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Steph Curry Is Victorious

Stephen Curry and Sabrina Ionescu just put on a show for fans as well. They dueled it out in a three point contest between two of the best shooters in their respective leagues. The final score was 29-26 and Sabrina helped establish her case as a well respected shooter that is a serious threat on the basketball court. The NBA and WNBA should continue to do this event at the all star weekend and even evolve it to do more challenges between the two leagues. Thus far into the All Star Weekend, players have been showing why they are all stars and entertaining fans around the world. Special shoutout to Stephen Curry for again proving why he is the greatest shooter in the world.

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Three Point Shootout and Dunk Contest

Moments ago the NBA's three point contest just concluded with Damian Lillard winning. The contest was very exciting to watch as some of the league's best shooters put on a show for fans tonight and it even included a first round tie breaker. Us fans got a little extra tonight as a result of players being tied at 26. With the dunk contest starting in just a few minutes I am predicting that Mac McClung will win the contest and show off his crazy athleticism. He won the contest last year and would not be surprised if he did it again.

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How Valuable Are They?

The NBA implemented a new rule that requires players to play in at least 65 games to be considered for NBA awards. This rule is very smart and necessary because in other posts I have explained that stars get too comfortable with resting. Another reason this is good is because availability is your best ability and if you cannot manage to play in 79% of your team's games then it is hard to be considered the most valuable player. Joel Embiid will unfortunately play in less than 65 games meaning he cannot win this award however he still was playing at a crazy clip. It gives players a better reason to play in games which is good for business and will also be better for fans who want to see their favorite player out there as often as possible.

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Steph Making A Splash

Last night, the Golden State Warriors were battling it out with the Phoenix Suns when Steph Curry made an insane play. The Warriors were trailing by two with just seconds on the clock when he launched a deep three pointer off of the inbound pass to give his team the lead and win the game. Curry has made 3,624 three pointers in his career which is far more than anyone else has. What is even crazier is that he will continue to extend this record for years and hit the 4k three pointer club and be the only player to reach this milestone for a while. This record may arguably be one of the hardest records to be beaten in all of sports. It is very exciting to watch him shoot the lights out the gym and he will continue to give hope to fans of the Warriors.

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All Star Robbery!

There has been tremendous display of talent this year in the NBA and when it comes to selecting the All Star teams it has been more and more difficult. Year in and year out there are players deserving of a chance to play in the All Star game but some people were snubbed really bad this year. One player who was really snubbed was Trae Young who is 10th in the league in scoring this year as well as 2nd in the league in assists. The media tends to play a factor in who gets selected as well as the teams record. Sometimes there are players who are playing out of this world but their team doesn't have a good record so they might get overshadowed but someone who is playing close to as good but on a better team. I think it might be time to add some spots to the All Star rosters to give some of these players the recognition they deserved. I am also going to attach an article link that talks more about other players who were snubbed from the ASG. https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2024/2/1/24058640/nba-all-star-snubs-2024-victor-wembanyama-james-harden-gobert

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All Star Game Weekend Excitement

The NBA recently announced a new competition that will be taking place at All Star Weekend this year. All time 3 point leader Stephen Curry will be going up against New York Liberty superstar, Sabrina Ionescu of the WNBA. This is very exciting because not only will it be a cool thing for fans of both leagues to enjoy but they are both phenomenal shooters making this competition to be very exciting. Stephen Curry will be shooting NBA regulation basketballs from the NBA three point line while Sabrina will be taking her shots from the WNBA line with a WNBA regulation basketball. I personally am very excited for this competition and I would suggest everyone to tune in.

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Joel Embiid: Who Can Stop This Guy?

Joel Embiid is coming off a season in which he won the NBA's Most Valuable Player award and is continuing to play at that level. On January 22nd, the Philadelphia 76ers squared off against the San Antonio Spurs and Embiid achieved a rare feat. Embiid scored 70 points and also logged 18 rebounds and 5 assists. It is not very common that you see a player score this many points in a game. In fact, "Joel Embiid becomes the 9th individual player to join the exclusive 70-point club in an NBA game" ( https://www.nba.com/news/every-70-point-game-in-nba-history#:~:text=In%20NBA%20history%2C%20nine%20players,Chamberlain%20had%20six%20such%20games) ) for more information. What was even more remarkable about this for Joel is that 18 years ago on the same day one of his role models, Kobe Bryant scored 81 points in a game. Defenders cannot figure out what to do with Joel and honestly I do not think there is much one can do to stop him

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Good Trade or Highway Robbery?

