When the best rapper in the game makes a song about the best basketball player in the game and someone makes a cool highlight reel out of it, you almost have to show it.*
At least, that's my thinking anyway.
The song is "Kobe Bryant" by Lil Wayne, and the game is Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Have fun and enjoy!
*Note: Calling Bryant and Wayne the best is not my personal opinion but me expressing what many people believe. I'm more old school in hip hop and find it impossible to rank the best NBA players individually.
Comment or e-mail: thenbaoutsider@yahoo.com
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Showing posts with label Kobe Bryant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kobe Bryant. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Score One For The Kobe-Haters
Henry Abbott and his legion of Kobe-hating followers had to wake up Wednesday feeling pretty good.
That's because the night before the man they love to hate, Kobe Bryant, found himself in a true clutch situation and failed to deliver a win for the Los Angeles Lakers.
I don't want to hear anything about what Bryant, or anyone else, does in a five-point game with five minutes to go.
That's not clutch to me.
But having the ball with a chance to take the lead in the final 10 seconds is, and that is the exact situation Bryant found himself in on Tuesday night.
He turned the ball over, and Los Angeles lost the game.
The next day, Abbott posted a Twitter message from someone giving him props for getting it right about Bryant in the clutch, someone who obviously paid no attention to the fact that Abbott's lengthy diatribe had absolutely zero information in it about how Bryant performs in the final 10 seconds in game-winning situations, one of the many objections I had to the piece when it first came out.
TNT brought us closer to the real truth about Kobe Bryant in crunch time when, before the Los Angeles game at Miami, they displayed a stat which showed Bryant was 35% (.349, 22-63) on go-ahead shots in the final 30 seconds since 2003-04, a few points higher than the .313 Bryant shot over the course of his entire career when tied or down by one or two in the final 24 seconds, the key stat Abbott used for his piece.
But we still don't know what percentage Bryant shoots on go-ahead shots in the final 10 seconds, broken down by year and opponent.
And as long as that information is kept secret, Abbott and the Kobe-Haters will continue to score points whenever Bryant fails in the clutch.
And I'm sure that is fine by them.
Comment or e-mail: thenbaoutsider@yahoo.com
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That's because the night before the man they love to hate, Kobe Bryant, found himself in a true clutch situation and failed to deliver a win for the Los Angeles Lakers.
I don't want to hear anything about what Bryant, or anyone else, does in a five-point game with five minutes to go.
That's not clutch to me.
But having the ball with a chance to take the lead in the final 10 seconds is, and that is the exact situation Bryant found himself in on Tuesday night.
He turned the ball over, and Los Angeles lost the game.
The next day, Abbott posted a Twitter message from someone giving him props for getting it right about Bryant in the clutch, someone who obviously paid no attention to the fact that Abbott's lengthy diatribe had absolutely zero information in it about how Bryant performs in the final 10 seconds in game-winning situations, one of the many objections I had to the piece when it first came out.
TNT brought us closer to the real truth about Kobe Bryant in crunch time when, before the Los Angeles game at Miami, they displayed a stat which showed Bryant was 35% (.349, 22-63) on go-ahead shots in the final 30 seconds since 2003-04, a few points higher than the .313 Bryant shot over the course of his entire career when tied or down by one or two in the final 24 seconds, the key stat Abbott used for his piece.
But we still don't know what percentage Bryant shoots on go-ahead shots in the final 10 seconds, broken down by year and opponent.
And as long as that information is kept secret, Abbott and the Kobe-Haters will continue to score points whenever Bryant fails in the clutch.
And I'm sure that is fine by them.
Comment or e-mail: thenbaoutsider@yahoo.com
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Saturday, April 2, 2011
Monta Ellis: Shining Star
I wrote an article on Monta Ellis and the Golden State Warriors and had it published on Yahoo!.
It goes over some of his electrifying moments from the season and talks about how he is one of the best players in the NBA and also touches on what could be a bright future for Golden State.
