Athletes are preternaturally competitive beings.
During the heat of competition, the passion that courses through combatants can sometimes take a turn into uglier territory.
Dr. Twitch’s Top 20 NBA Players of All-Time (including his shocking and ‘sacrilegious’ top 3)
June 28, 2011 By 50 Comments
Editor’s note: Since the NBA Finals ended, MSF writers have been submitting and defending their top 20 NBA players of all-time. You can see the aggregate list here. The goal was to see where Dirk fell, or if he fell, among the top 20 players ever after his sterling playoff run this year.
Below are the thoughts of Jon Washburn, who does include Dirk among his top 20 players ever. He also has the most unique top 3 of anyone who submitted a list, which is why I asked him to provide a detailed description of his top 20. And boy did he. Enjoy.
When I was a kid, Jim Harbaugh was the quarterback of my beloved Indianapolis Colts. One season, we started out 4-0 (we were the last team to lose a game that year) and ended up making the playoffs as a wild card. We went into San Diego and beat the defending AFC champs before going to Arrowhead Stadium and beating the 13-3 Kansas City Chiefs. We ended up losing to the Steelers in the famous “Hail Mary” game, and I cried for what seemed like an eternity.
Top 20 NBA Ballers of My Lifetime
June 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Editor’s note: We are currently preparing an article in which a number of MSF writers submitted their top 20 NBA players of all-time. The goal is to see where Dirk falls in the top 20, or if he even makes it at all. Evan decided to narrow his scope a bit and go with the top 20 players of his lifetime. So we are posting his article first, with the mega top 20 article to come. Stay tuned…
Also note that Evan is 22 and says that he really started watching the NBA during the 1997-98 season.
It’s top-20 NBA Players mania around here right now, all thanks to Dirk Nowitzki’s superstar performance in earning his first ring this month. Everyone from announcers to journalists to bloggers are saying Dirk has hit legendary status, maybe even top 20 of all time. I think that sounds a tad high for Dirk, but he now has some serious hardware to reasonably back up the claim to a top-20 spot.
For my own part, I have always thought that the NBA MVP award was the most meaningful of any of the four major sports. Scan the list and you’ll notice every single winner is a Hall of Famer or well on his way to being enshrined. Dirk has his MVP award, he has his Finals MVP award, and most importantly he has his ring.
But is he on par with Larry Bird? Or is that just the most racially convenient historical comparison bandied by most experts?
Honestly, I don’t really know because I never actually saw Larry Bird play. But I have seen plenty of other great players, so for my Top-20 NBA Players list, I decided to restrict myself to those guys I’ve actually seen play. Here is my list with some highly subjective choices, some no doubters, and perhaps one begrudgingly included sharpshooter who burned my New York Knicks many years ago.
Shaquille O’Neal retires, ending one of the truly unique on- and off-court careers in NBA history
June 2, 2011 By 1 Comment
Shaquille O’Neal retired today, and he did it in his own unique, unexpected way. He tweeted it. Really, it was the only appropriate way for a true on-court original and off-court sports/entertainment pioneer like Shaq to go out.
“The Diesel” has been a special player since the moment he entered the NBA. He made an immediate impact, averaging 23 and 14 his rookie season, earning Rookie of the Year honors, and he was named an All-Star starter — the first to do so as a rookie since Jordan.
His dominance revolutionized the position of center, unlike anyone before or since.
Top 10 Individual NBA Finals Performances of All Time
May 31, 2011 By 16 Comments
Game 1 of the 2011 NBA Finals is only hours away my friends. This is where legends are made, champions are born, and dreams are broken.
Also be sure to check out my NBA Finals preview!
With a series destined to provide us with star power, amazing play, and two teams full of players who are dying to win a ring, I would like to toss out a little treat to whet your appetite.
Before we become engrossed in this year’s memorable Finals performances, let’s relive 10 of the all-time best individual performances from NBA Finals past
The Sky Hook, Dirk’s Fadeaway, and the Other Most Unstoppable Signature Moves in NBA History
May 18, 2011 By 6 Comments
While watching Dirk’s evisceration of the Thunder last night, I had a revelation:
Dirk Nowitzki’s fadeaway is the single most unstoppable individual move since The Sky Hook.
Now before you get carried away, just listen to the qualifications. I’m talking about a single, individual move that is just impossible to stop.
Obviously, there have been much better scorers. When Jordan got the ball on the wing, he could do any one of eight different things — and do all of them well — in order to get points for his team.
Kevin McHale may have had more post moves than anyone in history. His combination of jab steps, head fakes, and duck-unders was nearly unguardable when he had his jump shot going.
But there have been a few guys in history that had a go-to move that you just couldn’t stop – even when you knew it was coming.
In honor of Dirk: ‘Points Per Miss’ and his spot among the NBA’s all-time greats
May 18, 2011 By 77 Comments
Last night, Dirk Nowitzki turned in one of the most mind-bogglingly awesome individual basketball performances I have ever seen. As I tweeted near the end of the game: “Nowitzki is German for un-fucking-believable. Sometimes, only the f-word will do.”
Here are the raw numbers: 48 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 blocks in 41 minutes. As impressive as those numbers are by themselves, they do not even begin to tell the story of just how close to perfect a basketball game Dirk played last night.
