quarta-feira, 9 de março de 2011

NBA All Star Weekend 2011

The 2011 NBA All-Star Game was an exhibition basketball game that was played on February 20, 2011 at Staples Center in Los Angeles,California, home of the Los Angeles Clippers and the Los Angeles Lakers. This game was the 60th edition of the National Basketball Association(NBA) All-Star Game and was played during the 2010–11 NBA season. The Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers served as the hosts. The Clippers and Lakers were both awarded the All-Star Game in an announcement by commissioner David Stern on June 9, 2009. This was the second time that the Staples Center had hosted the All-Star Game; the arena had previously hosted the event in 2004. This will be the fifth time that Los Angeles had hosted the All-Star Game; before Staples Center opened in 1999, the city had previously hosted the event in 1963, 1972, and 1983.[2] Rihanna, Kanye West and Drake were the halftime performers, while Keri Hilson, Lenny Kravitz and Bruno Mars were the entertainment for pre-show festivities.[1]



Coaches

Doc Rivers (left) and Gregg Popovich (right) were selected as the East and West head coaches, respectively.
The coaches for the All-Star Game are the head coaches of the teams with the best winning percentage in each conference through the games of February 6, two weeks before the All-Star Game. However, an NBA rule also prohibits a coach from being selected for consecutive All-Star Games, even if his team again holds the conference's best record. Because George Karl and Stan Van Gundy coached in the 2010 All-Star Game, they were not eligible for selection.[3]
The coach for the Western Conference team was San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich. This was the second time Popovich was selected to be an All-Star coach, after previous selection in 2005.[4] The coach for the Eastern Conference team was Boston Celtics head coachDoc Rivers. This was the second time Rivers was selected to be an All-Star coach, after previously being selected in 2008.[5]


Players


Kobe Bryant received the most votes with more than 2.3 million.
The rosters for the All-Star Game are chosen in two ways. The starters were chosen via a fan ballot. Two guards, two forwards and one center who receive the highest vote were named the All-Star starters.[3] The reserves were chosen by votes among the NBA head coaches in their respective conferences. The coaches were not permitted to vote for their own players. The reserves consists of two guards, two forwards, one center and two players regardless of position. If a player is unable to participate due to injury, the commissioner will select a replacement.[6]
Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers topped the All-Star Ballots with 2,380,016 votes, which earned him a starting position in the Western Conference team. Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul and Yao Ming completed the Western Conference starting position.[3] Anthony and Bryant are both starters for the previous year's Western Conference team. The Western Conference reserves feature 3 first-time selections, rookie Blake Griffin, Kevin Love, and Russell Westbrook.[6] Griffin is the first rookie since Yao Ming to play in the All-Star game.[7]
The Eastern Conference leading vote-getter is Dwight Howard with 2,099,204 votes. LeBron James, Derrick Rose, Amar'e Stoudemire and Dwyane Wade completed the Eastern Conference starting position.[3] Howard, Miami Heat teammates James and Wade all started for the East in last year's game. The Eastern Conference reserves includes 4 Celtics: Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo. Al Horford, Rondo and Rose were selected to the All-Star game for the second times.[6]
Yao missed the game due to injury; he was replaced by NBA commissioner David Stern with Love.[8] Western Conference coach Gregg Popovich selected Tim Duncan to replace Yao in the starting lineup.


Kobe Bryant, selected to his 13th straight All-Star game after becoming the leading vote-getter, had 37 points, 14 rebounds, and three steals and won his fourth All-Star Game Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award, tying Hall of Famer Bob Pettit for the most All-Star MVP awards.[11][12]


All-Star Weekend

T-Mobile Rookie Challenge

Main article: NBA All-Star Weekend Rookie Challenge
MVP John Wall (left) recorded a game-high 22 assists for the Rookies while James Harden (right) scored 30 points for the Sophomores.
The T-Mobile Rookie Challenge featured a team of standout first-year players ('Rookies') against a team of standout second-year players ('Sophomores'). The game was divided into two twenty-minute halves, similar to college basketball. The participating players were chosen by voting among the league's assistant coaches. The Rookie team included five of the top ten picks from the 2010 NBA Draft: DeMarcus Cousins, Derrick Favors, Wesley Johnson, Greg Monroe and John Wall. 2009 first overall pick Blake Griffin, who missed the 2009–10 season due to injury, was also selected to the rookie team. The Sophomores team featured six players from the previous Rookie Challenge game: DeJuan Blair, Stephen Curry,Tyreke Evans, Taj Gibson, James Harden and Brandon Jennings.[13] However, Evans was later replaced by Harden due to injury.[14]
The head coaches for the Rookies and Sophomores teams were the lead assistants from the All-Star Game coaching staffs, Mike Budenholzer from the San Antonio Spurs and Lawrence Frank from the Boston Celtics. They were assisted by two All-Stars and two veterans who served as assistant coaches: Carmelo Anthony, Amar'e Stoudemire, Steve Kerr and Kevin McHale. Budenholzer, McHale and Stoudemire coached the Rookie team while Frank, Anthony and Kerr coached the Sophomore team.[13]


