Daily Loaf

Sport has its array of thrilling moments. Major League Baseball has its game-saving catches and walk-off home runs. The NFL has its big hits and its hail maries. But there’s something about an NBA slam dunk that lifts fans out of their seats.

Right now, the Association boasts a number of athletes that can jump clear out of the gym. So for those of you who don’t have the good fortune of watching basketball highlights with Sportschump-like regularity, I’d like to present three dunkalicious reasons to love this game.

Ladies and gentlemen, I hereby give you Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade and 5’11” Ty Lawson rudely introducing themselves to Paul Milsap, Anderson Varejao and DJ Mbenga: Read the rest of this entry »

What makes a successful head coach? Or perhaps a better question is… what makes a once successful head coach suddenly forget how to coach?

Last week, the New Orleans Hornets announced that the services of their head coach and former NBA coach of the year, Byron Scott, would no longer be needed. The Hornets had gotten off to a less than satisfactory 3-6 start and someone had to be held accountable. It certainly couldn’t be ownership.

Scott has since been replaced by Jeff Bower, the team’s general manager. Tim Floyd, who coached the Hornets to a 41-41 record in 2003-4, has also been added back to the staff.

The Bower-Floyd combo hasn’t fared much better since taking over for Scott. In their home debut, the Hornets lost to Portland by 12. In that game, they lost their superstar Chris Paul for two-four weeks with a sprained ankle. In their first Paul-less game of the season, the Hornets lost to the Atlanta Hawks by 23.

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The NFL has a lot of bad teams. Entering Week Six, nine teams, the Bills, Lions, Panthers, Bucs, Rams, Browns, Titans, Raiders and Chiefs all had a combined five wins, and some of those teams had played each other. Any NFL preview of those teams at the beginning of the season turned out to be a tremendous waste of ink and cyberspace.

In the spirit of conservation and outright decency, sportschump.net’s NBA preview has decided to spare you the wannabes. We have chosen only to highlight those teams that have a legitimate chance to win the O’Brien Trophy. As is the case every year, the NBA will showcase a bunch of solid contenders. Unfortunately, they’ll also parade out there a bunch of teams taking up arena space until real entertainment comes to town.

Note the odds of each team winning an NBA title are listed in parentheses.

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For decades, athletes from Walt Frazier and Joe Namath to Derek Jeter and Dwyane Wade have graced us with a sense of style and pizzazz off the field. Due to uniform restrictions in most professional sports, it is much more difficult for athletes to fashionably express their individuality on the field. Some athletes, however, have still managed to find a style uniquely their own, simply by using their heads. From hats to facemasks, eye black to visors, these 12 have established their own personal trademarks by sporting headgear that makes them utterly recognizable. Where do they rank on your list?

12 ) Brett Favre’s Stained Baseball Cap – Nothing screams John Deere quite like a Brett Favre press conference. The on-again, off-again, gun-slinging, formerly retired quarterback of the Green Bay Packers…. I mean New York Jets…. wait, no, the Minnesota Vikings made a lot of press lately with his most recent return to the NFL. When Minnesota officially announced his latest comeback, Favre looked like he had just gotten off his riding lawnmower. A slave to fashion he’s never been, but don’t tell that to the marketing brass at Wrangler jeans. Favre has a style all his own, no matter how tired we all are of seeing it. What other Hall of Fame athlete could get away with wearing a torn, oil-slicked baseball cap while announcing he was about to earn $12 million at the age of 40?

11) LeBron James’s Headband – LeBron James has made the sweatband fashionable again in the NBA. Never before has a man wearing a headband been so intimidating. Only King James could rock the headband and make it look cool. Well, he and John McEnroe back in the day, but LBJ has considerably less hair. You go ahead and tell the league’s brightest talent that headbands are lame. Just be careful he’s not dunking over you in the meantime. Read the rest of this entry »

Putting aside Game 1 of the 2009 NBA Finals for a moment, you can say what you want about Courtney Lee making that inbound layup from (essentially) behind the backboard in Game 2, or Kobe Bryant’s shooting woes in Game 3, or Jameer Nelson not meeting Derek Fisher outside of the three point line and forcing him to drive the bucket last night, but really, these three games come down to essentially the same thing: free throw shooting.

If you know anything about my personal philosophy on basketball, I think that on a game by game basis I think rebounding is the single most important indicitator of winning. However, I cannot overlook the fact that the team that lost had an opproutnity to close out the game from the free throw line. In Game 2, before Courtney Lee had the chance to win it at the buzzer, the Magic had ample opportunity to score from the line and did not capitalize. In Game 3, Kobe and Krewl were abismal from the free throw line, and then again last night the Magic had a ton of chances from the line in the fourth (and I do not just mean Dwight Howard’s two misses to keep LA in it).  To prove my point, I will take you through this game by game:

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Game 1 of the 2009 NBA finals is in the books and it was certainly not a good situation for the Orlando Magic. Here’s the thing, though: It’s not the end of the Magic world here.

