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NBA Loud - by Travis

The 2008 NBA Draft

July 1st 2008 03:49
I’d like to post about the previously finished NBA Draft. A lot of trades were completed/proposed making this years draft exciting and noteworthy. In this first post I will be going through the top five picks and thereafter with updates and all you need to know up to the minute stats and transactions.

Let’s get this post draft analysis going with the first overall pick for the Chicago Bulls DERRICK ROSE. Rose out of Memphis has a solid NBA body and can take the punishment as a player in the paint. He will mold himself into whatever type of player his team needs him to be as evident by the video below. He is one of the most ready-type players to enter the league. A truly solid addition to any team, kind of makes me think of the miss of Jay Williams. In which whom the Bulls took as the savior type PG years ago before he had his motorcycle accident stifling his promising career. With this pick Chicago puts themselves back into contention for a playoff spot in the East.


Derrick Rose #1 NBA Pick 2008
This video shows how Rose can affect the game as he will become a solid NBA-PG.




# 2
Michael Beasley #2 NBA Pick 2008
Undoubtedly the Miami Heat selected MICHAEL BEASLEY out of Kansas State. This PF needs no introduction to basketball fans as his huge wingspan makes up for any negativity about his height at the four spot. One of the perfect teams for Beasley to go to, I think his character issues would only become apparent if he were to have to battle with a solid proven veteran for his starting spot. He will be going in battling Udonis Haslem who has seen his stock drop as he needs to create more of his own offence. The heat I am sure are not finished in tweaking their team for the 08/09 season. Marion though will alleviate any concerns of the rookie being overmatched down-low as he is almost like an extra PF out there sometimes with his rebounding efforts and hustle in trying to make the right plays.





# 3
OJ Mayo #3 NBA Pick 2008
Minnesota at the third spot went with OJ MAYO, who I have seen and been hearing about for a good number of years. Mayo will be a solid two as at 6’4” 200lbs he is limited in selected positions, but this guy is just a born scorer and if he ends up in Grizz-town, look for him to team up with Rudy Gay as Mike Miller was moved with Memphis making the choice to let him go after he admittedly carried the Grizzlies last season at times. In return Minnesota looks to get #5 Kevin Love. I am in love with this deal as the T-Wolves send Antoine Walker also to MEM. Minnesota gets the scoring they desperately need and character guys, to build around. I know what fans may be thinking and no this isn’t the second coming of Wally World, Mike Miller is a gamer playing all three spots from 1-3 for the Grizz and did whatever was asked, as he became a versatile and proven scorer, unlike streaky Szczerbiak.





# 4
Russell Westbrook #4 NBA Pick 2008
Russell Westbrook a surprise at number four as the top three had virtually been decided weeks beforehand. Westbrook though an unexpected pick is an explosive guard that will do well in this league especially when Seattle gets all the parts and can continuously run up and down with Durant and Green. The Sonics clearly want a guard that can break down the D and get up and down the court at breakneck speeds. They have found that guy with Westbrook. People want to compare him to NBA champion Rajon Rondo and maybe Monta Ellis, he is long and skinny and extremely athletic, time will tell if he can make the right passes for a long career with Durant by his side.




# 5
Kevin Love #5 NBA Pick 2008
Care of NBADraft.net
Memphis picks Kevin Love at the number five spot and in turn will be sending him to Minnesota in the deal outlined in the third pick paragraph. Love is solid, not an athlete like the Grizz love at the four spot, but the T-Wolves just need ballers in which Kevin is for sure. Down-low he will be helped by Al Jefferson for sure on defense. Also he will have a great passer in Mike Miller to get the ball to him in good spots. I like Kevin Love on a solid team a rebuilding team he may flourish or sink as he’ll need to create his own offence and may struggle with the speed of the NBA at first.
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From Playground Legend to NBA Star.

January 8th 2008 10:50
When watching street basketball, such as the guys from And1, a common utterance from gobsmacked audiences is: ‘why aren’t these cats playing, pro?’ That is a good question.

Believe it or not, a lot of the stuff that streetballers are able to manufacture on court, the pros
Rafer Alston.
Skip to My Lou, skipping to the basket. (Photo by Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images)
can’t replicate. Even so, players that have honed their skills on the concrete courts of the city don’t usually make good pros. For every Connie Hawkins, there is a Lloyd Daniels.

