Manute Bol

This weekend has been crazy and I promise to make up for that. Here is a quick post about Manute Bol who passed away recently.

Manute Bol was a Sudanese basketball player who notably played for the Sixers and was a great humanitarian and activist.  Unfortunately his height not only was the key to his success but also lead to his early demise.

He was an extraordinary human being and exemplary African.  The story of his life and his goal to facilitate reconciliation through Sudan Sunrise are truly inspiring.

Here is an interview from him from 2002.

His name, Manute, was truly fitting, he was a special blessing! May he rest in peace.

Not The Day To Be Wearing Green With White Stripes!

The Celtics, unlike Nigeria, put up a valiant effort in Game 7 at the Lakers.  They led most of the game, by 13 at their most dominant, however things fell apart at the last hurdle, just as they did for Okonkwo's descendants dressed in similar garb this morning. My heart bleeds for this team as they worked hard and compensated for Perkin's absence.  Most of all they played as a team, working together to try get that title. Best shot of the match was Garnett's weird shot off a foul from Kobe even though it didn't count.

Congrats to Artest, whom I've been riding this whole time for his uneven play.  He really stepped up and was clutch, making up for Kobe's low scoring game.  Congrats to Paul Gasol for winning 2 championships back to back and getting to the finals all 3 years he has been at the Lakers. Congrats to Fisher who is always cool, calm, collected and ready to step up for the team and for winning 5 times.  Congrats to Odom who seemed to  be there to rebound at crucial moments to be able to swing momentum the Laker's way.  Congrats to to the team for pulling it together even though Kobe was not at his best.

Game 7 To Decide NBA Champions

Was thinking after Game 5 that if the Lakers want to win they need to play as a team, not as Kobe and the stragglers. Scoring 23 points in a row does not a championship get if the rest of the team are not helping out defensively and offensively too. However in Game 6 the stats showed a huge improvement but I don't know if it was enough because it seems the Boston Celtics did not show up today and played atrociously. I am not sure what to attribute their devastating win, 89-67, to.  Game 7 will show each teams mettle.  Can't wait!

It's Raining Sports!

Nadal has transitioned to grass seemlessly, winning his first match at Queen's Club decisively.  He is also the first player to qualify for the ATP World Tour Finals in London as well!

The Lakers won at Boston yesterday and now lead the series 2-1.  Game 4 is going to be awesome!!!

And these are the teams I will be following to see how they fare in the first round. Of course all African teams are included, plus ones I have attributed an African connection to over the years and teams to keep an eye on for sentimental and/ or potential threat reasons. This culminates in following almost half the teams in the draw ha ha ha! They are listed in order of preference in each category too ;}

Africa: Cote D'Ivoire, Ghana, Cameroun, Nigeria, Algeria, South Africa

Africa around the World: Brazil, France

Teams to Keep an Eye on: Spain, England, Argentina, Portugal, Germany

NBA Finals Series Is Shaping Up Well :)

The second game of the Lakers-Celtics Final has really set this up to be a great series! When asked the question, the Celtics came up with the answer this time.  Great game, and it went all the way down to the wire.  Luckily even though the Lakers came back and there were only a few points separating the teams at the end of the fourth, timeouts and intentional fouling did not break up the final moments too badly and we were spared watching such degradation for the most part.  Ray Allen breaking that 3-pointer record was impressive to watch. Can't believe he had such poise to streak while away.  So was Kobe's fake play to score 2 points that used an unnatural amount of hang time to execute. That's what champions do, come back from defeat stronger and that is why the Celtics deserve to be in the Final. Can't wait for the game on Tuesday with the Lakers at Boston for the first time. Will they do the same over there? :)

Kobe's thoughts on the loss were of course true to form - curt, to the point, aloof.  However, you can tell that he is keeping everything in perspective and is ready to whip his team into shape for the Game 3.

Here is a video of Allen's stellar 3-pointers:

The NBA Finals Have Begun :)

Great first game!  I knew I was missing something when watching the Western conference but couldn't quite put my finger on it.  When the Lakers and the Celtics got onto the court it was physical, it was electric and there was a lot of dunking and then it hit me - I missed the slam dunk! There was less bravado on the sidelines and more on the court where it belongs.  The game flowed, the timeouts didn't spoil the action, and the Lakers started off impressively. Controlled aggression, even with the history between the two sides. Good old fashioned basketball, just the way I like it! Can't wait to see how this series progresses :)

A Little Rain, Lots Of Fire

Serena started off well, then seemed to have a brain fart in the second set and then came back to fighting form to make it through to the fourth round and Nadal had to battle "Never Say Die" Hewitt, wind and a little rain to make it through in straight sets.  I think this match was a good one for Nadal, the elements, Hewitt included, seemed to awaken the sleeping bull.  Even though he conceded more games, he definitely improved on his previous performances, despite the conditions.

The Lakers are the Western Conference Champions, after coming close to being scorched by the Suns.  This game reminded me why football and tennis are top on my list and I can only watch basketball during the play-offs.  This was a particularly dirty game. The Lakers had the upper hand from the start scoring the first point and by the 3rd quarter had a 15 point lead.  And then the dirtiness came.  Playing on rivalries with the Slovenians caused a flagrant foul against the Lakers' Slovenian dude that was then the catalyst that turned the game into a lot of fumbling on the Lakers part and a lot of bravado on the Suns' part. The Suns' Slovenian went on a scoring frenzy (which eventually made him too big for his britches and he started going for really ridiculous shots) and Lopez, an awkwardly tall dude, was being all "in your face" from the bench every time more points were added to the Sun's tally, lessening their deficit.  Kobe did not appreciate this chain of events, as he expressed in his interview on-court post-game.  If you hear he has been arrested for murder, there is evidence to show it was premeditated.

