Norris Cole shows readiness in Game 3 performance
Dont say Norris Cole wasnt ready for the interview podium Friday night. He even rolled out some Russell Westbrook-like glasses.
But Westbrook never has shot the way from 3-point range in the playoffs that Cole has.
After Cole scored 18 points off the bench in the Miami Heats 104-94 win over the Chicago Bulls in Game 3 of an Eastern Conference semifinal, he got plenty of ribbing from his teammates about taking his seat at the podium in front of the cameras. During the playoffs, thats pretty much the exclusive territory of LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh when it comes to the Heat.
I stayed prepared, the second-year reserve point guard said about making his initial visit. I stayed prepared.
Cole also has been prepared with his shot. He was 6 of 7 from the field Friday, including 3 of 3 from 3-point range. Cole is now 8 of 8 from beyond the arc in this series as the Heat have taken a 2-1 lead.
Right now its feeling pretty comfortable out there on the court, Cole said. That comes from the film sessio
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NCAA report shows athletic expenses rising again (Yahoo! Sports)
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Athletic expenses are rising at a faster pace than revenue is being generated at most Division I schools, according to a new NCAA study.
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Andrew Bynum Seen Salsa Dancing in Madrid, Shows No Ill Effects of Knee Injuries (Video)
Dealing with issues in both his knees, the Philadelphia ’76ers’ Andrew Bynum missed the entire 2012-13 season. But just because he’s physically incapable of playing basketball, it doesn’t mean he’s physically incapable of salsa dancing, right?
Bynum was recently seen dancing at some sort of club in Madrid, Spain, showing off his surprisingly nimble moves. He’s also wearing a jacket with the Ferrari logo on the back, which is probably some sort of fashion misstep.
In any case, Bynum shows no ill effects of the knee injuries which kept him sidelined all year — which is sure to draw the ire of some Philly fans — so check out the image and video below to see the big center in action.
Hoy recibimos una visita de altura. Andrew Bynum, jugador de los @Sixers de la @NBA .A sus pies! (Nunca mejor dicho) http://t.co/5c5qRrznlr— Mesón Txistu (@MesonTxistu) May 01, 2013
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Kobe Bryant’s Support of Jason Collins Shows Evolution of NBA Stars
A little tweeting goes a long way. A long, long way.
When Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers showed his support for the now openly gay Jason Collins of the Washington Wizards, the NBA changed. Just as it did when the news of Collins coming out hit, the league wasn’t the same.
In a swift 140-character tweet, the Black Mamba helped change everything.
Kobe isn’t just a superstar, he’s a global figurehead. That tweet was sent out to nearly 2.5 million followers, it was retweeted nearly 35,000 times and favorited by more than 10,000 people.
Bill Clinton, a former President of the United States, has less than a quarter of the followers Kobe does (though he only recently joined Twitter). When he tweeted out his support of Collins, he didn’t even garner a fifth of the retweets or favorites that the Mamba did. That’s how much influence Bryant has, whether he likes it or not.
Bryant has never been the most amicable of persons. His Twitter debut was a shock in itself. He considered himself to be antisocial.
We can liken Kobe to a less burly version of Charles Barkley who despised being idolized.
“I am not a role model,” Barkley explained in a 1993 Nike commercial. “I’m not paid to be a role model. I’m paid to wreak havoc on the basketball court.”
He really believed that. But he was wrong. He was a role model. All professional athletes worth watching are. They’re glorified and venerated by millions. Kobe included.
Bryant is a symbol, someone people worship and put on a pedestal. He can instill a sense of belief, both good and bad. And he knows this. This isn’t his first brush with the issue. Not even close.
It was a little bit more than two years ago when he was fined $100,000 by the league for muttering a gay slur on national television after receiving a technical foul against the San Antonio Spurs.
At the time, Kobe chalked his verbal slippage up to the emotions invested within the game.