However, there is one streetball god who is bucking the trend: Rafer ‘Skip to My Lou’ Alston, who plies his trade with the Houston Rockets.

Do you readers know as to why the And1 Mix Tape Tour is so popular now? Look no further than Skip. It was his underground streetball videos that made the And1 heads sit up and take notice. He is the reason why streetball has reached the mainstream.

Making the leap from playground to the bright lights of the NBA wasn’t a seamless transition, with the street skills that Skip was so famous for disappearing. Alston initially had little to no impact on the league with the Milwaukee Bucks. After being traded to the Miami Heat, Alston began to flourish and was seen to be capable of running a team (let’s not talk about his time in Toronto though).

Now, with Houston, Skip was bought in by Jeff Van Gundy who has a history of dealing with supposedly, surly players and bringing the best out of them. For a long while, Alston was seen as expendable for the Rockets, but is now an integral part of the team.

How did ‘Skip to My Lou’, become Rafer Alston, NBA starter? Well, it was a lot of hard work and breaking down his game back to the basics. After an offseason where he improved his offensive skills, the work has now finally paid off after a hairy beginning shooting at just 37 percent from the field.

One of the biggest problems with Skip was his tendency to gun it from long range, but now has settled into a smarter player, driving the ball and scoring at a higher rate.

"I think Rafer's really done a nice job in the last week and a half, two weeks doing that," coach Rick Adelman said. "I think he has a mindset because of the opportunities there. The way teams are trying to defend us, it's going to be open. If we set a good screen for him, or any of the guards, if they're going to put two guys on Yao, there's no one to help, and he can attack the basket. We have to do it that way. We have to attack." (Feigen, Houston Chronicle, 2008)

Once upon a time, you wouldn’t dare give Skip the ball during the closing minutes of a tight contest. Now, he is a proven game winner, as evidenced by his performance against the Orlando Magic last week with a last gasp basket.

Today’s video is the mix tapes that made Rafer such a cult basketball personality.


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Hedo Turkoglu game winning shot against the Chicago Bulls.
Hedo Turkoglu...shoots...he scores! Game over! (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)


We here at NBALOUD wish all of our wonderful readers a Happy New Year and hope that with a fresh 365 days upon us that it’ll be prosperous and righteous. Although, it’s the eve of a fresh year, doesn’t mean that pro-hoopsters get a night off. Well, they do, but a lot of players still have to put on their safety hats and get to work during the afternoon. Afterwards it’ll be Cristal and groupies.

Let’s begin with MVP candidate, Dwight Howard whose Orlando Magic played an exciting game against the Chicago Bulls. Although, Howard might be getting all the MVP love, Hedo Turkoglu his teammate is also quietly putting together an all-star calibre season.

Hedo actually had a game that was marred by turnovers and poor decision making, but he came good when the Magic needed him the most – crunch time. With 0.7 seconds left in the overtime period, Turkoglu hit a fadeaway jump shot over defensive beast, Ben Wallace to seal the game for Orlando. Well, done big fella. We can bet he’ll have a rocking new year.

Speaking of Ben Wallace, his old team the Detroit Pistons battled the Milwaukee Bucks and slaughtered them 114-69. This was massacre of epic proportions. Kind of like the Brazilian national football team playing against the Solomon Islands.

It was Detroit’s biggest victory win since 2003 when they crunched the pre-Garnett Celtics by 52 points. The ‘D’ is looking threatening for the Eastern Conference title.

Performance of the Day.


Have you our wise and wonderful readers seen the Golden State Warriors play yet? Well, if you haven’t do it now! Do it, because it’ll enliven your lives. Seriously, this writer was once blind, but now can see due to watching the Warriors play. Oops, the scam is up, but the team from G-State are gold.

The Warriors, who aren’t from Coney Island, took out Houston, 112-95. What was most impressive about this victory was Warriors coach, Don Nelson actually got tossed out of the game in the second quarter for arguing against the refs.

Luckily, for G-State, Baron Davis took control of the game scoring 23 points and dishing off seven dimes. It was a masterful display of dominant basketball.

