CRAZY AND STRANGE NBA STORIES

Ladies and Gentlemen, fans of the NBA, we have reached my final NBA blog. It is crazy to think how fast time flew. It feels like I wrote my first blog yesterday. This being my final, I would like to end this NBA blog an incredibly interesting post, and probably my longest. Without further ado, these are some of the craziest and strangest stories that have occurred throughout NBA history...

DEADLIEST PUNCH IN NBA HISTORY

This is a story of how one punch changed professional sports. It was on the night of December 9, 1977, where two men's lives collided. A fight occurred between Kermit Washington - power forward of the Los Angeles Lakers, and Rudy Tomjanovich- an all-star forward of the Houston Rockets. The brawl took place on the Lakers home court. Tomjanovich ran up right behind Washington, who turned around to deliver a nearly fatal right-hand punch to Tomjanovich's face that knocked him to the floor, leaving him in a pool of blood. Basketball was a tougher, more physical game then. But since that one punch, the NBA and other professional sports organizations began cracking down on fighting with penalties for players. John Feinstein has written a book called The Punch, which chronicles what happened that night, and the impact it had on both men's lives.

LAMAR ODOM'S CANDY PROBLEM

We all know of Lamar Odom's drug addiction which is generally the reason why he had to stop playing basketball. However, Odom had a much more strange addiction that not a lot of people have talked about. Lamar Odom was borderline addicted to candy. This all started in the 2009 playoffs, where Odom claimed the reason why he played well in games 5 and 6 was that he ate candy for breakfast. Candy is not the best pre-game meal. It might even be one of the worst choices for the first meal of the day. So this was definitely news to some people. As reporters dug deeper into this, they found out that Lamar did not just eat candy occasionally, but that his whole diet revolved around candy. This topic even got its own ESPN segment, showcasing how much candy Lamar needed to fulfil himself. Teammates revealed that Lamar would bring bags of candy to every practice. This habit got to the point where Lamar would wake up every day at 3 AM to eat candy in order to refresh himself. Yikes.

JASON TERRY AND HIS ODD SUPERSTITION

It is definitely normal for athletes or anyone at all to have superstitions. Whether it be to eat the same meal for good luck, whether it be to pound your head against the wall before games for good luck. These superstitions are 1 thing, but Jason Terry's was something else. It was very bizarre. During the season on nights when his team has a game the next day, Terry has to go to sleep wearing the shorts of the team he is about to play. These can't even be shorts that anyone can buy at the store, they have to be real NBA shorts worn in a real NBA game. In order to get the game-worn shorts from the rest of the 29 teams in the NBA, Jason has established a network of equipment managers and former NBA players that hook him up before games. This superstition has been so well known that the San Antonio Spurs have tried to trick Terry with the shorts they give him. So the Spurs gave him practice shorts to sleep in instead of game shorts. After sleeping in the practice shorts, the following day, Jason's team did, in fact, lose to the Spurs the next night. This proves that Spurs' coach Gregg Popovich is always 1 step ahead even when it comes to weird superstition.

JASON WILLIAM'S UNPLEASANT HANGOVER

When Jason Williams was first drafted to the Phoenix Suns, he had no intentions of going there what so ever. Cameras even caught him screaming "oh no, no I'm not". He did not want to leave in PEhonex and waited for the last possible second to bail out. When he finally flew to Arizona he decides to get really drunk to forget about his problems. In fact, he got so drunk that when he woke up, the next morning he completely forgot where he was and thought he was still in New York. So when he looked out the window and saw nothing but desert, he started to freak out because he thought the US was hit with an atomic bomb. He tried to contact family and friends, but couldn't reach them. When the General Manager walked to the door and when Jason saw him, he ran to him and asked, "What happened? They dropped a bomb on us, where am I?"

So those were some odd and crazy NBA storied for you guys. My NBA blog is finally finished. It has been an honour to write about the NBA every week, usually on the last day of the week. Thank you for reading!!

Lebron wants Carmelo Anthony to the Lakers?

Lebron and GM moves are back at it again. Many fans like to call him LeGM. Lebron James wants Carmelo Anthony on the Lakers. This statement is very interesting because before this even happened and right after Carmelo got cut from the Rockets, nobody and absolutely NOBODY wanted Carmelo on their team. He was obviously a very unattractive pick. Lakers fans even gave the Carmelo decision a big fat NO. Memes were made and rants occurred about how out of prime Carmelo is now.

