Kobe Bryant clouds the Lakers’ chances in the playoffs

Kobe Bryant / Jenson Chan - Flickr

Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant tore his Achilles tendon on April 13 and is expected to be sidelined for nine months. Due to his absence, the Lakers lost in the first round of the playoffs after they were swept by the San Antonio Spurs.

Bryant made a tremendous contribution to the Lakers during the regular season. He led his team by scoring 27.3 points per game and adding 6.0 assists and 5.6 rebounds per game. His great offensive skills led him to become the fourth leading scorer of all time in the NBA this season.

Not only did Bryant provide his team with valuable scoring, he also motivated his teammates to do better and helped them grow as players. "Kobe is a different type of player, just like I said, just sitting back and watching Kobe and how he handled himself the whole year was great for me to watch,” said his teammate Dwight Howard to the LA Times.

Even though Bryant wasn’t able to play against the Spurs he encouraged his team to continue to make good defensive and offensive plays. “What I would say if I was there right now? Pau get ur a-- on the block and don't move till u get it #realtalk," tweeted Bryant as he coached his teammates from home.

Without Bryant, the Lakers lacked motivation and had difficulty scoring against the tough defense of the Spurs. As Bryant recovers there is hope that next year the Lakers will have a strong season. With the help of Pau Gasol and Howard, Bryant will try to make the Lakers a winning team. His main focus is to recover from this injury with the same mentality he always had.

“We don't quit, we don't cower, we don't run. We endure and conquer" said Bryant on Facebook.

Social media beneficial?

In a time where social media is a necessity for players to get in touch with the public, athletes rely on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook to get in touch with family, friends, and fans. The social media is viewed in many different ways and can be either used for benefit or destruction of a player.

Most athletes rely on social media sites for their boost their careers with sponsorships, teams, and fans. For example Orlando Magic’s All-Star center Dwight Howard has 2 million Facebook likes and more than 2.5 million followers on Twitter even though he does not have an NBA championship ring.

Kansas City Chiefs running back Larry Johnson was fined $213,000 for making homophobic remarks on Twitter.

The practice of using social media to bring fame and popularity has spread all over the world and is used now more than ever. The problem is that athletes do not know how to leverage the social media. For some players this is a very hard task because it has developed into a habit. Social media sites are easy to use and fast which tempts athletes to use them. If players don’t find some self-control with social media we may see many more fines.

Lockout ends, but plans for future are hectic

Christmas Day 2011 might be the merriest Christmas that any basketball fan has ever had. After the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Miami Heat in Game Six of the NBA finals, basketball was as popular as ever. An upset had occurred in an exciting NBA final, but quickly, the league's popularity sank because of a 149 day lockout. The NBA 2011-12 season was doubtful; however, a deal between the players and the owners was reached, and it is agreed that the season will begin on Christmas day. The Grinch did not steal Christmas after all.


With little time between the agreement of the deal in late November and December 25th, free agency will have to be a quick process. Contracts are not allowed to be signed until December 9th, but rumors of possible trades are already spreading. Dwight Howard, a center from the Orlando Magic, is coveted by many teams. The New Jersey Nets are already willing to offer center Brook Lopez and two future first round draft choices for Dwight Howard.

The upcoming 2011-12 season will be a shortened 66 game regular season, but the lack of games doesn’t matter to the players or fans. They are just happy that basketball is back. "We are thrilled that a tentative agreement has been reached and are looking forward to getting back to work and playing basketball," Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat said in an official statement. To make the season even more interesting, two more games will be added to the original three that are shown on Christmas. One of those games will be a rematch of the NBA finals with Dallas hosting Miami.

With a wacky schedule coming up, this may be one of the more memorable NBA seasons. It is not very often that fans open presents while watching the NBA players take the court for the first time in over six months.

Who will it be? Rose-tastic, The King or Superman

Basketball season is coming to an end and the playoffs are on their way. The playoff tree is 90% complete and the only thing left is to announce are the end of season awards. There have been many disputes on who deserves to be named Most Valuable Player. Such candidates are Derrick Rose, LeBron James, Dwight Howard, Kobe Bryant, Dirk Nowitziki, and Kevin Durant. However out of all these candidates, only three stand out the most; Derrick Rose, LeBron James, and Dwight Howard.

