A Glimpse of What's to Come

Via

29 points, 10 of 13 shooting - 4 rebounds - 2 assists - 2 steals - 2 blocks - 3 of 6 from three - 1 turnover

NBA Finals Update

Well I intended to have game-2's review done before game-3 took place, but after everything went down the way that it did, I'm glad I didn't.

Game-2:   HEAT 103 - SPURS 84   (a doimination)
Game-3:   SPURS 113 - HEAT 77   (not a domination)

So Sunday in Miami, we saw game-2 play much like game-1 did through the first half. It was tied at 22 after 1 quarter of basketball. Both the Heat and the Spurs would hold a 5-pt. lead during the 2nd quarter, but Miami would do it twice. The last one as the quarter finished, 50-45. The 3rd quarter was once again tight, as the Spurs came back with a 16-7 run, squashing the Heat's 8-pt. lead. But Danny Green's bucket

Image Via

with 3:49 on the clock, putting the Spurs up 62-61, would be their last one.. for a long while.

For the next 10+ minutes the Heat would hit everything they put up, going on an unbelievable 33-5 run, and before anyone knew it, Pop was emptying the bench, and the score was 94-67. During the run Chalmers, Miller, and Allen all contributed, and nothing the Spurs did went right. After 4 turnovers in game-1, the Spurs ended up with 16 in game-2, and a lot of them came during this stretch. With our back-ups in for the last (almost) 7 minutes of the game, however, we outplayed them (their starters for a couple minutes) 17-9 to make the loss a little less painful. Heat win 103-84. Here's the box score.

The media and sports sites all over were touting the Heat as glorious again, and all of a sudden they were unstoppable.. referring to the 10-minute run when calling the game a total domination. OK so we played a super-sloppy 10 minute stretch, but was the game a domination? Not in my opinion.

Image Via

                              --------------------------------------------------------------

Fast forward to game-3 on Tuesday, back in Texas. San Antonio fans had waited more than 2 weeks for another home game. Specifically it had been since May 21st, game-2 vs. the Grizzlies! More importantly the organization had waited SIX YEARS for this new opportunity. Obviously fans, and players alike were stoked. Atmosphere was incredible, and in showed as the Spurs jumped out to an early 8-pt. lead, 15-7. Spurs took a 4-pt. lead into the 2nd quarter, 24-20, as it appeared everyone was happy to be at home. Green was hot again (he hasn't really cooled off), Gary Neal was hitting, Kawhi Leonard was hitting, and we were taking care of the ball. With the game tied at 44, and 37 seconds left in the half, Tony hit an amazing three from the corner, followed by a steal on the ensuing possession, and a Gary Neal three at the buzzer. The moment was exciting, as momentum was 100% ours going into halftime 50-44.

Image Via

Including those 6 points, San Antonio would go on a 69 to 33 run for more than 24 minutes of Finals basketball. Neal and Green would combine to hit 13 of 19 threes for the game, and the Spurs as a team hit 16 of 32. Kawhi added 14 pts, and Duncan 12, while Tony was hampered with a strained hamstring. This, my friends, was a total domination. Mike Miller hit 5 of 5 from three, but LeBron was held to 15 points on 7 of 21 shooting. Spurs win game-3 113-77, Miami's worst playoff loss of all-time. Here's the box score.

Box scores via ESPN

Strike Three!

Via (NSFW)

I'm not sure why, but this picture makes me chuckle every time I see it. Which is about 3 times now in the last month. Sorry kiddo!

Ridiculous if You Think About it

Via

This and making everyone constantly take off their shoes is what sucks. Ohh, and complete body-searches.. of babies. C'mon, man..

Spurs Update: Western Conference Finals

The scene changed dramatically for game-3, as a seemingly half-dejected OKC Thunder crowd outside Chesapeake Energy Arena welcomed the San Antonio Spurs for game-3, and the feeling was that of confident reserve for Spurs' fans. I said it over a week ago that if we're gonna lose a game, it's gonna be this one. Barkley thought so too, but both Kenny and Shaq picked Spurs.