I'm looking for other outlets to bring more exposure to my feature stories in an attempt to one day get paid to do this.
Enjoy!
Note: The Ellis article was completed and submitted for publication on March 28, 2011.
Comment or e-mail: thenbaoutsider@yahoo.com
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It goes over some of his electrifying moments from the season and talks about how he is one of the best players in the NBA and also touches on what could be a bright future for Golden State.
I'm looking for other outlets to bring more exposure to my feature stories in an attempt to one day get paid to do this.
Enjoy!
Note: The Ellis article was completed and submitted for publication on March 28, 2011.
Comment or e-mail: thenbaoutsider@yahoo.com
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Saturday, February 5, 2011
Dunks, Drive-Ins And Dives
At what point does Boston start worrying about its backup centers Jermaine and Shaquille O'Neal?
Rasheed Wallace played a huge role for this team in the playoffs last year, and these two guys were supposed to replace him.
Instead, we are left with Semih Erden.
The O'Neals are going to have to perform at the highest level, not only with their physical conditioning but with their knowledge and execution of the team concepts, with their teammates to win a championship.
It's looking more and more challenging as each day passes with each of them missing time due to various injuries.
The Milwaukee Bucks might be the most interesting story down the stretch.
They are 1.5 games out of eighth place in the East (5.5 games from sixth place) and are starting to get their players back.
They could have a full roster by the end of March, including Michael Redd and Drew Gooden.
I've been very critical of Al Jefferson, but I have to give him credit for some plays he made last night against Denver.
He made 1 ½ crucial stops as a help defender on Carmelo Anthony in the final 3:30 to help Utah get the victory.
Lack of help defense for years has been one of his biggest weaknesses.
It was a great job by Jefferson of playing tough defense when his team needed it most.
THE BLACK MAMBA
Henry Abbott released some numbers last week which, at least in his mind, finally proved once and for all that Kobe Bryant isn't as clutch as some think he is.
The funny thing is (I'll pretend I don't know why here), for some strange reason the numbers run all the way back to 1996, when Bryant was a rookie who barely played.
As I remember it, Bryant didn't become clutch until 2000, when he hit the game-winner to beat Phoenix in Game 2 of the first round of the playoffs and had that heroic Game 4 at Indiana in the Finals.
The raw numbers Abbott provides really don't mean much. In order to know what to make of this, we need to see the split statistics.
We need to know what Bryant shot in every game, every year against every opponent.
For all we know, Kobe Bryant could be shooting 80 percent against the best teams in the NBA and have all of his misses against the worst teams because they are harder to get motivated to play against.
And for all we know, he could be more clutch as his team advances further into the playoffs, peaking in the NBA Finals when he is at his absolute best.
But we don't know any of this because the splits aren't provided.
And we still don't know what Kobe Bryant shoots in game-winning situations in the last 10 seconds, with game-tying information removed from the data.
An article came out this season showing Carmelo Anthony was the best in game-winning or game-tying situations at .455, and Bryant had the most game-winners with 21, but Bryant's percentage wasn't provided.
Abbott wrote about Bryant's game-winners last season and gave some information which showed that Bryant has been awfully impressive recently. So it certainly appears that the numbers are trending in Bryant's direction.
But without the splits, there is just no way to tell one way or the other.
FOSTER KIDS
A funny thing happens when you predict a team to do well.
Because we all want to be right, you sort of adopt that team as your foster team and root for them to win; so they can make you look good.
And let me tell you, rooting for these teams has been such a gut-wrenching roller coaster of emotions that I don't know what to do with myself.
John Kuester fumbled the start of the season by not playing Greg Monroe as much as he should have, and at the start of the season Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince weren't playing with enough passion.
Minnesota had me on the high part of the roller coaster during the preseason. Then Martell Webster had to have back surgery and miss the start of the season.
Jonny Flynn's mid-November return from off-season surgery turned into mid-December.
In between, about every player on the roster had to miss time with injuries.
