Bball Breakdown #20 - Playoff Preview

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.

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Coach Nick breaks down the advantages the #2 seed Lakers have over their counterpart, the #7 New Orleand Hornets. Without David West, Chris Paul is coming in without a loaded gun, and it'll be hard for the Hornets to pull out even one game.

Bball Breakdown#13

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.

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Coach Nick breaks down a good game between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers. When Paul Pierce and Kobe Bryant got going, it was the Lakers who got the advantage. Doc Rivers still needs to adjust to teams that completely lay off Rajon Rondo, while Ray Allen broke the record for career three pointers made, formerly held by awful-shooting-form Reggie Miller.

A Word From Ryan #3

Ryan Ward is a passionate and opinionated sports writer that has dedicated himself to his craft over the past five years writing about all the sports he loves from the US and overseas, from International soccer to NFL football, but with an especially passionate interest in NBA basketball and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Follow Ryan on Twitter

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NBA Trade Rumor: Is Carmelo Anthony headed to Los Angeles?

Every single year around this time in the NBA regular season, trade rumors start swirling around the league as teams consider wheeling and dealing before the NBA trade deadline. Usually during this time the best teams in the league stay away from making deals as they are normally content with their squads and don’t want to mess with the team chemistry at the halfway point in the season.

When the best teams in the league do make moves it usually is to pick up a veteran before the playoffs as an insurance policy, but heading towards the Feb. 24 NBA trade deadline, the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers seem like the one team in the league that are destined make a deal.

The one big-name that has been circulating around the NBA as a player that wants out of his current situation is the Denver Nuggets superstar forward Carmelo Anthony. At just 26 years old, Carmelo is a bright young star in this league with a promising future if he can get on the right team.

A few years ago, the Denver Nuggets were arguably one of the best teams in the league after they made a trade before the deadline to acquire Chauncey Billups in exchange for former NBA MVP Allen Iverson. When the deal went down a lot of people wondered why they would get rid of Iverson for Billups, but the trade completely turned the franchise as they finally had a solid floor general at the point guard position.

With Billups running the point and Melo shouldering the offense, the Nuggets made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals, but lost to the eventual NBA champion Lakers. Since then, the Nuggets haven’t really been able to repeat their success in the playoffs and have gotten progressively worse over time.

This season the Denver Nuggets will most likely be playoff bound once again as they currently would have the seventh seed in the West and still have a shot to win the Northwest division title, but it is highly unlikely that Carmelo Anthony will be on the team as he will almost certainly be traded before the deadline.

The one team that has been mentioned as Melo’s likely destination is with the New York Knicks, but he has also been linked to the New Jersey Nets, Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks. Even though Melo could still be headed to the Big Apple, the Los Angeles Lakers have gotten in the mix as they have started talking with the Denver Nuggets about a deal involving their superstar.

The deal would send Lakers center Andrew Bynum and possibly some other players to the Nuggets in exchange for Carmelo Anthony. With Bynum being just 23 years old and a two-time champ, the Nuggets feel they can build around this young kid, but the Lakers seem ready to ship him out of town as they are tired of dealing with his injury problems.

At first glance, this seems to be too good to be true for the Los Angeles Lakers as their starting lineup would be extremely talented to say the least. With Kobe Bryant, Derek Fisher, Carmelo Anthony, Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol this team would be close to unstoppable. They would definitely have to strike some team chemistry like the Miami Heat had to with LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade, but if they can do just that, a three-peat might be around the corner.

Whether or not this blockbuster trade goes down remains to be seen, but it will be interesting to see what happens if Melo and Kobe end up teaming up in Los Angeles.

A Word From Ryan #1

Ryan Ward is a passionate and opinionated sports writer that has dedicated himself to his craft over the past five years writing about all the sports he loves from the US and overseas, from International soccer to NFL football, but with an especially passionate interest in NBA basketball and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Follow Ryan on Twitter


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Jerry West claims Lakers’ age is starting to affect the defense

The two-time defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers have dominated the league over the past few seasons as they have gone to three straight NBA Finals and been the team to beat in the Western Conference. Even though Kobe Bryant and company came into yet another title defense with high hopes of winning three in a row for the second time in the Black Mamba/Zen Master era in L.A., this year has been arguably the toughest challenge with age starting to become a factor as the Lakers continue to compete against the best and brightest the NBA has to offer.

