Score one for the little man’s attempt to democratize the jump ball playing field.
Last night, Nate Robinson, he of 5-foot-9, encountered a jump ball scenario with Rudy Gay, he who is about a foot taller and can really jump. So what’s a man to do with such a disadvantage? a
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Was this thought of on the fly or premeditated? Does it matter? Either way, it’s something I’ve never seen before. The refs were more prepared (though not less amused, I imagine), immediately ruling his play illegal on the grounds that two people must actually jump for the ball in tip offs.
Jamal Crawford is kind of good at disrupting a defender’s sense of equilibrium. There was this beauty on Wednesday night against Rudy Gay:
With altered — some may say higher — stakes against the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night, J-Crossover decided to give Metta World Peace a piece of the action:
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.
Quick story — when I worked for the Hawks, draft night was always a huge production. It was probably my busiest night of the year, between liveblogging, interviewing front-office types, owners, new draft picks, etc. All except for 2008, when the team, thanks to previous trades for Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby, had no draft picks at all. My God was that a boring night. Draft night is no fun when you are watching the entire thing from the sidelines.
Fortunately there are no teams that are completely sans draft choices this year, but there are seven squads without first-round selections at this point, which means the top half of the evening will be fairly uneventful for their fan bases.
With that in mind, here are some entertainment suggestions to help them bridge the gap between the start of the evening’s festivities and your team’s respective draft slot.
L.A. Clippers No picks until: 37th pick – also have 47th Entertainment suggestion: If I’m a Clips fan, all I am doing tonight and any other night is watching reruns of Blake Griffin highlights and thanking whichever gods I pray to that he’s on my team.
Though the Grizzlies fell in Game 2 last night in Oklahoma City, they shouldn’t hang their heads. They got Game 1, and a split is all they needed to grab control of homecourt advantage.
I doubt they are lacking in confidence right now, but just in case, Memphis GM Chris Wallace put together this montage on YouTube to inspire Hang Time’s favorites:
Wallace explains that this video was shown to the Grizz before the San Antonio series, so it must have been the catalyst for their amazing first-round upset. That or Zach Randolph. I give many bonus points for the splicing of the Rudy Gay hatin’ Raptors fan from earlier this season into the mix.
Can anything stop the Grizzlies now? We’ll see Saturday when the two teams meet in Game 3 in Memphis.
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The Spurs dominated the NBA for most of the regular season, starting the year 13-1 and reaching the midway point of the season at 35-6, halfway to the rarified 70-win plateau. And though they suffered some injuries and stumbled down the stretch (including a six-game losing streak), they still finished the season 61-21, good for the second-best regular season mark of the Popovich/Duncan Era.
Sounds like the recipe for a first-round sweep, doesn’t it? Except as we all know, that’s not what happened, as the Grizzlies dropped the Spurs in six games and became just the fourth 8-seed to topple a 1 since the playoffs expanded to 16 teams in 1984. Not many people saw this coming this side of Sir Charles, but compared to the other 8-1 conquests, just how big of a surprise was it?
Here’s how I’d rank them:
1. 2007: Warriors (42-40) over Mavericks (67-15), 4-2
The “We Believe” Warriors flat-out embarrassed the heavily-favored Mavericks in 2007. Though the Mavs were nearly unbeatable in the regular season, they played right into Golden State’s hands by trying to go small in the series rather than using their height to their advantage. Some believe Dallas was a victim of a bad matchup (the Warriors won the season series 3-0) and might have won the NBA title had they faced any of the other 15 playoff teams. But the Mavs’ loss, coming on the heels of a collapse in the 2006 NBA Finals against the Heat, cemented their reputation as playoff chokers, a moniker they are still struggling to shed.
2. 1994: Nuggets (42-40) over Sonics (63-19), 3-2
Best remembered for Dikembe Mutombo‘s “I can’t believe it!” moment at the end of Game 5, this series marked the first time an 8 beat a 1. Making it all the more impressive, the Nuggets lost the first two games of the series before winning three straight to close out the Sonics, including the last one in Seattle. Amazingly, Denver would go on to nearly pull off the same feat in the next round, falling behind 3-0 to Utah before winning three straight to force Game 7, where they were finally eliminated.