Darko Milicic sprained his ankle one game on the opening tip.
Anthony Tolliver is a 12th man who takes shot attempts like he's the franchise player. And Kurt Rambis keeps giving him playing time.
As soon as Los Angeles got cooking, Eric Gordon hurt his wrist and hasn't played since.
Jim O'Brien barely played Tyler Hansbrough and benched Paul George for almost two months, and TJ Ford has played a total of 10 minutes in the past nine games.
New coach Frank Vogel has Dahntay Jones higher in his rotation than James Posey, a highly-underrated basketball player with two championship rings, and has AJ Price higher in his rotation than TJ Ford.
Keith Smart just won't stop playing Vladimir Radmanovic at power forward.
Golden State assigned Jeremy Lin to the development league even though in his last action against actual NBA players, Golden State trailed 70-75 when he entered the game; and the score was tied 96-96 when he left it.
And even though Kevin Durant tried to score on him two times when Golden State played Oklahoma City and ended up with nothing but a turnover and a ball deflected out of bounds.
David Lee let the unstoppable Boris Diaw muscle him in the post, along with David West and just about everybody else.
The price we pay to be correct.
Like real foster kids, these teams drive you crazy because they are bad as hell. But you love them anyway because you adopted them, so they are yours.
GLAD TO BE WRONG
About the only time I enjoy being wrong is when a player or team turns out to be better than I thought they would.
And that is the case with the Toronto Raptors.
In my "Eastern Conference Preview" I suggested that their original, expansion roster might be more talented than their current one.
And while praising Jose Calderon in "The NBA's Best Point Guards," I called them a cast of "scrubs, losers, cast-offs and wannabes."
I got this one wrong.
I have an iron-clad rule when it comes to losing teams: at least be entertaining.
And Toronto is fun to watch.
DeMar DeRozan and Sonny Weems get after it on pretty much a nightly basis, and Andrea Bargnani can light it up at any given moment.
Because of injuries, they are not nearly as bad as their record indicates.
There is a future in Toronto.
Note: Al Jefferson was given a stop for drawing an offensive foul on Carmelo Anthony and ½ of a stop for his blocked shot on Anthony. Raja Bell got the other ½ of a stop for recovering the blocked shot.
For more information on how to figure stops and fractional stops, see my article on advanced defensive statistics.
Comment or e-mail: thenbaoutsider@yahoo.com
Tweet
Rasheed Wallace played a huge role for this team in the playoffs last year, and these two guys were supposed to replace him.
Instead, we are left with Semih Erden.
The O'Neals are going to have to perform at the highest level, not only with their physical conditioning but with their knowledge and execution of the team concepts, with their teammates to win a championship.
It's looking more and more challenging as each day passes with each of them missing time due to various injuries.
The Milwaukee Bucks might be the most interesting story down the stretch.
They are 1.5 games out of eighth place in the East (5.5 games from sixth place) and are starting to get their players back.
They could have a full roster by the end of March, including Michael Redd and Drew Gooden.
I've been very critical of Al Jefferson, but I have to give him credit for some plays he made last night against Denver.
He made 1 ½ crucial stops as a help defender on Carmelo Anthony in the final 3:30 to help Utah get the victory.
Lack of help defense for years has been one of his biggest weaknesses.
It was a great job by Jefferson of playing tough defense when his team needed it most.
THE BLACK MAMBA
Henry Abbott released some numbers last week which, at least in his mind, finally proved once and for all that Kobe Bryant isn't as clutch as some think he is.
The funny thing is (I'll pretend I don't know why here), for some strange reason the numbers run all the way back to 1996, when Bryant was a rookie who barely played.
As I remember it, Bryant didn't become clutch until 2000, when he hit the game-winner to beat Phoenix in Game 2 of the first round of the playoffs and had that heroic Game 4 at Indiana in the Finals.
The raw numbers Abbott provides really don't mean much. In order to know what to make of this, we need to see the split statistics.