Priority #1 was withstanding the overwhelming crowd that is present in this Arena. As the game began, OKC went up 8-0 before Popovich had even sat down, it seemed like. So timeout Spurs, and now let's begin for real. Everyone would get quickly into the scoring mix. By the end of

The Sea of Blue - Img Source: 2012 NBAE (Photo by Layne Murdoch/NBAE via Getty Images)

the 1st-Q 6 Spurs and 6 Thunder players had scored, and the score was 24-22, Spurs.

The advantage continued for the Thunder, however, as their shots kept going in, but ours were just a little off. After almost 8 minutes had gone by, the Spurs had only scored 8 (four from Manu), while the Thunder had scored just about every time down the floor. The lead grew quickly to 14, 46-32, and it would be all we could do with a few subs off the bench, to stay in it as best we could. Durant hit a bunch of FTs, and a difficult jumper, while Tony & Manu kept us in the game. But at the horn, the Thunder had outscored us 32-17 in the 2nd-Q. To me it seemed as if Pop wasn't realizing the adjustments they made after game-2 were working. So we all await Pop's own classic halftime adjustments, down 54-41. Thabo Sefolosha assigned to Tony Parker was one of the main adjustments - Tony only had 10 thus far.

Then Sefolosha began the 2nd-half hitting a three of his own - his second of the game. Then after Danny Green hit a three, and Tony nailed a jumper, OKC would go on a 16-5 run over almost 8 minutes. During this time Sefolosha's play was incredible: Steals, defense.. frustrating Tony with his length. ...And we were down 22!! 73-51 with 2:31 left in the 3rd.

Obviously the crowd was going INSANE by this time, and I think it was apparent on the faces of most of the Spurs that we were probably gonna take this one on the chin. Then Jack hit two straight threes - but Thabo came back with another one of his
Thabo was key - Img Source: 2012 NBAE (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)

own, and the 4th-Q stage was set with the Thunder up by 18.. 78-60.

Jackson opened the 4th with another three, closing to within 15, but then OKC would score 8-striaght. Wow. Now down 23, Pop appears to have given up WAYYY too early by putting in James Anderson (who had actually earned a few earlier minutes), along with Patty Mills and DeJuan Blair, who's been in the doghouse ever since Boris Diaw happened. Neal & Anderson pulled us to within 18 again with 8:52 on the clock, but then OKC ran off another 9-straight and pretty much putting all the nails in the coffin, 95-68. But there's still 6:35 left, and aren't we the top-scoring team in the league?

It didn't matter.. Tony, Tim, & Manu never saw another second. Sefolosha would continue to impress as he'd finish with 19 & 6 along with SIX steals. DeJuan Blair actually showed something most weren't prepared for - in 10 minutes, he scored 10 on 5 of 7 shooting, with 6 rebounds. Yeah, Pop, you should've tried him sooner.

The game was lost late in the 2nd-Q, but I give this one to Pop for not recognizing that all the adjustments they made were working, and working well. And it took him too long to make some changes himself. I guess when you win 20-straight games, you start to be a little reluctant to make changes. We had wayy too many turnovers (21), only 18 assists, but we failed to match their energy that lasted throughout 48 minutes. Here's ESPN's boxscore..

Game-4 Saturday night should be better.

Spurs Semi-Finals Update

I totally should've posted my review of game-2, which was Thursday night, on Friday night, since -duh- our game-3 was early Saturday afternoon. Nevertheless, I'll just do two right here right now.

So in Thursday night's game-2 in San Antonio, the Clippers played us pretty close for most of the 1st half, or at least for the last 15 minutes of the 1st half. It was a half of runs. With the score 10-9, Clips, at around the 7:00 mark, the Spurs went on a 14-0 run, during which the "big-3" scored all 14. So with a 23-10 lead, the Spurs stretched it to 27-12, at which point LA would go on their own 9-2 run to close the 1st-Q 29-21. But this little run continued for 3 more minutes into the 2nd-Q, as it was 29-25 before Splitter finally scored for the Spurs at 9:11 mark - effectively a 13-2 Clippers run.

