2k10 Fresh Awards: Defensive Player of the Year

Well, the NBA beat me to it. Big surprise. I figured I had another day before I started my NBA Award Winners series, “The Fresh Awards,” but I was wrong.

Make no doubt about it, the voters got it right. Dwight Howard is the best defensive player in the league. It would be stupid to pick anyone else, based on their performances this year. Howard dominates the paint defensively. You saw it on live TV Sunday night. Howard had nine blocks, eight of which were in the first half. The record for blocks in a playoff game is 10, you figured by halftime, Howard was going to crush that record.

He didn’t, but nine was enough.

Howard controls the game with his defense, cause obviously his offensive game is not worthy of his superstar status. Fortunately for the Magic, his defensive game is so damn good that they can win a playoff game with Howard only taking four shots (as he did Sunday against Charlotte).

2k10 First Round Predictions: Eastern Conference

The NBA playoffs have started today, and don’t fear, I’m bringing you predictions as always. I get to start fresh and have the 16 teams that made the playoffs in front of me, this should be easy.

I also thought the same last year — what a mess!

Someone has to make some bold predictions, and generally I like to be that guy, don’t take away from my knowledge of the game — I know what’s up.

This year I’m going to call it perfectly, so let’s start with the Eastern Conference.

Can I have my Saturday night back?

There is no way to get around it, All-Star Saturday was bad. I’m sure the after-party scene in Dallas was awesome, but unfortunately, TNT doesn’t cover that. Instead, we were forced to watch one of the worst dunk contests in years (maybe the worst) and an hour long event of Omri Casspi, Kevin Durant and Rajon Rondo playing H.O.R.S.E. in the most anti-climatic fashion.

It stunk, but it was only one year.

The last couple All-Star Saturdays have been excellent. Thanks to Nate Robinson and Dwight Howard, they made the dunk contest an exciting and an incredible show, they helped bring the event back. It’s the main event, it always will be, no matter how bad it gets or how little of talent is in the event. Last year’s contest was great, and the previous few were also top notch.

The dunk contest needs charisma, personality and swagger. Obviously it relies on great dunks and acrobatics, but the flare is what makes the entire dunk. That’s why Howard’s Superman antics, and Robinson’s ‘Kryptonate’ swag and height disadvantage made for such a show.

LeBron, Howard have dunk contest for McDonald’s during Super Bowl

LeBron James is far too much of a d-bag to do the NBA’s Slam Dunk contest, after making a stink about it last year (more on that later). Dwight Howard is a former dunk champion, but without LeBron’s 2010 competition, Howard took his name out of the contest.

The two were able to give fans a dunk contest during the Super Bowl however, in the name of McDonald’s.

All-Star starters announced, the fans suck

It’s good to know that NBA fans halfway figured things out during the final weeks of NBA All-Star fan voting — they voted in Steve Nash instead of Tracy McGrady, who had the second most votes for Western Conference guards through the first few ballot returns. Unfortunately, they didn’t get the Allen Iverson memo, or maybe Nash was just more persuasive than the guards in the East.

Iverson is averaging career-lows with 14.4 points and 4.4 assists per game. He’s only played 19 games this season, bickered his way out of Memphis after three games and hasn’t helped the Sixers improve (6-10 with Iverson in the lineup).

Iverson should be glad that fans have showed their continued love for him, but if he had any class, he’d give his spot on the team up to a deserving player.

Joining Iverson as starters in the East are LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, Dwight Howard and Dwayne Wade. Nash will be joined by teammate Amare Stoudemire, Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony and Tim Duncan, who made a final push to beat out Dirk Nowitzki.

Seven spots remain in each conference and there are plenty of deserving players, so who gets picked?

More on that later, but here’s hoping Iverson accepts the fans’ gesture and does the right thing amongst his peers.

A superstar with absolutely no pub

Why isn’t there a Kevin Durant puppet?

Why don’t you see Durant in commercials by himself?

Why do you barely see the kid in commercials as is?

Why have I never seen a Durant jersey in the mall?

Playing in Oklahoma City might have something to do with it, but is Cleveland anymore glorious of a city?

It’s always about Kobe and LeBron, then it jumps to D-Wade, Dwight Howard and other names follow. Generally, you don’t hear much about Durant.

Something isn’t right.

Oh, really Dwight? Watch your mouth!

Last night the Orlando Magic lost to the Detroit Pistons 85-80 at The Palace of Auburn Hills. The Magic were shorthanded, playing without Rashard Lewis and Mickael Pietrus, but so were the Pistons who were without Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince.

Dwight Howard struggled all night, only playing 16 minutes, fouling out and turning the ball over three times. Ben Wallace and Kwame Brown both did a fantastic job on one of the NBA’s premiere centers, frustrating him all night long, as proven by this following video.

(Warning: Contains harsh language)

Howard was wrong though, he didn’t “F” anybody up, matter of fact he struggled with foul trouble all night and his team lost, as they normally do against Detroit. The Pistons have defeated the Magic in 20 of their last 25 regular season matchups, including bouncing them in two straight playoff series (2007, 2008).

The Pistons have flat-out owned the Howard and the Magic over the last few years and Orlando was denied of their first ever 4-0 start in franchise history.

2k Fresh Predictions: Award Winners

Only one thing matters at the end of the NBA season and that would be who wins the NBA Championship. That is the goal for every team, or at least it should be. Team success is the ultimate reward in the NBA, but hey, a little bit of individual glitz and glamour isn’t so bad either.

If I won the NBA’s Sixth-Man of the Year Award, you can bet your life on the fact that I would be taking that thing with me to the bar all summer trying to impress the ladies.

Hot Chick: “Ummmm…Why do you have that trophy?”

Me: “Because I’m the best sixth-man in the NBA! [Then I smile and lick my upper lip]“

Hot Chick: “Really? Well you’re not riding the bench no more, let’s get out of here.”

BOOM!

On that note, I’m not going to win an award this year, but I’ll tell you who will win awards this season.

NBA players when they were kids

While doing my daily internet surfing, I found this pretty cool video that shows what a bunch of the league’s top stars looked like when they were kids. Yeah, as I watched this I began to think, “Maybe this is a little creepy?” Oh well, the internet is a haven for creeps and creepy activity, this isn’t so bad then, is it?

The video features Dwight Howard, Dirk Nowitzki, James Posey, Devin (or Devon as the video creator calls him) Harris Dwayne Wade, Yao Ming and many more.

Considering it’s a bunch of baby pictures, I thought the soundtrack of the video, “Dream On,” by Aerosmith was a little intense. I would have preferred “Greatest Love of All” by Whitney Houston.

Thanks, kane38885