Black Mamba Strikes One Last Time

From Lower Merion High School to a 20-year career with the Los Angles Lakers. Kobe  Bryant finished his 20-year career last night against the Utah Jazz. Kobe Bryant gave fans what he had given them for the twenty years of his NBA career amazement. Kobe started off the game slow starting out 0 for 5. But, you can never hold down the black mamba down for too long. Kobe went on a hot streak and ended the first quarter with 15 points.

Kobe returned to the game with little over 6 minutes left in the second quarter. He continued to put shots up. Kobe ended the half with 22 points. Most people thought he would run out of energy but I knew he was just getting started. Kobe finished the 4th quarter scoring 23 points and ended up bringing the Lakers back  from a 15 point deficit to beat the Utah Jazz. 

The Lakers send Kobe out in his final NBA game with a win over the Utah Jazz 101-96. Kobe Bryant finished the game with an astounding 60 points. Kobe retires as a 5x NBA champion, 18x NBA All-Star, 11x 1st Team All-NBA, 9x 1st Team All-Defense, 2x Finals MVP, Season MVP, 2x regular season leader scoring, and 4x All-Star MVP. Kobe retires as the 3rd leading All-time NBA scorer with 33,643 points. Kobe set a record tonight  for taking the most shots and scoring the most points in their final game. With Kobe retiring he's taking part of basketball with him there will never be another Kobe Bryant.

Villanova Annihilates Oklahoma

Last night Villanova took on Oklahoma in a final four matchup game in Houston, Texas. The early part of the first half it was an intense game. Both teams were taking turns of leading the game early in the first half. But, as Josh Hart and the stifling Villanova defense continued to keep Buddy Hield contained the game started to get away from the Oklahoma Sooners. By halftime, the Villanova Wildcats were up 42-28.


However, Oklahoma started out strong cutting the lead to single digits early in the second half. But, Villanova quickly answered back by going on a run of their own to end Oklahoma chances of coming back once and  for all. Josh Hart, Kris  Jenkins, and Ryan Arcidiacono continued to knock down clutch threes which helped Villanova to finish the second half on 25-0 run. On top of that, Oklahoma turned the ball over 17 times. Villanova beat Oklahoma 95-51 to advance to the national championship.


Villanova shot 71 % from the field as well as shooting 61% from the three point line. Their defense was no slouch either they caused 12 steals. Josh Hart scored 23 points and had 8 rebounds. Kris Jenkins scored 18 points and had 8 rebounds. Ryan Arcidiacono scored 15 points. Daniel Ochefu scored 10 points and had 6 rebounds. Phil Booth scored 10 points. Buddy Hield was only able to score 9 points on 4 of 12 shooting. Isaiah Cousins got shut down as well shooting 3 for 14 to only have 8 points. Jordan Woodard was the only bright spot for Oklahoma he scored 12 points. Villanova will play North Carolina in the national championship game Monday night. Villanova's Coach Jay Wright won the NCAA Coach of the year award. Buddy Hield won the Naismith Trophy award.

Villanova- Oklahoma Final Four Game

 Earlier in the season, Villanova played Oklahoma in December in Hawaii for the Pearl Harbor Classic. Oklahoma rolled over Villanova beating them 78 to 55, even with Buddy Hield only having 18 points. However, both of these teams have changed since the last time they met in December. Buddy Hield has been playing extraordinary well. Villanova has learned to play as a complete team with the inside out play. Both teams at one point in the season were ranked #1.

This NCAA tournament Buddy Hield has been averaging 29.3 points per game. Hield has been playing like he possessed and no one can stop him. Oklahoma offense has been averaging 81 points per game throughout the tournament. However, Villanova defense in the NCAA tournament has only allowed 63 points a game against them throughout the tournament. So, basically, will see if the offensive juggernaut Buddy Hield can score against the stifling Jay Wright Villanova's defense.

The keys for Villanova to winning this final four matchup continue to shoot the three-point shot at 46%. The second key is to make someone else other then Buddy Hield beat you. The third key for Villanova to win continue to feed Daniel Ochefu in the post. The first key to Oklahoma winning this final four matchup is obvious get Buddy Hield the ball. The second key is somebody else has to score to complement Buddy Hield scoring whether it be Isaiah Cousins or Jordan Woodard. The third key is don't get down to the extent where you have to full court press a four guard run offense. Oklahoma can ask Miami how it worked out for them when then full court pressed Villanova in the elite 8 the score got worse for them before it got better.

Follow me on twitter @younghibachi20 to vote for who you think will advance to the national championship. 

All-Star Weekend Saturday Night

To say Saturday night All-Star weekend was amazing is an understatement. The NBA added the big men to the skills contest for the first time in NBA all-star history. Karl-Anthony Towns beat all the big men in the skills contest where he faced Boston Celtics guard Isiah Thomas. Karl- Anthony Towns beat Isiah Thomas in the finals. He showed out for the big men.

Next came the three point shootout contest. The three-point shootout consisted of James Harden, JJ Redick, Kyle Lowry, Devin Booker, Klay Thompson, Steph Curry, CJ McCollum, and Khris Middleton.  The three-point shootout had a three-way tie before the finals. So they had to do a three -point shootout between Devin Booker, James Harden, and JJ Redick. Devin Booker beat them out to advance to the finals to face the splash brothers. Klay Thompson won the three point shootout scoring 27 points. Steph Curry came in second with a score of 23. Devin Booker finished third with a score of 16 points.