February 18
9:00 p.m. ET		BoxscoreRookies 148, Sophomores 140  Staples Center, Los Angeles, California
Attendance: 17,163
Referees:
TNT
Scoring by half: 71–69, 77–71
Pts: DeMarcus Cousins 33
Rebs: DeMarcus Cousins 14
Asts: John Wall 22		Pts: James Harden 30
Rebs: DeJuan Blair 15
Asts: Stephen Curry 8
The Rookies defeated the Sophomores 148–140, extending their winning streak to two games. Rookie's John Wall, who scored 12 points and notched a record 22 assists, was named MVP. He is joined by his former Kentucky teammate DeMarcus Cousins, who scored a game-high 33 points and had 14 rebounds. James Harden, who was born in LA, led the Sophomores with 30 points andDeJuan Blair had 28 points and a game-high 15 rebounds. Rookie's Blake Griffin, who also participated in the Slam Dunk contest and the All-Star game, only played 13 minutes and had 14 points. Both teams started the first half strong; the Rookies only had a 2-point advantage at halftime. The game remained close in the second half and the Rookies eventually came out with a victory.


Sprite Slam Dunk Contest

Main article: NBA All-Star Weekend Slam Dunk Contest
On January 5, 2011, the four contestants for the dunk contest were announced. Blake Griffin, JaVale McGee, Serge Ibaka, and Brandon Jennings were all chosen to participate.[15] On January 20, it was announced that DeMar DeRozan would replace Jennings due to his foot injury.[16] For this edition, the contestants were also provided with a 'dunk coach': Griffin was mentored by Kenny Smith, McGee was paired with Chris Webber, Ibaka was mentored by teammate Kevin Durant, and DeRozan paired up with Darryl Dawkins as his mentor.
During the first round, McGee made two perfect score dunks, including a dunk that had him dunk three basketballs at once, sending him to the finals. Griffin, who scored a total of 95 points in the first round, also entered the finals. In the second round, McGee and Griffin each made their two dunks, but Griffin won with 68% of the fans votes after he dunked over the hood of a car, with an assist byBaron Davis.


 Foot Locker Three-Point Contest

Main article: NBA All-Star Weekend Three-Point Shootout
The Foot Locker Three-Point Shootout featured six players: defending champion Paul Pierce returned to defend his title, competing against Celtics teammate Ray Allen, Kevin Durant, Daniel Gibson,James Jones, and Dorell Wright.[17]
Jones won the contest with a score of 20 points in the final round, ahead of Pierce with 18 and Allen who scored 15.

Taco Bell Skills Challenge


Main article: NBA All-Star Weekend Skills Challenge
The Taco Bell Skills Challenge was contested by five players. Chris Paul, a three-time contestant, have been automatically selected to participate. He went against Stephen Curry, Derrick Rose, John Wall, and Russell Westbrook, who were voted in by the fans from a pool of 8 candidates.[18] In this contest, the contestants had to complete an "obstacle course" consisting of dribbling, passing and shooting stations. The contestant who finished the course with the fastest time wins the contest. All contestants had to comply with basic NBA ball-handling rules while completing the course. Curry won the event with 28.2 seconds in the final round against Westbrook who finished with 44.2 seconds.