“My actions were out of frustration during the heat of the game, period,” Bryant said at the time (via ESPNLosAngeles.com). “The words expressed do NOT reflect my feelings towards the gay and lesbian communities and were NOT meant to offend anyone.”
Evidenced by the six-figure fine that commissioner David Stern imposed on Kobe, the league was not prepared to tolerate any aspersions that could be construed as sinister, regardless of the actual intent.
“While I’m fully aware that basketball is an emotional game, such a distasteful term should never be tolerated,” Stern said in 2011. “Accordingly, I have fined Kobe $100,000. Kobe and everyone associated with the NBA know that insensitive or derogatory comments are not acceptable and have no place in our game or society.”
He was right. And Kobe understood.
“The comment that I made, even though it wasn’t meant in the way it was perceived to be, is nonetheless wrong, so it’s important to own that,” Bryant had said.
But did he mean it? Or was he just sorry he got caught and subsequently penalized?
Lodging inquiries into the sincerity behind a professional athlete’s attrition has become accepted discourse. In a world where the truth is constantly manipulated and we as fans (and media members) are consistently lied to, there’s no reason for us to take anything at face value.
From the wide-spread use of steroids, to petty and egregious crimes committed by supposed role models, to anonymous sources, we’re duped on a daily basis. And so, it has become a common practice to remain skeptical of everything and anything we hear and attempt to digest.
Bryant’s apology was no exception. He could not be so readily exonerated by everyone. How could he? Caught in the moment or not, his turn of phrase was especially reckless for a global icon like himself.
That those syllables were so readily on the tip of his tongue was concerning. Society has become much too much to cavalier in its interpretation of tolerance. And that’s not pure conjecture. That’s a fact.
How many times have you sat a bar, at a ball game or just been a part of a conversation where homophobic or racial or any other discriminatory comments creep their way into the discussion? Too many. And these instances aren’t always malicious in their intent. It’s just talk. People caught up in the moment.
Just like Kobe was.
But that doesn’t make it alright. It didn’t make it alright. Something had to be done.
Bryant’s actions prompted a response from both the Lakers and the league. Los Angeles filmed a public service announcement that preached understanding, compassion and acceptance. It was a message that was meant to put callowness on trial, just as much as it was meant to rehabilitate Kobe’s fractured image.
The NBA also backed a Grant Hill-led commercial that asserted using gay as a replacement for the terms “dumb” or “stupid” or anything like that was “not cool.” Not as a form of trash talk and most certainly not as the result of boiled over emotions.
Less than one month later, ignorance struck again.
Joakim Noah was fined $50,000 for making a an equally derogatory comment against the Miami Heat in Game 3 of the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals. He too expressed regret over what he had done.
“I think it’s fair,” Noah said of the fine in 2011 (via ESPNChicago.com). “I made a mistake, learn from it and move on. That’s about it.”
Could Noah really learn from it, though? Would the rest of the NBA? So much had been put into preventing these incidents from manufacturing already, and here Noah was, making the same “mistake” Kobe did.
Fast forward nearly two years later and we seem to be bearing witness to a different league (a different world?). Bryant led a brief social-media crusade against a Twitter follower who filled his timeline with anti-gay sentiments.
He was then chided by another follower, who referenced the infraction we just discussed and Bryant, once again, owned up to it while also reiterating where he stood now.
Then we had Kenneth Faried of the Denver Nuggets, a sophomore who grew up in a same-sex household and who has been outspoken on the subject since he entered the league.
These acts of intelligence and reception gave us hope. They were emblems of progression. Signs of constructive change. But where they genuine? Again, we’re prone to cynicism. We have to be. Words aren’t enough. They’re never enough.
Kobe could apologize all he wanted, and lead internet campaigns on a weekly basis, and it still wouldn’t matter. Faried‘s words, though insightful, meant little. Noah’s remorse from 2011 meant nothing. Talk today isn’t cheap, it’s worthless. Until the NBA, and these very players that were endorsing leniency, were actually subject to the issue at hand, everything we knew meant nothing.
