It’s early Christmas Day here in the Philippines where I’m from so I figure it’s the right time to greet you all Happy Holidays! Have fun with the Holiday dinners and celebrations from NBA Obsessed but don’t eat too much! Hehe
Don’t forget to watch the Lakers-Heat game too
/goes back to celebrating!
Looks like the Knicks- Nuggets brawl hasn’t shown a lesson to some former NBA players playing in the D-league. Lithuanian center Martynas Andriuskevicius, who was sent by the Chicago Bulls to the D-league’s Dakota Wizards, was left with serious head injuries after being punched by teammate Awvee Storey.
The altercation took place during practice Thursday. The 7-2, 240-pound Andriuskevicius, 20, spent Thursday night in intensive care in Bismarck, N.D.
‘’He has a skull fracture, severe concussion and a two-centimeter hematoma on the left side of his brain,'’ Andriuskevicius’ agent Herb Rudoy said. ‘’They’ve been monitoring him because they’re concerned about seizures.
‘’From what I’m told, when he got hit unexpectedly, he went out cold instantly and fell right back on his head.'’
The 6-6, 225-pound Storey has been suspended indefinitely while the NBA and NBDL investigate.
In other words, the Lithuanian is lucky to be alive. This reminds me of the incident where Rudy Tomjanovich almost lost his life in his playing days after receiving a punch to the head from Kermit Washington. The punch was so hard that cerebral fluids leaked into his mouth. It’s one thing to get into a fight with another player but when someone gets into this kind of harm, it’s a different story. Thankfully, Andriuskevicius is still alive.
In light of the recent brawl between the Knicks and the Nuggets, I decided to look up some videos of past NBA altercations. Of course, such a video wouldn’t be complete without including the brawl between the Pacers and the Pistons back in ‘04. Have fun!
Warning: Song playing in the background is not child friendly.
So Allen Iverson got traded to the Denver Nuggets just recently and it’s timely too since the Nuggets will need a scoring punch since Melo and JR Smith, the Nuggets’ top scorers are out due to suspensions. But when everything normalizes the team will be faced with a few issues that need to be addressed.
The trade brings Iverson, the current second leading scorer in the league with Carmelo Anthony the current leading scorer in the league. With the top two scorers in the league together in one team, the Nuggets could be the most lethal scoring team if they learn to work together and know their roles. But Melo and A.I. have a history of hogging the ball, which could lead to a problem in the offensive end and tension between the players. With Andre Miller gone, Iverson will have to play the point guard spot and he has to realize that he has more help in Denver than he did with the Sixers so he doesn’t need to take all the shots. Unless both A.I. and Anthony realize that they need to share the ball, then Iverson will not be The Answer in Denver.
This will be a test if both stars, who reputations for being a ball hog, will be able to trust the other star into making the shot when necessary. Let’s see.
Ever since Allen Iverson announced that he wants to be traded and that the Sixers would accommodate his request, I always checked the sports news everyday to see if he got traded yet and to where. All the time I was”disappointed” to see just trade rumors about teams being interested and a possible deal getting close and closer. Well, it finally happened. Allen Iverson got traded to the Denver Nuggets, the team that was reported to be the closest in the A.I. days before the actual trade.
The trade, which comes almost two weeks after Iverson demanded a trade in Philly, sends Andre Miller, Joe Smith and two 2007 first-round picks to the Sixers for Iverson and Ivan McFarlin. It was completed Tuesday and sent to the league for approval.
My first reaction to this news was: Who’s Ivan McFarlane? I guess he’s just someone put in there to make the trade work and will just be waived soon.
My second reaction is that the Nuggets are giving up a huge thing in Andre Miller and especially the picks. A.I. better stay healthy and be productive down the road or it might end up like the Kenyon Martin scenario. Martin was acquired by the Nuggets from the Nets for 3 first round picks. At the time it seemed like it was cheap but when the Denver Nuggets became injury plagued (Martin included) and starved for youth it seems like those 3 picks would have been better for them.
The picks will definitely be great for the Sixers’ rebuilding needs and Andre Miller is a solid play maker. But without the scoring punch that A.I. brings to the table, Andre Iguodala will have to carry the team. This could be his breakout year in becoming a star or just more bad news for the team. I’d go with the latter though.
A.I. arrives at Denver at an important time since their two leading scorers in Carmelo and JR Smith were suspended because of that brawl in New York. A.I.’s services will be much appreciated by the Nuggets and the fans.
Looks like Christmas won’t be so happy for a few NBA players, namely those players who were slapped with suspensions for participating in the brawl that happened in Madison Square Garden between the Nuggets and the Knicks. It was the scariest sight in the NBA since the brawl back in 2004 between the Indiana Pacers and th Detroit Pistons in the Palace of Auburn Hills in Detroit - a brawl that reached the stands because of crazy fan. The Knicks - Nuggets brawl was such a heated one that all 10 players on the court were ejected from the game.
Nuggets star and current league’s leading scorer Carmelo Anthony was slapped with the longest suspension of 15 days for throwing a punch at Mardy Collins just as things were starting to calm down.