Rose has been nothing but amazing this season. He averages 25.1 PPG and 7.9 APG. Compared to last season, Rose has improved his shooting abilities to a whole new level. It is because of Rose that the Chicago Bulls are the number one seed in the East. Derrick Rose is the leader of the Bulls just as James was the leader of the Cleveland Cavaliers. When James was still a Cavalier, he won MVP twice, but he could not win the championship. With Rose, however, we cannot come to the conclusion that he will win the MVP and lose in the playoffs.

Out of these three candidates, James has the best overall statistics; he is averaging 26.6 PPG, 7.5 RPG, and 7.0 APG. Although James is a huge asset to the Miami Heat, the Heat do not need James as much as the Bulls need Rose. The Heat still have Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and the winner of the 3-point contest, James Jones.

So far, Dwight Howard has also been spectacular, but his achievements aren't good enough because the Orlando Magic is the fourth seed. Howard averages 23.2 PPG and 14.2 RPG. If Howard doesn't win MVP, he will most likely win Defensive Player of the Year. According to Michael Jordan, Rose is the MVP of the season. With tons of supporters for Rose, he will most likely be named Most Valuable Player of the Year.

Nate Robinson poisons the competition in the 2009 Sprite Slam Dunk Contest

Nate Robinson / Keith Allison

Nate Robinson, also known as “Nate the Great”, was the victor in the 2009 Sprite Slam Dunk Contest, which took place in Phoenix, Arizona. The reason he is called “Nate the Great” is because of his ability to wow the crowd. Standing at merely 5’9” and weighing 180 pounds, Nate impresses with his 43.5" vertical leap. The Seattle, Washington native has won multiple Slam Dunk Contests, but his most memorable one is by far this one because he dunked over Dwight Howard, who stands at a towering 6’11” and weighing in at 265 pounds.

Robinson was able to beat J. R. Smith and Rudy Fernández, in addition to the aforementioned Dwight Howard.

The interesting thing about this contest is that Robinson arrived prepared in the final round of the contest. As soon as Dwight Howard changed into the Superman gimmick by dunking on a 12 foot hoop, Nate went out and changed into the New York Knicks’ green uniform used on Saint Patrick’s Day, in addition to a lime-green pro-shooter arm sleeve and neon-green Nike Foamposite Lite basketball shoes. The significance of all the green is that he was symbolizing Kryptonite, or in his case, “Kryptonate." Kryptonite is Superman’s only known weakness, implying that Nate was going to weaken Dwight Howard.

Robinson’s signature dunk was the one-handed slam in which he leaped over Howard and cleared him. Howard got the opportunity to follow up with the last dunk. His final dunk was one where he did a Michael Jordan move and jumped from the free-throw line. As impressive as that was for a man of Howard’s build, it was Robinson’s creativity and originality that helped him secure the victory over Howard.

Take A Look At Superman

Dwight Howard, the winner of the 2008 Sprite Slam Dunk Contest held in New Orleans is now in his fifth All Star game. Howard has been ranked consistently as one of the best in the league in rebounding, blocks, and field goal percentage. He was named Defensive Player of the Year twice and was a starting center for Team USA in the 2008 Olympics. He is still ranked as one of the top centers in the league.

In 2008, Howard beat the defending champion Gerald Green in the final round to take the crown. Audiences had high expectations for Howard because of his ability to jump so high. In the first round of the dunk contest, Howard scored a 100 by bouncing the ball behind the backboard and slamming it down. During the second round of the 2008 Slam Dunk Contest, Howard fascinated everyone by attempting to dunk while wearing the Superman outfit. The crowd loved his creativity and Howard was surely to be declared as the winner. For his second dunk Howard soared so high that instead of dunking it he literally threw it down. He silenced his competitors with that dunk and the contest was pretty much over. Superman took home the crown.