Skip to main content

nbamaniacs pistons

THE NBA : Blazers Luring Maniacs All Over League

In Portland, where cabbies ask, "Where to?" and then, "Have they ever heard of the Trail Blazers in (fill in name of your city)?" the Blazermaniacs have a real juggernaut on their hands.
The Trail Blazers won their first 11 games and are 12-1.
They went four games without ever being behind.
They hit San Antonio with a 49-18 first quarter, making 22 of 25 shots, including five three-pointers. Former Utah Jazz coach Frank Layden and stunned Spur Coach Larry Brown both called it the best period of basketball they'd ever seen.
Said Brown: "They could have beaten the all-decade team."
The Blazers, 19th-best in field goal percentage last season, are running 1-2 with the Boston Celtics now. Danny Ainge, depressed to a 44% mark in Sacramento last season, is winging away at 60% and on his three-pointers is shooting 56%. Cliff Robinson, 40% last season while being introduced to the concept of shot selection, is at 59%.
"They're an amazing rebounding team," Brown said. "Other than at center, they probably have someone who's as good a rebounder at that position as anyone in the league."
The Golden State Warriors' Don Nelson is more effusive, saying: "They're one of the best put-together teams ever. They did things the right way. I'm proud of them. They're the best team we've played. I really like what they've done."
Are the Blazermaniacs happy, or what?
Said a Portland assistant district attorney to a Los Angeles reporter who'd called to inquire about a criminal matter:
"We're going to kick your butts this year."
Mosquito in paradise: The Trail Blazers fined Drazen Petrovic $500 for saying he'd go home to Yugoslavia if he couldn't play in Portland. They rescinded it when he recanted.
Actually, they wouldn't mind if he shipped out.
Petrovic gets $1.3 million to be the twelfth man. If he left, they could suspend him and get half his salary back against their cap.
After their loss to the Phoenix Suns, in which Clyde Drexler was ejected and Petrovic still couldn't play, mild-mannered Coach Rick Adelman snarled at a reporter who asked about it.
Flirting with immortality: In Sacramento, where a rebuilding project begins annually, the latest one struggles.
At their present 1-12 rate, the Kings would eclipse the 1972-3 76ers' 9-73 record as the NBA's worst. The Kings are pointed toward 6-76.
Mindful of this, Coach Dick Motta hyped their home date last week against Minnesota on the theory they had to beat some one.
Said Motta: "I told the guys that in my two years here, this is the most important game we've played."
The Kings fell, 89-80. Maybe it was too much pressure.
Add Kings: Do you think it made them feel any better to see Pervis Ellison get 17 points and 14 rebounds for the Washington Bullets last week against the Chicago Bulls?
The Kings made the mistake of overrating Ellison--thanks, Bill Russell--and could prove to have compounded it by giving up on him precipitously.
They got Bob Hansen, Eric Leckner and yet-to-play rookie Anthony Bonner for him.
They're baaaack: Every season, everyone writes off Milwaukee. Every season, the Bucks jump off to a good start. Every season, no one can explain what's happening, other than noting that Del Harris must be a great coach.
However, take a look at the Buck backcourt:
--Jay Humphries is averaging 15 points a game, shooting 49%.
--Alvin Robertson is averaging 16 points and 5.2 steals, No. 1 in the NBA and more than two steals a game ahead of anyone else. He started the week one rebound behind team leader Jack Sikma and one assist behind team leader Humphries.
--Ricky Pierce is averaging a team-high 23.1 points as a substitute.
Washington's Wes Unseld calls it "the best guard trio in the league."
Says Pierce: "If we were in New York or somewhere, we'd probably be known as the best guards who ever played."
NBA Notes
Versace on a hot tin roof: Indiana Pacers Coach Dick Versace is said to be in trouble, but it hasn't slowed his quick-draw delivery. Said Versace: "I love the edge. I like to win and I'm going to win. I always win. I'm like a cat you drop off the roof upside down and it lands on his feet. I always have and I always will." . . . Translation: he thinks Chuck Daly will give him his old assistant's job back with the Detroit Pistons. . . . Add Pacers: Rick Smits, supposedly primed for a big season after working with Bill Walton last summer, is shooting 40%. Versace said Smits is suffering from "cognitive overload."

