Chris Mullin still has it

One of my all-time favourite NBA legends and shooter extraordinaire Chris Mullin shows that he still has it at training with the Sacramento Kings.

Tim Hardaway honoured by the Heat

It may have been the second night of the new NBA season but for me the night was about one thing only ... Tim Hardaway getting his jersey retired by the Miami Heat. He may have got in trouble over recent years for "those comments" but he has been and always will be one of my favourite players.

I was heart broken when I was first in the US (almost 15 years ago) and saw a couple of Golden State Warriors' games and Tim Hardaway and Chris Mullin were coming off the bench under Rick Adelman. When he was traded to Miami I hoped it would give his career a second win and indeed it. Timmy was back to his best and teaming up with Alonzo Mourning they wreaked havoc in the east, especially the New York Knicks. Fittingly his jersey was retired tonight before the Heat played the Knicks.

Here's the official report about the ceremony from NBA.com. Click on the title to read the whole story and see an interview with Tim himself from after the event (for some reason it wouldn't embed on the blog).

NBA.com: Hardaway's No. 10 retired by Heat
MIAMI (AP) -- Saying he was 'overwhelmed,' Tim Hardaway beamed Wednesday night as he watched his No. 10 jersey raised to the rafters by the Miami Heat, never to be worn again. With about 50 family and friends looking on, including the other two parts of the famed 'Run TMC' trio -- Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullin -- that he first captured NBA acclaim with, Hardaway's oversized jersey was hoisted skyward before Miami opened its season against the New York Knicks. 'Tonight, I stand before you truly humble and grateful,' Hardaway said. Hardaway had hugs for everybody -- players, coaches, even referee Joe Crawford, no small feat considering how much the player loved to clash with officials during his playing days. Before he came to Miami, only three other players had worn No. 10: Kelvin Upshaw, Clinton Wheeler and Manute Bol. No one had since Hardaway left the Heat in 2001.


Here's a good story about Tim from the Miami Herald. Click on the title below to read the full story.

Former Miami Heat guard Tim Hardaway's honor arrives - Miami Heat - MiamiHerald.com

Tim Hardaway's career wasn't defined here, but it was completed here. His signature move wasn't developed here, but it was shown off a few times here. His courage wasn't discovered here, but he was at his most courageous here. The legacy of Tim Hardaway was a cross-country creation that started on the South Side of Chicago, continued south in Texas, moved west to California and settled here in Miami. This wasn't Hardaway's last stop, just his most significant. So it's here that the legacy was fortunate enough to be celebrated with Wednesday's jersey retirement ceremony. Fortunate because Hardaway is simply one of the most unique, special players in the history of basketball.

Chris Mullin and some more Corey Williams

I was at the pub last night playing poker so I only got to see parts of the Crocs series-tying win against the Dragons. It was great to see that they fought back from a 3/4 deficit to force the series in to a game 3 decider in Melbourne.

With only 2 games in the NBA, its a rather slow day on the basketball front so I was checking out some sites that I don't look at as regularly. The main one today is Bounce which seems to be an affiliate/off-shoot of Dime (that I refer to regularly). One of the articles on there was about the "leader of Croc Nation", Corey Williams, click here to check out what they had to say about the NY playground legend doing his thing down under. Good to see The OT's DJ Rod in the comments!

The main story tho that I loved seeing on there was a feature on one of the greatest basketball shooting players of all time and one of my favourites, Chris Mullin. For those youngsters that only know him as the GM of the Golden State Warriors, check out the article below (click on the title to read the full story) to learn more about his life as a player, its a story of hard work and persistence. Watching Mully when he had it going was a thing of beauty ...

Speaking of the NBL, check out the Sports Illustrated cover in the article that has a college pic of Sydney Kings legend Dwayne McClain.

The Playground Gave Us “Mo”, aka Chris Mullin | Streetball, Sneakers, Bobbito, Nike Air Force, Jordans

By Ali

Christopher Paul Mullin was a simple, neighborhood guy from Troy Avenue in the Flatlands section of Brooklyn. The love affair with hoops was a multi-generational thing that began in the driveway of the family’s small row house.