We need to know what Bryant shot in every game, every year against every opponent.
For all we know, Kobe Bryant could be shooting 80 percent against the best teams in the NBA and have all of his misses against the worst teams because they are harder to get motivated to play against.
And for all we know, he could be more clutch as his team advances further into the playoffs, peaking in the NBA Finals when he is at his absolute best.
But we don't know any of this because the splits aren't provided.
And we still don't know what Kobe Bryant shoots in game-winning situations in the last 10 seconds, with game-tying information removed from the data.
An article came out this season showing Carmelo Anthony was the best in game-winning or game-tying situations at .455, and Bryant had the most game-winners with 21, but Bryant's percentage wasn't provided.
Abbott wrote about Bryant's game-winners last season and gave some information which showed that Bryant has been awfully impressive recently. So it certainly appears that the numbers are trending in Bryant's direction.
But without the splits, there is just no way to tell one way or the other.
FOSTER KIDS
A funny thing happens when you predict a team to do well.
Because we all want to be right, you sort of adopt that team as your foster team and root for them to win; so they can make you look good.
And let me tell you, rooting for these teams has been such a gut-wrenching roller coaster of emotions that I don't know what to do with myself.
John Kuester fumbled the start of the season by not playing Greg Monroe as much as he should have, and at the start of the season Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince weren't playing with enough passion.
Minnesota had me on the high part of the roller coaster during the preseason. Then Martell Webster had to have back surgery and miss the start of the season.
Jonny Flynn's mid-November return from off-season surgery turned into mid-December.
In between, about every player on the roster had to miss time with injuries.
Darko Milicic sprained his ankle one game on the opening tip.
Anthony Tolliver is a 12th man who takes shot attempts like he's the franchise player. And Kurt Rambis keeps giving him playing time.
As soon as Los Angeles got cooking, Eric Gordon hurt his wrist and hasn't played since.
Jim O'Brien barely played Tyler Hansbrough and benched Paul George for almost two months, and TJ Ford has played a total of 10 minutes in the past nine games.
New coach Frank Vogel has Dahntay Jones higher in his rotation than James Posey, a highly-underrated basketball player with two championship rings, and has AJ Price higher in his rotation than TJ Ford.
Keith Smart just won't stop playing Vladimir Radmanovic at power forward.
Golden State assigned Jeremy Lin to the development league even though in his last action against actual NBA players, Golden State trailed 70-75 when he entered the game; and the score was tied 96-96 when he left it.
And even though Kevin Durant tried to score on him two times when Golden State played Oklahoma City and ended up with nothing but a turnover and a ball deflected out of bounds.
David Lee let the unstoppable Boris Diaw muscle him in the post, along with David West and just about everybody else.
The price we pay to be correct.
Like real foster kids, these teams drive you crazy because they are bad as hell. But you love them anyway because you adopted them, so they are yours.
GLAD TO BE WRONG
About the only time I enjoy being wrong is when a player or team turns out to be better than I thought they would.
And that is the case with the Toronto Raptors.
In my "Eastern Conference Preview" I suggested that their original, expansion roster might be more talented than their current one.
And while praising Jose Calderon in "The NBA's Best Point Guards," I called them a cast of "scrubs, losers, cast-offs and wannabes."
I got this one wrong.
I have an iron-clad rule when it comes to losing teams: at least be entertaining.
And Toronto is fun to watch.
DeMar DeRozan and Sonny Weems get after it on pretty much a nightly basis, and Andrea Bargnani can light it up at any given moment.
Because of injuries, they are not nearly as bad as their record indicates.
There is a future in Toronto.
Note: Al Jefferson was given a stop for drawing an offensive foul on Carmelo Anthony and ½ of a stop for his blocked shot on Anthony. Raja Bell got the other ½ of a stop for recovering the blocked shot.
For more information on how to figure stops and fractional stops, see my article on advanced defensive statistics.
Comment or e-mail: thenbaoutsider@yahoo.com
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