The 2nd-Q as a whole simply wasn't good period for the Spurs, as we shot 8 of 21 (38%) with several turnovers, while the Clippers put up another semi-solid 21 points. So we took a 46-42 lead to the break.

Similar to game-1, the Spurs came out on all cylinders to begin the 3rd-Q, and everyone was involved. The first 4½ minutes was a 16-5 Spurs' run. Yeah, 16! Our defense was fine as well, but LA shots were also starting to fall (notably Paul & Butler). But it didn't seem to matter, as Spurs felt confident enough to score almost every time down the floor. Danny Green had 10 3rd-Q points as the Spurs put up 32 to 25 from the Clips. The score going into

TP finally got going in game-2 Image Source (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

the 4th-Q was 78-67.

This is when the energy and defense were both taken up a notch. Neal, Splitter, and Diaw would lead another mini-run for most of 5 minutes, at which time the scoreboard read 92-76. Griffin and Evans were getting it done inside, but they had nothing to stop Tony & Tim in the 4th-Q pick-n-roll. Isn't that kind of a common theme this season? The combo would score 8 straight for SA during a 3-min. stretch that saw the lead increased to 19! Patty Mills closed it out for Tony, after a scary late foul Tony took. No idea why he was still in with 2:05 left in what was then a 17-point game.

Spurs beat the Clippers 105-88, after trading baskets a few times, and now lead the series 2-0. And we have now won 16-straight! Griffin had 20 points, but was held to 1 rebound. Chris Paul had another lackluster game with 10 pts. & 5 assts. Tony Parker led the Spurs with 22 on 8 of 19 shooting, with 5 boards and 5 assts. in 37 tough minutes. Timmy had 18 pts., 5 reb., 3 assts., and 2 steals in 33 minutes. Here's ESPN's boxscore..

Games 3 & 4 are Saturday 2:30 & Sunday 9:30 in a DUMB back-to-back in LA..

___________________________________________________________


Game-3 between Spurs & Clippers was at 12:30 Los Angeles local time in Staples Center, beginning a stretch of absolute craziness involving the Lakers, Kings, and themselves. Who didn't think this out clearly enough?

I knew game-3 in hostile territory was our best chance to lose, and as the game began, what I was seeing wasn't really anything I didn't expect. While the very beginning went pretty normal - Tony scores his 3rd bucket to bring the Spurs to within 4 at 13-9, with 7:00 showing on the clock. Over the next SIX minutes none of our shots went down. We had a mere 3 turnovers, but when you combine 9-striaght missed shots with the Clippers' 6 of 9 shooting, the result is a 14-0 run that no one really saw coming. But then again I think we might have. Blake Griffin was getting almost anything he wanted,

Griffin had a career-game Image Source (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

and everyone was feeding off the crazy crowd. So when a couple mid-run Pop-timeouts didn't work, the end of the quarter would have to. But by this time it was 33-11.

When the 2nd-Q got underway, Manu & Neal would hit a few shots, but so would Mo Williams and Nick Young. The lead ballooned to 24 at 40-16 with 9:17 on the clock. So down 24 (DOH!) Pop brought in many new guys, and for us that makes things happen. In just 2 minutes the lead was down to 18. Two minutes later it was 15. Then holding the Clippers to 5 pts. in the final 3:47 of the 1st half, Spurs would get 5 from both Manu & Tony, and 5 more from Diaw & Duncan, and the Clippers' halftime lead was only 10 at 53-43.

So now that it appeared the Spurs were going to, in fact, make it a game, the crowd was much less of a factor to begin the 3rd-Q. Paul hit a jumper, and then after a nice Duncan layup, Griffin would follow it up with his own layup. With 9:38 showing on the clock, and the Clippers leading 57-45, something happened.

For the next 8:13, the Spurs would hold the Clips completely SCORELESS, while themselves netting 24 straight!   During this stretch the Spurs would shoot 10 of 15 (68%), but the Clippers went 0 for 12. And just like that, we now had a 12-pt. lead, 69-57.