Today’s video is of the top 10 dunks for 2007! Some righteous jams here.


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There were many big stories that we here at NBALOUD neglected to cover yesterday due to the issues in New York. No, we’re not going to revive that dead donkey of a storyline today!

Amongst the varying events that transpired in the Association, the injury to the league leading scorer, Tracy McGrady ranks as a big one. The Houston Rockets are legitimate contenders for the championship, and in past years have been hampered by injuries to their big two of T-Mac and Yao Ming. Thankfully, McGrady’s elbow injury isn’t deemed to be serious.

In yesterday’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers, Houston was getting their behinds cleaned by the team from Hollywood, even with T-Mac still in the game. L.A. was playing fantastic basketball and the Rockets didn’t seem to have an answer. Once Tracy left, all seemed lost. But a funny thing happened, Bonzi Wells and Yao bought the team back from the brink. Although, the Rockets lost, they proved they can still get the job done even without their leading scorer and Yao, is the reason why.

The big red machine for Houston was a leading MVP candidate last season until an injury ruined his chances. This season, Yao has once again demonstrated MVP credentials, but a
Yao Ming layup.
Despite this picture suggesting otherwise, Yao now does a lot of his work further from the basket. (Photo by Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images)
brand new aspect of his game has become evident to any NBA watchers – the big fella is doing a lot of work from the perimeter, now!

Former Rockets coach, Jeff Van Gundy, never wanted Yao to stray beyond a few feet from the basket. Having coached some of the most storied big men in NBA history, Jeff wanted his centres to be the traditional low-post banger. However, new Houston coach, Rick Alderman has demanded more from Yao.

Van Gundy’s offensive schemes tended to be slow, grind it out, half-court affairs, whilst, Alderman has introduced a more fluid system that is heavily reliant on constant ball movement and passing. Make no mistake, Rick is a fantastic basketball mind and he is placing a premium on Yao to be able to make passes, and plays from the high-post.

Rick Alderman’s new philosophy has not been easy for the Rockets to grasp, with Yao struggling especially. In the Van Gundy days, Yao would be way down the block waiting for an entry pass and he’ll get to work. Now, Ming has to run plays anticipating the movements of his teammates, much like Chris Webber and Vlade Divac used to for Alderman in Sacramento.

It hasn’t been easy for Houston’s big man and there have been some growing pains for Yao. Alderman has instituted intensive coaching for his star centre, with Rockets general manager, Daryl Morey, admitting there have been some struggles in regards to Ming’s new role: “Yao is feeling some stress…But he is a perfectionist, and we are confident he will make it work.” (Mannix, Sports Illustrated, 2007)

Even with the introduction of a new system, Houston has been playing wonderful basketball. Imagine what they’ll be like once Yao, and the rest of his teammates finally grasp what their coach wants. The results will be scary for the rest of the league.

Today’s video is a classic, with some Chinese cartoonists making fun of Charles Barkley after he proclaimed that he’d kiss, Kenny Smith’s ass if Yao Ming ever scored more than 19 points during his rookie season. He did.



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Hakeem Olajuwon
(Bill Baptist/NBAE/Getty Images)


Michael Jordan may have owned the basketball planet in the 90s, but lost in all of the MJ love-in is the fact that the decade that just passed wasn’t all about Air Jordan. There were a myriad of other players that had a huge impact on the game, with a few of them considered as all-time greats. You just wouldn’t think so with everyone wanting to be like, Mike!

One player by the name of Hakeem Olajuwon for the Houston Rockets was a literal and metaphoric giant in the NBA during the 90s. Today’s feature post is all about Hakeem ‘The Dream’!

Full Name: Hakeem Abdul Olajuwon
Date of Birth: 21st January 1963 in Lagos, Nigeria.
Height: 7’0”
College: Houston
Draft: First overall pick by the Houston Rockets in 1984.
Average Points per Game: 21.8
Average Rebounds per Game: 11.1
Career Blocks Total: 3, 830
Honours: NBA champion (1994, '95); NBA Finals MVP (1994, '95); NBA MVP (1994); Defensive Player of Year (1993, '94); All-NBA First Team (1987, '88, '89, '93, '94, '97); All-NBA Second Team ('86, '90, '96); All-NBA Third Team (1991, '95, '99); All-Defensive First Team ('87, '88, '90, '93, '94); 12-time All-Star; Olympic gold medallist (199); One of 50 Greatest Players in NBA History (1996).