There is no question that the Los Angeles Lakers are still a very talented basketball with arguably the best player in the world in Kobe Bryant leading the way. The problem is that this championship caliber squad has an average of 30 years old and has played more games than any other team over the last three years. There are 10 players on this team currently that are 30 years of age or older.

Kobe Bryant alone has put a lot of miles on his body over the last three seasons as he has been battling injuries the entire time and was one of two players (Lamar Odom being the other) to play for Team USA during the offseason over the past few years. Even if Kobe’s injured finger was hanging by a thread, the two-time NBA Finals MVP would still try and get on the floor to lead his squad, but his banged up body can only take so much and every passing game brings him closer and closer to calling it quits.

Recently, Los Angeles Lakers legend and former general manager Jerry “Mr. Clutch” West came out and said that the age of this team is really starting to affect the defense.

“If there’s a loose ball now, how often do they get to it? The reason you can’t play defense is because you can’t,” West said.

When the Lakers are playing at the top of their game they are as good as any team in the league on the defensive end of the floor, but this season they have really struggled to play consistently well.

Head coach Phil Jackson doesn’t disagree with Jerry West in this regard.

“He’s right. We have to do a lot of things right to be able to play defense the way we want to, and most of it is about controlling the tempo of a game,” Jackson said.

As of right now, the Los Angeles Lakers are leading the way in the Pacific division once again with a 32-13 record heading into their matchup with the Utah Jazz at the Staples Center on Tuesday night. Along with being atop their division and almost certainly playoff bound once again, the Lakers are doing pretty well in keeping opponent scoring down by giving up 96.4 points per game (10^th in the NBA).

Ultimately though, the Lakers will start to feel time creeping up on them and will need some younger players to come in to help Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol to keep this team among the best of the best in the Western Conference.

If the team fails to repeat or even go far in the playoffs this time around, I would anticipate some changes to this roster in the offseason with Phil Jackson’s retirement being the first domino to fall.

The Barbershop Battles

One of the most riveting discussions that everyone seemed to have an opinion on this past season was the one that forced us to answer the question, "Kobe or LeBron?"



Barbershops everywhere were in upheaval as the debate over who the best player was waged on.

The Olympic teammates had phenomenal seasons and individually had some pretty spectacular performances.

On February 2, Kobe waltzed into Madison Square Garden and set a scoring record by pouring in 61 points.



Two days later LeBron and his Cavs strolled into MSG and he went off for 50 points and was one rebound short of a triple double.



James captured the league's most valuable player honour whereas KB24 led his Lakers to an NBA championship.

Kobe also won the Finals MVP award named in honour of the great Bill Russell.

There were no shortage of opinions on The NBA Breakdown this past season. Not only were Dave and Audley on polar opposites but so were some of their guests.



Check it out as The NBA Breakdown turns the clock back to try and answer the biggest stumper of the season.

Who's better, Kobe or LeBron?

Special thanks to:

-Chip-Fu
-Chris Reid from Kid N' Play
-Doug Christie
-Nick Anderson
-Troy "Escalade" Jackson
-Chris Rose from The Best Damn Sports Show
-Elvin Hayes and
-Dick Vitale.

The NBA Breakdown - For hoops talk, the way it should be!!

How's It Taste Shaq?

It's been almost a year ago since Kobe and his Lakers were on the wrong end of a 39-point margin in a decisive NBA finals game.

They've had an entire year to think about it and the Lakers have righted the wrong perpetrated against them and have given Jack a reason to celebrate.



The boys in Gold & Purple played like champs throughout the series and overcame a couple of close encounters that could have changed the complexion of the series.



This includes a blown lay up by Courtney Lee in Game 2 and a ton of missed free throws by the Magic in Game 4.

With the newly named, Bill Russell trophy in one hand and the Four Horseman symbol in the other, Kobe and the Gang Celebrated on the Magic's home floor.