 BBVA Celebrity All-Star Game

Main article: NBA All-Star Weekend Celebrity Game
The BBVA Celebrity All-Star Game featured two teams composed of retired NBA and WNBA players, actors, comedians, singers, celebrities, and others. The game was divided into four eight-minute quarters. The head coaches were NBA Hall of Famers Bill Walton and Magic Johnson. Their assistants were comedians Ty Burrell and Jason Alexander. Each team featured fake "general managers" who simulated to have chosen the team.
The game's MVP was chosen by voting of the audience through text messaging. At the end of the game, Justin Bieber was announced the MVP. Bieber scored eight points (3-11 FG), and had two rebounds and four assists. NBA legend Chris Mullin said of Bieber, "He's got a nice little game... but more importantly, he's got great passion. It looked like he loves the game."[19]

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terça-feira, 8 de março de 2011

Reggie Miller


Early life

Miller was born in Riverside, California. He was born with hip deformities, which caused an inability to walk correctly. After a few years of continuously wearing braces on both legs, his leg strength grew enough to compensate. One of five siblings, he comes from an athletic family. His brother Darrell is a former Major League Baseball catcher; his sister Tammy played volleyball at California State University, Fullerton; and his older sister Cheryl is a Hall-of-Fame women's basketball player. Cheryl was a member of the 1984 U.S. gold-medal winning Olympic basketball team and is currently an analyst for Turner Sports. One of the family anecdotes Reggie liked to recall was when Cheryl used to beat him in games of 1-on-1 prior to his professional career. According to Reggie, they quit playing when he was finally able to block Cheryl's shot. Miller claims that his unorthodox shooting style was developed to arc his shot over his sister's constant shot blocking. [5]

[edit]College

Miller attended Riverside Polytechnic High School, California. He then attended the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) where he received a degree in history.[4] In the 1984-1985 NCAA season he helped the UCLA Bruins to an NIT championship. In his senior season, 1986-1987, he led the Bruins to a Pacific-10 regular season championship and the first Pacific-10 Conference Men's Basketball Tournament championship. The Three-point field goal was instituted for the 1986-1987 season; 69 of his 247 field goals were from three point range that year. One of his most memorable performances was in the January 24, 1987 game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, where he hit a clutch 24-foot (7.3 m) shot to put the Bruins ahead 61-59 with 10 seconds left to play.[6] Another notable game was a win against the defending national champions Louisville Cardinals and "Never nervous" Pervis Ellison on February 28, 1987. Miller scored 33 points in the second half, which is still a school record.[7]
His final game was a loss in the second round of the 1987 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament to the Wyoming Cowboys. He finished second in all-time scoring at UCLA behind only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. As of 2009, he still holds the UCLA single-season records for most league points, highest league scoring average, and most free throws. He also holds several individual game records.[7]

