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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
The NBA made it's official return this week on Tuesday. I have to say that this season has already started off pretty exciting. Star players on their new teams made their official debut. Gordan Hayward returned from a stunning injury that occurred last year. We also got to see many interesting matches, where interesting incidents and highlights occurred. The Warriors kicked off the season in a close game win against the Oklahoma City Thunder, without star player Russel Westbrook. The Hornet's point guard Kemba Walker dropped 41 points against the Bucks, even though the Hornets still ended up losing including a missed game-winning shot by Kemba Walker. Sixer's star player Ben Simmons already dropped a triple-double against the Bulls. Kemba Walker, Ish Smith, and JJ Reddick hit big game-winning shots this week. Many interesting events occurred this week. However, the incident that everyone is probably talking about the most is the Chris Paul and Rajon Rondo fight during a matchup between the Lakers and the Rockets.
The brawl was initiated after a hard foul on James Harden from Brandon Ingram. Ingram then gave a hard shove to Harden out of frustration. Ingram then got into a ref's face out of more frustration. There was already a little bit of tension already. Just when everyone thought it couldn't get any worse, Chris Paul and Rajon Rondo begin to get in each other's faces. Rondo then spits in his face, Paul then puts a finger in Rondo's face, afterwards Rondo throws a big punch, then Paul throws a punch. Brandon Ingram joins and starts to help Rondo throw more punches at Paul. Punches were continuously getting thrown until the fight was broken off. I would have to say that it was one of the first intense NBA fights we have had in a while, considering the fact that the NBA rules have gotten softer after the "Malice at the Palace". Afterwards, Brandon Ingram was suspended for 4 games, Rajan Rondo got suspended for 3, And Chris Paul got suspended for 2. This fight was discussed for the rest of the weekend, even memes were being posted about the fight:).
On the lighter note, my favorite team, the Los Angeles Clippers are not doing as bad as I thought they were going to do this year. They are currently 2-1 and they were able to close out hard fought games. I still believe we need our guards to put more work in.
Described as the worst night in the NBA, the night of Malice at the Palace took a toll on the league. This night was one of the more unforgettable moments, and also a very important one as well. On this fateful night, November 19, 2004, a huge brawl took place between the Detroit Pistons and the Indiana Pacers. This took place in the Palace of Auburn Hills, Michigan - the Detroit Pistons home court.
The game played out like any other typical NBA game. No one tried anything and no harm and threat between the two teams were showed. However, towards the final minute of the game, the brawl began with 45.9 seconds remaining in the game. Pistons center Ben Wallace was fouled from behind by Pacers small forward Ron Artest. The foul was as is because Wallace was slapped across the back of the head during a layup attempt. Wallace has later warned Artest that he would be hit. Wallace took everything the wrong way and shoved Artest with both hands. This caused players from both teams to get in between the two as quickly as possible.
All of a sudden, tension occurred. As everyone was trying to clear off heat from the fight, Artest just laid on the scorer's table. It was at this moment when one of the fans threw a cup with liquid in it at Artest. Tension grew even stronger as Artest proceeded to go after whoever threw the cup. He entered the stands where all the fans were and went to go beat up the fan. He went after the wrong person. After fans grew a bunch of tension and considering a player from the opposing team was going after a fan of the Detroit Pistons, many other fans added to the tension and went after Artest. all of a sudden a big brawl between players and fans began. More and more of the security, staff, and players entered the stands to try their absolute hardest to end the madness. Fans were the ones who grew the angriest. Punch after punch, fighting proceeded and escalated.
As they were giving all effort to get the players out of the stands, the fans only grew even wilder. As players were barely starting to walk off the court, the fans began to throw food, drinks, and maybe even glass. Security had to cover the heads of the players as they made their way back to the locker room. It was described as the scariest night in NBA history. Many have said that no matter how bad it looked on TV, it was 20x worse in person. The league then had to make many rule changes for safety purposes, specifically to avoid traumatizing nights like this. This was a turning point where the NBA got softer in my opinion. One thing is for certain, Mallace at the Palace was a very eventful and historical moment.
