Is it just me, or does Ricky Rubio live the most fun-filled existence on the planet? I feel like every video or tweet I see about the guy seems like he’s doing something that sounds amazingly fun.
At first I was about to get all judge-y on what kind of TV show has a random puppet just chilling at the bottom of the screen, but then they broke out the Connect Four via basketball set up, and now I am frantically searching eBay to figure out how to gets mine. This would also make a way more enjoyable Price is Right game than the one where the dude yodels up the mountain.
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:
10. Amar’e channels Andy Bernard
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 ImanShumpert. 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.
9. Spurs fan gets Matt Bonner haircut, gets suspended
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.
For the first time ever, the NBA released today the overall numbers for top selling jerseys internationally.
At the top of the list? Lakers star KobeBryant, who topped not only the overall international charts but had the highest seller in China, Europe, and Latin America as well. It’s Kobe’s world, we’re all just living in it.
Here’s a look at the top 15, based on sales at adidas locations outside the United States:
1. Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers 2. Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls 3. LeBron James, Miami Heat 4. Kevin Garnett, Boston Celtics 5. Dwight Howard, Orlando Magic 6. Dwyane Wade, Miami Heat 7. Rajon Rondo, Boston Celtics 8. Carmelo Anthony, New York Knicks 9. Blake Griffin, Los Angeles Clippers 10. Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City Thunder 11. Pau Gasol, Los Angeles Lakers 12. Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas Mavericks 13. Amar’e Stoudemire, New York Knicks 14. Tony Parker, San Antonio Spurs 15. Ricky Rubio, Minnesota Timberwolves
Four international players on the international best-seller list (Where is Ginobili? Argentina, you need to get on that pronto.), including Rubio in his rookie season, which is pretty impressive. You can see the NBA’s biggest markets well represented, with two Lakers (and a Clipper), two Celtics, two Heat, and two Knicks on the list. LeBron is only at #3. It will be interesting to see if that changes at all if Miami takes its first title tonight or in the next few days, if that will change people’s perception of him.
Anyone surprise you with their ranking?
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Desperate times call for desperate measures. So, if you are Ricky Rubio and you have to fetch your brother from the airport while the Western Conference Finals are going on, what do you do?
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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Earlier this morning Sekou and I put our GM caps on and picked rosters for the BBVA Rising Stars Challenge, trying to figure out what they might look like once Shaq and Chuck get done with them for All-Star Friday night.
Sekou got the first pick because, well, he’s big time, and I’m just a squirrel trying to get a nut.
Here are our squads:
Sekou’s Squad (in order of draft selection):
Blake Griffin Ricky Rubio Kyrie Irving Paul George Derrick Williams Evan Turner Tristan Thompson Tiago Splitter Markieff Morris
And mine:
Micah’s Men:
John Wall DeMarcus Cousins Greg Monroe Kemba Walker MarShon Brooks Gordon Hayward Kawhi Leonard Jeremy Lin Landry Fields Brandon Knight
Which team do you like the best?
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Ricky Rubio has been a smash hit for the Timberwolves (and the NBA) so far in his rookie season, and people outside of basketball are starting to take notice. Like GQ magazine, for example, which profiled the Spanish phenom in this month’s issue. Timberwolves.com went behind the scenes for the photo shoot that accompanied the story:
I would be way too self-conscious to ever participate in a solo photo shoot. Fortunately, I doubt I’ll ever have to face that scenario.
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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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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 Jan 8-10.
The Timberwolves got off to a good start, but became the first team to lose the third game of the triumvirate in what was ultimately a disappointing stretch for the squad.
Game 1: Timberwolves 93, Wizards 72 - Minnesota becomes the first team to get max road points -i.e., winning on the road by +10 margin, but the fact that it was against (at the time) winless Washington makes it a little less exciting. Still, Ricky Rubio dished out a career-best 14 assists as he continues to impress. 3 points (1 for win, 1 for +10 margin, 1 for road)
Game 2: Raptors 97, Timberwolves 87 - Minnesota couldn’t stop Andrea Bargnani (31 points, nine rebounds) and couldn’t hit the water from a boat, shooting 34% from the field as a team. Kevin Love was 3-16 from the field as no starter scored more than 13 points. -1 point
Game 3: Bulls 111, Timberwolves 100 - Minnesota got down early in this one, and I give them credit for rallying back to make it close down the strech despite tired legs. Plus, they had this sweet alley-oop from Rubio to Anthony Randolph. 0 points
Season in a microcosm for Minnesota over this stretch, as they continue to play exciting basketball but fail to register notches in the win column. 2 total points for the Timberwolves.
Up next: Three teams are at it at the same time, as the Sixers, Bulls, and Raptors all play three straight Jan. 9-11.
Catch up on every single game-winning buzzer beater during the season and see how it rates on the Horry Scale.