His father Rod played street ball with Doug Moe before Moe would go on to star at the University of North Carolina in the late ’50s. His older brother Roddy played at Siena, where he was the team captain as a senior. Younger brothers John and Terence would later ball at Bridgeport and St. John’s, respectively.

Known to his family and around the hood as “Mo”, Mullin was the ultimate playground fixture and gym rat. Showing up for the run was only part of his childhood mission. The other component was hours of repetitive work on movement, dribbling and shooting the rock from an assortment of angles.

Perfect basketball shooting form ... no comment on the facial expression tho ...

Chris Mullin

I mentioned in this post last month that if you want to improve your basketball shooting other than just spending time on the court practicing, you should also watch great shooters in action and study their form.

If you're left-handed one of the best you can watch and learn from is Chris Mullin. Many years before he was the GM of the struggling Golden State Warriors, he was their leading scorer and go-to-guy. His shot is so natural, so effortless and he was rewarded with a spot on THE Dream Team (1992).

Warriors vs Lakers 1991 Western Conference Semi-Finals Game 2

After yesterday's journey back in to time with the '92 NBA All-Star game there was yet another classic game on the DVD. I finished watching the All-Star game and was about to jump in to the shower when another game started. The sound wasn't good so I almost didn't realise, and the game itself was a CLASSIC!

It turns out my friend (thanks Tux) had also recorded game 2 of the 1991 Western Conference Semi-Finals between the Lakers and the Warriors. Being that my favourite player is Tim Hardaway, the shower was put on hold and I was glued to the TV again. This was the break-out year for Run TMC (Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond & Chris Mullin) and it was against Magic Johnson and the Lakers so you knew it was going to be a high-scoring, no defence, run & gun feast!

The game didn't fail to deliver everything I had hoped. Maybe it was because Mully (Chris Mullin) was "guarding" him, but Magic was unstoppable, at the other end Mully was putting on one of the greatest ever basketball shooting displays and Timmy was just plain killing them!

The Lakers led for most of the game and were up by double figures at one point. Mullin's rained in jumper after jumper (I literally was in awe) and the Warriors fought their back. Despite being down by 4 inside the final minute, the Warriors pulled out the upset win for the first time in LA for 20 odd years.

Here are some of the numbers from the game:

Chris Mullin 41 points, 16 of 21 shooting, 4 of 4 from downtown, 5 assists, 4 boards, 2 steals
Tim Hardaway 28 points, 14 assists, 8 steals
Magic Johnson 44 points, 12 boards, 9 assists
Sam Perkins 24 points, 9 of 12 shooting, 4 boards
James Worthy 23 points, 8 boards, 5 assists
Mitch Richmond 22 points, 3 assists

If you haven't heard of Run TMC is, its time to go to school ...

NBA All Star Game 1992

One of my friends gave me a DVD a while ago with some basketball games on it. One of them was one I played in a few years ago but he didn't tell me that on there was also the NBA All Star game from 1992. That's almost 17 years ago now but if you were a fan of the NBA in the 90's the starting line-ups were as good as it gets:

EAST

Isiah Thomas
Michael Jordan
Scottie Pippen
Charles Barkley
Patrick Ewing

WEST

Magic Johnson
Clyde Drexler
Chris Mullin
Karl Malone
David Robinson

The game itself ended up being a blowout with the West shooting the lights out and dominating the game 153 - 113. Still, it was still great to see some of the best players ever putting on a show. Having seen the end of their careers, I had almost forgotten just how good many of these players were. How athletic and dangerous players like Drexler, Pippen and Barkley were ... and Mutumbo as a rookie (he's now 42)!

Here are some of the numbers from the game:

Magic (was MVP) 25 points, 9 assists, 5 boards
Drexler 22 points, 9 boards, 6 assists
Tim Hardaway 14 points, 7 assists
Jordan 18 points, 5 assists
Barkley 12 points, 9 boards
Rodman 13 boards

Here are the top 10 plays from the game ... and there were some good ones!