasol Samuel Dalembert
Without further ado, here are Saturday night’s top five stuffs:
5) Mozgov and ‘Melo
Apparently — maybe — Mozgov reads All-Ball, because a day after being framed as an early candidate for posterdom by yours truly, he posts a season high in points (16), along with a couple of highlights. One is here. Way to go, Tim. Nothing like a quick retort to silence the critics.
4) Serge “Iblocka” and Deron
OK, so Deron Williams‘ hops aren’t Derrick Rose’s. But clean blocks off dunk attempts aren’t as easy as it appears. You get the feeling that Ibaka gets out of bed for these moments.
3) Derrick Favors waits on Nikola Pekovic
Pekovic didn’t have much momentum and Favors had the angle. Plus he was preying on that play as soon as the screen was set. Just mean. And impressive.
2) Yi meets DaJuan Summers at the rim
Talk about full steam. Summers had a good four steps before he took off, but couldn’t avoid the tentacles of the mighty Yi Jianlian. Note the quick sidestep to the left by Yi before launching. Decent degree of difficulty.
1) DanteCunningham crashes DeMarcus Cousins’ party
My favorite for a couple of reasons. One, it was excellent help-side defense (not to mention footwork) by Cunningham to get to the spot in time. Two, it was a total collaborative effort by the Grizzlies. Gasol shows on the screen, hustles back to Cousins, helps off to cover Francisco Garcia, which leaves Cousins momentarily open. Seventy-five percent (armchair estimate and all) of the time … that’s either a bucket, foul or both. Cunningham, all of 6-foot-8, puts the coup de grace to the Kings’ possession.
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The Horry Scale has been quiet since Kevin Durant beat the Mavs in the season’s first week. But with Kevin Love and Blake Griffin staging a battle between the game’s top two young power forwards (and U.S. Olympic hopefuls), it was only fitting that the game would come down to a single play by one of them. In this case, that one was Love.
For those that 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 Clippers-Nets game), and celebration, and give it an overall grade on a scale of 1-5 Robert Horrys.
This is our first Horry entry of the new calendar year, so let’s see how Love rates:
Difficulty
All in all not a particularly difficult shot, although he was a couple feet behind the 3-point line. Give Minnesota credit, they did a terrific job screening for Love so he could get a free look at the rim. Love, who shoots pretty well from deep (36.1 percent this season), calmly drained the trey before any Clipper got near him and the ballgame was over.
Game Situation
Ricky Rubio was 0-10 from the field up until the last 20 seconds, at which point he hit a 3-pointer from the corner to tie the game at 98. After Chauncey Billups missed a layup and chance to be the hero for a second straight game for the Clippers, Love got the rebound and called timeout with 1.5 seconds to play. Plenty of time as it turned out for him to square his body for the easy 3-pointer and the win.
Importance
This was actually a pretty big win for the Timberwolves (how often do you see that written about a game against the Clippers?). Minnesota began the season 3-7, but have rallied with four wins in its last five to get to 7-8, a game below .500. We thought they might have enough talent to compete for a playoff spot, and a win in a close game like this will help their cause immensely, both in the standings and in the confidence department.
Celebration
I love Love’s reaction to hitting this shot — very Maximus-esque. Any time a young team hits a shot like this, you know they are going to go bananas. Good stuff all around.
Grade
3 Horrys. This one happened in a tie game, and the shot itself was pretty easy, but given the battle between Love and Griffin, plus the late-game redemption for Rubio that led to the game-winner, I have to bump it up a notch. May all of their future battles end in similar fashion.
What do you think?
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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.
