Category — NBA

The Lord of the Rings - the title that I think deserves to be given to the Los Angeles Lakers’ newly designed championship ring.

images are from nba.com

Wanna know  why?

• 15-Karat white & yellow gold
• ring is comprised of 15 diamonds with a total weight of 2.85 carats
• the ring mirrors the shape of the exterior of the Staples Center.
• The “roof” and “sides” of the court can be seen if the ring is viewed from the side
• each player’s face is laser-engraved in the ring
• a diamond-engraved L on each player’s ring and can only be seen using a high-powered   microscope
• each ring has a serial number stored in a database which only the lakers and jeweler can  access

images are from nba.com

Jason Arasheben – the man behind the masterpiece

The visiting Detriot Pistons defeated the previously unbeaten purple and gold (lakers) , 106 – 95. Lakers have never sustained any momentum throughout the game, defense of pistons was solid.

So after 7 solid games, the Lakers finally dropped a game, and fell to 7-1 on the season. They’ll have a long time to think about the loss before the Bulls come to town on Tuesday, which probably isn’t great news for Chicago.

Kobe scored 29 points and passes Larry Bird and Gary payton on the all time scoring list.

Congrats Kobe, your now 22nd on the NBA’s all time scoring charts.

Gasol never has been known for his defense, for being a stopper, for being something other than a skilled offensive player.

But there Gasol was Tuesday night, grinding it out against Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki, putting the clamps on the Mavericks’ All-Star forward during the Lakers’ 106-99 victory over the Mavericks.

It was Gasol’s job to contain his counterpart at power forward, and he did.

Nowitzki finished with 14 points, but he missed 12 of his 17 shots. Gasol had a lot to do with that.

Pau is really a great player, both at center and power forward.

At 7 feet, Gasol has the length to bother his man.

From ESPN.COM

ESPN:Shaquille O’Neal had a conversation with the Sacramento Bee’s Scott Howard-Cooper, which included some amazing insight about all that bickering with Kobe Bryant back in his Laker days:

I think it was all designed by Phil (Jackson). Because if you think about it, Phil never called us into the office and said, ”Both of you all, shut the (heck) up.” Never did that in four years. He knew that when I read something, I was going to get upset. And he knew Kobe was going to always come out and play hard. So I think it was all done by design.

You think he just wanted to light a fire under you guys?
Yeah. I think that’s exactly what it was. I think it was all done by design. Really. He never called us in a meeting and said, ”Shut up.” And basically, it was never a face-to-face … thing. It was always, he’d say something to you, I’d say something to another guy, I’d say something to you. That’s all it was.

Now that I look back on it, that (stuff) was kind of fun. It really was. It was kind of fun. ”What did he say, what did he say?” I tell people if we would have had a reality show, we’d have had the No. 1 reality show in the world. It was fun. It was actually fun. (Brian) Shaw would be, ”Oh, man, why did you say that?” And then Karl (Malone) would be like, ”Yo, that was (messed) up what you said.” Then we’d try to out-do each other in the game.

But while we were trying to out-do each other, the two best players in the game, we’re out-doing everyone by far.

Writer Roland Lazenby, who has followed just about the entirety of Phil Jackson’s coaching career, has been saying for ages that one must not undersell the notion that Phil Jackson plays a lot of psychological games.

I learned about this interview from Sactown Royalty, which highlighted a different amazing part of the talk, wherein Shaquille O’Neal has no idea who Spencer Hawes is.

Maybe he’s kidding. But I don’t think so.

Hawes is not even a rookie. He was a lottery pick. And he plays O’Neal’s position. I don’t think Hawes and O’Neal have played against each other, however — owing to the schedule, O’Neal’s trade last season, and the two players’ various injuries.

