My Favourite NBA Things

Welcome to another posting at NBAdiaries!

This time, I want to introduce you to my favourite things in the NBA - the players, the teams, and the games.

First up - the players. I have a lot of favourites from the NBA. J-Kidd, A.I., Peja, Mike Bibby, K-Mart, Tim Duncan...I could go on! But, everyone knows that my all-time favourite has got to be the "Big Man", SHAQ!!






Everyone's saying, "Oh, Shaq's fat, he can't hit free throws, yada yada yada". Ok. So maybe they have a point (or multiple points). It doesn't matter. The only thing they need to do is look at his stats. Nuff said. The guy is the most dominant center in the game today, and he's every coach's biggest match-up headache. Besides...the guy can rap! (Ok, so maybe he's no 50, but give the guy some credit...he's a baller, not a rapper, and he still manages to sell a platinum record [Shaq Diesel] without any problems!). Shaq played his heart out in L.A. over the last 8 years, and I was very sad to see him leave for Miami over the summer...although without Phil Jackson to shut down the fights between Shaq and Kobe, this was probably the second best move that could've been made...the best would've been to send Kobe packing to whichever desperate team wanted him. No, I don't hate Kobe, I just think he's selfish with the ball.

You know what I love best about basketball? It's such an exciting game! It's all fast paced action right until the last millisecond! Any game can go either way...it's brilliant! I mean, I like soccer as well, but it's just not the same as being on the edge of your seat for a whole two hours! It's also hilarious to see the players' antics, both on and off court. Who can forget the Kobe-Shaq newspaper feud, or Jason Richardson's awesome dunks at the NBA 2003 All-Star weekend?

People wonder why it's so popular all over the world now. Take a look at this - you've got players from all over the globe! Yao Ming from China, who's done so much for the game that they're even playing games in China! Who would've thought! Then you've got Dirk Nowitzki - Germany, Manu Ginobilli - Argentina, Nene - Mexico, Tony Parker - France, Vlade Divac - Yougoslavia...I think there's even players from Australia! So you see, that's the answer to NBA's mass appeal - it's international superstars!

So we're well into the preseason games now. How are the Laker's playing?! They're throwing up triple digit final scores in their games! And so far, in their first four preseason games, they've won 3. Not bad, not bad at all, considering what a transition the team went through over the summer! Loss of their big man, Shaq, the loss of their head coach Phil Jackson, the trade of Derek Fisher to Boston, and the acquisition of Rudy Tomjanovic, Vlade Divac, Chris Mihm, Brian Grant, Lamar Odom, Chucky Atkins, etc. Yes, it's been quite a re-vamp thanks to some serious wheelin-n-dealin by Mitch Kupchak, and the new team seems to be working quite well, thank you very much!

Well, I think I've said about all I need to say for today. As much as I would love to go on and on and on about my favourite game, I am an I.B. student, and unfortunately, work calls!

Gayatri.