The Miami Heat and Charlotte Hornets have just made a deal in which the Hornets will receive Kyle Lowry and a first round pick, dealing Terry Rozier to to the Heat. I am going to break down the trade and give my opinion. I think this trade is good for both sides but I think the Miami Heat win this trade by a slim margin. The Heat are acquiring a scorer and a playmaker to add to an already very solid team. The Heat sit at 6th place in the Eastern Conference and Rozier has been putting up some of his best numbers to date giving the Heat another weapon. For the Hornets, their playoff chances are dwindling so I think for them getting rid of a player who is playing better than expected for another player and draft compensation was a great move on their part. Rozier's stock was up significantly and being able to get Kyle Lowry who has slowed down but been an all star in the past and a first round pick can help set them up. Lowry will continue to be a locker room guy and provide wisdom to a young Hornets team. Both teams benefit in this trade but I am going to give the slight edge to the Miami Heat.

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Optimism In Los Angeles

The Los Angeles Clippers have just signed their star forward Kawhi Leonard to a three year contract extension. The Clippers currently sit at fourth in the Western Conference and have been playing very well recently. This extension doesn't just guarantee the Clippers a star in the star studded city for at least another three years but also gives fans hopes of a return of their other amazing talent in the names of Paul George and James Harden. Leonard discussed this with reporters and CBS Sports quoted this in which he said, "With the conversation that I have with them about it, I think for the most part everybody is coming back," (Herbert). If the Clippers are able to retain these players they will continue to be a force in the Western Conference and be a tough team to take down in the playoffs. Los Angeles fans should be expecting this trio to remain with the Clippers and should be looking forward to watching these 3 men compete with the ultimate goal of bringing back a championship.

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LeBron James: Beating Father Time

LeBron James is 39 years old and is arguably one THE best basketball players of all time. What is even crazier is that in his 21st season he is still putting up stats like he is 25 years old. Lebron James is on track to be an all star yet again and he doesn't even look like he is slowing down. Through this point in the season, James is averaging 24.7 points, 7.2 rebounds and 7.6 assists according to statmuse.com. James is also the oldest active player in the NBA. The oldest player last year was Udonis Haslem of the Miami Heat who put up a stat line of 3.9 points, 1.6 rebounds and 0.3 blocks per game. Given that Lebron James has always been immensely better than Haslem it might not say much but when you look at these stats with both of them being the oldest player in the league in those respective years it just goes to show that Father Time may never catch up to LeBron James. LeBron has set a foundation for how players should look to maintain their bodies in order to have even a fraction of the longevity that he has had in the league. There have been players to make it to their 20th season but none of them have done it with the pure domination James has. #AKidFromAkron

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Get Off the Bench: You're a Star

The NBA has already become increasingly soft in terms of some of the foul calls and the fines players receive for certain actions but this is worse. Coaches will decide to rest their best players on certain occasions for what they like to call "load management". When teams have back to back days with a game, coaches may elect to rest their players and avoid them playing two days in a row. It doesn't sound so bad except for the fact most of these players are making millions of dollars. Members of the working class in almost all other industries do not get to take a day off because they are "tired" and "can't work back to back days". The craziest part is these NBA players make exponentially more than almost everyone in the working class. Imagine you work all day and get off your shift and choose to use your hard earned money to watch your favorite player play in person. You arrive at the stadium just to find out your favorite player is resting because they had a game the day before. Unfortunately, this hypothetical is quite actually a real occurrence. NBA teams as a whole need to figure this out, load management needs to go.

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What More Can Luka Dončić Do To Win an MVP Award?

Luka Dončić does things that nobody else in the league can do. He performs at such a high level that when he does not record a forty point triple double, people consider it a "bad game" and question what happened on the court. Recently, he became the fastest player to reach the milestone of 10,000 points since Michael Jordan. Having your name in any sentence with Michael Jordan is absurd in and of itself however this is just one of the many times he has been compared to arguably the greatest player in NBA history. At the end of every season awards are distributed to those who are most deserving but... the criteria seems different each year. Luka Dončić is a name that voters need to strongly consider for the Most Valuable Player for what he is able to do with a pretty average team and the individual stats he has. According to ESPN Luka is averaging 33.7 points per game, 8.2 rebounds per game and 9.2 assists per game all while keeping his team in good standing in a tough Western Conference. In my opinion, Luka has been snubbed from this award too much and he deserves to win.