TwIsTeD Reflections

This ad is priceless. Smart that nike chose to use the Kobe vs Lebron dynamic to create this funny muppet ad. Love the seen-it-all veteran feel of Kobe and the hyped-up new-guy-in-the-block view in Lebron. You know what will be a good ad? Have Kobe and Lebron go one-on-one, and pay the winner a few more thousand dollars. Priceless to say the least. Kobe will kick Lebron's ass.

In honour of the first nba game that I've ever watched...

There is a growing phenomenon as the sport of basketball slowly increasing in popularity. People began to view basketball not just as a sport for enjoyment, for spectators and players alike, but as a mathematical puzzle or problem. They begin to come up with statistical aspects that seem to determine the production of the game. Points, rebounds, assists, blocks, steals become part of the numbers game as people try to take the complex sport and break it down to simpler, easier to understand models.

Yet, anomalies started to occur more and more often. The game of basketball refused to be understood. True enough, the stats showed a bit of the efficiency of the players, but it never showed how a player can benefit his team, basketball being a perennial team sport. The current statistical model was also inadequate to show the defensive aspect of the game; blocks and steals couldnt be a true indicator.

So the statisticians, like ESPN's John Hollander, introduced new revolutionary statistics to try to explain away the game. PER, efficient field goal percentage, +/- were new statistical aspects in the team and individual level. Opponent field goal percentage (the 3 point line, in the paint and the mid-range) and forced turnovers and overall defensive rating was introduced to bread down the defensive aspect. Pace factor was also included to level up the discrepancies of how pace influences the outcome of performances and wins/loses.

Yet, statistical anomalies appeared time and time again, defying the completeness of the models. Players like Shane Battier, as stated in this brilliantly written article by Micheal Lewis, seemed to be helping his team without posting any significant statistical impact. In his article, he writes:

"The virus that infected professional baseball in the 1990s, the use of statistics to find new and better ways to value players and strategies, has found its way into every major sport. Not just basketball and football, but also soccer and cricket and rugby and, for all I know, snooker and darts — each one now supports a subculture of smart people who view it not just as a game to be played but as a problem to be solved. Outcomes that seem, after the fact, all but inevitable — of course LeBron James hit that buzzer beater, of course the Pittsburgh Steelers won the Super Bowl — are instead treated as a set of probabilities, even after the fact. The games are games of odds. Like professional card counters, the modern thinkers want to play the odds as efficiently as they can; but of course to play the odds efficiently they must first know the odds. Hence the new statistics, and the quest to acquire new data, and the intense interest in measuring the impact of every little thing a player does on his team’s chances of winning. In its spirit of inquiry, this subculture inside professional basketball is no different from the subculture inside baseball or football or darts. The difference in basketball is that it happens to be the sport that is most like life."

He continues:

There is a tension, peculiar to basketball, between the interests of the team and the interests of the individual. The game continually tempts the people who play it to do things that are not in the interest of the group. On the baseball field, it would be hard for a player to sacrifice his team’s interest for his own. Baseball is an individual sport masquerading as a team one: by doing what’s best for himself, the player nearly always also does what is best for his team. “There is no way to selfishly get across home plate,” as Morey puts it. “If instead of there being a lineup, I could muscle my way to the plate and hit every single time and damage the efficiency of the team — that would be the analogy. Manny Ramirez can’t take at-bats away from David Ortiz. We had a point guard in Boston who refused to pass the ball to a certain guy.” In football the coach has so much control over who gets the ball that selfishness winds up being self-defeating. The players most famous for being selfish — the Dallas Cowboys’ wide receiver Terrell Owens, for instance — are usually not so much selfish as attention seeking. Their sins tend to occur off the field.

It is in basketball where the problems are most likely to be in the game — where the player, in his play, faces choices between maximizing his own perceived self-interest and winning. The choices are sufficiently complex that there is a fair chance he doesn’t fully grasp that he is making them.