With two of their stars out with an injury. Spurs fans are now in question as to how well this team will compete. Manu Ginobli’s injury surely affects the team’s rotation and offense but with Tony Parker being out as well will bring the Spurs in big trouble thus leaving the San Antonio spurs with two point guards in their roster. The 10-year veteran Jacque Vaughn who’s on its 3rd year as a Spurs and and rookie George Hill. Who will you think coach Gregg Popovich will give the point role to ? or will the management opt to sign a new point guard on their roster ?

A trade was made 2 days ago making Allen Iverson a piston in exchange with Chauncy Billups, Antonio Mcdyess and Cheikh Samb. A positive effect on Denver and might be a risk for
Detroit ( I think ) .

Billups a natural pointguard replaced by a points-guard / former scoring champ and mvp. I like the way the Pistons is playing, everything is a team play, well balanced player and well executed plays resulting to a smooth transistion offense. Unfortunately the management sees something that needs improvement which led to the changing of its roster.

Detriot’s offense will surely change since Billups is out. Adding in a former scoring champ to the line up will help the half court offense of Detriot which had been a problem whenever they’re having a bad execution on their plays. An ellite player as he is, Iverson helps create room for his teammates for plays and most especially can easily create shots on his own.

We can partially tell if it’s worth the trade for both players as the pistons will try to get their 4th straight win while Denver will visit the warriors.

7:00 pm ESPN
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10:30 PM ESPN
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*** Detroit is also showing their interest on Carlos Boozer (Utah Jazz) and eyeing on Lebron James (Cavaliers) however in would be a long 2 year wait before they have the chance to acquire King James.

Feel free to have a glimpse as to how much your fave player is earning on their existing contracts.

I’m actually surprise knowing how big Stephon Marbury (NY Knicks) is earning compared to Lebron James (CLE Cavaliers)or other players like Tim Duncan (SA Spurs)which I think is on the verge or still on the verge of their careers.

No offense to all stephon marbury’s fans.

I’m sure that this will also come as a surprise to some of you out there… hehe

got this piece from azcentral.com

The Big Cactus was planted in the Sonoran Desert to make the Suns the best. Shaquille O’Neal can talk the topic of supremacy, having climbed the NBA mountaintop four times and believing that he still sits above all centers. “Because I’ve done the most,” O’Neal said. “I’m not worried about guys winning dunk contests and doing stuff like that. You still have to outdo the shogun to become the shogun. When I leave, it’ll be because my time is up, not because someone is outplaying me or someone has done more than me. The only one who has even done close, and I don’t really consider him a center, is Mr. (Tim) Duncan. Any other center, the things that they have done, I invented.”

Thumbs up to Shaq for acknowledging the skills of Mr. Tim Duncan which “the man of steel “didn’t consider him as a center since most of the time in his carreer, Tim plays power forward (PF).

Surely Shaq is the most dominant centers of his era. Destroying and shattering the glass of the backboard twice (if i’m not mistaken) , and there came the invention of Hack-a-Shaq, which most of the teams used as a defensive strategy, especially during the playoff – finals season.

shaq attack

His nba debut wasn’t great. Oden didn’t finish the game which isn’t what we all hoped due to a mid-foot avulsion fracture acquired in the first half which will hold him out of the line up for the nex 2 – 4 weeks. Definitely a bad game for him wherein he is 0-4 in the field, missed 2 freethrows, commited 2 turnovers and only gathered 5 rebounds and 1 block for 13 mins. Very unfortunate for the fans who have been anticipating for a colossal Oden vs Bynum clash.
Hoping for his speedy recovery though since nba has given him a great matchup (Tim Duncan, Shaq, Boozer, Yao, Howard )for the next 2 weeks.

The 2008-09 NBA season tips off tonight at 8:00PM EST.

Great games for tonight’s season opener. Can wait to see Greg Oden’s debut matchup against Andrew Bynum and the lakers right after the rematch of the Eastern Conference finals Celtics and Cavs.

Game Schedule:

8:00 PM EST

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8:30 PM

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10:30 PM

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