Just before The NBA Breakdown tipped off its 3rd season, Dave and Audley were guests of Chris Greidanus and Daytime Toronto.
The NBA Breakdown - For hoops talk, the way it should be!
The NBA Breakdown Meets Daytime Toronto from The NBA Breakdown on Vimeo.
Click here to follow him on Twitter!
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So weʼve realized one thing now: The Spurs are no joke. And by no joke, I donʼt mean Humphries and Kardashian, but instead the fact that theyʼve only lost two games so far this year. Not bad for a team that was considered too old, out of style and not deep enough to make it to the playoffs in high position. Yeah, so much for that theory ʻexpertsʼ. Seriously, you didnʼt think Matt Bonner was going to put the Spurs on his back? If only, if only.
A lot has stayed the same though over the past week. The Lakers are the Lakers, the Clippers still suck, the Raptors caught the injury bug and hey, Greg Oden was diagnosed as a carrier of the injury bug. Itʼs been a big week.
Without further ado, and I do mean further since this is a late night Monday morning hangover - I know what youʼre thinking, but the weekend wasnʼt THAT good - I give you the whoʼs hot and whoʼs not of the past week.
Whoʼs HOT:
- Hey, my nameʼs Kevin Love and Iʼve decided that instead of dropping 30/30 games Iʼll just make it simple and team the kids that 20/20 is much easier. With Loveʼs huge game still in the minds of everyone he decided that it was only fair to follow up with some major performances this week. So what did he do? Well besides the fact that on the season heʼs averaging 19 points and just below 15 rebounds a game (14.9), Love tallied three straight double-double games.
Sure, Reggie Evans had a big game for the Raptors when he grabbed 22 rebounds and had 12 points, but that same night Love did him one better grabbing 22 rebounds while dropping 32 points. His other two games of the week you ask? 21 points, 22 rebounds against the Warriors and 24 points, 17 rebounds against the Thunder. And he plays on the TʼWolves. I digress...
- Miami who? Did the world forget about the Indiana Pacers? I wonʼt lie, I did. After T.J. Ford was shipped there for a box of ding-dongs and a fruit roll-up, I called it quits on the yellow and white. Probably the only person I know outside of Twitter nation that enjoys Pacers basketball is my cousin. I used to feel bad for him, but not anymore.
Before I thought you could sleep on the Pacers and hit the snooze button a million times, but now, not so much. Despite Kobeʼs 41 points the Pacers were able to pull off a big win over the Lakers. And despite the Heatʼs...wait, the Heat arenʼt doing anything right these days. Despite their best off-season acquisitions they still couldnʼt beat the Pacers.
To be honest, thereʼs not a lot to shake your head at right now if youʼre a Pacers fan. Sure your record isnʼt that great (8-7) but your core of Collison, Granger and Hibbert is pretty damn nice. If I was a betting man earlier in the year I wouldʼve never imagined Iʼd see the Pacers doing this week this early in the year, but like I said before, I digress...
- This one should really be called, “Whoʼs mild” because of course since a large population of the readers are from Toronto at times, you want to hear about your Toronto Raptors. I wonʼt lie, I was overly impressed with the four game winning streak. The games were good, Bargnani looked like an all-star, and shoot they even knocked off the Celtics - mind you without Rondo. That being said, the previous two games against Boston and Atlanta have been flat out bad. After losing a game to the Celtics that the Raptors arguably couldʼve won had Bargnani not been punked off by KG.
Regardless, that wasnʼt as bad as the Hawks pounding on the Raptors Sunday afternoon at the ACC. The score? Not important if youʼre a Raptors fan, but still all you can say is, “Keep on truckinʼ!” I digress...
Whoʼs NOT:
Iʼm not going any further than to say the Miami Heat are the only thing that is NOT hot this week, or any week. Theyʼve stunk the joint up worse than Charlie Brownʼs boy Pigpen and itʼs just gotten worse. After the terrible effort the Heat put up against Dallas, the players decided it was time to have a pow-wow without Coach.
Yeah, good move boys. Now youʼre solidifying what everyone in the world has been thinking: You have ZERO faith in your coaching staff!
If this wasnʼt the que to open Pat Rileyʼs eyes, and coaching book, then maybe it was the LBJ shoulder to the suit jacket that was replayed on ESPN time after time. Seriously guys, give it up. Youʼre making all this money, you were expected to do all these great things, youʼre making excuses and right now you flat out suck. Try playing basketball plain and simple.
Whoʼs Blakinʼ:
Blake Griffinʼs averages so far for the season: 20 ppg, 11 rpg. If you arenʼt loving what Blakeʼs been doing so far this year then really you arenʼt enjoying basketball. Over the past week Griffinʼs tallied three big double-double games including a near triple-double game against Utah which saw him score 35 points, grab 14 rebounds and pull a Deron Williams-esque seven assists in another losing effort.