Taking a bad shot when you don’t need to is only the most obvious example. A point guard might selfishly give up an open shot for an assist. You can see it happen every night, when he’s racing down court for an open layup, and instead of taking it, he passes it back to a trailing teammate. The teammate usually finishes with some sensational dunk, but the likelihood of scoring nevertheless declined. “The marginal assist is worth more money to the point guard than the marginal point,” Morey says. Blocked shots — they look great, but unless you secure the ball afterward, you haven’t helped your team all that much. Players love the spectacle of a ball being swatted into the fifth row, and it becomes a matter of personal indifference that the other team still gets the ball back. Dikembe Mutombo, Houston’s 42-year-old backup center, famous for blocking shots, “has always been the best in the league in the recovery of the ball after his block,” says Morey, as he begins to make a case for Mutombo’s unselfishness before he stops and laughs. “But even to Dikembe there’s a selfish component. He made his name by doing the finger wag.” The finger wag: Mutombo swats the ball, grabs it, holds it against his hip and wags his finger at the opponent. Not in my house! “And if he doesn’t catch the ball,” Morey says, “he can’t do the finger wag. And he loves the finger wag.” His team of course would be better off if Mutombo didn’t hold onto the ball long enough to do his finger wag. “We’ve had to yell at him: start the break, start the break — then do your finger wag!”

The year was 2005, and the Lakers were coming off a horrible season where they missed the playoffs for the first time in years. It was a year indicative of the Lakers rebuilding their team. Kobe Bryant, the lakers' lone all-star was not getting any younger, and team had to be built to win NOW. Therefore, the 2005 first round draft pick became all the more important for the rebuilding process.

Thats where the Lakers shocked everyone. They had to win NOW and therefore many thought the lakers would pick an NBA-ready player, with little training or nurturing required to be ready for the tough NBA court. Instead, the Lakers went with 17-year-old Andrew Bynum straight out of high school, making him the youngest NBA player picked in all time.

Andrew Bynum was born in Oct 27, 1987 at the height of 7 foot tall. His size did not compensate for this height, looking scrawny next to other NBA centers. His selection left many scratching their heads in wonder. He was extremely young and immature, an obvious project that could very well fail. At the 10th pick, he was considered a waste of a draft pick. Many criticized his work ethic and his passion for the game.

For myself, I was intrigued. I decided to reserve my judgements till Ive at least seen him play. And when I did, I was impressed. He was called into the game by hall-of-fame coach phil jackson to go help defend the uber-dominant shaquille o'neal, being the only player with enough height to match what many considered the best center of all time.

he was humiliated almost immeadiately after entering the game. Home-schooled by the NBA veteran wanting to prove no young'un is going to come into his home. Shaq muscled with bynum, dunking over him with such force that left poor bynum sprawled on the floor. Everyone not a laker fan laughed at the sight, and every laker fan sighed in what seemed to be an expected result.

Something incredible happened after that. Bynum just got up and sprinted down the floor, fire in his eyes. He positioned himself at the high-post and demanded the ball. Kobe passed it to him, and after two dribbles, he spun so quickly that the heavier Shaq could not catch up, slamming the ball in, to the delight of all Laker fans. And down the floor, he gave shaq a message that he was not in the least bit intimidated. Shaq got pissed.

Don't believe me? Here's a video.


No passion my ass.

Bynum soon developed a work ethic that impressed perennial work-horse, Kobe Bryant. He matured rapidly, and help shoulder the lakers into becoming a contender after just three years of rebuilding, extremely fast for any team. His latest game against the Clippers as I'm writing this, he went super-nova for 42 points, 15 rebounds and 3 blocks. This one young man, right now at a age of 21, that Im going to keep track of.

As the lakers recovered from a bad finals memory, where they lost to the hated Boston Celtics, they came into this season with one mission in mind : Defence. That was the difference makers between the laker team and the celtics. One team hustled and rebounded the ball with fervor, the other was less physical and was allowed to be intimidated.

And as they came into the season, defend they did, topping the league in defence for at least the first 10 games. However, a drop off in defense occured causing the lakers to drop to 4th place in terms of defence.