And then suddenly, it meant everything.
Collins, an active NBA player, admitted that he was gay.
“I’m a 34-year-old NBA center,” Collins wrote in an article for Sports Illustrated. “I’m black. And I’m gay.”
Just like that, everything was different.
Collins didn’t just breakthrough the barrier separating major American sports and the gay community, he annihilated it. By doing what no one before him had done, he set a new precedent, one that now paves the way for other closeted members of the NBA to follow suit. And just as importantly, his peers accepted him. As a man, a player and a friend, they had his back.
Among his proponents was Bryant, the star who helped thrust this issue to the forefront of the public eye. Not that it wasn’t a quandary before, but Kobe’s status propelled it to prominence. His actions spurred a chain reaction from himself and the league. That’s the kind of power he has. And what he did for Collins was a sign of how far the league, how far we’ve come.
Michael Jordan himself rarely spoke out on important developments like these. Social media wasn’t what it is now back then, but he wasn’t as vocal as Kobe is. He didn’t have the type of reach Bryant has now. Hell, not even a former President of the United States has proved to have that kind of reach (yet).
Bryant is unique is what he does and he does it. And the platform he is using to do it is unprecedented. His voice is heard. That tweet was heard, taken in and transcended into something much bigger.
Athletes are often painted as shallow and egotistical. Their world is mine or yours. They abide by a different set of rules, a completely foreign lifestyle.
The Mamba’s pointed embrace of Collins, though, depicts a different type of athlete. Bryant himself has often been portrayed as one of the most self-centered and immature athletes. A purported feud between he and teammate Dwight Howard was blown out of proportion because of how stubborn and mindless he could (see the 2011 incident).
By backing Collins, Kobe is then leading the charge against a longstanding stigma, not just against homophobia, but professional athletes in general. They’re growing up. They’ve been humanized.
They care. Just like you, me and everybody else.
This isn’t secluded advancement either. Collins’ admittance has reverberated across a vast array of social circles. Political and Sports figureheads have gotten involved, as have pop-culture icons like Spike Lee.
Kobe’s tweet is part of a cog in a global movement. One that helps unite each and every social class. One that ensures Collins isn’t left stranded on island because he opted to break a pattern.
More than two years removed from his poor judgement, Kobe’s has used this influence to empower Collins and any and all who are in similar situations. And not just in sports, but everywhere. Again, he has the ability to make that impact—in just one tweet.
We may chuckle at him hash-tagging “Mamba Army Stand Up,” but it means something. This tweet was more than just aimless musings. Those tens of thousands of retweets prove the exact opposite. His support and open acceptance of Collins only fuels a movement that has been a long-time coming. Which can’t be undersold.
Our culture is changing. Slurs aren’t just insults or isolated oversights. They’re arrogance at its worst. And the longer a man like Collins attempted to conceal his true identity, the more the NBA, the more society was catering to that insolence.
Someone needed to take a stand. And Collins did. Someone with as much worldly influence as Bryant then needed to back him up, to practice what the NBA community preaches, but had not yet to act on. And Bryant, in a single tweet, did. So did plenty others, but knowing who Bryant is, what he has been castigated for in the past and what he has claimed to represent since, his involvement is significant.
It changes things. It changes everything.
Ignorance will never be completely eradicated. Mike Wallace of the Miami Dolphins, who criticized Collins for his decision, showed us that. But it can be combatted.
How?
With the truth.
“By its nature, my double life has kept me from getting close to any of my teammates,” Collins wrote (via Sports Illustrated).
His double life, and that of any others who are cloaking personal truths in fear or out of sheer convenience also stalled the progression of professional sports and our culture as whole.
Thanks to Collins, that dichotomy is no longer as prevalent as it once was. And thanks to Kobe, and many others, the path toward absolute reception is no longer merely a concept.
It’s a reality.
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L.A. Lakers’ Metta World Peace Shows off Drained Knee Fluid
Injuries are an unfortunate, but inevitable reality in the professional sports realm.
