For this week's Throwback Posterization, I'm going with a classic alley oop by Shaq over Hakeem from the 1995 NBA Finals. I chose this particular posterization by Shaq because recently a typed letter has surfaced on the internet that Shaq left with Olajuwon after the Rockets swept the Magic in the Finals. In the letter, Shaq challenges Hakeem to one-on-one, which many are speculating was the launching pad for their classic Taco Bell Ads. I really hope that that's true, but regardless, it's a pretty amusing letter.
As I'm sure most of you have heard, this letter isn't the only reason that Shaq has been in the news. After courting team after team (San Antonio, Miami, Atlanta) to try to come to terms on a contract, the Boston Celtics have signed Shaq to a one-year deal for the veteran's minimum. This proves yet again that Danny Ainge isn't afraid to take risks with potential locker room cancers, as he signed Stephon Marbury and Rasheed Wallace in the past two seasons respectively. Shaq will join fellow washed-up-center-with-an-Irish-sounding-name Jermaine O'Neal, as the two provide an insurance policy for the injured Kendrick Perkins. We'll see how that works out.
Now, finally, onto the dunk. Shaq gets good position on Hakeem under the rim, and does his patent "black tornado" to free himself from Olajuwon. The ball handler on the perimeter (I can't figure out who it is) takes notice of Shaq getting open and tosses a perfect lob to O'Neal. Shaq finishes the oop strong, throwing it down right in Hakeem's face. Olajuwon tries to contest the dunk, but it's just too late by the time he goes up. It was a small victory for Shaq in a series that saw Olajuwon score over 30 points in all four games.
With Shaq's future up in the air and the Lakers' recent dominance, I figured now was an opportune time to use a slam by Shaq during his prime years in LA. I'm pretty sure this is from the 1998-99 season, which was the season of the lockout.
Somehow Shaq ended up on his ass on the defensive end, and for some reason the Blazers neglected to clog the lane as Shaq storms down the court. As Derek Harper is being double-teamed by Brian Grant and Kelvin Cato, he finds Shaq as he comes down the open lane. Cato is late to contest the dunk and Shaq just absolutely destroys him.
I know, the Cavs are out of the playoffs and there's still more basketball to be played until someone hoists up the Larry O'Brien Trophy in early June, but until then, here's another post on the last Dank Game-endorsed squad to be eliminated from the playoffs. This is a collaboration between myself and guest writer/Dank Game loyalist, Andy Young.
So this is a post I have wanted to make for quite sometime and maybe it’s a bit late, just like the Cavs' performances in the last three games. Enough has been said about LeBron, but now speculations that crazy Delonte West had an affair with LeBron’s mother have begun to surface. The authorities are citing this as the reason why LeBron went from averaging over 30 points per game in the playoffs to just over 21 points and over 6 turnovers for the final three games. I mean really, West having intercourse with Miss James is like Peter and Paul running a train on Mary. (The biblical Peter, Paul and Mary, not the shitty folk band from the 60’s) The “WITNESS” shirts might have to be recalled until this scandal subsides. I’m sure West was too busy freestyling about barbecue sauce to sweet talk Miss James into something that's finger lickin' good, but then again, maybe she is trying to conceive the next greatest thing to ever happen to basketball.
But let's talk about the rest of the team. Shaq Fu, I love you but you're old. Just about as old as the original Aristotle. Like his free throw shooting, Osama Bin Shaq was just too slow to make a difference defending in the paint against Jake Sully (Kendrick Perkinslooks like an avatar) and Big Baby, who won’t be crying until he faces Dwight Howard or is yelled at by Kevin Garnett. Speaking of Garnett, let’s not also forget the Big Ticket's fade away jumpers that no one could defend. Not even "Wild Thang" Varejão could stop KG, who did come up pretty big with his frantic offense and constant effort, excluding the time he quit playing because he was bleeding and begging for a foul call. Overall, the Cavs just looked about as pathetic as the Flats in Cleveland.
It's already Thursday again Dank Gamers, so you know what that means... Throwback Posterization time! This week's throw down is courtesy of Shaq Diesel, as he absolutely destroys Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon. Because Scott Skiles was still with Orlando in this video, this is either from Shaq's first or second year in the NBA. Just a year or two later these two teams would meet in the Finals, with the Rockets sweeping Orlando for their second title in a row.
The Magic run a great play here to get Shaq the dunk. Scott Skiles cuts to the basket and gets a nice a bounce pass from Jeff Turner. Because Skiles beats his man Scott Brooks on the cut, Hakeem is forced to help on defense. Skiles notices that Olajuwon left Shaq open and immediately dishes it to him. Brooks makes a half-assed attempt to steal the ball from Shaq, and Olajuwon does his best to contest Shaq's dunk, but the Diesel is just too powerful. It's a great posterization by Shaq, who hangs on the rim with one hand to rub it in.
One thing worth noting is that both point guards in this video are candidates for this season's Coach of the Year Award. Both Scott Skiles and Scott Brooks have led young teams to unexpectedly successful seasons, with the Milwaukee Bucks and Oklahoma City Thunder, respectively.
