The phrase "not in my house" has new meaning today as chatter on the net is about a confiscated video tape of LeBron James getting dunked on at his own skills academy.
With Nike controlling what can and can't be put on YouTube, how come they couldn't get LeBron and the Cavs in to the NBA Championship series against Kobe??
AKRON, Ohio -- You want to see video of Xavier's Jordan Crawford dunking on LeBron James?
If so, too bad.
Because you're not going to see it.
Thanks to Nike.
Turns out, there were at least two cameras rolling Monday night when Crawford dunked on James during a pick-up game here at the LeBron James Skills Academy. It was a two-handed jam, the kind that would've circulated quickly on YouTube. But Nike officials eliminated that possibility shortly after the dunk happened by allegedly confiscating tapes from various cameramen.
With the success of the Kobe & LeBron Nike commercials come the parodies.
The first one is highly inappropriate but I had to share it. I was literally in tears laughing the first few times I watched it. PISS funny! Oh ... and explicit language warning.
Favourite lines:
"Why'd you snitch on Shaq? Where' I'm from snitches get stitches" "Damn, y'all got a pool with no chicks?" "Did you guys ever shower with John Amaechi?" "Kobe, why were you messing with Ron Artest? You knooow he would've f*cked you up!"
And another one about Dwight Howard after the Magic knocked out the Cavs:
Other than the numerous overtime games and the competitiveness of each of the series, one of the highlights of the NBA playoffs has definitely been the Nike puppet commercials.
My favourite line from the first one is: "LeBron, you've got over twenty triple-doubles. Can I have one??" FUNNY
We've just had the Queen's birthday long weekend here in Australia so its been a few days since I last blogged. The upside of the long weekend tho, was that I got to watch game 2 of the NBA Championship Series between the Orlando Magic and the LA Lakers.
I got a call from some friends and we had an afternoon feast of sport. First there was the AFL game between Melbourne and Collingwood, then it was the NBA and the night wrapped up with Titans against the Dragons in the NRL.
After the disaster that was game 1 for the Orlando Magic, I was hoping they would bounce back in game 2. The game was again in LA so the Lakers were certainly the favourites and their confidence was riding high.
The first quarter was a dour, low-scoring affair with the scores tied at 15 at the first break. The Lakers pushed ahead in the second quarter before Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu found their shooting rhythms and the Magic came back.
The last quarter was back and forth and Orlando looked like they could steal it but two costly misses from Magic rookie Courtney Lee in the final minute meant we were headed to OT.
Orlando continued to turn the ball over in the extra period and LA hit their free-throws down the stretch and secured the win.
For the Magic, the good news was the form of their big 3, Shard, Hedo and Dwight. The bad news was the rest of their team shot just 8 of 30 from the field and had 20 turnovers to just 12 for LA. The Magic need better production from the likes of Alston, Lee and Pietrus.
For the Lakers, Kobe was good (29 points, 8 assists but 7 turnovers) without completely dominating like he did in game 1. The Lakers have to be delighted with what they're getting from Lamar Odom (19 points, 8 of 9 from the field, 8 boards off the bench) and Pau Gasol (24 points, 10 boards).
As the NBA season heads towards its conclusion, it seems that it's not just the NBA head office that is hoping for a Kobe vs LeBron championship series. Nike would of course LOVE the match-up of their two superstars on the biggest possible stage.
Thanks to the crew at Dime for bringing this documentary to the attention of anyone not living in the US. Its a great recap of both players, their beginnings and the season up to this point. Click on the title to see all the episodes.
What started in Beijing is culminating before our eyes as one of the most exciting NBA Playoffs to date. Everyone is anxious to see if at long last the league’s greatest players will be able to bring out the best of each other on basketball’s greatest stage: the NBA Finals. It’s obviously too soon to tell, but many are already dubbing it the dream season. As a result, NIKE has presented Dream Season: 23 & 24.
The one-hour special that was on ESPN the other night focuses on Kobe and LeBron’s pursuit of an NBA championship while forging a friendship reminiscent of past basketball greats. Through exclusive access to the Lakers and Cavs, Dream Season: 23 & 24 provides viewers with never-before-seen footage of Bryant’s and James’ remarkable season, narrated by Justin Timberlake.
We're down to 4 teams left in the NBA and its looking more and more like a Cleveland vs Lakers Championship Series. This has to be the match-up David Stern would and the powers that be in the NBA was hoping for. Last season it was the battle of two rival teams, Lakers and the Celtics, this year it could well be the match-up of two of the current superstars, Kobe and LeBron. In the lead up to, Nike has a very funny series of commercials airing at the moment.
Thanks to the crew at Dime for this story. It seems that Kobe Bryant has reclaimed his # 1 spot at the top of the most popular NBA jerseys.
I haven't bought an NBA jersey in many years, in fact the most recent addition was a Steve Nash Maverick's Jersey, but I still have a few that I regularly wear.
Here's my NBA wardrobe:
1. Mahmoud Abdul Rauf - Nuggets 2. Tim Hardaway - Warriors (personally autographed) 3. Steve Nash - Mavericks 4. Reggie Miller - Pacers 5. Stephon Marbury - Timberwolves 6. Dominique Wilkins - Hawks 7. Allen Iverson - Georgetown (college singlet)
I also had a Kevin Garnett Timberwolves singlet but a friend lost it ... groan
This morning the NBA released the results for the most popular NBA jersey - Kobe Bryant is back at No. 1 after being overtaken by Kevin Garnett last year.
The rankings for the Top 15 most popular NBA jerseys and the 10 most popular teams, based on sales at the NBA Store on 5th Avenue and on NBA.com look like this: Top 15 Most Popular NBA Jerseys:
1. Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers 2. LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers 3. Chris Paul, New Orleans Hornets 4. Kevin Garnett, Boston Celtics 5. Allen Iverson, Detroit Pistons 6. Dwyane Wade, Miami Heat 7. Paul Pierce, Boston Celtics 8. Nate Robinson, New York Knicks 9. Pau Gasol, Los Angeles Lakers 10. Dwight Howard, Orlando Magic 11. Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls 12. Ray Allen, Boston Celtics 13. Steve Nash, Phoenix Suns 14. Shaquille O’Neal, Phoenix Suns 15. Carmelo Anthony, Denver Nuggets
The votes have been counted and the NBA All-Star starting fives have been announced. I used this article from Dime rather than the official reports because they also give you the breakdown of the voting and their thoughts about what happened. Click on the title below to read the full story.
EASTERN CONFERENCE G - Allen Iverson G - Dwyane Wade F - LeBron James F - Kevin Garnett C - Dwight Howard
WESTERN CONFERENCE G - Kobe Bryant G - Chris Paul F - Tim Duncan F - Amare Stoudemire C - Yao Ming
* Dwight was the overall leading vote-getter, tallying more than three million votes. LeBron finished second at just over 2.9 million, and Kobe (2.8M), D-Wade (2.7M) and Duncan (2.5M) rounded out the top five. All of them topped the previous all-time high number of votes, a record previously held by Yao from the 2005 season.
Did the fans get it right, who would you have voted in?