Carmelo Anthony

However, Lebron all of a sudden would like to land him. Most fans and people, in general, are not too sure about this one. They are definitely noticing the cons of this happening. Carmelo will be taking away minutes from the Lakers' young core. The team itself is doing very well right now, with young stars like Brandon Ingrim and Kyle Kuzma.

Kyle Kuzma and Brandon Ingram

The whole team consists of all these young players developing and creating more chemistry as a team and around Lebron. However, Carmelo is reaching the end of his career. Inserting Melo on this team will take the young star's minutes away. Carmelo is also putting himself in a position of coming off the bench, which he would not want to do or at least not again. If he is willing to accept the role as a bench player, then this may work. Melo also has advantages with working with Lebron because the two of them have been best friends along with Chris Paul for a very long time. So if Carmelo is still confused about being the starter on this team then that will definitely mess things up. It will mess up chemistry and the team will just be discombobulated. Melo has shown this before on his previous teams, it is just plain awkward when he is on the court. This is just proving what could POTENTIALLY happen. Lebron, however, has shown that he can make his player picks work out so we never know what can happen with this pick. Anyone does what Lebron Says. There was also a bit more drama with things that Kevin Durant said. He claims that people don't want to or shouldn't join the Lakers because of Lebron, due to the attention. It would be nice for Lebron to prove KD wrong and show that he can make everything work. But I also hope that people want to come to LA but not to Lebron so that good players start coming to the Clippers :)).

Clippers Rise Up!!

If you have read my previous blogs, you may have stumbled upon the fact by now that my favourite team is the Los Angeles Clippers. I have also mentioned how they may be cursed because they have won absolutely no championships or even conference championships. How sad :/

LOGO

This year, they are making themselves look promising, despite the fact that we have no star players. We still fight and strive for greatness at every game. The Clippers are surprising the league and not a lot of people are discussing them because they are the Clippers, when you think of them you think of a garbage can. Well, they can think all they want right now, because my team, the Los Angeles Clippers are currently at the #1 seed in the Western Conference.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Nobody, not even me, would think we would be this good this season. I honestly had no expectations what so ever, I did not care about this season as much in the beginning, because our team is currently rebuilding, with the help of our GM, Jerry West. Let me just say that Jerry West has been doing us great so far. He helped us pick up and draft Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. This rookie is already on our starting lineup and proved that he is another really good fit for the team. So with that, we can rely on Jerry West to make smart decisions for us. Now, what do I personally think helped us become a better team? Well, to me it seems like our old roster had many chemistry problems, specifically with Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and Deandre Jordan. The spurt of the chemistry issues may have revolved around the fact that the coaches son was on the team, and a sense of biases was in the air.

OLD ROSTER

But now that the son has gone to the Washington Wizards, and we picked up great players, we seem to be balling out this season. I am happy with where we are right now and how we have been doing lately. We even beat top-tier teams such as the Warriors, Bucks, Nuggets, and more. Now for the future, we never know what may happen. Our GM may be working on getting Kawhi Leanard because Leanard wants to go to LA but not on the Lakers. I found that statement pretty interesting. All in all, this surprising to witness. Now I just hope that our team can stay healthy and consistently strong. If we can maintain our ground, then we may make deep runs in the future.

What's been going on?

Welcome back NBA fanatics! This week, we've got more juicy stuff to talk about as always. Currently, in the league, a lot of drama has been going on, interesting events, and more. First I would like to bring up a question that probably everyone, including the bandwagon fans, are bringing up. That question is, "What is going on with the Golden State Warriors?". Lately, the team has not been performing the way they are expected to be, and there has also been some conflict between teammates as well. The Warriors have been blowing games, and on top of that, they are on a 3-game losing streak, causing them to drop from the #1 seed to the #2 seed. Despite having injured players, the team should still not be losing this often, it is even rare for the team to lose twice in a row or even at all. There may be a cause of this terrible performance by Golden State, and that leads to me talking about the drama between Kevin Durant and Draymond "Donkey" Green.