This week's Throwback Posterizations features "The Admiral" David Robinson with a driving dunk over the Magic's Dennis Scott. The play occurs shortly before the 30 second mark, so you might want to skip ahead. According to the guy who uploaded the video, this play was from March 6, 1994 (Shaq's birthday) and the Spurs came back from a 15 point 4th quarter deficit for the win. Both the Magic and Spurs would go into the playoffs as the 4th seed, and lose in the first round to the Pacers and Jazz, respectively.
For some reason, the Magic decided to have Shaq guard Antoine Carr rather than David Robinson, which leads to Robinson burning Larry Krystkowiak off the dribble. Robinson then goes up strong on Dennis Scott for the dunk and 1. His momentum takes him to the floor and his leg swings towards Penny Hardaway, prompting him to swipe it away out of frustration.
While this is a pretty raw dunk, it's somewhat overshadowed by Dennis Rodman falling on top of Robinson and hugging him on the floor in celebration. It appears as though he even tries to kiss his head while wearing a protective mask. What a maniac. Robinson, always the reserved type, seems pretty uncomfortable with Rodman's passionate camaraderie.
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.
With the NBA trade deadline quickly approaching, rumor has it that the Cavs could be on the verge of trading J.J. Hickson and Zydrunas Ilgauskas to Phoenix for Amare Stoudemire. The Suns have been actively shopping Amare in fear of losing him for nothing in free agency. If the trade goes through, Big Z would likely be bought out by the Suns, probably because he'd be unable to keep up with their run and gun offense. Then again, Shaq somehow managed to keep up. Once Z is waived, he would likely be resigned by the Cavs. These types of moves have always seemed fishy to me, but the NBA allows it.
The Cavs have also been linked to trade rumors with Washington for Antawn Jamison and Indiana for Troy Murphy AKA Big Ugly (props to my homeboy Ryan Hubbard for coming up with that nickname). It has been reported that LeBron prefers Stoudemire, so there's a good chance that these trade talks have died. After all, keeping LeBron happy so that he'll resign in 2010 is Cleveland's biggest priority outside of winning a championship.
There is also word that the Heat have been actively pursuing Stoudemire, but it seems that the Suns have no interest in Miami's players. Because of this, I'm assuming the Heat haven't offered Michael Beasley, unless his off court issues have made the Suns weary.
So how might these potential deals affect the much hyped 2010 free agent market? I have my own theory, however it is highly wrought in hypotheticals. But hear me out.
If Cleveland does pull the trigger to bring Amare to Cleveland, I think Chris Bosh will realize the Raptors don't have what it takes to be true contenders, especially with Hedo Turkoglu making big money past his prime. In realizing this, Bosh will look to sign elsewhere in the offseason, with South Beach being his most likely destination. If Bosh signs with Miami and Pat Riley is able to put together a quality roster around Bosh and Wade (assuming he resigns), the Heat and Cavs would both be contenders for years to come.
UPDATE: Cleveland has acquired power forward Antawn Jamison in a three-team, six player trade. Zydrunas Ilgauskas is headed to the Washington Wizards along with a first-round draft pick and the draft rights to Emil Preldzic (whoever that is). Washington will also get Brian Skinner and Al Thornton from the Los Angeles Clippers. Cleveland will also get point guard Sebastian Telflair from L.A. and the Wizards will send Drew Gooden to the Clippers.
So, um, yeah. You can kinda disregard most of this post now.
Because the All-Star Game is rapidly approaching, I decided to honor a legend who's All-Star days are behind him with this week's Thursday Throwback Posterization. This dunk by Shaq over David Robinson is from the 1996 All-Star Game in San Antonio, which makes it that much more embarrassing for the Admiral. This was in the midst of Shaq's final season with Orlando, which would culminate in a sweep to Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference Finals. That ensuing summer, Shaq would leave Orlando as a free agent to sign with the Lakers.
Now, back to that dunk. Everyone knows that Shaq has always had a lot of pride in being one of the best big men of all time. I'm sure he was looking to prove something with this dunk, as he destroyed one of the best centers ever in front of his home crowd. You gotta give some props to Robinson for even attempting to block Shaq, especially in a game as meaningless as the All-Star Game.
Sorry David Robinson, but if I'm gonna show Shaq dunking on you once, I might as well show another while I'm at it. This is Shaq in his prime. His strength was like nothing the NBA had ever seen at this point, and he used it in ways no one had before. David Robinson was a big, muscular dude, but the combination of Shaq's quick footwork and pure brute strength was just too much for him to handle. Shaq was so massive and at this point in his career, most of that mass was still muscle.
This is far from breaking news, but LeBron James' name was not included in the list of participants in this year's NBA All-Star Slam Dunk Contest. In the video above, LeBron said he was "preliminary putting [his] name in the 2010 Dunk Contest." He also thought Dwight and Nate had "great charismatic" in last year's contest. That's some sound English, LeBron.
