Former NBA Slam Dunk champ goes Hollywood
Desmond Mason was best known during his NBA career for his leaping ability which earned him the 2001 Slam Dunk Contest trophy while he was part of the Seattle Supersonics. Now, two years after he last played in the league, he’s getting ready to play a part in a comedy titled “Just Crazy Enough.” Mason [...]
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Harlem Globetrotters draft NCAA slam dunk champ Jacob Tucker
An Illinois college student who won the national slam-dunking championship will play for the Harlem Globetrotters.
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Scoring champ Jimmer Fredette looks to get ‘defensive’
For all Jimmer Fredette’s college success, one big question about his future remains: Can he defend an NBA-caliber point guard?
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Williams, Arizona trash defending champ Duke
Derrick Williams scored a career-high 32 points and his Arizona teammates showed they’re not just a one-man team, upsetting defending national …
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Arizona routs defending NCAA champ Duke (AP)
Derrick Williams carried Arizona in the first half, keeping the Wildcats in the game against Duke. His teammates returned the favor in the final 20 minutes with an offensive barrage that stunned the defending national champions. Williams scored 25 of his career-high 32 points in the first half of Arizona’s 93-77 victory Thursday night, helping the Wildcats reach the final eight for the first…
View full post on Yahoo! Sports – NCAA Men’s Hoops News
Big 12 champ Kansas wins at Missouri (AP)
Marcus Morris and Thomas Robinson had double-doubles and No. 2 Kansas wrapped up its seventh straight Big 12 championship by holding on for a 70-66 win over No. 22 Missouri on Saturday that spoiled the Tigers’ unbeaten home season. Robinson had 15 points and 13 rebounds, returning to form less than a month after arthroscopic surgery on the right knee he injured against Missouri at home.
View full post on Yahoo! Sports – NCAA Men’s Hoops News
Blake Griffin: Slam Dunk Champ, NBA All-Star, Franchise Savior?
Everybody and their mother is in love with Blake Griffin. Dunk after dunk, Griffin is YouTube’s best happening since the “Evolution of Dance” video.
But, on a basketball level, just how good is Blake Griffin?
Your average NBA fan sees nothing more than the highlights and stats that media outlets parade. But when you break down his game, how much is there?
I’m not ripping on Blake, because he is a really exciting player. However, he has no jump shot and is a terrible free throw shooter. The Clippers still stink with him, and that’s with a team that is much more talented than given credit for (Baron Davis, Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman and DeAndre Jordan form a very solid supporting cast).
I look at Blake, and yes, I’m wowed by his thunderous slams and supreme athleticism, but as a basketball player, there’s something missing.
He’s a very hard worker, and a guy I want to root for. But eventually, defenses are going to figure out how to defend him. Give him room on the perimeter, and make him beat you with a jumper. Right now, I can’t see him knocking down an average jump shot more than 40 percent of the time.
Has he made LA a two-team town? Kind of.
As much as Blake has done, the Lakers shocking struggles have also forced Blake and the Clippers into the limelight. But again, the Clippers, despite all the hype and attention they’re getting, are 21-35, and 16.5 games behind the Lakers.
When you actually sit down and look at it, they’re nowhere close to LA’s dominant team.
Could the Clippers be a good team in two years? Of course.
But between Kevin Love and Blake Griffin, I still pick Love. Love can beat you with a jump shot, is a superb three-point shooter, a better rebounder, and can drain the three.
No, he’s not as flashy as Griffin. But neither is Tim Duncan. Flash is great for highlights, but not necessarily for winning games.
Blake needs to work on his free throws, and develop a mid-range game—he doesn’t have to be draining threes like Love, but just enough of a consistent jump shot so defenses can’t play off on him—to be a more effective player.
He’s definitely the rookie of the year in my book, but he’s still got a ways to go to join the elite power forwards in the league.
Read more NBA news on BleacherReport.com
View full post on Bleacher Report – NBA
Blake Griffin: Slam Dunk Champ, NBA All-Star, Franchise Savior?
Everybody and their mother is in love with Blake Griffin. Dunk after dunk, Griffin is YouTube’s best happening since the “Evolution of Dance” video.
