Hero Ball

You have to hand it to Dwight Howard. Playing like it was a closeout game, going off for 32 points and 16 rebounds, he controlled the glass when it mattered in the overtime period. The Celtics missed their chance to win the game at the end of regulation with Paul Peirce's errant dribble. It looked like they were trying to play hero ball. They didn't seem like they were trying to make plays for each other on the last several possessions of regulation.

Heckling 101 / JJ Redick's Hair Styling Secrets

Last night I was lucky enough to get free courtside seats for the Pacers Magic game at Conseco Fieldhouse, and as always my friend Ryan went above and beyond his duty as a Pacers fan to heckle the visiting team.

At one point in the game, Ryan was trying to remember if J.J. Redick had won a national championship while playing at Duke, which prompted the guy next to us to look it up on his smart phone. Turns out he didn't win a championship, but that's besides the point. While the guy was looking this up, he came across a Q&A on Redick's website in which he describes how he styles his hair. Here's his secret:

Question: Sort of a random question here, but what the heck. What kind of hair product do you use to keep your hair in place all game?

Answer: Very funny question. And it’s a question that people ask me all the time. The truth is I use very little product but instead rely on a simple, yet effective procedure. I take a little bit of stick wax and rub it on my palms and fingers. I run my hands thru my a few times then take a towel (this is the key) and rub the towel over my hair for two or three seconds. The towel leaves my hair in a messy “fro” but it gives me something to work with. Then I style my hair accordingly. All in all the process takes 30 seconds to a minute.

Of course, Ryan immediately worked this into his heckling arsenal. The next time Redick was near us on the court Ryan shouted, "Hey JJ! Is that some stick wax you got in your hair?!?"

The play had yet to start so Redick turned towards us and shouted, "Yeah! But it isn't on a stick, it comes in a can! It lasts about two days!" That's most definitely paraphrased, by the way.

Unfortunately, it wasn't until today that I discovered that Redick is an aspiring rapper. That would've been some pure gold for last night's heckling.

Things I Learned Watching Basketball on Sunday

The Superman "feud" is stupid, but the match-up is great

I'm totally sick of the talk about whether Shaq or Dwight Howard is the real Superman, but I have to admit that it makes the match-up between the two that much more entertaining on the court. It's such a fun battle to watch: a declining legendary big man against a young monster who's just beginning to realize his potential. They both looked like they had something to prove, so I've got to give some credit to Shaq's jackassery for thickening the plot. Dwight ultimately won the battle showing great confidence in the post, but Shaq kept it interesting by going 9-10 for 20 points despite foul trouble.

Orlando is deep

It's taken them a while to put it together, but the Magic seem to be figuring things out at the right time of the season. Orlando just has so many weapons on offense. After relying on Dwight in the post in the first half, the Magic were able to hold the Cavs off in the end thanks to Jameer Nelson and Vince Carter's offense. Mickael Pietrus AKA Air France also stepped up with his play on both sides of the court. I've enjoyed watching him since his days in Golden State. He's a talented athlete, with three-point range, and great perimeter D.

LeBron James can shoot the Cavs out of games

LeBron can make his presence known on the court unlike anyone else, but he has a tendency to take bad shots that hurt Cleveland. Take away his five missed three-pointers, and he would have been shooting well above 50%. The Cavs might have won the game, too. With that said, I've seen plenty of games where LeBron will sink a few threes in a row that initially seemed like bad shots.

I really, really love me some two-handed blocks

The Nuggets are for real

Denver made it to the Western Conference Finals last season pushing the Lakers to six games, and they're capable of making even more noise this year. The Nuggs have been impressive throughout most of this season, even when Melo's been out. Billups' emergence as a true leader has instilled a culture of winning that just wasn't there during the Allen Iverson years. In addition to this, Melo has expanded his game and stepped up his his once suspect defense. Denver's frontline is still one of my favorites in the NBA, with Birdman's energy and K-Mart and Nene's consistency. When J.R. Smith gets his head in the game, which he did in the 4th quarter against the Celtics on Sunday, the Nuggets are a very scary team. Rookie Ty Lawson also gives them an added dimension in the backcourt that they lacked last season when the aging Anthony Carter was the primary back-up at point guard.

Stephen Curry is really good

Not but a week ago, I was arguing with one of my friends that there was no chance that Stephen Curry could win the Rookie of the Year award over Sacramento's Tyreke Evans. While I still think Evans will win it, Curry's performance against the Hawks on Sunday has shaken my confidence a bit. After the Hawks had been leading by 18 in the 3rd quarter, Curry got Golden State back in it and took the game over. Although he had 4 assists to 5 turnovers against Atlanta, Curry has shown an ability to run the point as of late. His assists included a couple of perfectly placed cross-court passes that got the Oracle Arena crowd into it and really changed the game. I just love to watch Golden State pull off upset wins.

D-Wade lights up Dallas... Again

In last night's NBA All-Star Game at Cowboys Stadium, Dwyane Wade turned in his second most impressive performance to receive an MVP award in Dallas. The last time he did it was 2006, when the Miami Heat came back from a 2-0 deficit in the NBA Finals to win the championship on the Mavericks' home court. Of course the stakes weren't nearly as high this time around, but I'm sure seeing Wade's face on the world's biggest JumboTron left the hundreds of thousands of Mavericks fans in attendance with a bad taste in their mouths. A bad taste that they've been trying to get rid of by eating Texas shaped sirloin steaks smothered in A1 sauce for the past three and a half years.

Although I haven't watched that many All-Star Games, last night's was by far the best I've ever seen. Typically there are a lot of highlight worthy plays, but it often ends up in a blowout, usually at the hands of the West. Last night had the usual amazing plays, but it was actually close throughout the whole game and competitive down the stretch. The ending could have been more spectacular, as last second fouls caused both teams to try to win it at the line. And Melo's potential game winner lacked suspense, as you could tell it was a brick the moment it left his hands.

Despite some great plays by several players on both teams, Wade and LeBron clearly stole the show. In addition to an alley-oop to himself off the glass, Wade had some jaw-dropping assists for LeBron who made Wade's set-ups look even better with spectacular finishes. Wade also found Dwight on a fast break for an unreal oop. Dallas native Chris Bosh and Deron Williams, who grew up near Dallas, both turned in entertaining performances as well.

Even the half-time show was worth watching. I can't really handle Shakira's overly produced (read Timbaland produced) peculiar pop music, but, y'know, she's easy on the eyes. As for Alicia Keys, she's both easy on the eyes and an incredible musician, singer, and performer. Her spoken word stuff at the beginning was sorta weird, but she killed it otherwise.

Lastly, take a moment to watch last night's Top 10 Plays. They don't get much better than these.

"Prodigies" starring KG, Kobe, & LeBron

Known for their NBA youtube mixes, Hoops4Life has just released their magnum opus after a year in the making. "Prodigies" is a collaboration between mixmakers Domino, Renhigotrare, VenomIndustries, and Dinoman, following the careers of the three greatest high school to NBA phenoms. The video highlights Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James, from their high school days all the way to Kobe and the Lakers defeating the Orlando Magic for the NBA Championship this past season. It's definitely a little heavy-handed on the cheesiness, seeming like an extra long preview for a documentary, but I can't hate considering all of the footage and interviews they had to painstakingly collect and edit to tell the story. I'm guessing they were banking on the Cavs beating the Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals, as it would've tied the whole thing together with the Kobe vs. LeBron showdown. They must've been too far into the editing process to include Dwight Howard in the mix, as he's the last great player to make the jump from high school to the pros.

Big up to Ball Don't Lie and SLAM.