The thing about defence is that it is very different from offense. It takes a different form of mindset, a different set of muscles and different tactics to perform well in either field. Offence is the more glorified of the two; when one does well in it, everyone takes note. Defence on the other hand is akin to rubbish duty to bball players- dirty work. Apart from the spectacular block or game-changing steal, defence is normally under the radar, especially if it is effective.

I've always prided myself to be a good defensive player. It will be my primary selling factor if i had to market my skills. Since i never bothered by the spotlight, although i do enjoy it on occasion, i never really looked to excel offensively, apart from my younger, more naive bball days.

here are some tips for any bball players who want to learn a thing or two about defence, or non-players who may be interested in the inner-workings in this simple, yet complex game.

1.Defence is an attitude

You cannot just play defence for one minute and not play in the next. To do so would allow the offensive player to catch his breath, and gather his rhythm back. When two players go one-on-one, who has the advantage? The offensive player in bball always has the advantage. Therefore, in order to take away that advantage, defence has to be switched on as long as the ball is in play. As phil jackson, the hall of fame coach of the lakers, mentioned before- "Offence is easy, defence is work."

2. Defense is half of the game and therefore takes as much importance as offence

Defence i feel is the most overlooked aspect of the game. The reason, i believe, is because it is unquantifiable. Offence can be broken down rather neatly into assists, field goal %, offensive rebounds, etc. Defence, on the other hand, has just steal, blocks and defensive rebounds, and none of which is able to qualify a player is better defensively than another. In fact, most writers put defense as just another aspect along with assists, rebounding and points, making it seem that defence is just one-quarter of the whole game when it is employed half the game.

3.In order to be a good defensive player, one must have experience.

An experienced player normally have a better understanding of how offensive players move. Experience provides understanding of sizes and length, of speed and strength, of shooters and slashers, of passers and rebounders. Experience does not equate to the number of games played, although that helps. Experience is equal to the different kinds of players being played with; the more players you try to defend, the better you would understand the game.

4. Defense is not about blocks or steals

These are the more glamorous plays in the defensive aspect, which sticks out like a sore thumb compared to the normally dull, gritty defensive work. Which is why godbies always aim to go for the block or the steal, when there are more effective methods with less risk.

Less risk? Yes, blocks and steal are risky. Enthusiastic blockers, normally godbies with superior athleticism, tend to leave their feet with a small head fake, taking them out of the picture defensively. A steal forces a defender to leave his all-so-important spot between the offensive player and the basket. This means that if the steal fails, it is normally an easy basket for the offensive player.

5. Defence is about disruption

So defence is not about steals or blocks. The purpose of a defender is to simply make the offensive player to miss or turnover the ball. To do so requires a mindset of disruption. Disruption=footwork. Footwork requires practice of the side-to-side movement, also known as lateral movement or the 'crab walk'. This allows the defensive player to reach a spot before the offensive player does, disrupting rhythm and movement. Disruption can also be accompanied by other tactics: Blocking of eyes of a taller player, quick sudden movements to disrupt concentration of shooters, physical intimidation of skinnier players and even the harmless foul.

6.Understand your own strengths and weaknesses.

Impose your strengths on the offensive player and use ways to compensate for the weaknesses. If the attacker is stronger? Use his strength against him by shifting his center of gravity constantly. Is he taller than you? Stay closer to him as taller players are more self-conscious when shorter players are close to him. Is he faster? Stay a feel steps back so you can react in time when he makes a move. Does he have more stamina? Use energy saving, yet effective tactics to recover your breath when defending.

7. No offensive player is perfect

Each offensive player has a weakness, small as they may be. All players have it. It is the duty to analyse offensive players to pick out their weaknesses. Weaknesses can be the tendency to go only one side (normally to the left of the defensive player), signals that they are going to shoot (like a small step backwards or weighing the ball in their hands), preference of passing to a certain player (like the team's star player). Height, weight, strength, focus and basically anything can be used as weakness.