[edit]NBA career

Miller was selected by the Pacers with the 11th pick in the 1st round of the 1987 NBA Draft. Fans were initially upset that the Pacers chose Miller over Indiana University product and New Castle, Indiana native Steve Alford; fans watching the 1987 NBA Draft booed Pacers President Donnie Walsh for the selection. Miller wore jersey number 31 while playing on the Pacers, backing up shooting guard John Long before he became a starter. Miller gained a respectable reputation following early in his career as he helped turn the Pacers into a perennial playoff team.
After Chuck Person was traded from the Pacers during the 1992 offseason, Miller established himself as the primary scoring threat for the Pacers. On November 28, 1992, he scored 57 points against the Charlotte Hornets at Charlotte Coliseum in a 134-122 win. In this game, Miller was 16 for 29 from the field, including 4 for 11 from 3-point range, and 21 for 23 from the free throw line. His 57 points was the highest single-game total for a player in the 1992-93 season, and still stands today as the Pacers single-game record.
Miller became a household name during the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals against the New York Knicks, due to his phenomenal shooting performance in Game 5 of the series on June 1, 1994, in which he scored 39 points total and 25 in the 4th quarter of the Pacers' 93-86 victory at Madison Square Garden. Miller made several very long three-pointers during the quarter and engaged in an animated discussion of his ongoing performance with noted Knicks fan Spike Lee, who was, as always, seated courtside. The win gave the Pacers a 3-2 series lead over the heavily favored Knicks, but the Pacers lost the next two games and thus the series.
On May 7, 1995, Miller scored eight points in 8.9 seconds in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Knicks, leading the Pacers to a stunning 107-105 victory. With 18.7 seconds remaining and the Pacers trailing by six points, Miller made a three-point shot, stole the inbounds pass from Greg Anthony, dribbled back to the three-point arc and tied the game with a second three-pointer, stunning the Knicks bench and their fans. On the ensuing possession, Knicks guard John Starks was fouled by Pacer Sam Mitchell. Starks missed both free throws, and although Patrick Ewing managed to rebound the second miss, his shot rattled out. Miller rebounded the ball, was fouled, and made both free throws. Trailing by two points, the New York Knicks had one last chance to tie or win the game, but failed to get a shot off, giving the Pacers a shocking 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. The Pacers outlasted the Knicks in seven games before losing to the Orlando Magic in the conference finals in seven games, also four games to three, just like the previous year. Near the end of the 1996 season, Miller fell to the floor and suffered an eye injury, leaving him unable to play in the playoffs until before Game 5 of the first round against the Atlanta Hawks by wearing goggles. The Pacers lost to the Hawks and were eliminated.[8]
The Pacers made their next appearance in the Eastern Conference Finals three years later. On May 25, 1998, the Pacers trailed the Chicago Bulls two games to one in the series and were behind 94-93 in Game 4 at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis with less than three seconds remaining. Miller got free from Michael Jordan, caught the inbounds pass from Derrick McKey, turned and made a game-winning three-point shot. The Pacers eventually pushed the series to a decisive seventh game in Chicago, a game in which the Pacers led in the fourth quarter before fading in the final two minutes. The Bulls took the series and went on to win their sixth and final championship with Jordan, Pippen, and company.
Following Jordan's retirement, Miller and the Pacers were considered one of the favorites in the East heading into the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season. After earning the #2 seed in the East, the Pacers once again met the rival Knicks in the Conference Finals. That series came to a disappointing end for Indiana, as the eighth-seeded Knicks upset the Pacers in six games. In the decisive Game 6, Miller had one of the worst performances of his career, scoring just 8 points on 3-of-18 shooting from the field. He also missed seven of his eight three-point attempts.
In Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Philadelphia 76ers on May 6, 2000, Miller and teammate Jalen Rose each scored 40 points—becoming the highest-scoring pair of teammates in playoff history; in the Pacers' 108-91 victory. The Pacers won that series 4-2 and returned to the Eastern Conference Finals for the fifth time in seven years. This time they finally crashed through the gates, defeating the rival Knicks four games to two. The deciding Game 6 at the world-famous Madison Square Garden on June 2, 2000 was sealed by Miller's 34 points, half (17) of which came in the fourth quarter.
The Pacers thus advanced to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history, facing the Los Angeles Lakers, led by Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant. The Pacers lost the series and the championship four games to two, but Miller put on a shooting clinic in the Pacers' resounding Game 5 win that staved off elimination, scoring 25 points in the game. Miller averaged 24.3 points per game for the series.
In 2002, Miller almost single-handedly eliminated the top seed and eventual Eastern Conference Champion New Jersey Nets in the fifth and final game of the first round of the playoffs. First, following two missed free throws from New Jersey's Richard Jefferson, Miller sent the game into overtime by banking in a 39-foot (12 m) three-point shot at the buzzer. Next, with the Pacers down by 2 points in the final seconds of the first overtime, Miller drove into the lane and dunked over three Nets defenders to send the game into a second overtime period. While the Pacers would eventually fall to the Nets 120-109, that game had added another chapter to Miller's legacy as a clutch performer.
In the twilight of his career, Miller deferred his leadership role to All-Star teammate Jermaine O'Neal. Miller was an important locker-room leader for his team and served as an inspiration to his teammates who wanted to "win one [a championship] for 'Uncle Reg'". While Miller was no longer the team's leading scorer, he remained a go-to player in clutch time to the very end of his career. O'Neal's respect for Miller was most evident on January 4, 2005, when after scoring 55 points against the Milwaukee Bucks, O'Neal agreed to be taken out of the game with 1:43 remaining to preserve Miller's team record of 57 points in a game.[9]
In 2005, following the lengthy suspensions of star teammates O'Neal, Stephen Jackson, and Ron Artest for a brawl with fans in Detroit, Miller showed he could still score points in bunches, averaging nearly 20 points per game for stretches of the season. He even scored 39 points against the Los Angeles Lakers on March 18 at the age of 39. In January, Miller angrily shot down rumors that he would retire at the end of the season, saying that if he did decide to retire, he would announce it through his sister Cheryl Miller. On February 10, Cheryl, now a sideline reporter for TNT, reported that her brother had told her the previous day that he would indeed retire. On April 11, in a game against the Toronto Raptors, Miller passed Jerry West to move into 12th on the NBA's all-time scoring list.
Miller's last game was on May 19, 2005, at Conseco Fieldhouse, when the Pacers lost 88-79 to the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, ending the series four games to two. In the game, Miller led the Pacers with 27 points, making 11 out of 16 field goals including four of eight 3-pointers. When he was taken out with 15.7 seconds to play, the Indianapolis crowd gave him a last standing ovation, where there were many teary eyes. Pistons coach (and former Pacers coach) Larry Brown then called an additional timeout during which the Pistons players joined in the ovation, providing closure not only to Miller's career but also to a season that had been largely overshadowed by the early-season brawl between the two teams. This won the 2005 Best Moment ESPY Award.
Over his 18-year NBA career, Miller made over $105,000,000 in salary, playing in 1,389 games for the Pacers. He made 2,560 career three pointers.[10]
He took a very troubled franchise and ended up in the Eastern Conference finals six times. That’s pretty impressive for a guy who weighs about 185 pounds, and in the years that he did it, he was a marked guy and he relished it. I feel very thankful to Reggie to what he did for the Pacers and I just feel he deserves [to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame], whether it comes now, later or whatever.
—Donnie Walsh, former Indiana Pacers President[3]