The 1984 Draft has been getting a lot of attention lately with the drafting of Greg Oden, over Kevin Durant. More specifically, 1984 is in vogue again because of the comparisons between this year’s choices and the year of George Orwell. Sam Bowie, the number two pick in 1984 is considered one of the biggest busts in NBA history because the player that dominated the 90s was selected right after him. However, lost in all of this 1984 Draft discussion is who the number one pick was? Well, since the readers of this space are way too smart for this question because the answer was in the above bio of Olajuwon. We won’t insult the intelligence of readers of NBALOUD by playing chicken any further.

Oh, by the way – Hakeem wasn’t considered a bust.

Olajuwon, which translates to “always being on top”, began playing basketball at the relatively late age of 15. How Hakeem got introduced to the greatest game on earth is a killer story within itself.

The Dream’s high school, the Muslim Teachers College, fielded a basketball squad for a Nigeria wide sports tournament and Hakeem was actually in the handball team at that stage. A fellow student who recognised the skills of the big fella asked the coach if Olajuwon might be able to play for the basketball team. Wisely, the coach agreed and Hakeem would begin his journey into hoops immortality.

Handball wasn’t the only sport that Hakeem participated in. The Dream was also a soccer goalkeeper which gave him the skills and agility that translated wonderfully onto the basketball courts.

Dominating the college ranks, Olajuwon was always going to be the top selection of the Draft, and Houston would become his home after the Rockets won a coin flip to acquire his rights against the Portland Trail Blazers.

Hakeem made an immediate impact as a rookie averaging 20.6 points and 11.9 rebounds a game, coming second only to Michael Jordan in Rookie of the Year balloting. The Rockets were horrendous the year before Olajuwon came onto the scene, but were perennial playoff contenders from his rookie year onwards.

The following year things got even better when Hakeem ‘The Dream’ led his team to the NBA
Hakeem Olajuwon
(Sam Forencich/NBAE/Getty Images)
Finals, defeating the storied Lakers team along the way featuring, Magic Johnson. In the final three games of the Championship, Olajuwon had 40, 35 and 30 points to pace the Rockets. Unfortunately, Houston couldn’t overcome the other legendary team of the decade in the Finals, the Boston Celtics, losing the Finals in six games.

Houston would be continually frustrated from 1988 to 1992 when they couldn’t win a single postseason series, and Hakeem suffering major injuries. However, it was during the ’92-’93 season where Olajuwon would become ‘The Dream’ in elevating his game to another level.

Well, to be honest ‘elevating his game to another level’ kind of underplays how good Hakeem was – he was magical from that period onwards. Olajuwon developed an offensive arsenal that included magical footwork, pivots, head fakes, and the patented ‘dream shake’ that would defeat opposing centres, and make the world swoon.

In the ’93-’94 season Olajuwon would finally fulfil his destiny by winning the NBA Championship, whilst collecting both the regular and Finals MVP awards. Oh, throw in the Defensive Player of the Year award too for good measure.

Thought his first title year was good? Houston would win another title the following year and Hakeem was spectacular! Despite phenomenal averages of 27.8 points and 10.8 rebounds per game – career best numbers one might add. The MVP award went to San Antonio Spurs big man, David Robinson.

How did Hakeem react to this slight? By dominating Robinson in the playoffs when their two teams met. Robinson was utterly humiliated by Olajuwon leaving no doubt who really was the MVP that season.

In the Finals, the Rockets met the Orlando Magic, featuring young guns by the names of Anfernee Hardaway, and Shaquille O’Neal. The Dream dominated the Magic as well leading his team to a sweep. Two all-time great big men were outplayed by Olajuwon, doesn’t get any better than that.

