HoopWatch

It’s been a week since my last post. My PC was struck by the most annoying Trojan virus. There were a lot of them in my computer, and they have rendered me useless. I could not even open my files. Arrgghh… I had to reformat the whole thing carefully since I don’t want my whole hard drive erased. Retrieving files required a lot of patience, hard work, and ample technology.

Well, enough about computers and my misery with spyware. (To hell with the one who invented them). Antivirus are also useless against it. Anyway, I have been watching a lot of basketball, NBA, PBA (Philippines), PBL (Philippines, NBL (Australia), CNBL (China), Euroleague, NCAA, NCRAA (Philippines). Well, no other league could ever equal the brilliance of NBA players and games. (Duh! Isn’t that obvious?)

As I watched NBA games daily, an epiphany struck me. Well sort of an epiphany. These players sacrifice a lot of their time and body for us fans! Imagine, they play everyday; torn and tear are wearing their muscles and cartilages. But still they give out their best. It is really hard to be an athlete. I can’t help but cite four amazing players who just had a wonderful week.

First stop – “Half man, half amazing” Vince Carter.” His New Jersey Nets have been struggling. They may sit atop the Atlantic Division, but they only have a 7-9 standing in a division where all teams are below .500. Wow! But Carter has been responsible for the Nets ray of hope, as they have won their last two games over Boston and Philadelphia. He capped it with a scintillating 41 point performance on (around) 15-of-19 shooting. That is spectacular! I mean amazing!

Next on the list is – Kobe Bryant. Mr. 81 had his first 50-point performance of the season against the league-leading Utah Jazz. He tied a franchise record of scoring 30 points in the third quarter, which he himself set before. He had 10 threes in that game, and even went eight in a row in the third canto. Need I say more.

How about two-time MVP Steve Nash?! Well, he has led his Phoenix Suns to win eight out of the last nine games. When his Suns were endanger of loosing to the Milwaukee Bucks the other night, Nash stepped his game to higher notch. He fired eight straight points including two triples to prevent Milwaukee to blow the game wide open. He finished the night with 27 points and 11 assists. This is Nash’s first high-scoring season ever since he rejoined the Suns. The result was a six point win and the number two spot in the Pacific. This ain’t the same team that started the season at 1-5.

And the last but not the least, the most brilliant of them all – Michael Redd. Redd is on fire! In this Western trip where they went 3-2, Redd has averaged over 40 points a game. 40 points each night! I think that says it all. (pics courtesy of yahoonba.com)