- Created on 14 March 2013
Atlanta Sports Fans Should be Ashamed After Last Night’s Hawks-Lakers Game
The Hawks are a team with a winning record, playing with a slew of injuries and still have a realistic chance of getting home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. And on Wednesday night, in their own building, Atlanta fans almost cost the team a game.
As Kyle Korver stepped to the free throw line with 16.9 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Philips Arena was the loudest it had been that night. It was almost surreal. Korver was being booed at the line by fans in his own city, in a game against a Western Conference team from across the country barely hanging on to the number 8 seed in the playoffs.
“I just hear noise, good or bad” he said. “In my mind, they were cheering for us.”
It would seem unconscionable for a shooter stepping to the line in his home building to get that kind of treatment with the game on the line, but that’s how it happened.
“I’m used to it,” said guard Devin Harris who got the start for the injured Jeff Teague. “It’s funny actually, it’s not just the Lakers, it’s different teams with winning records. We just look at it as a challenge and we’re happy to get a win for our fans.”
The crowd at Philips Arena on Wednesday night was only about 30 percent Hawks fans, based on ocular estimates, but for most of the evening they made the most noise. With the Lakers down by as many as 14 points in the third quarter, the sea of purple and gold had little to cheer about.
But with 10:38 left on the clock, Lakers guard Kobe Bryant went on a spectacular tear to bring the team back, scoring 20 points in a little over seven minutes.
From there, the lead went back and forth, with the teams exchanging momentum after seemingly every timeout. The Lakers led by as many as four, while the Hawks were able to pad their advantage by five after Harris went on a scoring spree of his own.
In the absence of Josh Smith, Jeff Teague, Zaza Pachulia, Lou Williams and DeShawn Stevenson, guys like Shelvin Mack, Johann Petro and John Jenkins were forced to step in and they came up big. Jenkins scored 12 points and shot 50 percent from three-point range, while Mack handled duties at the point guard for stretches, playing 14 minutes and scoring seven points. Petro started the game at center and defended Lakers’ All Star Dwight Howard all night, equaling his point total (10) and nabbing a double-double with 11 rebounds.
The breakout star of the night for the Hawks, though, was Al Horford, who, despite a modest scoring night (14 points, 14 rebounds), led the team emotionally on offense and defense.
“I thought Al set the tone for the game, he really did,” said Hawks coach Larry Drew.
Horford threw down a series of big dunks early in the first quarter to get the Hawks’ momentum rolling, including a one-handed an alley oop jam that brought the crowd, dressed in red and purple alike, to its feet.
Unfortunately the standout team effort from the Hawks was taken like pearls to swine.
Certainly, the team has been more than an occasional disappointment this season and in seasons past, but the guys that were on the floor Wednesday night deserved better than what they got from their hometown crowd.
“[The team] just went out there and handled our business,” Horford said of responding to a hostile home crowd, “and our fans got behind us.”
The players are thankful to those fans. More than most people realize.
- Created on 14 March 2013
Kobe Bryant Learns What Happens When You Cry Wolf
Last night when Hawks guard Dahntay Jones may or may not have "Jalen Rose'd" Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant, as the 17-year pro alleges, and he lay on the floor, writhing in pain, everyone at the media table assumed he was faking it.
No one had a great view – the play happened on the baseline corner, closest to the table, but obstructed by courtside fans – but seemingly everyone thought, or said out loud, "There he goes again..."
It wasn't that members of the media are callous and heartless or that no one was concerned about the wellbeing of one of the NBA's best players and an all-time basketball great, it's just that throwing a tantrum when he doesn't get his way is what Kobe does. And it's what he had done all night.
After the Lakers training staff revealed that Bryant had a "severely sprained left ankle" most were singing a different tune, but the initial reaction from officials, spectators and media was "There he goes again..."
After getting x-rays and treatment in the visitors' locker room at Philips Arena, Bryant spoke to media for about three minutes, mostly venting his frustration that he would "have to wait a year to get [his] revenge."
"I think officials really need to protect shooters," Bryant told reporters following the game. "You can contest shots, but you can't walk underneath players, that's dangerous for the shooter.