This dunk contest was the most exciting contest in the last five years. From Zach Lavine catching alley-oops from the free throw line and doing just about every last one of his dunk attempts from the free throw line. To Aaron Gordon taking the ball from a mascot spinning around on a hover board, putting the opposite hand behind his head, and using the other arm to cock the ball back and dunking the ball while doing a 360. Next, Aaron Gordon followed the dunk off in the finals by jumping over the mascot, putting the ball under his legs, and dunking it without falling. Then he did a dunk by putting it over his head like he was going to tomahawk dunk it then changed his mind in mid air and brought the ball below his legs and still had enough time to dunk it. It's no way Aaron Gordon shouldn't have won the dunk contest. But, in the end, Zach Lavine won the dunk contest for the second year in a row.

David Blatt Fired By Cleveland Cavaliers

After just his second season David Blatt has been fired by the Cleveland Cavaliers. In his two seasons with the Cavs David Blatt finished with a regular season record of 83-40. Blatt's playoff record was 14-6. David Blatt also took the Cleveland Cavaliers to the NBA Finals in his first season where he lost to the Golden State Warriors 4-2 without his two other stars Kyrie Irving Kevin Love. The Cleveland Cavaliers have the best record in the East right now at 30-11.

So the firing of David Blatt was surprising to Cleveland players, especially LeBron James. Even though LeBron and a few other players had their differences with Blatt none of them told Cleveland management to fire David Blatt. Tyronn Lou will serve as the Cleveland Cavaliers head coach. LeBron and Tyronn Lou are good friends and could be a big reason why the Cavs front office decided to make him head coach. That is the only reason anybody could think of to fire a coach who has your team 30-11 this season. We will soon find out if the Cavs made the right choice to fire David Blatt.

Draymond Green Records 3rd Straight Triple-Double

Draymond Green has been playing superb as of late. Not only have the Warriors been having a historic season so has Draymond Green. Draymond recorded his third straight triple-double game last night against the Charlotte Hornets. Only four players in the last 20 seasons were able to have three straight triple-double games. Those players were Grant Hill, Jason Kidd, Russell Westbrook, and LeBron James.

Last night Draymond Green dominated another game putting up 13 points, 15 rebounds, and 10 assists. The NBA Finals championship last June gave Draymond a lot more confidence that is clearly being shown this year in his play. If he keeps this up he could be playing in the All-Star game this February in Toronto. After completing another triple-double performance last night, Draymond Green now has 8 triple doubles in his career which ties him with Wilt Chamberlain for fourth in the Warriors history. If he keeps this type of play up the Warriors could repeat as NBA Champions again this season.

Panthers Undefeated Season Quest Ends

Yesterday afternoon the Carolina Panthers tried to keep their undefeated season hopes alive. But, just like every other team the Panthers faced the Falcons were trying to give the Panthers their first loss of the season. The Falcons also snapped the Panthers 18 game win streak going back to last season. Cam Newton and the high-powered Carolina offense scored on their first opening drive. At that moment it looked like the Panthers would roll over the Falcons as they had did week 13 back in Charlotte, NC. But, that clearly wasn't the case.

With the first drive of the Falcons, the Panthers had a three and out defensive stop wrapped up. Unfortunately, Charles Tillman thought otherwise and got unsportsmanlike conduct by getting into a wrestling match with Falcons receiver Roddy White. Which later lead to a 4-yard touchdown run by Falcons running back Devonta Freeman. Later in the game, the Panthers had another chance to win the game by Josh Norman recovering a fumble from a bad snap that flew over Matt Ryan head. The Panthers offense could only get a field goal even with good field position off the fumble recovery which put the Panthers back up 10-7 in the third quarter.

Matt Ryan soon answered back by avoiding a sack and stepping up into the pockets and throwing the ball deep down field to Julio Jones who out jumped Luke Kuechly &Kurt Coleman that lead to a 70-yard touchdown untouched. The fourth quarter was just a plethora of field goals. Carolina offense had one more chance to tie the game and send the game to overtime. After a 19 yard completion to Panthers wide receiver Corey Brown, you would think the Panthers were moving in the right direction. But, the next play the rookie linebacker Vic Beasley out of Clemson strip sacked Cam Newton and Adrian Clayborn recovered it which lead to Atlanta winning the game 20-13. One good thing for the Carolina Panthers losing this helps takes pressure off them to go undefeated. Now they can just focus on winning a Super Bowl now.

Cam Newton finished the game going 17-30 for 142 yards passing yards. However he did get in the end zone running the ball finishing with 7 rushing attempts for 46 yards and a touchdown. Panthers running game was basically nonexistent with the exception of Cam Newton. Johnathan Stewart needs to be healthy before the playoffs or the Panthers will have some problems in the playoffs. Greg Olsen only had 4 receptions for 40 yards. Matt Ryan, however, went 23-30 for 306 yards and a touchdown for the Falcons. Julio had 9 receptions for 178 yards and a touchdown. Roddy White even had a good game having 5 receptions and 67 yards. Devonta Freeman had 73 rushing yards and a touchdown for the Falcons.