Pines Kids Hoop It Up In Youth Basketball League

November 7, 1999|MICHAEL SNEAD
While the NBA has changed several rules to promote more offense, defense was the rage at in the Pembroke Pines youth basketball league.
In the Novice 7-8 year old league, the Lakers edged the Heat 11-9 as both teams played terrific defense. Lakers coach Marcos Jimonez and the Heat's Muton Chiz agreed that it was more defense than poor shooting that led to this low-scoring affair.
Space Jammers 23, Raptors 10: Christopher Higgins scored seven points for the Raptors, but it wasn't enough to offset Llynton Olaoehinbo's 13 points.
Knicks 26, Bulls 8: Aaron Graham scored six in defeat as the Knicks coasted. Joseph Mark scored 15 and Shahab Namin had nine points for the Knicks.
Pistons 22, Canes 18 (2OT): This thriller took two extra sessions to complete, much like the Heat's recent NBA home opener, also involving the Pistons. Ashton Cophas and Brian Charif led the Pistons with eight and 10 points respectively, with four of Charif's points coming in overtime. Orlando Perez scored six and John Kett had seven for the Canes.
Midget 9-10
Blazers 25, Ballers 5: The Blazers jumped on top, not allowing the Ballers a point in the first half.
Canes 21, S Squad 15: The Canes scored 13 first-half points and rode that lead to the final buzzer.
Lakers 40, Wildcats 6: The Lakers offense tallied 27 first half points in crushing the Wildcats. The defense then stepped it up a notch in the second half, shutting the Wildcats down without a point.
Bulldogs 27, Spurs 20: Nelson Rodriguez had 18 points and Marc Rodriguez added six to score 24 of their team's 27 points. Kareem Blake had two and Brandon Rodriguez the other one for the Bulldogs. Roy Harel had 12 points and Brandon Hall added six to help stage a fourth-quarter rally. Manuel Graves scored the other two points for the Spurs.
Heat 18, Lions 13: The Heat jumped out to a 10-0 first-quarter lead and then held on. The Lions outscored the Heat 13-8 over the final three quarters.
Maniacs 30, Clippers 14: The Maniacs opened the game with pressure defense, holding the Clippers scoreless in the first quarter. A 12-point third quarter won the game for the Maniacs.
Storm rages
West Pines softball
WPPO Storm 8, Marlins 4: Cassie Sigler and Courtney Hodges both had double plays for the Storm as they won with defense.
WPPO Storm 13, WPPO Lightning: Chelsea Melendez had a double play and Brittany Wilson caught a difficult line drive to spark the defense. Rachel Cannelle knocked in the winning run in the last inning. The winning run was scored by Samantha Schultz.
WPPO Storm 11, Pembroke Lakes Rockies 10: In another game that came right down to the wire with last-inning heroics, Schultz, Alexandra Fernandes and Madison Rowan all reached base to spark the winning rally.
Under-10: WPPO Vipers 7, Pembroke Lakes Reds 2: Lauren Schmalz and Danielle Quintero led the team to victory with a 10-strikeout performance. Jessi Pozo, Megan Donnelly, Schmalz, Victoria Kovacs, Quintero, Nicole Quintero, Stephanie Joyce, Sumi Yahya, Bianca Fernandez, and Caitlin Greve all had hits in the win.
Pembroke Lakes Cardinals 4, WPPO Vipers 3: Despite fine pitching from Pozo, Danielle Quintero and Schmalz, the Cardinals were able to hold off the Vipers in a close one. Pozo had a double and two RBI to it up. Victoria Kovacs had another fine defensive play in the outfield, where she doubled a runner at third base.
Roadrunners 7, WPPO Sting 2: Despite the timely hitting of Britanie Block, Michelle Gonzalez and Ashley Williamson the Sting could not score runs.
WPPO Sting 9, Dodgers 6: Britanie Block, Valeria Rodriguez, Jennifer Oliveri, Marnie Levitt, and Michelle Gonzalez led the hit parade for the Sting. Melissa Bart was a defensive key in right field.
WPPO Sting 7, Pembroke Lakes Cardinals 5: The Sting improved to 14-4-1 in defeating the Cardinals behind the hitting and pitching of Block. Danielle Groh pitched and retired six of the seven batters she faced. Marnie Levitt and Ashley Williamson had key hits as Michelle Oliveri, Christy Cerami, Heather Davis and Bart each reached base and scored.
Vipers roll
The under-12 WPPO Vipers completed a busy two weeks which included wins over the Pembroke Lakes Braves, Indians, Yankees, West Pines Storm, Lightning and Eagles to run their record to a stellar 13-1.
Defensive standouts were Stephanie Moran, Patti McCampbell, Melanie Munoz and Jessi Miller. Major run production was provided by Sarah Crowley, Ashley Roque, Charokee Smith and Melissa Smith. The pitching duo of Rose Fadul and Jena Kobaitri took turns topping each other's awesome stints.
Green flag flys high
In the Pembroke Pines flag football playoffs the Green Bengals defeated the Black Bengals 14-0. The Orange Bengals also downed the White Bengals 12-0, setting up a Green and Orange Super Bowl game.
What's happening