8. Basics in Defence

If you just aren't good at analysis, then remember the basics of defence and positioning.

For shooters, go closer to the players and into their personal space to make them feel uncomfortable.

For slashers and dribblers, take a step away from them to compensate when they speed to the basket so you can catch up to them. And always, always remember to stay in between the offensive player and the basket.

If you know what hand a player favours (whether he is left or right handed when he dribbles to the basket), force him to use the other hand with your positioning.

If you are weak defensively, do not block or steal unless you are certain of success.

9. Here are some more-advanced tips.

When a player is dribbling in front of you, analyse and take note of his tendencies. The rhythm he dribbles the ball, the fluidity of his movements, the hand he favours, the kind of player he is, etc. After analysis, take action in disruption using those information.

Systematically take down one weapon at a time. This is especially useful if the offensive player is a versatile attacker. When an offensive player realised a move of his has been disrupted, he is unlikely to go back to it again, preferring to return to his other attacks. This way, you can take away one weapon at a time till he is left with nothing.

10. Basketball is a team game

Same with defence. Defence is also based largely on strategy. Traps, double teams, strong-side zone, full court press. Strategies can be both complicated and simple. For your average neighbourhood court, advanced strategies are seldom used, so understanding of simple strategies, namely zone and man-to-man, is enough. However, team defences require time spend with each player to understand each other's tendencies, and training.

During man-to man, if the offensive player is a strong player, funnel the offensive player when he drives into your team mate, creating an effective 'trap' this trap is normally situated in the offensive player's weaker side, creating a bigger effect.

During zone, normally a 2-3 or 3-2 zone in the neighbourhood courts, all 5 players follow the movement of the ball, with each player protecting a region, or a 'zone'. The strategy is simple. If the ball goes inside to the post, the players collapse in, smothering the inside player. If the ball goes out, the defence spreads out to formation again.

Basketball is a strange game. It is a great game to watch, as everything is exposed to the viewer. Expressions are not covered by masks(unlike ice hocky, american football), player's build are exposed for all to see(unlike american football or waterpolo) and skill levels are obvious (unlike gymnastics or golf). Anyone can watch a basketball game and immediately pick out who is good and who is not, no matter what level it is played at(NBA, Olympics, neighbourhood court). Even if the person watching does not know a thing about the game.

Yet, at the same time, there is always more about basketball. No one has a complete or total picture of the game. Even the players themselves do not comprehend the game in its totality. The story of basketball cannot be told completely by statistics, unlike baseball or soccer. So while the game is being exposed to such an extent to anybody who watches the game, it seems that there is always more under the surface, like an iceberg. The simplicity, yet complex nature of the game is what makes basketball such a contradictory sport. Which may be the reason why I fell in love with it. Im equally contradictory.

Perhaps im confusing you. Let me try to explain. There are more factors within affecting the game of basketball than any other sport in the world. Lets go through some factors.

Pace
Bball is known as a fast paced game with points being scored in a hurry. However, the pace, while fast compared to golf or soccer, can change a great deal. In an NBA game a slow paced game can average as low as 70+ points to as much as 140+ points not including overtime. That is a range of almost 50 points. Almost half of what the NBA team average scores. No other sport is dictated by pace to such an extent, despite bball having the 24 sec shot-clock.

Range
What other sports has that much concerns of where you shoot from? The further you are from the basket, the harder it is to shoot. Yes, I do know that the same holds true for other sports. But what about the 3 point line? An additional point awarded for being that range, creating a whole new dimension of the game. Soccer do not award extra points if you fire in from half the field away, much as many would like to.


Fouls
Interpreting the rules of bball is an art form. Different people have different thinking of what the rules are. For example, the NBA hardly calls the traveling violation yet most school competitions are not as lenient. No other sport has that, other than the interpretation of diving in the penalty box in soccer.