"...I'm always conscious of it. When I go to contest shots I'm always very conscious about making sure I don't walk underneath them. It's just a very, very dangerous play. Especially if I'm fading away, there's no rhyme or reason why I should come down anywhere near somebody's foot."
That wasn't enough, so Bryant took to Twitter after the game:
"#dangerousplay that should have been called. Period," he tweeted.
But inside the locker room, in front of reporters wasn't where Kobe began to vent his frustration, it was on the court, almost from tip-off.
Kobe complained after almost every shot he took when he didn't get a call.
(Admittedly, the officiating was horrid and referees Monty McCutchen, Tony Brown and Pat Fraher should be banned for life from ever reffing together again.)
He didn't just complain after missed shots either. During TV timeouts, he was talking to the officials. A teammate was taking free throws and there he was buzzing in the official's ear. At the end of the first and third quarters, yep, there he was grumbling away about one call or another.
So when he hoisted up the corner shot that could have tied the game and Jones stepped out and into him, he didn't get the call.
Bryant kicked his leg out, a move that officials have been cracking down on this year, Jones stepped into him attempting to disrupt the shot, and Bryant fell awkwardly on his ankle. It's a call that easily could have gone either way, but in this case it was a no call.
Kobe didn't like it, but that's life. Maybe someday he'll learn that the squeaky wheel doesn't always get the oil.
- Created on 14 March 2013
Detroit Lions Sign Free Agent Reggie Bush
It's official! Reggie Bush is coming to the Detroit Lions!
Introducing the free agent running back on Wednesday, Mar. 13, the team did not reveal any details regarding their contractual agreement with Bush.
With a power packed offense that currently includes star wide receiver Calvin Johnson, Bush is expected to add fuel
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- Created on 14 March 2013
Former Knicks’ Bench Standout Renaldo Balkman Receives Lifetime Ban For Choking Teammate
Former NBA player Renaldo Balkman, who was relegated to taking a gig with the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) after being let go by the Knicks last season, has gotten himself kicked out of his current league for choking a fellow teammate, reports USA Today.
Balkman, who
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- Created on 14 March 2013
Harlem Globetrotters Bring World's Tallest Basketball Player to Make Atlanta Debut
The world's tallest professional basketball player, Paul "Tiny" Sturgess, will add 7-feet 8-inches to the Atlanta skyline when he leads the Harlem Globetrotters for two games on Saturday, March 16. The famous team will play at Philips Arena (1 p.m.) and The Arena at Gwinnett Center (7:30 p.m.).
Here are some facts and figures about Sturgess:
• He was officially recognized on Nov. 17, 2011, by Guinness World Records as the World's Tallest Professional Basketball Player
• Born and raised in Loughborough, England
• Wears a size 20 shoe
• Grew a foot between the ages of 16 & 17
• Father is 6-9 and mother is only 5-5
• Excellent soccer player (or football as he would call it)
• Loves to play golf with his custom-made clubs and crushes 360-yard drives
• Played college basketball at Mountain State University in West Virginia (class of 2011)
• Helped Mountain State to two regional championships
• Made the dean's list in college three times
• Wants to be a physiotherapist after his basketball career
Sturgess will team up with Jonte "Too Tall" Hall, the shortest Globetrotter ever at 5-2. Other stars scheduled to play in Atlanta include Flight Time Lang, Special K Daley, and female star T-Time Brawner.
Sponsored by Howard Johnson Hotels, Wonderful Pistachios, Greyhound Lines, Spalding, and Russell Athletic, the Original Harlem Globetrotters are celebrating their 87th consecutive year, continuing a world famous tradition of ball handling wizardry, basketball artistry, and family entertainment.
Proud inductees of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, the Globetrotters have entertained hundreds of millions of fans—among them popes, kings, queens, and presidents—over more than eight decades.
Tickets are on sale now at www.harlemglobetrotters.com, www.ticketmaster.com, each arena box office, or by phone at 800-745-3000. Information on group and scout tickets can found by calling Philips Arena Group Sales at 866-715-1500, option 4 or The Arena at Gwinnett Center group sales at 770-813-7533.