A recent argument between Draymond Green (Left) and Kevin Durant (Right)
(Warriors @ Clippers Nov, 12)

Just recently, while going against my favourite team, the LA Clippers, the Draymond the snake and Kevin the donkey got into a serious argument on the bench after the Draymond turned the ball over in the final seconds of the 4th quarter, instead of passing the ball to Kevin Durant or a wide-open player. though evidence showed that Draymond was trying to pass toward the very last seconds, the ball got stripped from his hands, and the Warriors did not even have a chance to make an attempt at a game-winning basket. The game went into overtime and between the end of the 4th quarter and overtime, the argument on the bench occurred. In the argument, Draymond stated bold words to Durant, saying the team is better off without Durant and mentioning how the Warriors won without him. Draymond went further on and called Durant a b**ch. This is not the first time that the 2 players went at each other, they have had 2 or 3 big arguments before this. There is so much to this story and this conflict. Even former Warrior, David West, tweeted out that the media or the fans "have no idea what went down". The team did not want anyone to know, so they questioned why he tweeted that. But as said earlier, there is a lot to this story and why this conflict could possibly ruin the Warriors' dynasty. Kevin Durant alone might be ruining the Warriors' dynasty. There is a video on youtube that goes more in depth about this topic. You may want to check it out after reading this.

Another interesting event that occurred recently is that Carmelo Anthony was said to no longer be a part of the Houston Rockets. Many reporters and fans state that Carmelo should go to the Lakers, but it does not seem like the GM of the Lakers, in other words, Lebron James, is not interested in signing Carmelo. Not even my team wants him. Carmelo is claimed as an "unattractive signing" in this season. It is honestly very sad to see Carmelo's career go down this path. The former all-star has never even won a championship ring yet, and as of now, he is getting pushed around and all over the place with different teams. It is not clear yet of where he will be residing, but no team seems too interested.

As for my favourite team, the Los Angelos Clippers, I feel that we are seriously doing better than expected, and we remain an underrated team this season. Sure, barely any NBA fan knows a single player on this team, but that's where we come underrated. Many may say that our star player, Lou Williams is carrying the team and finishing off games for us, but he really does have help. We have Danilo Gallinari, Tobias Haris, Boban Marjanovic, and even our rookie player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is playing extremely well and is on the starting lineup. Our team surprisingly put the Warriors and Bucks to sleep, when nobody expected that we were going to. I am excited to see where my team ends up this season.

This season had many unexpected events and turnarounds. We are even seeing Boston at #5, Houston at #10, my Clippers actually doing something good, the Warriors not playing right, big trades, and more. We will see how the warriors get their crap together, where Carmelo Anthony will go, and further unanswered questions.

What if an entire NBA team died?

As you have probably read the title by now, you may have already guessed that this week's blog post will be a little bit dark. The title really must have intrigued you. I may only be asking "What if an NBA team died?" as a hypothetical question, but however, there once was a team where this almost became a reality. This topic may be a bit morbid and the NBA does want fans to forget this dark tragedy and discussion. As crazy as it sounds, this actually almost happened, back in the 1960s. The incident occurred with the Lakers, at the time when the Lakers were still in Minneapolis rather than Los Angeles.

Minneapolis Lakers (the 1960s)

The team was just about to head back from taking a loss to the St. Louis Hawks. The loss was the last thing the Lakers' minds as they were about to board the plane. They few nervously in a frozen twin-propeller plane which began suffering an electrical failure after takeoff. It was a dark and dangerous night, with a cold blizzard as a burden. What makes this night even worse and much creepier, is the fact that one of the players were in possession of an Ouija board and was playing with it moments before complications on the plane began to occur. Co-pilot Harold Gifford claimed, "For a time, we weren't sure if we'd make it". Luckily, they eventually made it and barely landed safely in an Iowa cornfield.

Now, what would happen if an entire NBA team actually ended up dying? The NBA holds what is called a "Disaster Draft" if an incident occurred where 5 or more players were to be dismembered. Nobody knew this rule existed mainly because the NBA would not want a young audience to see the league in that way. The purpose of the Disaster Draft is to replace the individuals who were lost.  The rest of the teams that were unaffected by the disaster are allowed to protect five players. Though, the team that was affected would only be able to pick 1 player from a single roster of each team. This Disaster Draft would really hurt teams that are on the rise up of rebuilding and the team that was affected by the disaster, which chooses the players, still has the liberty of picking members of stacked teams, allowing them to build their own empire. That is what makes this rule extreme. The reminder that 5 players make big difference.

Can Derrick Rose Blossom again? Can my favorite team do something right this season?