Team vs Individual
Take 2 teams of any sport and put them head-to-head. Assume both team are of equal strength and talent. Can an individual just forgo the team concept and go solo against the other team and win? The answer is a big NO, except for basketball. There is a strange phenomena that can a player can just score, no matter what the defense does. Will it occur often? Nope. Bt it has happened numerous number of times to various players, regardless of skill level. Thus, it is entirely possible one man can win the entire team on his own.

I must elaborate on this further. Assume that one of the players is extraordinary while the rest are mediocre. Does he shoot a difficult shot, knowing that he has a higher chance of getting it than his teammate, even though his team mate has an easier shot? It is a problem that has plagued many great players(Micheal Jordan, Kobe). It seems that only in basketball does such a dilemma occur to such an extent.

Size
Does size affect other sports? Yes. Taller soccer players have a higher chance to header the ball, while wider waterpolo players have the girth to push around smaller players. However, in basketball, the size of the players greatly affects the game. Since the basket is put at a height, tall usually means an advantage while wider players can bully people in the post. Smaller sized players are normally quick and hard to keep up, while thin players have the finesse to squeeze through crowded spaces. In truth, no one physical aspect is better than the other. Tall does not mean you are better than shot, even with the same skills.

Offence vs Defence
Another age old problem in basketball. Why the argument, one might ask. Because, a game can be won when forgoing one or the other. A power offensive team can just overwhelm another team while playing little defence. On the other hand, tight D can constrict your opponents to the extent that they score less than you do, even if your offence is horrible. Of course you would want to be good at both. But that is seldom the case as offense and defence normally affects each other. A player focusing on defence does not usually have the same production offensively. So a focus on one aspect is usually required.

Complexity in Defence
In the world of defence, bball is more difficult to perform than any other sport. There is just too many factors to involve. Spacing, other offensive players, your own team mates, the restricted area (the dreaded 3 second rule), etc. It normally takes an NBA team years to formulate an effective defensive strategy, unlike the soccer premier league in England.


There are other factors; to write them all will make this a veeery long post, and it is long enough as it is. Other factors include numerous skill sets, positions of the players, strategies (both complex and simple), aggressiveness of the player, etc.

Im not writing this post to proclaim that basketball is the best sport in the world. That is up to the individual. IM just commenting that basketball is a diverse and complex sport, though it may seem relatively simple and straight forward to the average viewer.

To clear any misconceptions, I must state that I do not only enjoy the game of basketball. I love other sports such as badminton, soccer, waterpolo and swimming. But that exposure to other sports has me even more convinced of the diversity and complexity within the sport of basketball.

A basketball kaki is a friend whom you can expect to play with. It may not be a frequent thing, but they are the first people on ur mind when u just feel like shooting some hoops with someone. You might know him well, or you might not, it doesnt matter. With basketball as the common language, you are friends anyway.

Some historical background about the clique that i currently play with. In JC1 there was an inter-faculty basketball competition. Made out of players who are not familiar with each other, let alone play with each other, my team, called Tian Zui, lost in the first round and got kicked out(I was depressed for days). But there was unexpected side effect, it brought serveral players together as kakis.

Marcus and Teng Soong were in that team and we played with each other frequently after the competition ended. By pure fate, we ended up playing together with my primary school friend, and my shi fu in bball basics, Zhi Feng.

The 4 of us den started inviting more and more kakis, as our small basketball troupe started to grow. I'm going to do something fun for once in this blog. Im taking each of my basketball kakis and link them to an NBA player. Those who do not know the NBA, or just plain uninterested in basketball, is best to ignore this post.

So... Roll call!!

Name:Teng Soong
Nickname: Larry Birdman
Position: Small FOrward
NBA Player:



The best offensive player on our team, sans passing, the best i could come up with for him is Dirk Nowitzki.

Lethal from distance, with a nice soft touch. Avoids contact, uses finesse, have pathetic defense, poor rebounding for their height, and have a mean mid-range jumper. Difference in shooting range though(Teng is more mid-range while Dirk is a former 3 point champion).