Robinson was lost for words. Well, he wasn’t lost for words per se, he just didn’t have any answers to the play of Hakeem: "Solve Hakeem?" said Robinson. "You don't solve Hakeem." (NBA.com)

Shaq didn’t fare any better: "He's got about five moves, then four countermoves," said a stunned O'Neal. “That gives him 20 moves." (NBA.com)

A devout Muslim, Hakeem would observe all the religious traditions that were demanded of him, believing his faith allowed him to excel in the game. During Ramadan, Olajuwon would strictly adhere to the protocols, including no food or liquids until sunset.

After playing an afternoon game, Olajuwon would naturally desire the taste of water, but wouldn’t drink a drop, saying, “I find myself full of energy, explosive. And when I break the fast at sunset, the taste of water is so precious.” (NBA.com)

Olajuwon had such a massive impact on the city of Houston that his number has been retired by the team, and his statue adorns the stadium of the Rockets. Hakeem really was a dream.

Today’s video is all about Hakeem and his fancy footwork.




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Yao Ming wedding.
The happy couple in Shanghai. (Photo from Xinhua)


Well, ladies, your hopes for snaring a tall, rich, athletic basketball player for a hubby just got a little harder with news that Yao Ming has tied the knot with his long time girlfriend, Ye Li. Actually, in terms of hooking up with a basketball player it’s quite easy, since they do have a history of fidelity to their partners (cough, cough), while having zero chance of Joey Greco ambushing them with the Cheaters crew outside a fast food joint (cough, cough).

The new Mrs Yao is an impressive 6 foot 2 basketball player on the women’s national team and we can be assuming that their future progeny will have their career paths already mapped out by the Chinese government. Hell, Yao and his new bride can expect to be parents to their offspring in name only.

Yao’s wedding was rather small for Chinese standards with only around 70 family and friends in attendance, with reporters outnumbering guests at 100.

In this day and age of celebrity couples selling their photographs, whilst posing on matching
Yao Ming wedding photo.
(Photo from Shanghai Daily)
thrones, it’s good to see Yao won’t be giving out any interviews about how his wife became a bridezilla, or that he didn’t sell his wedding pics to the highest bidder for exclusive rights. Reporters instead got a CD of marital snaps, along with celebratory lollies.

Ming told Houston television that he was a tad bit overawed by the prospect of marriage and but excited at the same time: “I don't how the U.S. culture thinks about marriage, but in China we know each other from 18-19 years old, maybe not too late in U.S. But it's pretty early in China…The first couple of years, we both don't let parents know. I have a lot of fun times. After so many years we have so many good memories together, we think this is the time right now. We can stay together forever and build a new family.” (AP, 2007)

I guess this means that the world can look forward to super Communist basketball playing babies in the not-too-distant future!

Today’s video is of the top 10 plays in the recent summer league in Vegas. Some pretty rocking plays on this clip.



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Dwayne Wade made his return to a basketball court for the first time
Dwayne Wade.
Guess whose back? Back again. Wade-y's back. Tell your friends. (Photo by Victor Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images)
in a month and a half, and that was the high point for Flash in this game against the Charlotte Bobcats.

Wade as one would expect was rusty scoring 12 points on 3-for-9 shooting while the Heat as a collective unit lost to the Cats, 111-103 in overtime.

Flash managed to sum up his team and personal fortunes in a very succinct manner; “It's exciting to get back, but at the end of the day, you always want to win. You always want to come back and help your team win," Wade said. "I came back and at times, I looked OK and at times, I didn't.” (Reynolds, AP, 2007)

Miami’s cause wasn’t helped with 26 turnovers and missing 18 free throws – those numbers will more times than not result in a loss for a team.

Still, things must be looking up in South Beach with the return of the guy wearing number ‘3’.

LeBron James in recent seasons has managed to torch Detroit with big time performances but this time the Pistons made sure that wasn’t going to happen. They clamped down on King James and forced the rest of the Cavs to try and beat them – they didn’t.

Detroit scored the win, 87-82.

Bron-Bron was kept in check by a tenacious ‘D’ which resulted in a 5-of-16 shooting night for James. To rub salt into the wounds LeBron managed to miss some key free throws down the
Tracy McGrady dunk.
Tracy McGrady is a supafly guy! (Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images)
stretch which saw off Cleveland for the night.

The Pistons made sure that every time LeBron had the ball on the perimeter he was double teamed and if he drove into to the lane to create his own shot Detroit would foul him hard. Message received loud and clear.