Yes, I know that the Lakers have won like a trillion series in a row when winning the first game of a set but that does not concern me. Do I think the Orlando is going to win the series? No. Did I think the Magic were going to win the series before Game 1? No.  But I did, and still do, think the Magic have a good shot. There was about a 0% chance of a sweep to begin with. It would have been preferable for Orlando to take Game 1, to be sure, but if the Magic are going to win the title, they’re going to need to do it in 6 or 7.

I think that in the 2-3-2 format, the team with home court has an unusual advantage. It is extremely difficult to win the middle three games, but not impossible. Even so, your goal as the Magic (or any team without home court) is to rip one. That’s it. Do you want more? Of course, but these are the NBA Finals and the teams are good. Even when a team gets swept, they were still a hell of a team that had a hell of a season. So one is sometimes all you’re going to get.  For all the nay-saying in regards to Orlando’s ability to beat Cleveland, they only took one in C-town but they only needed one. So, after Game 1, the Magic are right where they should be.

“But Ryan, the Magic lost by a lot and didn’t look good in the process.”

True. Here’s a few counter points to consider: Read the rest of this entry »

I was prepared today to start writing about how I was witness to Lebron James‘ heroics in the Eastern Conference Finals. Despite the fact that every time he stepped into the paint in the first five games the referees automatically blew the whistle, his performance in this series proved beyond any shadow of any doubt in my mind he is definitively the best player on the planet right now. I was going to write about how I Was Witness. After he knocked down the game winning triple in Game 2, a friend of mine, known simply as The Big Walk, sent me a one word text: “witness”. I called him and we had an hour and a half (or so) conversation about how it is impossible to be mad because LBJ is just that good. He’s strong, and quick. He get’s to the proverbial rack and finishes with contact as if it weren’t even there. This is what I wanted to write about.

That was until today when I found out the full extent of the pouting following Game 6. I mean, I knew that on Saturday he left Amway Arena without having spoken to the media and that did not bother me so much. As much as I like watching press conferences, players and coaches get fined for saying anything particularly worthwhile so it’s really about the slivers of analysis that come out in between the effusive, tongue in cheek praise of the other guy. And you know, I was still prepared to be Witness to LBJ when I found out that ‘bronbron left the floor without shaking hands with any of the Magic players.

This morning, though, I heard this quote:

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If you’re already a basketball fan, you can stop reading now. Or you can continue on to get your fix. This post is directed toward the fringe fan.

Although it may sound like it, this is not a public service announcement from the National Basketball Association. It’s merely a gesture of respect and admiration from a self-admitted, basketball junkie. It is Christmas in May and the Association has gifted us with some phenomenal basketball. So gather ‘round the flat screen with some pizza and beer and enjoy! You’ll be glad you did.

If it’s drama you want, the first four games of the Conference Finals so far have been decided by a total of seven points! The remaining games promise to be just as exciting. This is the ultimate reality television.

What’s intriguing about this final four (Denver, Los Angeles, Orlando and Cleveland) is that three of the teams, three of the four head coaches, and three of the four megastars have yet to win a championship. Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard are all heavyweights who want a title BAD. Whoever wins will cement his legacy among the NBA’s elite.

So for those of you who don’t already have the back of their basketball cards memorized, here’s a brief explanation of why you should tune in: Read the rest of this entry »

The Cleveland Cavaliers have it easy. For that sake, so do the Los Angeles Lakers, Denver Nuggets and Boston Celtics. The difference between those teams and the Orlando Magic is so clear cut, it smacks you in the face like a playoff game you should have won, then inexplicably lost.

Cleveland has a leader. Make no bones about it, that is LeBron James‘ team. Their head coach Mike Brown, who won the 2008-9 Coach of the Year award, has been around. While only in his fourth year in Cleveland, he’s already taken them to one Finals appearance. He also coached under Gregg Popovich on the Spurs 2003 championship team.

The Los Angeles Lakers are led by Kobe Bryant, who’s won three titles, and head coach Phil Jackson, who’s won nine. The Denver Nuggets are a totally different team since they landed Chauncey Billups, a point guard, floor general and former Finals MVP. Denver also has the well-respected George Karl as their head coach. The Boston Celtics, last year’s NBA champions, are coached by Doc Rivers and have an established motivator in Kevin Garnett, even though he’s playing that role from the bench as he’s currently injured.

The Orlando Magic have none of this, and it shows. While the series against Boston is not over, Orlando is down three games to two when they already could have easily advanced.

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