Throughout the season so far, there were already many incredible 50+ point games from incredible players. We had Stephen curry score 51 points against the Washington Wizards. He went 12-16 from the three-point line. We saw Klay Thompson score an amazing 52 points against the bulls. What makes this game even more amazing for him is the fact that he broke the record for most threes made in a game, sinking in 14 three-pointers. Blake Griffin also had a great 50 point game, dropping 50 points and making this his career high. But the most incredible 50+ point game we have witnessed was Derrick Rose's career high of 50 points against the Utah Jazz. What makes this an amazing game is the fact that we have not seen Derrick Rose play like an all-star in a very long time. Rose is already out of his prime, sadly due to many injuries. He reached the point where he is known more for getting injured excessively rather than his actual time on the court. Not to mention, the media has made many memes about him because of these injuries.

But this is why it was really nice to see Derrick Rose have an incredible game once again. After the game, Rose teared up because that is how much of an amazing feeling it must have brought to him. Sadly, 2 days after this game, after such an incredible game, he only scored 3 points and left the game early due to ankle soreness. That must have sucked really bad.:( But overall it was really nice to see Derrick Rose do something like that, even after his prime. On top of all these amazing 50+ point games, we also witnessed so many game winners. Lakers' Lebron James scored a game-winning free throw against the Mavericks. Paul Milsap of the Denver Nuggets scored a game-winning tip-in against the Bulls in overtime. This occurred on a Halloween game too, so he really gave the Bulls a trick rather than a treat! (ok I'll stop). Brooklyn Nets' Spencer Dinwiddie, a guy you never even heard of, scored the game-winning three-pointer against the Detroit Pistons. Lastly, we had Victor Oladipo, from the Indiana Pacers, scored the game-winning three-pointer against the Boston Celtics. I know that in my blog posts regarding this season. I have not been talking about my favourite team, the Los Angeles Clippers. This is because nothing juicy has happened to them recently, but I have to say, they are doing a little bit better than I expected. I thought they would start of the season with like 1 win out of there first 10, but they are currently 5-4,  even though they have gotten slightly worse because they started the season off great, for a team like the Clippers.

As you can tell, this year's NBA season is off to a stunning start. My last 2 posts can prove it to you as well. I am very surprised that the NBA has already got some fire in it, and I can't wait to witness whatever happens next.

This Season is already bringing a ton of excitement!

Many great and exciting moments have already occurred in this season, and we are only 2 weeks into it. 4 days ago we witnessed Detroit Pistons power forward Blake Griffin get to perform his career high of 50 points against the Philidelphia 76ers. Griffin is surprisingly averaging the highest amount of points in this season as of now. In this game, he also scored an amazing game-winner. He scored a tough layup and got fouled as well, which is also called an "and 1". This game lasted until overtime. Raptor's new addition, Kawhi Leanard has been playing very well lately, performing high scoring games. It is very nice to see him come back after his long-lasting injury. Speaking of the Raptors, they have set a franchise record, starting the season 6-0, as well as the Milwaukee Bucks. In a game between the Atlanta Hawks and the Dallas Mavericks, we got to see 2 rookies face-off, Trae Young vs Luka Doncic. Many fans are already comparing Trae Young to Stephen Curry. He is putting up great stats, averaging 21.5 points. Everyone sees potential in this young star.

Trae Young

In a game between the Golden State Warriors and the Washington Wizards, Stephen Curry exploded with 51 points. He knocked down incredible deep three-pointers and scored 11 out 16 three-point attempts. Although I feel that many have talked about this performance and hyped it up way too much because we have seen Curry do this like a million times.

This shrug photo that everyone has been posting on social media

In a matchup between the LA Lakers and the Denver Nuggets, Lebron James put up a triple-double. The Lakers handed the Nuggets their first loss of the season. Meanwhile, with the Oklahoma City Thunder, they are starting off the season with no wins, goign0-4. I am personally surprised, but I do know why they are going through this down period. Russel Westbrook just needs to be a better teammate. The Thunder have been so bad this year, that they blew a big lead against the Boston Celtics, only scoring 1 point in the final 4 minutes. Lastly, we got to witness Lebron James reach another big milestone. He has passed Dirk Nowitzki on the all-time scoring list, making him #6. This milestone occurred against the San Antonio Spurs, where Lebron's team, the Lakers, still took a loss against the Spurs. But once again, everyone is talking about Rajon Rondo here. In the final 15 seconds with the Lakers down by 3 points and in possession, Rondo had a wide open lane and could have put up a layup, but instead loses control of the ball and passes it outside. I personally do not see it as a dumb move, because the Lakers needed a 3, not a 2, however, I also believe that any point counts in that position. But once again, Rondo was made into a meme this week. Overall, it has been another interesting week for the NBA!