But, on a basketball level, just how good is Blake Griffin?
Your average NBA fan sees nothing more than the highlights and stats that media outlets parade. But when you break down his game, how much is there?
I’m not ripping on Blake, because he is a really exciting player. However, he has no jump shot and is a terrible free throw shooter. The Clippers still stink with him, and that’s with a team that is much more talented than given credit for (Baron Davis, Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman and DeAndre Jordan form a very solid supporting cast).
I look at Blake, and yes, I’m wowed by his thunderous slams and supreme athleticism, but as a basketball player, there’s something missing.
He’s a very hard worker, and a guy I want to root for. But eventually, defenses are going to figure out how to defend him. Give him room on the perimeter, and make him beat you with a jumper. Right now, I can’t see him knocking down an average jump shot more than 40 percent of the time.
Has he made LA a two-team town? Kind of.
As much as Blake has done, the Lakers shocking struggles have also forced Blake and the Clippers into the limelight. But again, the Clippers, despite all the hype and attention they’re getting, are 21-35, and 16.5 games behind the Lakers.
When you actually sit down and look at it, they’re nowhere close to LA’s dominant team.
Could the Clippers be a good team in two years? Of course.
But between Kevin Love and Blake Griffin, I still pick Love. Love can beat you with a jump shot, is a superb three-point shooter, a better rebounder, and can drain the three.
No, he’s not as flashy as Griffin. But neither is Tim Duncan. Flash is great for highlights, but not necessarily for winning games.
Blake needs to work on his free throws, and develop a mid-range game—he doesn’t have to be draining threes like Love, but just enough of a consistent jump shot so defenses can’t play off on him—to be a more effective player.
He’s definitely the rookie of the year in my book, but he’s still got a ways to go to join the elite power forwards in the league.
Read more NBA news on BleacherReport.com
View full post on Bleacher Report – NBA
Brock Lesnar: Will Former Heavyweight Champ Be Able To Recapture His Belt?
Brock Lesnar Has To Defeat Junior dos Santos In Order To Secure Rematch With Cain Velasquez
After a lengthy absence from the public spotlight immediate following his defeat at the hands of Cain Velasquez in late October, former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar is going to be a busy man over the next couple months.
First and foremost, his role as one of the two coaches on the next season of The Ultimate Fighter will take up several weeks of his time (the show debuts March 30th).
Of course, it just so happens that his opposite number on the show is Junior dos Santos, who is Lesnar’s next opponent. The two are set to square off at UFC 131 on June 11th, and the winner will face Cain Velasquez for the Heavyweight Championship.
As such, there’s certainly plenty of reasons to hang on Lesnar’s every move as we speed towards June. One assumes that he’s plenty motivated in his pursuit to recapture his lost Heavyweight Belt, which he won by defeating Randy Couture in November of 2008. However, you also have to wonder if, so to speak, the jig is up when it comes to Lesnar.
Indeed, even before he was pounded into dust by Velaquez at UFC 121, Lesnar had a reputation of being something of a big brawler who wasn’t much for technique. This definitely showed against Velasquez, against whom Lesnar was badly outmatched.
The obvious question over the coming months will be what kind of adjustments Lesnar is going to make in anticipation of their rematch, and whether he can be ready to implement them by the time his fight with dos Santos comes around.
If he defeats dos Santos, then we could be in for something special whenever he and Velasquez are scheduled to tango once again.
If he doesn’t defeat dos Santos, you have to think that will be the end of Lesnar in UFC.
Well, there’s always WWE, which would probably love to have him back.
For more on Lesnar, check out our discussion of Who Needs Him More, UFC or WWE?
View full post on Bleacher Report – NBA
5-time Celts champ Siegfried dead at 71 (AP)
Former Ohio State star Larry Siegfried, who helped the Buckeyes to their only championship in 1960 and won five NBA titles in seven years with the Boston Celtics, died Thursday night. He was 71. Siegfried had been at the Cleveland Clinic since suffering a heart attack on Oct. 5, said Lesli Barkdull Neal, owner and funeral director at Barkdull Funeral Home in Shelby.
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