Name: Marcus
Nickname: I have no idea. Someone please give him one. How about the 'Paddle':P?
Position: Center
NBA Player:



Tallest player on the team and part of the founding 4.

Strong rebounder with inconsistent offense. Brilliant one moment, cold the next. Both also enjoy the occasional mid-range jumper. Difference in height(Randolph is onli 6-9, below average for his position).



Name: Zhi Feng
Nickname: the Clerk
Position: Point Guard, Shooting Guard, Small Forward
NBA Player:



Hard to choose, but Jose Calderon is the best I can come up with.

Highly efficient with very few turnovers. Both have a devastating change-of-pace move and high on-court IQ.



Name: Wenhui
Nickname: Sleepy
Position: Point Guard, Shooting Guard
NBA Player:



Almost perfect fit with Monta Ellis.

A very stylish player, coming up with sometimes-impossible shots out of nowhere. Flashy passer with high turnover rate. Less-than-average 3 point shooter. Difference lie in mid-range shooting(Monta is usually lights out).



Name: Kai Jun
Nickname: Monkey, Froggy
Position:Point Guard
NBA Player:



A difficult choice. Was either Devin Harris or Jordan Farmar.

Quick point guard. Scores in a hurry and an above-average defender. Both have fantastic ball control. Biggest difference is that Kai Jun is left handed while Ellis is right handed.



Name: Benjamin
Nickname: Rubber-band Ben
Position: Center, Power Forward
NBA Player:



Our best rebounder by far.

Powerful rebounder despite small stature for their position. Consistent outside shot. Ben, however, doesn't block shots that often.



Name: David
Nickname: Medic
Position: Point Guard, Shooting Guard
NBA Player:



Best player on the team. Period. He might disagree with the selection though.

Game changer. Can switch on or off offensively whenever he wants to. Lockdown perimeter defenders. Emotional leaders on the court. Main difference lie probably in jump height.



Name: Jin Hui
Nickname: 3 step man
Position: Center
NBA Player:



Hardest for me to choose. Once compared to the great Charles Barkley. Can't really disagree with that. However, I'm using current NBA players.

Step 1: Pass the ball to him in the inside. Step 2: He pivots. Step 3: He shoots and scores. Elton Brand is almost automatic on the key, with a variety of skills and a dominant rebounder and interior defender. Difference lie in body type.



Name: Wee Cheng
Nickname: Backstabber
Position: Shooting Guard, Small forward
NBA Player:



Quickest hands in the team. He probably already stole your ball before you even realised.

Super fast hands. Great passer with a reliable jumpshot. Difference is greatest probably in the speed.



Name: Xinhe
Nickname: Starhub
Position: Point Guard
NBA Player:



Wish he was around to play more often.

Skilled at directing the offense. Quite slow for their position. Usually available for the outside jumper.



Name: Jia Hao
Nickname: Energizer Battery
Position: Shooting Guard, Small Forward
NBA Player:



Soft spoken but high energy.

Spark plug off the bench. Strong rebounder for his position. Very quick. Reliable jumper and aggressive defender. Differ most in aggressiveness.



Name: Wenjie
Nickname: Twister, Left-hand Hooker(what a horrible nickname)
Position: Point Guard, Small forward, Power forward, Center
NBA Player:



haha... my opinion of myself. Therefore, not accurate.

Versatile but weak-minded. Tend to enjoy being in the background, content with passing, playing defence or rebounding. Both left handed. Inconsistent Shooting. Difference lie most in height. (Lamar Odom is 6-11, above average for small forwards/power forwards).





So what do you think of my selections? Disagree? Lemme know. All comparisons are done in relative to the neighbourhood court. Like the NBA scaled downwards.

My love affair with strange sport of tossing an orange ball into a tall hoop started when I was 8 yrs old. My mom had bought a ball, knowing that she has to expose me to different sports to find my niche. It was a cheap, rubber ones, painted in red, white and blue. When I touched the ball, at that age, I felt like it was a part of me, instantly merging, integrating into my very being. I couldn't wait to test out the new toy.

