While many NBA players have different interpretations of high fashion and the latest trends, some are sticking with basic suits, while still mixing it up a bit. Perhaps the most important facet of today’s suit is an ability to break up the pieces and wear them with other items in your wardrobe. Let’s take a look at several different styles, including trends that can become part of any closet. Keep up with the conversation using #NBAStyle.
THE EXPERTLY TAILORED SUIT
Derrick Rose, Amar’e Stoudemire and Zach Randolph are in favor of finely tailored, slim cuts.
ALL BALL NERVE CENTER — He doesn’t shave, he tells his beard when to stop growing.
He once allowed someone to dunk on him just to see how it feels.
He corrects John Hollinger‘s math.
He is Marc Gasol, and he is the most interesting man in the world.
Well, something like that. By now you probably know how the meme goes — playing off the Dos Equis ads, any series of outlandish fictional statements can be applied to a person to brand them as the most interesting person in the world.
If the meme had to spill into the NBA, perhaps we should be surprised that it came at the hands of the internet-savvy Memphis Grizzlies owner Robert Pera. Over the weekend, as his Grizzlies were moving into a 2-1 lead over the Oklahoma City Thunder, Pera took to Twitter and helped stake Gasol’s claim to the title of MIMITW (Most Interesting Man In The World)…
ALL BALL NERVE CENTER — We have nothing against referees here at the All Ball blog, but for whatever reason this blog has been the home of a few cases of anti-ref basketball activity. Just within the last few weeks, there’s been a spate of bad times. For instance:
Unfortunately, we need to check back in with Kennedy, who got jacked up yesterday during the Grizzlies/Thunder game. While chasing after a loose ball, Grizzlies center Marc Gasol grabbed the rock and accidentally plowed into Kennedy… - -
Say this for Kennedy: He gets knocked down, but he gets up again. You’re never going to keep him down.
Well, there’s just not much to say about this one other than the obvious: 7-foot-1 centers shouldn’t get caught on the wing with 6-foot point guards. Particularly those named Paul, Chris.
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Looking for the right way to tell your loved one how much he/she means to you this Valentine’s Day? I’m pretty sure a card from one of the Memphis Grizzlies is exactly what you are looking for:
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Nicely done Memphis. I choo-choo-choose to watch you play basketball tonight against the Rockets at 8 ET.
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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Each day until the end of the NBA Finals, we’ll be taking a look at the conventional wisdom of the moment — which team is currently the favorite to win it all, and which team should be ashamed to still be putting on their jerseys.
Here’s how it looks on the morning of Tuesday, May 10.
Start planning the parade:
Oklahoma City Thunder
It’s been obvious since Game 1 that the Grizzlies were a bad matchup for the Thunder. The inside power of Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol has given the Thunder fits while OKC’s franchise player, Kevin Durant, has been good — but not great.
That all changed Monday night in the epic Game 4 that saw OKC’s two best players (Durant and Russell Westbrook) combine for 70 points (!) to tie the series and grab the momentum as the action shifts back to Oklahoma City for Game 5.
Charles Barkley made a good observation on Inside the NBA about the psychological implications of losing a triple-overtime game with the next game on the road. That’s what the Grizzlies face and if OKC can take the swing game on Wednesday at home, they could be one win away from the West Finals.
Give it up already:
Boston Celtics
Oof. That one hurt. With the ball in Paul Pierce’s hands and a shot to win the game and tie the series, the Celtics got a terrible look at the basket at the end of regulation and then got run off the floor in overtime for a crushing Game 4 loss. Now trailing 3-1 with the series back in South Beach, the end is nigh for the Celtics, no?
What has to sting even more as the Celtics try (somehow) to get back in the series is that Miami has been the better defensive team all series long. As our own John Schuhmann points out today:
The Heat have the best one-two punch in the league, with a third wheel who redeemed himself quite a bit on Monday. But they can close out this series on Wednesday because they did to the Celtics in Game 4 what the Celtics have done to every other team over the last four years. They shut them down.
With LeBron one win away from getting his Decision-induced revenge on the Celtics, it looks as though Boston is just 48 minutes from a tee-time at Brookline Country Club.
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It’s Monday, which means it’s time to start the week off right with a little hoops arguing. Today’s episode of extend, trade, or cut is brought to you by the Prime Minister (familiar to anyone who reads the Hang Time Blog) who had a good suggestion for today’s discussion — a trio of the NBA’s best young pivotmen in the Hawks’ Al Horford, the Lakers’ Andrew Bynum, and Grizzlies big man Marc Gasol.
Just to refresh you on the rules, picture yourself as the GM of a mythical NBA franchise, and pretend that you have to choose between three players. One player you can extend with a new contract, one player you can trade for some mythical asset(s), and one player you must cut from your roster for eternity (it’s a harsh world). You may choose each option only once.
Let’s take a look at the candidates:
Al Horford: I’m not saying which way I will vote on Big Al, but I must admit upfront a healthy bias towards him from my days covering the Hawks. Here is a comment you often hear about the Hawks: “They’d be good if they had a legit center instead of having to play Horford there rather than his natural power forward position.” This statement is a crock o’ something. Here’s a little stat I just made up — Horford is better than 90 percent of the centers in the league. I’d actually have to do some research to decide exactly where he fits in, but just because he struggles to check Dwight Howard and Yao Ming doesn’t mean he’s out of his depth in the post. You know who else has trouble checking Dwight and Yao? Everyone.
Andrew Bynum: The Lakers big man is brimming with talent, and when he’s been healthy he’s established that he is capable of being a perennial All-Star. Alas, that health just hasn’t been a constant. In fact, being injured has been the constant, as he has only played 82 games once in his five-year career. Still, Bynum is only 22 (he turns 23 next week), and if the injuries get under control, he could be the best center in the league.
Marc Gasol: Is he as good as his brother Pau? Maybe not. But for as much grief as the Grizzlies get for trading Gasol the Elder to L.A. (and believe me, I’m with you), I don’t know if they get enough credit for getting Gasol the Younger in return. Marc is pretty much exactly what you want in an NBA center – he rebounds, he protects the rim, and he has the traditional Euro-style abilities to be a good passer and solid face-up shooter. If anything, I still wonder why Memphis (with Gasol in the fold) would draft Hasheem Thabeet instead of homegrown hero Tyreke Evans.
Them’s your choices. Now it’s your turn to weigh in – what’s your poison?
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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.