So why won't LeBron enter the Dunk Contest? Is he afraid losing would hurt his image/brand? Has last year's loss to the Magic in the Eastern Conference Championship made him so focused on winning a championship that he can't concern himself with fluff like the Slam Dunk Contest? Has Cavaliers brass talked him out of entering the contest to avoid injury? Is this all just a big hoax to make the crowd lose their collective minds when 'Bron steps from the sidelines and rips off his yellow cardigan to reveal a Cavs jersey, ready to compete? Probably not the latter, but here's to hoping. It would certainly breathe life into a contest that was once star-studded with names like Julius Erving, Michael Jordan, and Dominique Wilkins. To Dwight Howard's credit, he has done his part in reviving the contest the past two years.
The NBA needs to bring back big name superstars to the Slam Dunk Contest. They seem to forget that the lack of superstars is what killed the contest in the late 90s. Sure, it's good to get some up-and-comers in there, but bringing in superstars is what makes the contest appealing to those who aren't die-hard fans. During the 2000 All-Star Break, the Slam Dunk Contest returned after a two year hiatus, and it seemed the NBA was finally bringing it back the right way. The contest included stars like Vince Carter and his cousin Tracy McGrady (who were Raptors teammates at the time) and Vince Carter turned in what might be the contest's greatest performance of all time. Unfortunately, the contest quickly lost steam in the early 2000s, despite great performances by Jason Richardson and other non-household names. How can the NBA make this contest something NBA fans and non-NBA fans alike look forward to year after year?
Enter Shaquille O'Neal. According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Shaq has promised to talk LeBron into entering the contest but, as his manager (?), he will only allow him to enter if Vince Carter, Kobe Bryant, and another big name comes back out. So how will Shaq convince LeBron and three other stars to come back to the contest? Shaq hopes he can get a big cash money prize (that shouldn't be a problem with his bloated contract), with half of the money going to relief efforts in Haiti and the other half going to the winner. Sounds like a pretty good plan to me. Let's hope Shaq can pull it off, for the good of the Dunk Contest and as another way to help ease the devastation in Haiti.
Those slated to actually participate in the Dunk Contest (unless Shaq gets his way) include Shannon Brown (it's official!), Gerald Wallace, and much to NBA fans' dismay, returning champion Nate Robinson. The fourth contestant will be the winner of the Slam Dunk-In between the Clippers' Eric Gordon and Raptors rookie DeMar Derozan. I've been hoping all season long to see Shannon Brown in the contest and Gerald Wallace was another player I had hoped to see, even though he was already in it back in 2003.
As for Nate, he's already won the Dunk Contest twice, and at 5'9", is there really anything else he can do that he hasn't already done? I hope he proves me wrong, but I just can't imagine a player under 6 feet ever topping 5'7" Spud Webb's legendary performance in 1986.
I love the Shaq trade for the Cavs. All they gave up was a rusty Ben Wallace and Sascha Pavlovic, who is not really even a rotation player. Shaq makes the Cavs bigs so much better by being the starter. He allows Varejao and Ilgauskas to come off the bench, which is great because they are both starting caliber players. Shaq doesn't need to do much because the bench players are actually better. Shaq gets the other team's bigs in foul trouble because you still almost have to foul him when he catches it deep. We all know Lebron can get him the ball with deep position and that equals fouls. Getting in the bonus is extremely important and Z doesn't draw fouls like Shaq does as he is more of a jump shooter. I can't even imagine what it's gone be like when Leon Powe gets healthy. Remeber, Powe was Kevin Garnett's back up in Boston and he was a dog man. He had great per minute stats for the Celtics. Granted he didn't play that many minutes, but who would backing up KG?
I didn't manage to catch the Cavaliers 91-101 loss to the Raptors last night, but I'm relatively shocked. I've had my doubts about whether the Shaq trade would work out, but I figured it wouldn't catch up to them until the playoffs. You can't look too far into this 0-2 start, but losing to a Raptors team that most see as a fringe playoff team is a cause for concern. I actually have the Raptors as a 5-7 seed in the East, but I still expected the Cavs to come out and win this one. Toronto's Andrea Bargnani drove past Anderson Vaerjao for the first play, and it seems that would set the tone for the rest of the game, as the 7-foot Italian went off on the Cleveland frontline for 28 points on 11-15 shooting.
One thing that caught my eye in the boxscore was that Shaq's +/- rating was -25. I'm no stat whiz so I can't tell you exactly what this statistic entails, but it's not often you see it dipping into the negative mid-twenties.
I'm sure the Cavs will get it together soon and establish themselves as one of the top team's in the East. I mean, they do have LeBron James. But I can't stress enough that the Cleveland frontcourt combined with Mike Brown's lack of offensive know-how is going to catch up to them. The past two years, Brown had assistant coach John Kuester running the offense. Now that Kuester is the Pistons' head coach, it's widely speculated that the Cavs might revert to their offensive tendencies of seasons prior to Kuester's arrival when it was give the ball to LeBron and get out of the way. That is if they haven't already.
As I'm not a huge Cavs fan myself, I suggest you take a look at this article by Biff from Cleveland Frowns for some true Akron/Cleveland perspective. I have to point out that Cleveland Frowns is one of few blogs with a banner that makes me feel less self-consciously skeezy about the Dank Game banner.