My mom drove me down to a neighbourhood court, and watched quietly as i attempted to throw the ball in. The hoops seemed so tall, an unattainable goal. But it only made me more determined. Again and again, the ball went up. Some missed the rim totally, and some clanged hard off. And there were those oh-so-close shots that just wont go in.

I've seen people hit shots like it was nothing and I knew I was weaker in skill and strength. But hey, the ball nearly went in didn't it? That means I was nearly as good as them, doesn't it? That was how i thought of my skills when I reflected on the small shoot around. I had only needed to practise a bit more, before I will enter the league of the pros such as those in secondary school.

However, that, of course, was not going to the the case. I played ball constantly by myself after the first encounter, but never really found myself a good basketball kaki until I was Primary 5 when I met up with Zhi Feng. He taught me the basics, and we played together with Li wei, another classmate of ours. We progressed steadily; Zhi Feng went to the basketball team at the Chinese High, now called Hwa Chong Institution; I practiced on my own, since my own basketball school team's training clashed with my swimming training.

We became competent in the game. I rose to the top of the hierarchy in the neighbourhood court, using superior speed and height to beat most people. I then travelled around with a ball, looking for more and more people to play with or against. My dismal defence start to pick up as I went to courts in Hougang, Buona Vista, Ulu Pandan, Marine Parade, Bedok, Tampines, Jurong, Clemnti and countless other courts I cant remember where.

The people I played with were the best part. I saw gangsters that play with each other. I saw that they can be honest and caring, yet malicious and brutal. I met noobs and taught them what I knew. I was awestruck by girls with skills a thousand times higher than mine. I was stunned guys towering 2 meters above me. I met up with foreigners that have no language platform similar to mine except for basketball. I played one-on-one with blacks from the US and got elbowed, kneed left, right and center for it.

My brother, influenced by me and the stylish aspect of the game, joined in the fun. We had characterized 'hood players into different categories: Noobs, godbies, peers, god-pros and pros.

Noobs would be those with limited or no experience in the game. The causual players that are just in it for fun. Win or lose, it doesn't matter.

Godbies have limited-to-average experience on the court, and think they can beat anyone. They clothes are always stylish, and they always try to be the leader on the court, either by barking instructions or by trying to score the most points, usually trying to score against multiple opponents. Then enjoy bullying noobs on the court, for it makes them feel good about themselves. They wont take a loss for an answer, and would almost surely will blame someone else for it. As you can see, I hate this group the most, and they are, unfortunately, the predominant group in most courts.

Peers are people with decent standard, and choose not to brag about it. My favourite group to play with by far as the games are usually competitive and fun. They are usually willing to share the basketball and are not above taking any advice.

God-pros are the same as godbies, except that they are much better in terms of skill. they are the people who layup, shoot or dunk over your head, and would make sure you remember it. And you cant do anything about it cos they are usually just that good. The worst kind in all the groups, and thankfully not many.

Pros same as peers, except they are much more skilled. If a god-pro rubs his skill in your face, call a pro friend to help you trash the guy's ass, so you can see the look on his face.

Looking back now, it seems laughable that a small rubber ball was able to propel me into the world of 'hood bball. It is quite remarkable actually.

Jesus Christ! My oh my how the lakers have grown. I expected them to be good... but to be this good? it is downright surreal, almost unfair.

Almost.

This lakers squad is a many-headed hydra, with as many weapons as America has nuclear warheads. You cut away one head, 2 more grow in its place. Whats more, the biggest, most horrifying head that would turn greek heroes into stone instantaneously has been developed: defense. What defense!

Sorry, im nt used to swooning, bt it was not long ago the lakers was just a mere struggling team in the middle of the league, with some predicting not to mak the playoffs last year.

And they did mak the playoffs. And the finals. Without their starting center. Without their key defensive small forward.

And this year, they are back... with a full roster.

1st game: Against an up-and-coming team of the portland trailblazers. They are trying to integrate a budding, talented center in Greg Oden. Nonetheless, the team of Brendon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge and co. put up quite a fight last season, winning 2 games in their home court and losing to games to the lakers at the Staples Center, the lakers home court.

