Shaq: A Rim-Breaking, Backboard-Shattering Flashback

Shaq: A Rim-Breaking, Backboard-Shattering Flashback

Since it’s Shaq Week on NBA TV this week, I figured this little flashback would fit right in.

In the 90s, when I was an early teenager who thought he was Michael Jordan, I used to love going to the closest elementary school to have a dunk contest with my friends. In my case, that was Linda Vista in San Jose, CA. I had an adjustable rim in my backyard, and I would practice my dunks every day after school. When the weekend rolled around, we would go there because the rims were only eight feet high and we could dunk, or we would go to St. John’s down the street to hoop. Those rims were a little over nine feet high, so the games there would get pretty high-flying by older guys. That was the time of And1, Hoop It Up, and betting on 2-on-2 games like in White Men Can’t Jump. It was all about the soft-touch, reverse layup, the tongue-sticking-out type of hang time, and it was all about breaking backboards. Trust me when I say that, in the 90s, it was all about the dunk.

In fact, it was so much about the dunk that the term “posterized” was developed in the 90s because of this era of hoop. If you’re unfamiliar with that term, here’s some quick game for you. A person gets posterized when a player dunks the ball over them, someone takes a picture of it, and blows it up to be a poster for the player who did the dunking. When it came to posterizing other guys in style, it really all began with Julius “Dr. J” Erving and evolved into dunkers like Shawn Kemp, Clyde “The Glide” Drexler, Dominique Wilkins, and his Airness, Michael “Air” Jordan. Power dunks, on the other hand, were something completely different; they hurt people and broke stuff.

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USA Basketball: The Gold Medal Game

USA Basketball: The Gold Medal Game

{originally written August 23, 2016}

Going into the gold medal game against Serbia, I knew Team USA would win, but I wasn’t sure by how much. The last time Team USA played Serbia in the preliminary round, they barely won by three points. Analysts focused their attention on the lack of chemistry, lackadaisical defense, and low shooting percentage by Team USA in their victory over Spain in the semifinal game. They even hinted at the idea of Team USA having a hard time beating Serbia in the rematch. If I wasn’t such a good listener, I wouldn’t have been able to pick up on the hint of sarcasm in their voices.

The game against Spain was decent. It reminded me of the 2008 gold medal game with the same type of intensity and rough play from Pau Gasol. At one point during the third quarter, the Spanish team got within three points, but that was the closest margin despite the two-point differential in the starting minutes. The Spanish had chemistry on the floor with smooth pick-and-rolls, wide-open looks from the arc, and aggressive defense, which kept them competitive. In the final three minutes of the fourth quarter, Spain went on a 10-4 run to close the gap to six points. They outscored Team USA by three points in the second and fourth quarter, but it didn’t matter. Team USA turned it on when they had to and slowed the pace when they felt like it. Despite what most might think, they were in control of that game.

Pau Gasol put up 23 points and pulled down eight rebounds for Spain. Team USA’s Klay Thompson pulled out his Super Soaker and drenched the net for 22 points while DeAndre Jordan collected 16 rebounds by just standing there.

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USA Basketball: Defending the Throne

USA Basketball: Defending the Throne

The 2016 Summer Olympics was another chance to see USA Basketball defend the throne. We get to watch our guys demolish teams and defend the gold medal. Yesterday, as I sat back and watched Team USA play Argentina, I was struck by a flashback from 1992.

In 1991, when the greatest basketball team ever assembled was formed for the 1992 Olympic games in Barcelona, Spain, the possibilities of their capabilities were endless. The infamous Dream Team. I still remember how Argentina was the only team to get within 40 points of the 1992 Dream Team.  Argentina, after not winning a medal in 1996 or 2000, finally beat Team USA in 2004 at the Olympic games in Athens, Greece.

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