Kevin Durant to Russell Westbrook: Instant classic alley-oop

Posted on April 14, 2012 by Patrick Crawley

Full extension. Unbelievable vertical. Perfect acceleration. Powerless defenders. Charisma off the charts. Durant to Westbrook: The best alley-oop we’ve seen all season.

Assist, Eye on Basketball.

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Why Austin Rivers is ready for the NBA

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Patrick Crawley

On Friday, sources said there was a good possibility Austin Rivers was leaving for the NBA. By Monday, he’d made it official. He’s going the Kyrie Irving route — the second standout Duke freshman in two years to leave coach Mike Krzyzewski’s program after just a season. Come November, he’ll be in the pros with his dad, Celtics coach Doc Rivers.

Rivers won ACC freshman of the year in a landslide and earned all-ACC honors — the first freshman in the conference to do so since Tyler Hansbrough in 2006. He also knocked down arguably the most memorable shot in college basketball this season — a jaw-dropping, buzzer-beating three to beat rival North Carolina in February — proving he has more than pedigree on his side when it comes to transitioning to the pro game.

The skeptic in me would like to see Rivers learn to become a better distributor before heading to the next level — to say he was a ball-stopper in his season at Duke would be like saying Schmidt from New Girl is “kind of a douchebag.” But really, Rivers was never going to be a prototypical NBA point guard anyway.

Here are three reasons he’s ready to play in the pros:

1. His confidence — Have you seen this guy play? Have you read any of his quotes? Have you been on his Twitter page? Rivers doesn’t just think a lot of himself. He’s in love with himself. Like I Love You, Man, Superbad-level bromance love. The kind of love where I’m surprised he hasn’t coined a Brangelina-esque nickname for every time he looks in the mirror. AuRiver. Hello, self. Damn we’re looking good today.

Confidence can be a good or a bad thing in the NBA (Kobe Bryant on one end of the spectrum, somebody like Nick Young on the other), but you can’t be a great player without it. And Rivers has more confidence than a Formula One driver on peyote. Age-wise, he’s a pup. But he won’t be afraid to mix it up with the big dogs at the next level.

Continue reading →

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Five NBA players not to put a bounty on

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Patrick Crawley

No doubt you’ve heard by now. An NFL investigation turned up some dirt on defensive coordinator Greg With Two Gs Williams and his former team, the New Orleans Saints. Turns out from 2009 til 2011 Williams and Co. were putting bounties on players’ heads — $1,500 for a knockout, $1,000 for a cart off — a system that Double G allegedly also instituted in Washington and Buffalo.

The league has called Williams into the principal’s office. He’ll meet with NFL officials in New York on Monday and will likely face a verdict (some say Roger Goodell’s harshest punishment to date) shortly after.

In honor of the proceedings, here are five NBA players I would never put a bounty on…

5. Dwight Howard — You’ve seen him without a shirt on. He’s like the Terminator, except if the Terminator had a mega-watt smile and stole all of his nicknames from previous bounty hunters. Plus Dwight’s notorious for not missing games. You’d just be wasting your time.

4. Shelden Williams — Six seasons in the league and a smoking hot, basketball-playing wife despite possessing not a shred of NBA talent. This man has God on his side. You do not want to be messing with him.

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Quick thoughts on the Masked Mamba

Posted on March 3, 2012 by Patrick Crawley

Five reasons to celebrate Kobe Bryant’s stint as “The Masked Mamba,” which comes to us courtesy of the following hard foul by Dwyane Wade in the third quarter of last Sunday’s All-Star Game:

5. Provides yet another excuse for his fourth-quarter tunnel vision.

4. Doubles as a great halftime diversion for Metta World Peace.

3. Adds further absurdity to the dumbest (self-appointed) nickname in sports.

2. There’s finally a second member of the All-Assholes with Face Masks Team!

1. Let’s face it. We all needed a break from The Kobe Face.

Assist to The Hoop Doctors for the face mask pic.

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Rivers returns to the scene of the crime

Posted on March 3, 2012 by Patrick Crawley

Okay. You’re right. Different arena. Different crowd (his own). But you get the idea. Austin Rivers faces UNC for the second time in his college career on Saturday — the first meeting having ended with his game-winning three. Can he repeat those fireworks?