Will the Spurs try to lure LaMarcus Aldridge in free agency? -- Around the NBA

A quick spin around the NBA for the latest news, notes and links:
13 Observations From the D-League Showcase | Zach Lowe, Grantland.com: 
12. This could be random, but nearly a half-dozen executives from different teams mentioned the possibility of the Spurs luring LaMarcus Aldridge in free agency with a max contract.
Let me be clear, my beloved Portland maniacs: I do not see this happening. Repeat: I do not see this happening. Aldridge isn't the type to say stuff lightly, so it meant a lot — to everyone — when he declared so emphatically in July that he would sign a new five-year contract this summer and hopefully go down as the "best Blazer ever."
It's always wise to take sunny public comments about free agency with a pile of salt, but Aldridge is a bit of a different cat in this regard. Still: I found it interesting that after having heard very little San Antonio/Aldridge talk of any kind, ever, a bunch of unconnected higher-ups suddenly started mentioning it over the last two weeks. Someone said something to start the rumor mill churning, and the Blazers have always considered one of Aldridge's home-state Texas teams the biggest threat to snag him away.
San Antonio waited on a Kawhi Leonard extension precisely to hoard max cap space this summer in case both Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili retire. Dallas could have max-level space, though it'd have to renounce several very good free agents to get it. Houston would need to cut some salary, but it also has the goods to put together a solid sign-and-trade offer if Aldridge makes it known he'd prefer to go there.
This is probably much ado about very little. Aldridge is in a wonderful spot as the co-centerpiece of a top team, with a superstar point guard, a smart coach/GM combo, and a nucleus of prime-age veterans — most of whom are also free agents the Blazers could re-sign this summer via Bird rights. Portland can offer him one more year and about $30 million more than any other suitor.
Brandon Jennings' 20-20 for Detroit Pistons is best game since he scored 55 points as rookie | Brendan Savage, MLive.com: 
What was more impressive, his 55-point game as rookie for the Milwaukee Bucks or Wednesday's 24-point, 21-assist night for the Detroit Pistons?
"Fifty-five in three quarters, that's tough man," Jennings said after leading the Pistons to a 128-118 victory over the Orlando Magic at The Palace. "That's tough. Fifty-five in three (quarters) as a rookie?
"I don't know what I was on that night but 20-20 is pretty killer."
It marked the first time an NBA player had reached 20 in both categories since Steve Nash did it for the Phoenix Suns on Nov. 9, 2009, when the two-time MVP had 21 points and 20 assists in a 119-115 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.
Hearing that nobody had put together a 20-20 game in more than five years made it even more special for Jennings.
"Especially when it's somebody like Nash, a guy who I looked up to and respect a whole lot," Jennings said. "That's pretty awesome."
The 21 assists are a career high, topping the 19 Jennings had for Milwaukee in a 122-114 win over Toronto on March 2, 2013.
But he couldn't rank that game ahead of the 55 points he scored for the Bucks as a rookie during his seventh NBA game in 2009 - especially since he was scoreless in the first quarter that night.
Westbrook hits game-winner in victory over Wizards | Darnell Mayberry, Oklahoman: 
The sellout crowd of 20,356, many of whom came to "recruit" Durant to his hometown team when he becomes a free agent in July 2016, left the arena marveling at the Thunder's dynamic one-two punch, perhaps the best duo in all of basketball. Washington denied Durant the ball but had no answer for Westbrook, who raced toward Morrow on the left sideline, caught it on the run, put his head down and barreled to the basket for the win.
"I was going to try to end the game myself," Durant said. "Coach drew up a great play and Russ ran to the halfcourt line and they threw two at him and he was able to get free. And we said whoever catches it be aggressive. So it wasn't just a play for me. It was a team play and Russell made a phenomenal, phenomenal move."
Durant scored a game-high 34 points with seven rebounds and three assists in 45 minutes. Westbrook finished with 32 points, eight rebounds and eight assists in 42 minutes.
It was the 31st time Westbrook and Durant have scored at least 30 points apiece in the same game, according to ESPN Stats & Info. To put that in perspective, Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen were together for 10 seasons and accomplished that feat only 16 times.
"If this is a game that showed everybody (what Westbrook means), I don't know what you've been watching," Durant said. "You can't go back and forth. If he has a great game you're there. If he has a bad game you kill him. This was just a regular night for him, to be honest. We all know what Russell can do. If you haven't appreciated him in the past then, damn, I don't know what to tell you because he's been doing this for a while."
George Karl says he still wants to coach | Sam Amick, USA Today: 
If anyone has the wherewithal to hold onto the big-picture perspective, it's the man who has beaten cancer twice (prostate and throat) and kept building on a body of work that includes the sixth-most wins in league history (1,131) and a winning percentage (.599) that is fourth among the eight coaches who have ever won 1,000-plus games (behind Phil Jackson at .704, Pat Riley at .636, and Jerry Sloan at .603).
But sometimes, Karl will admit, a tinge of negativity creeps up that won't likely go away until he's back on a bench again.
"There are days where I get down," Karl, who was fired by the Denver Nuggets in the summer of 2013 despite having been the Coach of the Year the season before, told USA TODAY Sports. "There are days where I'm disappointed that the phone's not ringing. But I would say that on the majority of my days, I say, 'George, you can't get bitter now, because you've been blessed. You've been given jobs when you probably shouldn't have gotten jobs.' I was given an opportunity when I was 33 years old to coach a (Cleveland Cavaliers) team where I probably shouldn't have been given that opportunity. So I look back at my career as a blessing. I want to do it one more time. My hope and my feeling is that the league will figure it out and give me that opportunity."
Not that good? Warriors respond with rout | Ethan Sherwood Strauss, ESPN.com:
After the game, Howard was asked if the Warriors were the best team in the league. "I think the Hawks are the best team," he said. "Think they got the best record, right?" 
Now, that's not technically true. The Warriors have a better winning percentage and lead the Hawks by two in the loss column. 
Houston's frustration bubbled over in the third quarter when Trevor Ariza jogged over to Stephen Curry and shoulder-bumped the point guard. Curry, who had already picked up a technical, was restrained by Green. At the nadir of futility, targeting Curry was either a desperation strategy or the result of desperation. Houston got a great offensive game from Harden (through three quarters, he had as many free throws as the Warriors did), and it just didn't matter at all. Golden State was overwhelming. 
"What else can you do? Try running, didn't quite work. Try posting, that didn't quite work. Ain't much more you can do at that point," Green said. 
Those weren't Green's only thoughts on the night's action. Through smiles and winks he kept reminding reporters that the Warriors just weren't "that good," saying, "We not that good. You saw it, you don't got Twitter? You got Instagram? So I'm sure you saw it, right? We not that good." 
Green lamented Houston's plight of losing to a not-that-good team, saying, "Ya, you know, if we not that good, they in trouble. You know, four lo