[edit]NBA career statistics

Legend
  GPGames played  GS Games started MPG Minutes per game
 FG% Field-goal percentage 3P% 3-point field-goal percentage FT% Free-throw percentage
 RPG Rebounds per game APG Assists per game SPG Steals per game
 BPG Blocks per game PPG Points per game Bold Career high

[edit]Regular season

Year↓Team↓GP↓GS↓MPG↓FG%↓3P%↓FT%↓RPG↓APG↓SPG↓BPG↓PPG↓
1987–88Indiana82122.4.488.355.8012.31.6.6.210.0
1988–89Indiana747034.3.479.402.8443.93.11.3.416.0
1989–90Indiana828238.9.514.414.8683.63.81.3.224.6
1990–91Indiana828236.2.512.348.9183.44.01.3.222.6
1991–92Indiana828238.0.501.378.8583.93.81.3.320.7
1992–93Indiana828236.0.479.399.8803.13.21.5.321.2
1993–94Indiana797933.4.503.421.9082.73.11.5.319.9
1994–95Indiana818132.9.462.415.8972.63.01.2.219.6
1995–96Indiana767634.5.473.410.8632.83.31.0.221.1
1996–97Indiana818136.6.444.427.8803.53.4.9.321.6
1997–98Indiana818134.5.477.429.8682.92.11.0.119.5
1998–99Indiana505035.7.438.385.9152.72.2.7.218.4
1999–00Indiana818136.9.448.408.9193.02.31.0.318.1
2000–01Indiana818139.3.440.366.9283.53.21.0.218.9
2001–02Indiana797936.6.453.406.9112.83.21.1.116.5
2002–03Indiana707030.2.441.355.9002.52.4.9.112.6
2003–04Indiana808028.2.438.401.8852.43.1.8.110.0
2004–05Indiana666631.9.437.322.9332.42.2.8.114.8
Career1389130434.3.471.395.8883.03.01.1.218.2
All-Star5119.2.457.263.7501.02.01.0.28.0

[edit]Playoffs

Year↓Team↓GP↓GS↓MPG↓FG%↓3P%↓FT%↓RPG↓APG↓SPG↓BPG↓PPG↓
1989–90Indiana3341.7.571.429.9054.02.01.0.020.7
1990–91Indiana5538.6.486.421.8653.22.81.6.421.6
1991–92Indiana3343.3.581.636.8002.34.71.3.027.0
1992–93Indiana4443.8.533.526.9473.02.8.8.031.5
1993–94Indiana161636.0.448.422.8393.02.91.3.223.2
1994–95Indiana171737.7.476.422.8603.62.1.9.225.5
1995–96Indiana1131.0.412.333.8671.01.01.0.029.0
1997–98Indiana161639.3.426.400.9041.82.01.2.219.9
1998–99Indiana131337.0.397.333.8953.92.6.7.220.2
1999–00Indiana222240.5.452.395.9382.42.71.0.424.0
2000–01Indiana4444.3.456.429.9335.02.5.8.531.3
2001–02Indiana5539.6.506.419.8753.22.81.6.223.6
2002–03Indiana6629.3.283.160.9132.32.3.2.29.2
2003–04Indiana161628.4.402.375.9222.32.81.1.210.1
2004–05Indiana131333.1.434.318.9413.11.5.8.114.8
Career14414436.9.449.390.8932.92.51.0.220.6

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