Steven Nash however was all class, trying to rally his team and Frye was awesome with his 3-pointers throughout the game.   Kobe may be an awesome player but when he scored that ridiculous 3 while being double-teamed, smacked Gentry on the butt and then put out his hands and glided towards the Lakers huddle after the timeout was called was just so crass.  Really! Really! I don't find that sort of conduct sportmanly.  And it got worse, especially at the end when it really got down to poor Grant Hill having to do the whole "yes  I know I'm pulling on your arm but I have to foul you Kobe" dance,  Gentry calling a timeout  to gain ground, Steve Nash hauling to the other end to try score a 3 or Kobe going up to foul line.  Such play just chops up the game, although not as badly as in American football (and don't get me started on that).  That last minute was really stretched into what felt like forever - it was excruciatingly painful to watch, not nail-biting like in game 5. The whole" in your face" things is a huge part of strategy but I think it takes away from the talent and fun of the sport. And timeouts really just break up the flow of the game - let them hash it out!  Like when Stoudemire scrambled for the ball and ended up on the floor, Gentry called a time out to save him from a travelling call -that seems like messing with fate man. It just puts a bad taste in my mouth. But I'm sure all the Lakers' care about is they had enough water to put out the fire the Suns' tried to start towards the end.

I am curious to see what the next chapter of the Celtics and the Lakers rivalry holds.  I just hope there will be less of all the bravado and more of just playing the game.  To get ready for the first game on Thursday, keep up-to-date here.

Which reminds me, I didn't really appreciate Hewitt in the game today - throwing out expletives, throwing his racquet and basically throwing tantrums.  Nadal was having to deal with the same conditions - get it together, just play the game man, just play the game. To make it worse Hewitt didn't get a warning, but Nadal did for time violation. Not a happy puppy about that.

This is completely unrelated but it really bothered me that Nadal was wearing his watch today while playing.  He never does that.  What does it mean?  As an admirer of his little quirks on-court I was quite perturbed by the whole thing - silly I know :}.  He usually puts it on after the game just before he signs the camera when he wins. But he had it on, and he didn't sign the camera until he was almost off the court.  At least it didn't affect his play.

Sharapova and Henin finish up tomorrow, followed by Federer and Tsonga, all on Court Philip Chatrier! YAY!

Basketball - OMG!!!

Man the 5th game of the Western Series was nail-biting stuff...Lakers had a 15 point lead in the 3rd which was quickly whittled down until the last few moments of the game in the 4th, 101 a piece, 3 and some seconds to go, and a play that had Kobe miss and Artest redeem himself after missing twice a few moments before, which caused loss of possession and a chain of events that got them into this hair raising situation.  As the Sun coach said later these are the things that separate very good teams from champions.  Crazy stuff!! :)

I have been wondering about the Sun's game plan and whether it is too risky.  It seems that when executed correctly all that reliance on 3-point streaks and pushing for big 4 point plays can pay off, but is it enough? I guess we'll see what happens in Game 6 when the Lakers are away in Phoenix...

Tennis And Basketball

Nadal made a good start today.  6-2,6-2,6-2 but don't be fooled by the numbers, he had to work harder than I'm sure he expected to "breeze" through to the second round.  I was very impressed by his opponent, the young Frenchman Gianni Mina, who eerily reminded me very much of his fellow countryman Gael Monfils.  Same body structure, same dressing, although now Monfils has been dropped by Nike.  The sleeveless shirt reminded me of what John McEnroe dubbed Nadal's "pirate" days.  He needs to go back to wearing the malanga mpamvu, which literally translated means showing power.  This conventionality of dressing he has employed in recent years after he became World no 1 is not on, and I liked the checked shorts he was wearing in the tournaments leading up to the French.  I digress. I was talking about Gianni Mina.

I just hope that Mina does not follow in Monfils footsteps and becomes all flamboyance and flash and no substance with the gifts bestowed upon him.  I had such high hopes for Monfils, who along with Tsonga showed a lot of promise.  Tsonga managed to make it to the top ten, while Monfils continues to lounge at the brink of greatness.   His mental game is terrible.  He clearly has the fire power and plays to be a greater player.  Instead he chooses to showboat, with unbelievable gets, tumbles to the ground, and ridiculous splits on hard courts to reach balls. Or he does the complete opposite, cowering in a corner when he should pounce and being aggressive when he should be cautious.  I hope that Mina only uncannily resembles him superficially.

I have now been sucked into the Western Conference play-offs and watched the Lakers lose to the Suns which now ties up the series at 2 apiece.  Kobe Bryant was not very nice in the conference following, and rightly so - the commentators were asking stupid, repetitive questions and clearly he was angry at the loss.  And he said that the team needs to defend and it's not about offense so many times really why ask the same question in a different way?! However, he said something with regards to something I always wonder about - the validity and virility of stats.  I mean some of them are really interesting but what does what happened in years before got to do with anything?!  Especially with teams because its not only a different set of circumstances, its also a matter of different players altogether.  When someone talked about how in game 5, the Lakers have put the pressure on in the last few years, Kobe completely dismissed them and said what happened before doesn't matter, its the present that he has to worry about, or something to that effect. The Suns are a powerful team and they can beat the Lakers so that should not be taken lightly. Which reminded me of Nadal and how he seems to play as if every point is in itself is the most important thing, he is able to shrug off the past so easily and never gets carried away into the future either, nor does he seem to think or care about what he has done before. He's a very in the moment kind of guy...Hence the post: Tennis and Basketball :)