About exactly a month ago, I was lucky enough to be able to attend a defining chapter in the beginning of a new rivalry. After picking up Chris Paul, the LA Clippers have skyrocketed up, both in excitement and in results. But the Clippers share their arena with another team in Los Angeles - a team that has a far more glittering past - the Lakers. Even with age catching up to them, Kobe, Gasol, Bynum, Metta World Peace, and the rest of the company are still quite a threat. On the other hand, Chris Paul brought along the charge with Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, and Caron Butler on his side.
The two teams played each other for the second time in the regular season on January 25th, 2012. It was a close and exciting game throughout, won 97-92 in the end by the big brothers - the Lakers - who were led by Pau Gasol and a clutch performance by Kobe Bryant, which overshadowed Griffin's bigh night.
Here are some photographs I clicked from the game (I was sitting
way up in the highest pressbox!) and then later, from the Lakers locker room. I also wrote a detailed feature about this game and
the growing battle of Los Angeles for my blog on NBA.com/India.Pre-game National anthem... Here is the Staples Center!
Chris Paul leading the Clippers offense.
Blake Griffin trying to take on Pau Gasol 1-on-1
Kobe starting to takeover
Don't mess with World Peace!
Lakers locker room filled with media after the game
Pau Gasol getting interviewed postgame
And here he is, the Black Mamba himself... Kobe Bryant! I asked him if the Lakers and the Clippers are a rivalry now, to which he scoffed and answered, "Rivalries are only made in the playoffs!"
Kevin Durant won the All Star MVP Award. Kobe Bryant broke Michael Jordan’s All Star scoring record and had his own nose broken. Kevin Love won the three-point shootout. Kyrie Irving was the best young star amongst a host of young guns at the Rising Stars competition. And a certain ‘King’ James – for his brilliance and for his mistakes – made some headlines in Orlando during the mid-season festivities.
Once again, India faced no challenge from the basketball forces of neighbouring South Asian nations as they strolled through the Mid Zone Qualifiers this past weekend in New Delhi (Feb 24-26 2012) and secured a spot for themselves in the U18 FIBA Asia Championship, set to be held in Mongolia in August.
Cleveland. Minnesota. Charlotte. Utah. Night in and night out, NBA players across the North-American hemisphere are putting in work, some are putting on a show, while others are quietly stacking up wins. Distracted by the big city/big team hype, you may not hear about many regularly, but nearly every NBA city has a rising star to watch for the future, a shining star enjoying his prime, or a fading star that still has enough in his tank for a few last miles.
The following teams will be participating in this tournament:
India’s U18 Men’s Basketball team will play in a Mid-Zone Qualifying Tournament against Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka in New Delhi from February 24-26, 2012. The team that wins this tournament will qualify for the 22nd FIBA Asia U18 Championship, which will be held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, from August 17-26.
Jeremy Lin is not the first Asian-origin person to dominate on a basketball court. Asians of all backgrounds have been breaking ankles, hitting threes, dunking and shutting their opponents down, and they’ve been doing it in playgrounds, in sweaty gyms, in schools, colleges, and in professional leagues around the world. Lin isn’t even the first Asian to be an NBA star: a certain 7 foot 6 behemoth by the name of Yao Ming would like to take credit for that. Many others from China or Japan or Iran have had their brief stints at the highest level of the game.