Also penalized: Denver’s J.R. Smith for 10 games; New York’s Nate Robinson for 10 games; Mardy Collins, six; teammate Jared Jeffries, four. The Knicks’ Jerome James and the Nuggets’ Nene each were penalized one game for leaving the bench area during the chaos.
It looks like Carmelo can attempt to reduce his “sentence” through the new CBA:
Per the NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement, Anthony can attempt to get his suspension lessened through arbitration because it is longer than 12 games. So far, Anthony hasn’t announced whether he will try to do this. Regardless, his suspension begins immediately, starting with Monday night’s home game with the Wizards.
Lets see if he does and will be successful. Nevertheless, it will still be a pretty gloomy Christmas for Melo and the rest of the guys.
I was out the whole day when the Knicks and the Nuggets had an amazing brawl at Madison Square Garden and it’s too bad I wasn’t able to see it live. Thanks to Youtube though I WAS able to see it
Ten players, including NBA scoring leader Carmelo Anthony, were ejected during an on-court incident near the end of Saturday night’s game between the Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks.
All 10 players on the court at the time were tossed for their involvement in the incident that spread across the court and spilled into the crowd at Madison Square Garden.
The thing that I find cool about this brawl (forgive me David Stern for finding it cool) is that all 10 players on the floor were ejected including the Nuggets’ star Carmelo Anthony. Even during the the Palace brawl in Detroit back in 2004 not all 10 players were involved though some bench guys did.
Carmelo issues an apology here about the incident.
Oh yeah, out of all the excitement I forgot to mention that the Nuggets beat the Knicks 123-100. Melo had 34 points.
Here’s the youtube video I saw:
Image from NBA.com
Is it just me or the box scores of the games are gone from the game results? If it’s there I can’t find it anywhere. NBA.com changed this part of their website design and i personally think it has changed for the worse. I want to see the stats of each player on both teams for every game and this current design just doesn’t show that or if it does it’s so hard to find. So much for a user friendly website NBA! Looks like the website has followed suit with all the other changes - the tighter officiating and the new ball. You’re changing the ball in January. Change the website back!
Earlier during the season it seemed to the Bulls that it might have been a mistake to acquire Ben Wallace because of his below average performance. The four time Defensive Player of the Year was struggling to even prove that he’s worth the $60 million the Bulls signed him for. I remember thinking to myself at times that maybe he’s only good in Detroit! For some reason this jinx was affecting the rest of the team as the Bulls struggled to win games after winning the season opener against the Miami Heat.
But then the head bands issue sprouted and suddenly like magic, the Bulls started winning games and Ben started showing what he can do. The Bulls’ 117-111 victory against the Milwaukee Bucks is the clearest sign that the defensive monster that we knew Ben Wallace for is alive and kicking! Wallace grabbed 27 boards to go with his 10 points and 3 blocks.
“That’s as good a performance as I’ve ever seen,” Bulls coach Scott Skiles said. “That was amazing.”
This is a good sign for both Ben and the Bulls because this shows that the problem with the Bulls’ early losses was just getting used to playing with the new guys - the rookies and the guys that came over from the trade. Now that team chemistry seems to be getting better and better, Bulls fans can have more hope in seeing the type of Bulls that sports analysts were saying they could be - a real force in the East especially come playoff time.
Finally we have an update about the All Star balloting that started earlier this season:
Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets and Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers lead the Western Conference, while LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Allen Iverson of the Philadelphia 76ers lead the Eastern Conference in votes received after the first returns of 2007 NBA All-Star Balloting.
Through the 2007 NBA All-Star Balloting program, NBA fans from around the globe are responsible for voting in the starters for the 56th NBA All-Star Game, which will be played in Las Vegas on Sunday, Feb. 18. The game will air live on TNT, ESPN Radio and in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.
Yao leads all players with 836,392 votes. The Minnesota Timberwolves ’ Kevin Garnett leads all Western Conference forwards with 453,536 votes, followed by San Antonio’s Tim Duncan (423,228). Bryant (720,375) and the Houston Rockets ’ Tracy McGrady (668,130) lead all Western Conference guards.
James leads all Eastern Conference players with 808,570 votes, followed by Iverson (595,200). The Toronto Raptors ’ Chris Bosh (304,624) is second to James among Eastern Conference forwards. Miami’s Shaquille O’Neal leads all Eastern Conference centers with 522,815 votes, followed by the Orlando Magic ’s Dwight Howard (415,708)
As usual Yao Ming leads all players in votes. All those votes coming from the many Chinese all over the world wins it for him all the time. It’s no shock to see Shaq lead the East centers since he’s still good even in the twilight of his career. He’s just slowed by injuries now. Allen Iverson is second in the East and I wonder how much of his votes came from Sixers fans. With him noy playing for them anymore and getting traded soon to another team, I wonder if a lot now wish they could take back their A.I votes. I wonder what happens if A.I. gets traded to a Western Conference team like the T’Wolves or something. Will his East votes transfer over to the West so that he can play for the West come All Star Weekend?