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Brandon Jennings messes around, foreheads a guy at Dyckman

Posted on August 8, 2011 by Patrick Crawley

See, this is why average dudes shouldn’t play pickup games with NBA players. You lose concentration for a second, next thing you know Brandon Jennings is treating your forehead like Abby Wambach. Except there’s no glory on the other end of this header. Just embarrassment. Lots and lots of it. Check it out.

Assist, Deadspin.

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LeBron rocks the house at Drew League

Posted on July 24, 2011 by Patrick Crawley

With the lockout in place and players slowly migrating overseas, the Drew League in L.A. has more or less become the sun in the pro basketball solar system. The inner city summer league had already attracted big names like Kevin Durant and James Harden since season’s end, but it scored its biggest haul this weekend when LeBron James graced the court and dropped 33 points as a member of “Cheaters II.” (Love the irony of the team name.)

Below are video highlights from LBJ’s introductory Drew League experience.

Assist, SLAM.

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Kevin Durant to James Harden: The real Thrilla in Manila

Posted on July 23, 2011 by Patrick Crawley

In a weekend filled with basketball highlights, this was the centerpiece: Kevin Durant’s out of left field, off-the-backboard alley-oop for James Harden in the SMART All-Star vs. PBA All-Star exhibition, which took place in the Philippines on Saturday.

To steal a line from GZA, this dunk was the thriller in the Ali-Frazier Manila. See below.

Assist, Hardwood Paroxysm.

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Austin Rivers does his Michael Corleone routine, pays respect to Coach K

Posted on July 17, 2011 by Patrick Crawley

Quotes from athletes are typically pretty boring, so when I saw this one from Austin Rivers on Sunday it made quite an impression on me.

Rivers recently had his first practice with Duke in preparation for the Blue Devils’ exhibition tour to China and Dubai in August. Here’s what he had to say about Coach K and his experience with the team so far, courtesy of The Herald-Sun‘s Steve Wiseman:

“The first two practices were real rough. They were yelling at me, getting on me, telling me things I never knew before. But that’s why I chose Duke. I felt like they wouldn’t cheat me of that. A lot of colleges I could have gone to maybe would have said nothing or let me get away with it because of who I was. Coach K knows what the hell he’s talking about.”

I realize quotes are just quotes and athletes are coached regularly on what to say to the press so that they’ll be portrayed in a positive light, even so this is quite an impressive statement from Rivers.

If he’s serious — if there’s no B.S. there — I think he’s going to turn out to be a helluva good player. There’s respect behind those words. Respect and a healthy dose of self-awareness, something players Rivers’ age rarely have.

As a two-time state champion and the consensus high school player of year, he certainly has star potential. Having Doc Rivers’ genes doesn’t hurt either. I like to think of Austin as the college basketball version of Diggy Simmons: a hard worker from a great pedigree (Diggy’s the son of Run DMC legend Rev Run) with enough spark and charisma to step out of his dad’s shadow and be a bona fide star.

If Austin keeps his head right, and it seems like he’s going to, I can see him turning out to be the biggest star Duke’s ever produced. Sorry, Trajan Langdon.

Either way, this is a kid to keep an eye on. You’ll be hearing a lot about him here at Basketball Fiend in the months to come.

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Austin Rivers puts NC State guard on skates

Posted on July 16, 2011 by Patrick Crawley

Austin Rivers is a polarizing guy. First of all, he’s the son of Doc. So you know there’s a East Coast-West Coast bias involved (Celtics fans love him, Lakers fans probably not so much). Then he chose to go to Duke, which of course carries all kinds of stigma as well.

There’s no questioning Rivers’ skills though. He proved that once again Wednesday with a killer crossover on NC State guard Lorenzo Brown during the NC Pro-Am. Made the jumper too. Check it out.

That’s a grown man move right there. Especially considering Brown is no slouch. Draft Express rated him the 27th best freshman in the country last year. He played in 31 games for the Wolf Pack, averaging 9.3 points and 3.7 assists per game. And Rivers made him look like a 12-year old ice skating for the first time.

Impressive stuff.

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