Spurs 24-0 run was legendary Image Source (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

They were stuck on 57 for a long, long time. After 3-Q's it was 69-61.

So now that we've outscored them 32-20 in the 2nd-Q, and 26-8 in the 3rd-Q, the crowd wasn't about to let us run away with it. The first 3 minutes or so of the 4th-Q saw back-to-back buckets for both teams.. Leonard's 3rd three, Manu, Splitter, Neal, and for LA it was Griffin & Mo Williams. Pop would take a critical timeout with our lead cut to 7 and 9:14 on the clock. Following the timeout, both defenses were superior, as more than 3 minutes later, our lead was still 8 (scoring was 8-7 for these 3+ minutes).

Tony & Manu were pretty much scoring at will by this point, and neither team could manufacture a serious run. As is often the case late in games against these Spurs, time would simply run out on the Clippers, and five straight FTs would cement the Spurs' win 96-86.

As improbable as it seemed at the time, now that I'm looking back at the stats & play-by-play, it's no surprise that Vinny Del Negro just apparently didn't have any changes to make during his team's 8 minute 3rd-Q drought. He did call one timeout, and there were two substitutions (KMart for DJordan, and later Foye for Butler), but neither of these are moves to initiate an offensive spark for your team. Similar numbers as game-2 for San Antonio, as Tony, Tim & Manu led us again, but this time Kawhi Leonard also had a great game with 14 pts. & 9 reb.

Blake Griffin possibly put together the best game of his short career on this night - he had 28 & 16 on 13 of 24 shooting in 43 long minutes - most of it early on. Chris Paul had 12 pts. & 11 assts., and Mo Williams had a very nice 19. Here's ESPN's full boxscore..

Spurs can end the misery later tonight in game-4 at 9:30 CDT. That would be 17-straight!!

Spurs Update

The San Antonio Spurs had two more days off between Wednesday's game-2 and Saturday's game-3. Of course there was travel time in there, and also a couple of practices. They took the court in Salt Lake City to face the Jazz just following an odd release of a sea of navy, gold, green, and white balloons. Doing this before a game is a new one for me.

At any rate - calming down their crowd must've been the #1 priority, because within the first 30 seconds, Timmy drew an "and-1", and another foul for 2 FTs, and then before a minute was gone, he had 6, and it was 6 to nothing. Offenses were both ready as it was 30-28 after the 1st-Q. Gary Neal capped it off with two-straight threes in the last 2-minutes.

Image Source

Alec Burks and Enes Kanter would carry the Jazz for a while, as our shots weren't really falling. The game was very tight throughout most of the 2nd-Q, as Manu showed signs of a shooting slump. Not only that, but Matt Bonner got 3 quick fouls in 4 minutes - the 3rd of which was total BS. No biggy, though, we have plenty of players. Danny Green, Tony, and Timmy carried us to the last play of the half. Cue Matt Bonner for a designed last-second play, and his only points of the game. Spurs 52, Jazz 50 at the half.

The game remained tight for most of the beginning of the 3rd-Q. Devin Harris was going off for the first time in this series, but Danny Green responded with 9 3rd-Q points. Jack also hit two key threes in this late 3rd-Q run that was 15-8.. from 60-60 to 75-68, where the time ran out in period-3. It was a span that saw the Spurs D hold Utah to 3 of 12 shooting, 2 blocks, and 2 key turnovers.

Before 75 second had expired in the 4th-Q, our lead was 81-68, thanks to Tiago's incredible post-play. The Jazz would then score 6-straight, prompting Pop to take a well deserved timeout.

TP dominated again in the 4th-Q - Image Source (AP Photo/Colin E Braley)

Derrick Favors came back with another layup, and our lead was just 5 at 81-76. But Tony Parker started to take control, as he often does in the 4th quarter. He and Manu would assist Jack and Green for layups, and our D would shut them down for the most part. At 5:09 remaining, and the score 90-78, Utah would come alive again down low. Millsap, Jefferson, and Favors were seemingly scoring at will, but so was Tony Parker, as my man had 16 4th-Q points, including the last 12 for San Antonio. We hadn't played a good game, but the game was never in doubt during the late 4th-q, as the closest the Jazz would get was 8. Spurs rolled to a 102-90 WIN. Here's the boxscore..