3. 2011: Grizzlies (46-36) over Spurs (61-21), 4-2
Eerily similar in tone to the Warriors-Mavs series, the Grizzlies came out and won Game 1 of the series and never really looked back. From early on, it was obvious the Grizzlies were younger, faster, and more athletic, and the Spurs had absolutely no answer for Zach Randolph inside. Did injuries play a role? Perhaps. But Memphis didn’t have Rudy Gay either, so seems like that’s a wash at best.
4. 1999: Knicks (27-23) over Heat (33-17), 3-2
Uggh. I get tired just thinking about these two teams brutalizing each other on the basketball court. This was the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season, so the disparity between the two teams may not have been much, and indeed they were only separated by six games in the standings. Allan Houston famously won the series for the Knicks with his runner in the lane with 0.8 seconds remaining in Game 5. New York would validate their win with two more upsets, eventually becoming the only 8-seed to make the NBA Finals, where they fell to the first of Tim Duncan‘s title-winning Spurs teams.
That’s how I see it. Which do you rank as the biggest upset?
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With the regular season behind us and the playoffs set to tip off this weekend, it’s the perfect time to do a little looking back at some of the fun we had during the past six months.
One of our favorite things to write about on All Ball has been the Horry Scale breakdowns of every GWBB (game-winning buzzer-beater) from the season, of which, in the end, there were 16 during 2010-11. Let’s take a look back at some of the most memorable:
Best Executed Horry
One of the most unlikely endings to a game all season, as Nic Batum scores four points in the last 0.9 seconds to beat the Spurs, the last two of which came on this picture-perfect lob off the inbounds pass from Andre Miller to ring up the Horry Scale breakdown. Portland’s Rose Garden would be my choice for where all GWBBs would take place, if I had my druthers. Where does one get druthers, I wonder? Runner-up: Andrew Bogut – really this should be a tie, I just love Portland celebrations.
For the complete Bragging Rights rules and to vote for other matchups, click here. In this matchup the UConn Huskies, a top seed with 11 NBA players to choose from, take on the USC Trojans. Veal Scalabrine for everyone!
Missed the cut: Caron Butler, Mavericks (injured); Charlie Villanueva, Pistons; A.J Price, Pacers; Hilton Armstrong, Hawks; Hasheem Thabeet, Rockets; Jeff Adrien, Warriors
Team synopsis: Wow. A dynamite scoring team for the boys from Storrs. This team is sort of the anti-LSU — all guard play with only Emeka there to patrol the paint. No real headaches in trying to determine their best lineup, though I suppose one could argue a spot for Charlie V due to UConn’s lack of size. Caron Butler would be in over Ben Gordon if healthy, but he’s missed too much time this year to be eligible. How you would stop Allen and Hamilton, two of the best shooters of all-time coming off screens, is anyone’s guess. (more…)
By the way, Derek Fisher and Andrew Bogut weren’t the only late-game heroes last night (just the onlyones to get the Horry treatment) — there was nearly a buzzer-beater epidemic, as Rudy Gay and Raymond Felton also came up big in the clutch.
In case you missed any of it, our brethren on the multimedia desk here at NBA.com put together a pretty sweet round-up of all of last night’s fireworks. Roll it!
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Finally, a game-winner! There have been many fantastic plays in the first few weeks of this NBA season and several buzzer-beating miracles, but until last night we hadn’t seen a game-winning buzzer beater, which I think we can all agree is the greatest thing in the world ever ever (unless you are rooting for the losing team).
Any time there is a game-winning buzzer-beater (GWBB from now on), we will examine its bonafides 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. After all, who else but Big Shot Bob could judge the merits of that most devastating play in basketball?
Let’s go to the videotape for last night’s GWBB, brought to you by Memphis’ 80-million dollar man, Rudy Gay.
Difficulty: I gotta give Gay pretty high marks here. First, he had to dribble around half the Miami defense in about four seconds. Second, one of the best defenders in the game, LeBron James, is draped all over him. Thirdly, the baseline fadeaway gives Gay no angle for error; the bank is closed for him on this one. All in all, a really impressive shot.
Situation: The game was tied at 95-95, so there’s no real penalty for a miss here.
Importance: It’s early in the season, but it’s safe to say that as of now, any win over the Heat carries a touch of import.
Celebration: The Grizzlies didn’t go too crazy, but Gay hitting the shot right in front of the Heat bench and then giving them a little look afterwards was a nice touch.
Grade: Four Horrys. This is about as good as it gets – there may not be another game-winner in LeBron’s face the rest of his career. But given how early in the season it is and the fact that the game was tied, four seems about the right number.
What say you?
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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.