I guess his biggest line of the week couldʼve been against the Kings most recently where not only did he get a double-double but the Clippers actually won a game! Now, put BG on a winning team and right now youʼre looking at not only a rookie of the year candidate, but an MVP candidate.
If you donʼt believe me, set your DVRʼs.
-MM
Our featured guest is a woman who knows about the up and down life of a NBA wife. Jennifer Williams is one of the stars of the VH1 reality TV series, Basketball Wives. She joins us to discuss her wild and funny show, her relationship with Shaq's ex-wife, Shaunie, and her own challenges with husband and former NBA player, Eric Williams.
NBA Wife, Jennifer Williams Speaks Out from The NBA Breakdown on Vimeo.
He'll give you the top three games of the week to look out for and fill you in why you need to pay attention, only like a former NBAer can.
This week's games to watch are:
2. Chicago Bulls vs Orlando Magic
3. Atlanta Hawks vs Miami Heat
#6 Weekly NBA Preview with Tracy Murray from The NBA Breakdown on Vimeo.
The NBA Breakdown - For hoops talk, the way it should be!
Highlights from Episode #6 from The NBA Breakdown on Vimeo.
By: Coach Nick
Nick has been a coach for over 15 years at every level between 5th and 12th grades. He served as a basketball manager at the University of Wisconsin – Madison under head coach Stu Jackson and Assistant Coaches Stan Van Gundy (Orlando Magic Head Coach) and Sean Miller (Arizona Head Coach). He is a basketball historian and has conducted extensive interviews about the history of the game with such luminaries as Pete Newell, Tex Winter, Dean Smith, Bill Guthridge, and Herb Brown. He is a triangle offense guru, having cemented a relationship with Coach Winter while coaching in the San Fernando Valley near Los Angeles.
Nick is dedicated to the notion that you can’t be the best basketball player you can be until you’re the best person you can be.
Click here to subscribe to his Bball Breakdown on YouTube or follow him on Twitter.
Hello ladies!!
What's up everybody?!!!
If you didn't know, being a NBA wife isn't an easy thing. Just ask Eva Longoria. You see, you have to deal with many unique challenges (ie: your husband's "admirers"). Audley and I had a chance to get the inside scoop on that world when one of the stars of the VH1 reality TV series, Basketball Wives, visited our program.
Jennifer Williams is the wife of former NBA player, Eric Williams, who was on various teams including the Toronto Raptors, Boston Celtics, New Jersey Nets and San Antonio Spurs.
Definitely tune into this episode because Jennifer discusses her wild and crazy show...
her relationship with Shaq's ex-wife, Shaunie...
and what her husband's thoughts are about being on reality TV.
Just to give you a heads up, the Basketball Wives second season premiere is on Sunday December 12th at 8pm ET on VH1.
Alright, get ready for an eye-opening episode this Sunday at 9pm ET! It'll be fun times as usual!
The NBA Breakdown -- For Hoops Talk, The Way It Should Be!!!
By: Coach Nick
Nick has been a coach for over 15 years at every level between 5th and 12th grades. He served as a basketball manager at the University of Wisconsin – Madison under head coach Stu Jackson and Assistant Coaches Stan Van Gundy (Orlando Magic Head Coach) and Sean Miller (Arizona Head Coach). He is a basketball historian and has conducted extensive interviews about the history of the game with such luminaries as Pete Newell, Tex Winter, Dean Smith, Bill Guthridge, and Herb Brown. He is a triangle offense guru, having cemented a relationship with Coach Winter while coaching in the San Fernando Valley near Los Angeles.
Nick is dedicated to the notion that you can’t be the best basketball player you can be until you’re the best person you can be.
Click here to subscribe to his Bball Breakdown on YouTube or follow him on Twitter.
Coach Nick breaks down the Miami Heat vs Indiana Pacers
Click here to follow him on Twitter!
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The Monday Morning Hangover
Weʼre a month into the NBA season and what a great month itʼs been. So far weʼve seen the usual Laker dominance, Clipper failure and Atlanta mediocrity. Weʼve seen LeBron James pull off his first triple-double of the year, Chris Bosh rebound above single digit numbers again and Blake Griffin overachieve - maybe.
In the past week Kevin Love cooled down on the rebounds - only averaging 12 rebounds - while Reggie Evans stayed hot pulling down 16 rebounds in a huge Raptors win over the Celtics.
Now that the season has officially shaken out the kinks of rust and nervousness, itʼs clear to see who the teams to beat are this year...and the teams that will struggle to win.
