Partner Podcast

Here is my partner podcast with a very special guest, Taylor Ignoto

Basketball Blog

Here is my quick basketball blog

Kevin Love Out

Kevin Love has been ruled out for the rest of the playoffs with a dislocated shoulder that he suffered in their game 4 win. The cav doctors are ruling him out for the next series and more than likely for the rest of the playoffs. Without Love, we will have to see how the cavs adjust to play a big opponent in the Bulls.

Coach of the Year

Mike Budenholzer is this years winner for coach of the year leading the Atlanta Hawks to the best record in the Eastern Conference with 60 wins. Bud got his team the number one seed in this years playoffs.

Defensive Player of the Year

Kahwaii Leanord is this years DPOY winner. Leonard is the defensive stopper for the Spurs and led the NBA in steals this year. Kahwaii is the only player to win DPOY and finals MVP while not being named a All Star.

Directions to a Great Gym

If there is anyone out there who is watching the play offs who wants to work on their game, where are directions to a great gym at washburn called Lee Areana

NBA Playoffs

The NBA playoffs are officially back and here are all the first your matchups

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Hawks vs Nets
Bulls vs Bucks
Cavs vs Celtics
Raptors vs Wizards

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Warriors vs Pelicans
Rockers vs Mavs
Clippers vs Spurs
Grizzlies vs Blazers

Final 4

This years final four saw one of the best in the past years.  Undefeated Kentucky faced off adjacent Wisconsin who took down the undefeated giants.  On the other side Duke and Michigan State went at it with Duke coming out the victor.  In the end it would be Duke who would stand the test of time and win the entire thing.

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WELCOME BACK CRAIG SAIGER

Fresh of his recent victory over cancer, NBA veteran sideline reported Craig Saiger is finally back with his NBA friends and family and gets to do what he loves.  He was forced to take all of last season off while he was being treated for cancer so I think I speak for everyone out there when I say, Welcome Back Craig.

A RIVALRY IN THE MAKING?

In the NBA basketball world it is no secret that the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Clippers don't like each other.  I mean the two have all the great makings of a great rivalry.  2 of the best point guards in the game today with Steph Curry and Chris Paul.  2 high octane offenses.  And no rivalry is truly a rivalry without some scuffles and we had just that in the recent matchup between these two teams.  After the game, which the Warriors won, a clipper player went out of his way to bump into a warrior player while he was in the middle of doing a post game interview.  Take a look

LINK: https://youtu.be/pf2UDWz2-BI

photo cred: youtube.com

PORTLAND SWINGMAN TEARS ACHILLES

The Portland Trailblazer's Wesley Matthews has suffered a torn achilles and is out for the rest of the season.  Much like Kobe's injury, Matthews was just taking a step to the basket which he has probably done million's of times but this time his achilles gave out on him.  This affects the trailblazers a lot going forward.  They just acquired Aaron Afflalo to help there bench play which is second to last in the league.  This injury means that now he is going to have to start for the blazers which puts there bench production back a lot.  Going through the season lets see how this affects them and see if they can pull out the number 3 seed in the wild wild west.

RAY ALLEN SITTING OUT

Ray Allen has decided to sit out the remainder of this season.   This is terrible news for me because Ray Allen is my favorite player of all time so this sucks to say the least.  A lot of reports where saying that he was just waiting till after all star break to make his decision but he shut all of those reports down.  I really hope this isn't the last we have seen of Jesus Shuttlesworth

HARDEN GETS SUSPENDED

In the recent matchup between two of the MVP favorites James Harden and LeBron James, there was a little bit of extra cirricular activity.  Hardens Rockets won the game agains LeBron and the Cavs but Harden will be suspended for the next game for kicking LeBron man in what we are going to call the "Man Area".  These two have been teammates on the Olympic team before so it's not like they don't like each other but something compelled Harden to do what he did.  Take a look for yourself

LINK:  https://youtu.be/GfYXkSAW1LM

Video Cred: youtube.com

CHRIS BOSH OUT FOR SEASON

Chris Bosh has been diagnosed with blood clots in his lungs and has been ruled out for the remainder of the season.  Bosh played in the All Star game and flew to the Bahamas for a vacation where he reportedly started to not feel well.  After further evaluation by the Miami Heat doctors they determined what would be the fatal season ending injury.  My prayers go out to him and his family

RICK CARLISLE VS RAJON RONDO

The Mavericks newly acquired starting point guard Rajon Rondo got into a public shouting match during a game with his head coach Rick Carlisle.  Carlisle was seen coming all the way onto the court and called a timeout which seemed to be because he was mad about something that Rondo had done. The two continued to yell at each other through the timeout.  After the game, which resulted in a Mavs lose, neither party spoke that much about the incident, only saying that they had moved on.  Rondo was suspended for the next game by his coach.

Link to argument:    https://youtu.be/6mO48ds7q0U

Video Cred: youtube.com

RUSSELL WESTBROOK IS A MONSTER!!!!