Utah responded very well, and Al Jefferson & Devin Harris had good games, as they should have in their 1st playoff game at home. We were even out-rebounded 49-41, but Favors, Millsap, and Hayward shot a combined 10 of 36 (28%), and the Jazz missed 12 of 26 FTs!

Game-4 is Monday night at 7 CDT again in Salt Lake City. No team in NBA history has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a 7-game series. If we lose game-4, it will have been a waste of effort. Let's get it over with!!

Here's your complete NBA playoffs update, if you're behind. All series are listed at the top for your convenience!

Video of a Tornado Forming in Arlington, TX Today

Source / Via

7-10 Split? No Problem..

Via

What if..

You ever think these guys in the NBA get tired of just running up & down the court every night doing the same thing over and over and over again? I was thinking this the other night during a Mavs/Lakers game (no wonder my mind was wandering). Then I said to myself, "they need to add a 3rd basket!"

Kinda like this:


Most rules are exactly the same, except, when your team secures a rebound, or it's your possession now after the other team just scored, you have the option to go play offense at either of the other two baskets. Obviously, once the ball crosses half-court, your team is locked into shooting at the goal on that side of the floor.

But think about all the variations. Think about how fast-breaks would take place! I'll let you think about it. It'd be kinda cool to watch.

No, I'm not trying to be another James Naismith, but you never know how much people kids would like something new.

It's About Time!

Via

3-Way Street

by ronconcocacola



"By summer 2010, the expansion of bike lanes in NYC exposed a clash of long-standing bad habits — such as pedestrians jaywalking, cyclists running red lights, and motorists plowing through crosswalks.

By focusing on one intersection as a case study, my video aims to show our interconnection and shared role in improving the safety and usability of our streets.

The video is part of a larger campaign I created called '3-Way Street'. Please see blog.ronconcocacola.com for more details.

Music: Peter Gunn / Theme by Art of Noise, available on iTunes."

Via

2 Out Of 3 Isn't Bad

Via - (NSFW)

3 Brudders

Patrick walks into a bar in Dublin, orders three pints of Guinness, and sits in the corner of the room drinking a sip out of each pint in turn.

When he had finished all three, he went back to the bar and ordered three more. The barman says, "You know a pint goes flat soon after I pull it - your pint would taste better if you bought one at a time.”

Patrick replies, "Well now, I have two brodders, one is in America 'n' de udder in Australia 'n' here I am in

Image Source

Dublin. When we all left home, we promised dat we'd drink dis way to remember de days we all drank togedder."

The barman admits that this is a nice custom, and says no more.

Patrick becomes a regular customer, and always drinks the same way - ordering three pints, and drinking a sip out of each in turn until they are finished.

One day he comes in and orders just two pints. All the other regulars in the bar notice and are stunned in silence.

When he goes back to the bar for the second round, the barman says, "I don't want to intrude on your grief but I wanted to offer my condolences on your great loss."

Patrick looks confused for a moment, then the penny drops. He starts to laugh and says, "Oh no, Bejesus, everyone is fine!

'Tis me - I've quit drinking!"

Thanks Ryan!

Raz Ben Ari: 10 Genres Of Metal In 3 Minutes

Very cool! As I've always said, though, it's when everyone starts trying to classify music into genres, or put labels on music, that the mistake is made in the first place. It is my personal opinion that there are several bands who own their own "genre".

[Music playing in background]
Dude: "Who is that.. is that progressive rock, or is it called progressive metal? Hard rock? Wait no, it's heavy metal."

Another dude: "Shut up already, it's Rush!

You get the idea.. anyway go check out the guy's website. He's pretty damn talented! There's also a track there he created called "One Man Guitar Quartet".

Razbenari's Youtube Page / Via, and everywhere else

To Continue In English, Press 1

Via