So without anymore stalling, hereʼs whoʼs hot and whoʼs not:
HOT
- Andrea Bargnani is on a role again. To all the doubters out there - myself included at times - that said Andrea may have been better chosen later in the first round, think again. After scoring 29 points and leading the Raptors to a huge win over the Boston Celtics at home, Bargnani capped off a huge week statistically.
In the current three game winning streak for the Raptors, Bargs is averaging 28 points per-game and at the same time is steadily improving in the rebound department. Mind you, itʼs hard for the Raptors centre to grab a big number of rebounds every game when the third leading rebounding in the NBA is on his team.
- Pau Gasol continues to prove why if the Lakers go all the way this year heʼs the MVP. Forget everything else he did this past week and focus on just last nightʼs performance against the Golden State Warriors. 10-10 shooting, 28 points and nine rebounds proves once again how valuable he is for the Lakers, and furthermore how he may be the best power-forward in the game today.
- Furthermore, the Lakers are extremely hot. After Phil Jackson shed his wisdom to league reporters and said that he believed the Heat would win 72 games but not the Lakers, Kobe and company decided that it would be only fitting to lose two games just to make coach look right. Besides those two small, small blunders, the Lakers have looked unbeatable this season and currently sit at 12-2. Not too shabby at all.
- Did you think we were going to leave the west coast with just one hot team? Heck no. The San Antonio Spurs are on FIRE, I repeat, FIRE! The sleeper team to everyone except residents of Texas, the Spurs have flown under the radar and now have tied New Orleans for the best record in the NBA at 11-1. Once again, not bad for a team that was considered too old, slow and not healthy enough to make a solid push to contend this year. As for the ʻwashed upʼ superstar on their team, number 21, heʼs being typical Tim again averaging 13 points and just under 10 rebounds per-game early on this season.
Now, whoʼs not:
- Alright, Iʼm convinced this is a conspiracy in sports. First Tiger Woods, then Brett Favre and now Tony Parker! If you havenʼt got the message yet - and no we arenʼt talking text because you get a lot of those - then you need to wake up and smell the roses!
Tiger got caught leaving messages on phones of everyoneʼs mistresses. Brett Favre rustled his old feathers in some New York trash and now Tony Parkerʼs looking for more desperate housewives than Eva Longoriaʼs co-stars.
After allegedly receiving more than hundreds of text messages from other women, including a teammateʼs wife the storied relationship of Tony Parker and Eva Longoria is over. I canʼt say itʼs too surprising, everything happens for a reason and in todayʼs world it was only fitting that basketball entered the text-drama movie.
- Speaking of drama in Hollywood, check out the Clippers and their terrible record! 1-13, an out of shape Baron Davis and the one bright spot, rookie of the year candidate Blake Griffin. And wait, hold up...weʼre done with whoʼs not. How can you forget about that kid from Oklahoma.
So hereʼs the new section of the week:
Whoʼs BLAKEinʼ:
- Get your Griffin on, Blake is HERE NBA fans. Check out his dunks against the Knicks on the weekend and if you believed at one point that there was any competition between him and John Wall for who deserves this yearʼs NBA Rookie Of The Year, listen to what my boy had to say:
“ Thereʼs no way that thereʼs any competition right now for the award. I mean, come on...John Wall canʼt even sniff Blake Griffinʼs boxer-shorts right now heʼs that nice!”
There you have it this yearʼs ROY, and heck, heʼd be the MVP if he didnʼt play for Kobeʼs younger sister in L.A.
Oh, and his stat line from Saturdayʼs game: 44 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists. Now if youʼre arenʼt hung over from the weekend or you feel like you need to just sit back and watch these hi-lights over and over again, then go ahead because I know I will...
-MM
Ben Gordon stops by the show and talked about his rehab process with his ankle, his sharp-shooting days with the Chicago Bulls and the Pistons' meltdown last season. He also touched on some of the new faces in Detroit
for the 2010-11 campaign.
The NBA Breakdown - For hoops talk, the way it should be!
Ben Gordon Stops By The NBA Breakdown! from The NBA Breakdown on Vimeo.
Just in case you missed it, here are highlights from The NBA Breakdown.
For hoops talk, the way it should be!
Highlights from Episode #5 from The NBA Breakdown on Vimeo.
He'll give you the top three games of the week to look out for and fill you in why you need to pay attention, only like a former NBAer can.
This week's games to watch are:
#5 Weekly NBA Preview with Tracy Murray from The NBA Breakdown on Vimeo.
How's it going WORLD?!!
In addition to Ben, what if I told you, we had the little brother of ex-Golden State Warrior, Sacramento King and 1995 NBA All-Star Game MVP winner, Mitch Richmond, who is also...