Rip Hamilton led the way for Detroit with 21 points while Mr. Big Shot, C-C-C-hauncey Billups scored 14 and dished off 12 assists for good measure. Detroit all up had six players score in double digits which is always a useful occurrence.

Phoenix and the Los Angeles Lakers also fought it out on the basketball court today (as opposed to fighting it out in South Central L.A.) with the Suns clinching the victory, 115-107.

Kobe Bryant’s 34 point and seven assist performance was curbed by a Phoenix squad which had too many weapons – Steve Nash 25 points,11 dimes, Raja Bell 22 points, Amare Stoudemire 19 points and Leandro Barbosa with 23. Phoenix was smoking hot.

Today’s NBALOUD performance of the day belongs to Tracy McGrady who marked his return in style with a 40 point, 10 assist and eight rebound performance. Sure your back is sore there T-Mac?

With a performance like that from McGrady you’d safely expect the Rockets to win. You’d be correct, with Houston beating the team from California’s Capital, 112-106.

Yao Ming also marked his return from back injury with a solid performance putting up 18 points on the stat sheet. Now, if only the super tandem could stay healthy for a nice playoff run.

In honour of Tracy McGrady here is a video of one of the greatest NBA performances in history. Down by 13 points with roughly 30 seconds to go against the Spurs and his team looking dead and buried. T-Mac, took over and proved that impossible is nothing. Word!



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Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady.
Yao and T-Mac out with back injuries. (Photo by Bill Baptist/NBAE via Getty Images)


Sheesh talk about an epidemic – beginning with Caron Butler and Gilbert Arenas who have been sidelined by injury – we can now add Houston’s super-duo of Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady into the walking wounded as well.

T-Mac missed eight games earlier this season due to back spasms and it seems his problems are recurring again forcing him to leave their last game early. Yao’s back injury seems to a little bit more mysterious with the big man not knowing exactly when he copped the injury but believes he may have been hit in the back by someone during their game against the Warriors.

Houston have had a wretched run of injuries concerning their two superstars in recent seasons struggling to get both fit for any extended period of time to threaten for the title.

The injuries suffered both by McGrady and Yao don’t seem to be serious with T-Mac being
Steve Nash jump shot.
Steve Nash is pretty fly for a white guy. (Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images)
listed as day to day, while Yao should be back after a couple of days.

Another squad that is facing a raft of injuries hitting their players are the New York Knicks who are already missing Jamal Crawford, Steve Francis and Quentin Richardson to injuries. New York’s management must have had fits after their biggest star Stephon Marbury suffered an in game injury against the T-Wolves today. Marbury left the game during the first half after suffering something called a ‘right turf toe’. NBALOUD has no idea what that means but it, um, sounds painful.

Stephon did return to the game but was ineffective as New York fell further behind in their race for a playoff spot when Minnesota won, 99-94.

Meanwhile, the other injury depleted Eastern Conference squad the Washington Wizards played their first game without Agent Zero when they faced off against Cleveland and promptly lost that game, 99-94.

Wow, as an aside that is the exact same scores as the T-Wolves/Knicks game. Is anyone else out there impressed? Ah, this writer suffers from the small things, amuse small minds syndrome.

Sorry, back to the game. Gilbert the Great was absent and LeBron James was there in name only for three quarters before going on a 14 point scoring binge in the fourth quarter. Bron-Bron was an ugly 7-for-23 from the field.

Stevie Nash notched up his 49th double-double of the season as the Phoenix Suns disposed of the New Orleans Hornets, 103-95.

The Suns just had too much solar power and weapons in seeing off an injury depleted Hornets squad. Leandro Barbosa scored 26, Shaw Marion had 20 with 11 rebounds and the aforementioned Stevie Wonder had 15 points and 12 assists. Nash was two rebounds shy of scoring a triple-double.

New Orleans is also an injury riddled unit missing their star point guard Chris Paul, as well as big man Tyson Chandler and high flyer Desmond Mason. Against a star studded Suns outfit they had no chance.

Today's clip is one from the immortal fight scene in Game of Death where Bruce Lee and Kareem knock each other out. This one is a gem.


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