There’s a reason that most passionate fans have, or think they have, a semi-working knowledge of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL if you’re lost already) or the potential pitfalls of a bout with plantar fasciitis.
Rehab processes are no different. Save for a miraculous Adrian Peterson recovery every now and again, fans can usually block off a rough period of time when hearing their favorite player has suffered a fill-in-the-blank ailment.
But part of the beauty of limiting our involvement with injuries to the TV or computer screen—we deserve something for helping to pay those salaries, right?—is that we’re spared most of the gruesome, painful details.
Well, not anymore.
Metta World Peace opened the door, even though no one was knocking, and granted all of his Twitter followers with an up-close view of the results of his latest procedure:
My knee is in really good shape . The last two games this Bakers Cyst was tough to play with. Just drained it. Whoa! twitter.com/MettaWorldPeac…
— Metta World Peace (@MettaWorldPeace) April 26, 2013
Truth be told, this is probably a better alternative than getting a glimpse of the cyst before it was removed. Although I, for one, wouldn’t have felt the least bit slighted with no glimpses at all.
It’s easy to chalk this up as another World Peace head scratcher, but this isn’t the first time we’ve seen something like this from a Los Angeles Lakers player this season.
Kobe Bryant, before a torn Achilles stunted his season, tweeted this lovely pic of the aftereffects of landing on the foot of Atlanta Hawks guard Dahntay Jones:
17yrs. Countless fades. This has happened TWICE. Jalen and Now Ankle still very swollen. Treatment all day #focus twitter.com/kobebryant/sta…
— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) March 14, 2013
There must be something running through the L.A. water lines. For the West Coast readers, I can only hope that whatever it is doesn’t include any World Peace knee juice.
As long as they don’t hurt anyone, I’m usually game for World Peace’s antics on and off the floor.
This time around, though, I don’t think my stomach agrees.
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Harrison Barnes’ 24-Point Performance Shows That He’s Warriors’ Biggest X-Factor
A big performance by Harrison Barnes in Game 2 against the Denver Nuggets not only helped lead the team to victory, but also proved that he is the true X-factor for the Golden State Warriors.
The Nuggets entered this game with a 24-game winning streak at home, but the Warriors were able to end that, winning 131-117 to even the series at 1-1. Barnes went off in the game scoring 24 points on 9-for-14 shooting while adding six rebounds as well.
The play of Barnes was definitely a big reason the Warriors were able to win Game 2. In Game 1 of this series, Barnes went 3-for-4 from the field and only scored eight points for the game. The Warriors went on to lose 97-95. In fact, the Warriors have now won eight straight games when Barnes scores at least 10 points, including the win on Tuesday night. The Warriors are also 26-10 when Barnes has scored in double figures.
The hot streak seems to have started in November, when Barnes was averaging 10.4 points per game on 45.9 percent shooting. That was after a rough December where he averaged only 7.8 points per game while shooting only 38.1 percent.
By getting Barnes to find his shot, the team as a whole does better. The hot streak by Barnes left other players open on Tuesday night, as Stephen Curry, Jarrett Jack and Klay Thompson all scored over 20 points in the win as well.
Barnes was also able to make a pretty big impact on the defensive side of the ball. He spent a lot of time guarding Wilson Chandler, who struggled on the night. He finished with 14 points, but on only 4-for-15 shooting. Chandler is usually a much more efficient scorer, shooting 46.2 percent from the field for the year.
The loss of David Lee makes Barnes an even more important player for the Warriors. According to a team report on NBA.com, Lee will miss the remainder of the playoffs with a torn right hip flexor.
In the first game without Lee, it seems like Barnes did a pretty good job.
The Warriors are hoping that Barnes can keep playing like he did Tuesday in order to help the team pull off the big upset against the Nuggets. As the No. 6 seed, it is certainly no easy task taking down the No. 3 seed, especially when they finished with a 57-25 record in the regular season.
