nbaculture

Today is a 2-for-1, because I will feature two shoes in today’s post.  Exciting isn’t it?  Well, not really, but the reason I do this is because they are both Air Jordans, and I really don’t want to fill this list of greatest shoes with a bunch of Air Jordans, so out of the 14 Jordan shoes that came out (during his playing career, as a Chicago Bull), I will only post 3.  Presenting the first of 2 shoes, the Air Jordan XI:

I posted 2 pictures, because I wanted to show the iconic black and red, but my personal favorite is the white and black.  These shoes are arguably the most popular Air Jordans to date, and marked his comeback from baseball and his 4th NBA title.  Remember him sporting that number 45 jersey and knocking on the hardwood floor?  All in those remarkable shoes.  These shoes ran him and the bulls to a record setting 72-10 season, culminating in an emotional championship over the Supersonics on father’s day.  After its release, it was re-released 5 years later due to popularity, coming in all different colors and stuff.  Great shoe, some people would say the greatest Jordan shoe.

Next in our lineup of Jordan shoes is the Air Jordan XIII:

It was an instant classic when it came out, and sales were strong despite it being a stiff $150 buy.  It featured a sleek pop tart design, great colors, and a holographic Jordan by the ankle support.  It was also one of the highest performing Jordan shoe; light, durable, with great cushions for great comfort.  Jordan wore these in his last season as a Chicago Bull, though he was showing off the Jordan XIVs during the finals; but nobody really noticed because all they remember is that little tap to Bryon Russell for that poster shot dubbed “the last shot”, although he made a comeback as a Washington Wizard.

That’s it for the Jordans…  I’m DONE.

20-25 from the field, 5-8 from the free throw line, 11 boards, 3 steals, and 45 points.  That is the kind of night Shaquille O’neal had, as the Suns route a depleted Raptors squad.  Still a dominating performance on a mildly strange night, in which the second leading scorer for the Suns was Louis Amundson.  Shawn Marion, who was sent over in the Jermaine O’neal deal, had a good night agains this former squad putting up 27 points, grabbing 6 offensive boards (11 overall) and 3 steals.

Toronto would score 113 points, but lately you need to score a lot more than that to beat these Suns, on an offensive torrent since Alvin took over.  Their lowest scoring game since the All-Star break was 106 in a loss to the Lakers (without Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire), and a 108 point loss to the Boston Celtics.  Still in all their other games, they posted up 140, 142, 140, 112, and now 113, granted they were against the Clippers twice, the Thunder, the Bobcats, and the Raptors.

“I’m just so happy to be able to play basketball again, no matter what my role is…  I was lit up because the tradition of the Celtics—you think about the championships, you think about all the guys who have played here. The history speaks for itself.”  Stated Marbury, already wearing his Celtic greens.

“I’m human. I make mistakes…  I have learned from my mistakes. You’ve got to keep on pushing on.”– Sound familiar?  Yes, it seems to be Marbury’s catch phrase as of late.  We’ll see how until things star to fall apart.  I usually give people the benefit of the doubt, but I’ve already done that far too often with Marbury.  This time, I expect the Celtics to be moderately successful, while the whole Marbury thing doesn’t quite work out (if that’s even possible).  We’ll get a glimpse of things to come tonight, but don’t expect much, it’ll be much like a first date (and you know how accurate first dates are when used to predict future behavior).

After 8 straight losses, coach Michael Curry figures it’s time for some change and thus, AI will go to the bench while Rip will get the starting nod.  TAG.. you’re it!

Remember little penny?  Sure you do…  He was voiced by Chris Rock!

And now, I present to you, the Air Penny II by Nike:

Air Penny > Air Zoom (Lebron)…  I’ll take these bad boys over most the current shoes available.  The Orlando Magic were rolling, Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway was an All-Star, and Chris Rock voiced his counterpart.  Along with the Jordans, these were the shoes to have; it even outsold the Air Jordan XIIs.  More comfortable than most at the time, superbly stylish, and great performance to boot, the Penny’s remain a fan favorite today, and any bball shoe list or shoe collection would be pititful without these suckers in there.

In a fit of pure terror Yao Ming violently kicks Ben Wallace, shattering his leg like a fresh graham cracker.

Actually, it happened accidentally, and I’m sure Yao feels really bad about it.  So do the Cavs.  Ben Wallace, despite his size and recent decline, is the Cavs’ best interior defender, and is an energy guy.  He got kicked in the first half, and proceded to play on it for a good 5 game-minutes.

“I thought it was like a bruise or something and it would let up, but it didn’t,” Wallace said. “I saw the X-ray. I know what that little white line means. It was one of those freak accidents.”

For me, this is undeniably Reebok’s greatest basketball shoe ever (including the pump, which is pretty cool actually).  This is the reason I couldn’t have the GP I, because I had already bought a pair of shoes at the time and I chose the Reebok Question, Allen Iverson’s shoe.

This shoe was cool as hell, had a great design, and came in low top and mid top.   Much better (in my opinion) than Iverson’s Answer series, the Question is still Reebok’s best selling basketball shoe.

My favorite shoe that I never had, introducing the Nike GP I:

(Picture couresy of ajordanxi from the www.solecollector.com forum )  Ok, these were not the most popular, and the later remakes from GP II through the GP IV were god-awful, but man did I want these shoes.  They had a snap system featuring a locking lace cover that actually worked, great ankle support, and snug as a bug.  Though a little beefy, it was stylish and performed great.  This shoe doesn’t break many people’s top ten, but I had to put it in as the shoe that got away.

So Boston falls to one of the worst teams in the NBA (albeit moderately talented on paper) without their big man KG.  Mikki Moore made his debut, playing 13 and a half minutes tallying 4 points, 1 rebound, and 2 assists.  Zach Randolph had his way in the paint, scoring 30 points and bringing down 12 boards (6 offensive).

Injuries seem to be hurting the Celts, and here’s what the Doc had to say: “We were awful. We absolutely did not deserve to win that game…  I thought we played slow all night, we pouted all night, we just thought we could show up and win a game—and we didn’t. I just didn’t think we played with the type of spirit we played with on this entire trip… We looked at their record, and not at their personnel.”

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