Memorable Performances of the 2000’s

Kobe Bryant, Jan, 22, 2006 (81 points)… Bryant scored 81 of the Lakers’ 122 points in a victory against the Raptors, the second-highest-scoring game in NBA history, behind Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point performance in 1962.

LeBron James, May 31, 2007 (48 points)… The Cavs’ 109-107 double-overtime victory in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals… James finished with 48 points, nine rebounds and seven assists… He scored Cleveland’s final 25 points and 29 of its last 30.

Allen Iverson, June 6, 2001 (48 points)… The 76ers, a heavy underdog, stunned the host Lakers in Game 1 of the 2001 Finals thanks to Iverson’s tour de force.He finished with 48 points, including a seven-point flurry in a 58-second stretch of overtime, as Philadelphia won 107-101 to hand the Lakers their first loss of the playoffs.

Tracy McGrady, Dec. 9, 2004… McGrady scored 13 points in the final 35 seconds to rally the Rockets past the Spurs 81-80.

Dwyane Wade, June 13, 2006 (42 points)… Already in a 2-0 hole in the NBA Finals, Miami trailed Dallas 89-76 midway through the fourth quarter of Game 3. But Wade scored 12 of his 42 points during a game-ending 22-7 run as Miami won 98-96, the first of its four consecutive victories en route to the franchise’s first championship. Read more ->

Beauty of Flight

Here’s a block to enjoy. Sit back, relax, enjoy… LeBron’s timing, elevation, the way he sent the ball into the stands. Yes, this is the kind of a block which goes against Bill Russell’s art of blocking, tap-it-to-yourself (not send-it-to-the-stands) kind, but even that can’t take away from its power and beauty.

Triangle Offense

An interesting article was published in the New York Times on December 13th, 2009, written by JONATHAN ABRAMS. It talks about triangle offense. We all know that Phil Jackson used this offense with Michael Jordan, then with Kobe Bryant (also with Shaq while in LA) to win some championships. The article talks about Kurt Rambis (reference, picture ) who’s trying to implement this offense with the Timberwolves. Read more ->

Is Jennings’ Route to the NBA Fit for Everyone?

Yannis Koutroupis wrote an article for the Hoops World about Brandon Jennings (ESPN interview) and his path to the NBA. I am sure it will be an intriguing discussion in the years to come as more high school players go to Europe instead of one mandatory year in college. Some will obviously succeed there and some will fails. It won’t be much different than when HS players were jumping straight into the NBA.

The author of mentioned article was inspired by Jennings’ more than solid stats to start his rookie season.

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Pick and Roll in Today’s Game

Synergy Sports Technology is a very cool company which tags videos of every basketball game in the world. This makes it possible for the company to know exactly what every player did during every minute he played. From this, the company derives the gold mine of data pertaining to individual players, offensive and defensive team tendencies, and they can also roll up the stats for the whole league.

In the New York Times article from November 19th, the author Jonathan Abrams analyzes some data from Synergy and extrapolates interesting facts about the usage and value of the old-school “pick and roll” offensive strategy.

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