Russell Westbrook has been on a triple double tear this last week.  His running mate Kevin Durant has been out with a toe injury and while most of the time that might mean bad news, Thunder fans still have Russ and he has not let them down.  In the 9 games since the all star break, Westbrook has averaged a triple double averaging 34.3 points, 11.4 assists, and 10.2 rebounds.  And he is doing this all while Kevin Durant is recovering.  Pretty impressive

TRADES EVERYWHERE

Thursday was the trade deadline in the NBA and here are all the trades that happened

To MIL: Michael Carter-Williams, Tyler Ennis, Miles Plumlee
To PHI: LAL pick (protected)
To PHX: Brandon Knight, Kendall Marshall

To BOS: Isaiah Thomas
To PHX: Marcus Thornton, CLE pick

To DET: Reggie Jackson
To OKC: D.J. Augustin, Enes Kanter, Steve Novak, Kyle Singler
To UTA: Grant Jerrett, Kendrick Perkins, OKC pick (protected), 2nd round pick

To BOS: Luigi Datome, Jonas Jerebko
To DET: Tayshaun Prince

To HOU: Pablo Prigioni
To NYK: Alexey Shved, 2 2nd round picks

To HOU: K.J. McDaniels
To PHI: Isaiah Canaan, 2nd round pick

To MIA: Goran Dragic, Zoran Dragic
To NOP: Norris Cole, Justin Hamilton, Shawne Williams
To PHX: Danny Granger, John Salmons, 2 1st round picks

To DEN:
To PHI: JaVale McGee, OKC pick (protected)

To BKN: Thaddeus Young
To MIN: Kevin Garnett

To SAC: Andre Miller
To WAS: Ramon Sessions

To DEN: Will Barton, Victor Claver, Thomas Robinson, POR pick (protected), 2nd round pick
To POR: Arron Afflalo, Alonzo Gee

First Day Back in NBA

After a loooonnnnggg  3 days with no NBA games due to the All Star break, we finally got back to the good stuff.  Now if you are a NBA fanatic like me, then the long break was killing you but we with two great games on last night we weren't disappointed.  In the first game we got to see the NBA all star MVP Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant face off against the Dallas Mavericks.  The Thunder are currently in a tight race to try and secure the final playoff spot in the west and are on their way to doing that with a big win last night 104-89.  Durant who had has been battling a foot injury all season, finished with just 12 points, which ties his career low for points while playing 36 or more minutes.  Meanwhile Russell Westbrook picked up right where he left off with a 34 point outburst to go along with 10 dimes
In the second game of the double header the Clippers faced off against last years NBA champions Spurs.  In a game that saw a lot of fouls due to the spurs intentionally fouling DeAndre Jordan, who is a 45% free throw shooter, the Clippers outlasted the Spurs and won the game 119-115.  Chris Paul led the way for the Clippers with 22 points and 16 dimes.

Photo Cred: espn.com

All Star Weekend

This is always one of the most exciting weekends of the year if you are a basketball fan.  We got to see some of the best athletes in the world put on a show as we witnessed things like the slam dunk contest which was won by Zach Lavine, the three point, which to nobodys surprise was won by Stephon Curry, and of course the main event, the all star game its self.  The star that shined the brightest was Russell Westbrook who finished with 41 points which is one shy of tying the all time record for most point scored in a  all star game held by Wilt Chamberlain.


Photo cred: Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images

James Harden drops 40.....AGAIN!!!!!

James Harden has been on a absolute tearing the NBA apart this season and it was no different against the Suns last night.  Harden brought out every move he had in his tool belt on his way to his 40 point explosion.  Step backs, crossovers, spin moves, you name it he probably did it.  He mad defenders look stupid as he took the game over scoring 20 points in the 4th quarter to help the Houston Rockets win 127-118.  James has is one of the MVP front runners right now in the NBA and if he keeps playing like this he might be on his way to capturing it for the first time.

photo cred: bleacherreport

Kentucky With a Close Call

The University of Kentucky's mens basketball team is the number one ranked team in the nation and currently the last division 1 team in the women's or men's side that is undefeated.  Last night they had another close call against the LSU.  Kentucky was in control most of the game until one of Kentucky's star freshman Karl-Anthony Towns went up for a dunk and got called for a technical foul with 1:30 left in the game.  Towns did redeem himself however later in the game when he made a jump hook over a LSU defender with Kentucky down 1 which proved to be the ultimate go ahead bucket.  This hasn't been Kentucky's first close game as they have gone into 1 overtime games against Ole Miss and a double overtime game against Texas A&M.  The mens team is off to its second best start in school history.

Photo by: Jerell Martin

Intro

Hi my name is Kyle Wiggins and I am a senior here at Washburn.  I recently changed my major to mass media with an emphasis on advertising.  I play basketball ball here and have been playing for all 4 years that I have been here.  Basketball is a huge part of my life so my blog will be about everything basketball.  I really enjoy hanging out with friends watching tv and netflix and of course playing basketball.  I look forward to to reading everyones post and learning more about everyones interest.

Photo by CJ Online