To top it off, they'll have the honour of heading to the White House in the fall to meet with Mr. Barack "Lakers in six, I think" Obama.



The Lakers are this year's champions and Kobe has finally solidified his legacy by capturing a title without Shaquille O'Neal at his side.

Speaking of the big fella, he's got a new favorite song these days.

It's called " Shaq, tell me how ass taste"

The NBA Finals: Where Speculation Happens!

So we're on the verge of The NBA Finals and as expected, there's tons of speculation floating around. There never seems to be a shortage of opinions on what the outcome of the Finals will be, especially this time of year.

The reality is that nobody really knows but it's sure fun to speculate, ain't it?.

As more and more opinions sprout up, a slew of questions are generated.

Here's a few that we won't have answers to until after opening tip:

- Is Shaq's blessing enough to get Kobe a ring?

- Will Dwight Howard's million dollar smile make him the next advertising powerhouse?













- Is Jameer playing or not?
















- How long will it take before Jeff Van Gundy's biasness shines through?























- And finally, will Barack Obama get this one right?



The answers to some of these questions will come sooner than others but in the meantime, consider this for a moment.

As much as the Lakers are considered to be the favourites to win their 15th title in franchise history.

The one thing you haven't heard the experts say is that LA will completely dominate or even sweep Orlando in this series.

At the same time, a majority of those who feel the Magic have a shot are saying it'll take them at least 6 games.

Assuming the individual performances of Howard and Kobe cancel themselves out, the role players will be key in this series.

Guys like Odom, Turkoglu, Lewis and Gasol will have to perform to give their respective teams a shot at winning.

This is all a pretty good indication that this year's final should be real close and entertaining.

The NBA Finals: Where Speculation Happens!

It's On - Again!!

Fans will probably have to wait until the league MVP award is announced before having a true sense of who is most deserving of the title greatest in the game today.



However, there is a one-on-one battle that you won't have to wait until the end of the season to see the results.

Dave & Audley, hosts of the the best basketball internet talk show on the planet square off in another head-to-head battle for basketball bragging rights in their fantasy league this week.

At this point, the season series is tied at 1 win each.

In this latest matchup, if Audley loses he'll have to make a donkey noise and profess that Dave Mendonca, is the reason why people listen to and support The NBA Breakdown.

If Dave loses, he has no other choice but to wail like an elephant and say that his basketball knowledge is inferior to Audley.

Be sure to keep it tuned to The NBA Breakdown to hear the latest on this MASSIVE Fantasy matchup!

If you're not familiar with the history of these two trash talkers, check out where it all started.

Down With The King?

The LeBron/Kobe debate really heated up when Barack came out and annointed KB #24 as the "best player in the world".




So now that you've heard from the Prez and my little buddy Dave, it's time to flip the coin and check out the other side.

Nobody's doubting that Kobe is off the chain - he's a ridiculous scorer with a true killer instinct. Plus his will to win and desire to utterly humiliate his opponents put him on another planet.

The thing is Kobe, you're not alone.

You see, there's this 6'8 monster named LeBron who has more than enough physical gifts and greatness to snatch the crown off of you and place it on his own head.



We're so used to seeing him dominate that we often forget that he's only played five full season in the league. Whereas Jellybean Joe Bryant's favourite Laker has been around for 13 seasons.

Take a good look at the stats and you'll see that LeBron's footprint has left a bigger imprint on the game at the five year mark than Kobe did.

Points
Kobe - 6,178
Lebron - 10,689

Assists
Kobe - 1,141
Lebron - 2,572

Rebounds
Kobe - 1,353
Lebron - 2,692

Hey guys, I don't make up this stuff - the facts speak for themselves.

LeBron has been just as impactful as Kobe with the exception of the 3 rings Kobe garnered playing alongside Shaq.



LeBron has the speed of a fleeing gazelle, the intensity of a caged beast and the heart of a lion. His intangibles make him equally as dangerous as the player formerly known as #8 plus he's poised to take the game to another level.

The fact that this debate is taking place speaks to how good he really is and why he's got people throwing their hands in the air in amazement.