Finals score: Trailblazers-76, Lakers-96

Analysis: DEFENCE!!! Shit, when was the last time the lakers held a team below 80? Millennia ago. With trademark balanced scoring (almost every lakers scored) and some help frm kobe(23 points, 10 boards, 5 assists), the lakers were dominant from start to finish. Definitely worth skipping International Relations for this.

Highlights



2nd Game: Another team many claimed will be the dark horse this year (I dont buy it). They lost Elton Brand, there all-star forward, but got Baron Davis, an all-star calibre point guard. They lost Corey Maggette, their leading scorer last season, but got bac Marcus Camby, once named Defensive Player of the Year. This team is, to me, a total enigma. And while they would be decent, they have not played enough together to reach .500, much less mak the plaoffs in the west.

Final Score: Clippers-79, Lakers-117

Analysis: Shit, i thought they were going to be bad... but not this bad! This was a 38 point thrashing, the most in any lakers-clippers confrontations. And another game holding the opponent under 80. If this defense continues, the league might feel a purple-and-gold chill up their spine very soon. The Clippers, to be fair, did hold on for the first quarter, losing by onli 3 points, and even took the league early in the second. Bt then the Bench mob from the lakers came in and 'Boom' the game is gone.

Highlights



From what Ive seen... the lakers have a really deep team. How deep? They have a second unit that would be the starting 5 for many teams in the league. Lets take a look position by position.

Point Guard: 3-4 players--Derek Fisher, Jordan Farmar, Lamar Odom(point forward), Sun Yue.

Shooting Guard: 3 players--Kobe Bryant, Sasha Vujacic, Sun Yue

Small Forward: 4-5 players--Lamar Odom, Trevor Ariza, Vladimir Radmonovic, Luke Walton, Kobe Bryant

Power Forward: 3 players--Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, Josh Powell

Center: 4 Players--Pau Gasol, Chris Mihm, Andrew Bynum, DJ Mbenga

If you noticed, some names are repeated, showing the versatility of the players to play multiple positions(Just look at Lamar Odom). So each position is covered at least 3 times by COMPETENT players, much more than any team, including defending champions Boston Celtics) can boast.

Yea. I know it is onli 2 games in with 80 more games to go. But which hot-blooded lakers fan cn stay calm now? Of course, i will reserve my judgements till we thrash the damn Celtics empty.

Oops.

All it took was one game. One single game. In fact, it wasn't even a whole game. It was half a game. A game I didn't plan to watch, bt accidentally switched to as I nonchalantly flipped through the channels with my brother. Yet, that was what turned me into a Lakers fan for LIFE.

Year 2000, Los Angeles Lakers vs Portland Trailblazers, Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals. We were just switching through the channels until we chanced upon the game mid-way through progression.

At that time, my brother and I were already heavily bballing in the neighbourhood, thus the interest for the game was already there. We just weren't watching NBA. So when we flipped to that very game, we had no favourites. Hell, we did not even know who was Kobe Bryant till then.

At that point of the game, the lakers were down by 15 points. Being the guy who always chooses the underdog, I chose to side with the lakers (Ironical, isnt it). The tension in the air was unmistakable in the staples center- it was game 7, meaning a loss for either side will send the team out of the playoffs. So it is a must-win game for the lakers.

After choosing a side, i prayed for the lakers to catch up. And catch up they did, in a superbly thrilling fashion, capped off with a alleyoop pass from kobe bryant to shaq. The rest, as they like to say it, is history.

Now, i invite you, basketball fans and non-basketball fans, to enjoy the youtube videos below and understand how wonderful this game can be for an impressionable 15-year-old.

Enjoy.



Introduction





Part 1




Part 2




Part 3




Part 4




Part 5




Part 6




Part 7




Part 8




Part 9




Part 10




Part 11




Part 12




And therefore...
>

seriously sick. Seriously. Sick.