I WISH
It’s high time for me to get something that I want and by all means I’m going to. See I am one of those who gives gives and gives until I can’t give anymore. Every year about this time I start feeling guilty about giving too much. So I thought I’d give the NBA world my wish list.
Gosh darn it I feel that I deserve it!!!!
First. These are the things that I want to happen with regards to things that are going on right now.
1st off read my lips! Leave Cam Newton alone!!!!!!!
I’m a former NCAA Div 1 basketball player (and a good one I might add hehehe). You work all 4 years for an institute of learning. Your athletic jersey is sold in every store within a 60 miles radius of the school. In some cases all over the world. They make millions and sometimes with certain athletes, billions of dollars. For example, I live in LA. In the LAX airport you can still get an Ed and Charles O’Bannon UCLA jersey or a Reggie Bush #5 jersey. All three for more than 60 bucks a piece. That’s ridiculous!! I wish college players were paid.
2nd. I'd like for David Stern to understand that he will never is able to cut the salaries of the players. Our game is world wide and the owners respectfully are making a heckava lot of money. Remember they were the ones who started the max out contracts and awarding guys all of this money.
Even for guys who had no business getting it. It’s their fault for this threat of a Lockout this summer. They in my opinion brought this on themselves. I really think that with the growth of the NBA in the last 20 years, it would take a huge hit if there were a lockout this summer or at anytime. The league can’t survive that. I mean it would go on but it would be horrible for the league and its fans. Let’s find a way to fix this. It’s my wish!!!! (In my Samuel L. Jackson Voice).
3rd. I'd like a little respect for Eric Gordon. Have you seen how great he is playing? He’s like Vinny Johnson, Kevin Johnson (your mayorship) and Mitch Richmond all rolled into one. I love his intensity and his scoring touch. He hasn’t stopped anyone defensively but for sure he’s scored in bunches. A wise man would say probably that when or if Baron Davis returns, Gordon’s numbers will decrease but I don’t think so.
I think he’s earned the touches and the time on the court. Time will tell if this is because overall he’s a beast or that it’s because Davis isn’t on the court demanding the ball all of the time. I’m just saying I love the kid's game. Maybe its he that will finally bring the Clips some respect. Lord knows Michael Olowokandi couldn’t do it.
4th. Remember that song for Christmas that goes “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth"? Well all I want for Christmas is to see Dwight Howard and some of the other centers and forwards make solid moves in the paint area. I’m sick of seeing these guys walk turnaround and shoot the ball or make free throw line jump shots for their career. I absolutely hate it. That’s why I love Tim Duncan and always have.
Since the first time I saw him when I played against him in college, he’s been a fundamental dream. What happened to The NBA center? Bring him back. Somebody outlaw the jump shooting bigs.
From now on that’s a man law.
5th. Lord please bless Portland Center Greg Oden. What must this young man be thinking in his mind right now? He’s had crazy bad luck in his young career after being chosen first in the NBA draft some years ago. This young man needs our prayers right now. I know how it is to be injured and not being able to give your all. It’s like Brandy felt the other night on DWTS. Oden each time he’s had an injury, worked his butt off to get back so no one can question his work ethic. But you know some will call him a bum or a bust. I believe a bum or a bust is when you don’t give it your all or you don’t care about the game.
Greg Oden has worked hard and doesn’t deserve that. Fans are brutal sometimes. I think it’s mostly because truthfully they all wanted to play pro sports at some point and when they don’t get that chance or aren’t good enough, they hate the ones that make it. I’ve seen this many times. A young kid like Oden can make this ok if he keeps coming back. Keep it going Greg. I see you.
6th. I wish Lebron had gone to New York. Nuff said.
7th. I hope Tony Parker can find his wallet because after this divorce he won’t have a wallet. Can you say Cha---- Ching!!!!!!!!!!!!!
8th. I wish I had gone to Las Vegas to bet on the New Orleans for the first 10 games of the year. I'd be a billionaire right now. Then I'd really is singing that awful "Billionaire" song by Travis McCoy and Bruno Mars.
I felt like the additions of Ariza and Monty William's coaching would serve them well but who knew that they would jump out throwing bows and kicking Butt the way that they have. I guess Chris Paul will be there for a while. Nothing cures your woes like winning.
Last but not least I want to throw a couple of names out at my under 35 crew of readers. See if you can really identify with these names.
1.Lenny Bias
2.Reggie Lewis
3.Hank Gathers
4.Bobby Phils
5.Jason Collier
6.Manute Bol
7.Drazen Petrovic
8.Lorenzen Wright
This Thanksgiving and Christmas I’m thankful to have played against, met, played with or admired these guys. They are gone but for sure not forgotten. R.I.P.
Remember to box out and follow your shot.
One love.