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Warriors president Rick Welts marries partner Todd Gage, making sports history

Rick Welts just broke another barrier for the LGBTQ community in sports. Last Friday, he married his longtime partner Todd Gage at San Francisco City Hall, becoming the first known professional men’s sports executive to marry his same-sex partner. San Francisco Mayor London Breed pronounced Welts and Gage “spouses for life,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle’s Heather Knight, making the marriage official. Knight reports that everyone from NBA commissioner Adam Silver to former Warrior Kevin Durant reached out to Welts to congratulate him on the big day. Welts, a longtime exec in the NBA’s league offices, was working as president of the Suns when he met Gage, a Southwest flight attendant, on a plane. “He was -F,” Gage told Knight, who detailed their romance in her piece. In , Welts resigned from the Suns and moved to Northern California to be closer to Gage. He had lost a prior relationship over a lack of visibility, and did not want to go down that path

Goals of messi

The most rouse is perhaps Messi's Guiness World Record for scoring 91 goals in a calendar year in 2012. For Messi, it was 2-3 donkey’s until he consummate the version from a nippy winger into a player famished for goals above everything else. During the 9 years Ronaldo shotten at Real Madrid, Messi and Ronaldo both scored a goal every 85 tittle in all competitions. To put this into firm, Messi's next prime is 60 and Ronaldo's choice is 69. If we training down into goals per tittle, Messi scores a goal every 105 jot, and Ronaldo reason a goal every 113 minutes.Ronaldo still has more all era careen goals than Messi though (Ronaldo has 838 running goals and Messi has 808 career goals), but Ronaldo has amusement 139 more games over his race than Messi has.Although Messi shelter the everywhere proportion, Ronaldo shotten more of his fashioning years as a more unwritten right winger, only no kidding starting to converge on goalscoring as his primary function in 2006, 3-4 donkey’s