It appears that Barnes is showing signs of becoming a true star in this league, even if it is only in flashes. However, those flashes prove why Barnes is the true X-factor on this team.
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Jamal Crawford Shows off Handles Against the Grizzlies
Jamal Crawford is playing like he has something to prove after not winning the Sixth Man of the Year award. J-Crossover showed off some nasty handles during the first half against the Grizzlies.
Nasty.
And-1 Mixtape like moves.
.
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Jabari Parker’s Co-MVP Award Shows Duke Recruit Is Prepared for Next Level
Jabari Parker will be one of the most exciting players in college basketball next season, and his performance at the Jordan Brand Classic showed just that.
The Duke recruit was named the co-MVP for the high school all-star game along with Julius Randle, the recruit for Kentucky. Parker finished with 16 points and seven rebounds and led the West team to the 102-98 win. A big night at the Barclays Center may not put Parker as the top player in the country, but it’s certainly nice to receive the co-MVP award.
This award was just one of many that Parker has received this year. He was also been named an All-American, National Player of the Year and Mr. Basketball in Illinois. According to ESPN.com, Parker is the No. 2-ranked recruit in the country, behind only Andrew Wiggins.
Parker was a highly sought-after recruit. He is an excellent player in the paint, either driving to the basket or playing in the post. He may not be the athletic monster that Wiggins is, but he’s a better ball-handler and has a better game outside of the paint.
Once Parker gets to Duke, he will already be ready to play in the ACC. His skills will translate very well to the college level, and he will excel for the Blue Devils.
The Blue Devils will certainly be happy to have an impact player in Parker, especially after the departures of their top contributors from last season. Seth Curry, Ryan Kelly and Mason Plumlee will all be graduating in May, leaving the team without its three best players.
At 6’8’’, Parker will be able to come in and play as either a small or power forward for the team. He is physical enough to play down low, but also possesses the talent to play behind the arc. He’s a threat to score from anywhere on the court, and Coach K will be thrilled to see him in action over the next season.
When it comes to high school recruits, it doesn’t get much better than Parker. With how good this guy is, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him jump to the NBA after just one year in college.
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Shaqtin’ a Fool: Brandon Knight Shows Up in Highlights for All the Wrong Reasons
Brandon Knight has had a tough go of things since the NBA All-Star break.
He’s been in the highlights for the wrong reasons, and it isn’t getting any easier for Knight as Shaquille O’Neal identifies two plays where Knight had everyone thinking, “what exactly are you doing young man?”
The latest installment of Shaqtin‘ a Fool hits on Knight’s miscues, a JaVale McGee moment for Dwight Howard, and we even get to see a cameo from Chris Kaman.
Fortunately, those players who get roasted by Shaq are typically very receptive to their mistakes being pointed out in comedic fashion, and that’s exactly what we’ve got going on here.
Sit back, relax and enjoy the pure comedic gold as Shaq, Ernie and the rest of the crew unveil this week’s cut of Shaqtin‘ a Fool.
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Fan Shows His Anger At Miami Heat For Benching LeBron James
It’s that time of year when your favorite NBA star will be doing one thing… KEEPING THE BENCH WARM for their fellow teammates, as one NBA fan found that out the hard way.Before Wednesday night’s game the Miami Heat had against the Washington Wizards, it was announced that the Heat’s three top stars [LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh] wouldn’t be playing.According to a fan’s sign, he didn’t get the message before making the journey to Washington.The man in the Verizon Center crowd displayed how PISSED he was when he realized that his favorite star [LeBron James] wouldn’t be playing, as he had traveled from New York to see James play.He detailed in ordeal how he got to Washington, D.C. only to be disappointed.The sign read: “Gas from NY $150. 2 tickets $600. Hotel room $200. LeBron on the bench.. bullsh*t!”Just one question to the fan…… WHY DIDN’T YOU GET TICKETS WHEN THE HEAT CAME TO N.Y. A FEW WEEKS AGO?
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