Here are the most impressive numbers: 12-15 from the field, 24-24 from the free throw line. Feel free to re-read those numbers a few times to ensure that they sink in.
As Bill Simmons tweeted: “48 points, 3 missed shots total (FG + FT). We need a stat like ‘points per miss’ to see if that’s a record for a 40+ point game.”
For the evening, Dirk’s “points per miss” (or PPM as we’ll refer to it henceforth) was 16. 16! 16 points for every missed shot. That is astounding, and it is a terrific way to appreciate what was one of the best single-night shooting performances on any level of basketball ever.
And as I went to bed last night, Simmons’ tweet had me thinking. Just how useful of a stat would PPM be? So I decided to get up this morning and investigate it a little further.
The Evolution of Phil Jackson
May 26, 2010 By 8 Comments
If you watch sports like I do you have undoubtedly been inundated with commercials, like this one, promoting Gatorade’s new G Series. One of the buzzwords that they have tried to associated with the G Series is “evolve”.
I don’t know why, but for some reason this morning I decided to do a Google Image Search for Phil Jackson, formerly of my (then) beloved Chicago Bulls and now the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Not surprisingly, the one word that popped into my head while browsing through pictures of the Zen Master was evolve.
MSF Top 10 List: Reactions to the “Quicken Groans LeBracle”
May 12, 2010 By 12 Comments
There is only one way to accurately describe what happened last night in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland:
WTF?
Perhaps not so coincidentally, the three letters above represent the same WTF number of shots LeBron James made last night.
Really, WTF doesn’t even describe last night’s game. Cleveland and LeBron pretty much rolled over, on their home floor, in a must win game, in a performance that even the Atlanta Hawks would have considered soft.
Every sports news outlet from Bristol to Bangkok will be dissecting LeBron’s poor play last night and assessing what it may or may not mean for his future in Cleveland. I thought I’d throw my two cents in as well, although with a little bit of a difference perspective.
Holy Shaq He Was Good…and in Shape!
April 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment
There really are no words to describe how ridiculously awesome Shaq was in high school.
And yes, he dominated in college and in the NBA, but can you imagine if he had stayed in decent shape as he got older?
My goodness. This has to be one of the most impressive high school reels ever.
Just want…and marvel.
Lebron Sits Out, Cavs Still Beat Spurs 97-95
March 9, 2010 By 5 Comments
No Lebron, No Shaq, No Problem!
Despite Lebron James sitting on the bench for his second straight game (due to a sprained left ankle) and Shaquille O’Neal recovering from surgery on his right thumb, the Cleveland Cavaliers still found a way to beat the Spurs 97-95, in a Quicken Loans Arena nail bitter.
The Cavs took on their former 2007 nemesis (who swept them in the Franchise’s first NBA Finals appearance), and fought hard for the victory without the help of two of their starters.
Cavs Gives Fans A Treat With Christmas Win In LA
December 26, 2009 By 1 Comment
In what was arguably the most anticipated game of the season, the Cleveland Cavaliers held the reigning NBA Champion LA Lakers to under 90 points in a Christmas Day win at the Staples Center.
The nationally televised Marquee game, hyped the return of Shaquille O’Neal to a city in which he won three of his four NBA titles, and showcased the extraordinary basketball talents of Back-to-Back MVP winners Lebron James (2008-2009 winner) and Kobe Bryant (2007-2008 winner), as well as their latest Nike Puppet commercials.
Opening Week Preview for 2009-10 NBA Season
October 27, 2009 By 3 Comments
Kobe Bryant jumps in the air, giving a sweet vision back in time to Jordan’s celebration after knocking down the buzzer-beater that put a dagger in the heart of Karl Malone and Jazz fans alike. Watching was a sea of blue and white disappointed fans.
Yes, the Lakers were 2009 NBA Champions as they finished off the Orlando Magic in 5 games. What an incredible season.
A season that included LeBron finally being able to crown himself the best in the 08-09 season with a much deserved MVP award. A season where Dwight Howard showed us REALLY how to play defense, as he stole the 08-09 season’s Defensive Player of the Year. A season where Dwyane Wade put on a show nearly every night in Miami.
Yes, the season was great even for Knicks, Jazz, Hornets and all NBA fans alike…because regardless of how your teams performed, the individual performances were spectacular.
But that season is over.
JJ Hickson Leads Cavs in Preseason Victory Over Bobcats
October 7, 2009 By 1 Comment
Excitement rocked Quicken Loans Arena, as a nearly sold out crowd of Championship hungry fans came out to “Witness” the beginning of the Cavs XL (40th) Season.
None were disappointed, as they caught a preview of the new Cavs Opening, broadcast in High Definition on the Q-Tube Jumbatron. And fans danced and sang along as they listened to Jay Z’s “D.O.A. (Death Of Autotune)” Rap, which the Cavs adopted as their new 2009-2010 Theme Song.
Although both Shaq and LeBron received thunderous applause, and standing ovations from the fans, when they were introduced–on this night, there were no mock “Family Photo” shoots, no dancing, and no simulated golf or baseball games. Just a brief mutual salute between the reining NBA MVP and the NBA’s “Diesel” and self-proclaimed “Dun Dada.”
Bold Cavaliers Prediction
October 1, 2009 By 3 Comments
