Florida Gators won another NCAA Championship

With their victory against Ohio State in the Final (84-75), Florida became the first team in 15 years to win the second straight NCAA championship.

In the final game, Al Horford scored 18 points and had 12 rebounds, and Taurean Green scored 16 points. The next NBA sensation, the Ohio State's center Greg Oden, had a good game with 25 points and 12 rebounds, but couldn't stop the Florida Gators.

The Florida's athletic program is probably the best in the United States. In January, the University also won the Football NCAA Championship.

Jorge Garbajosa got injured

He was trying to block a dunk by Al Jefferson at the end of yesterday's game against the Celtics, when he falled on his left leg.This is one of the ugliest injuries that a Raptor has ever suffered, the people around him couldn't look to his leg. Finally, he was taken off the court on a stretcher.

He will not return this season, and his participation in the European Basketball Championship in Madrid is not sure.

Shaq reaches 25000 points

Yesterday, Shaquille O'Neal reached the 25000 points in the game against New York. He's the top scorer among active players and 14th in the NBA History. He became the seventh player in the history to score 25000 points and catch 10000 rebounds.

The latest player to reach the 25000 points mark was Reggie Miller in 2005. The others player that have 25000 points and 10000 rebounds are Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Wilt Chamberlain, Moses Malone, Elvin Hayes and Hakeem Olajuwon.

The trade deadline passed

In the NBA the trade deadline passed two days ago with just one trade, and it was quite disappointing. Fred Jones went to Portland and Juan Dixon went to Toronto. That's all.

In the past weeks there were a lot of rumors about Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, Pau Gasol, Mike Bibby and Corey Maggette changing, but finally nothing happened. It looks like the teams were a little frightened and preferred to wait to the Draft in Juny and see what happens.

All-Star Weekend 2007: Photo Gallery

All-Star Weekend 2007: Best moment?

I can't decide. What of these videos was the best moment of the All-Star Weekend?

All-Star Weekend 2007: All-Star Game Video Recap

All-Star Weekend 2007: West won the All-Star Game

The West, leaded by Kobe Bryant, Amaré Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony defeated LeBron James and the East 153-132. The West set a new record, 52 assists in an All-Star Game.

Kobe Bryant was the MVP, he scored 31 points and had 6 assists. Amaré Stoudemire added 29 points and 9 rebounds and Carmelo Anthony 20 points with 9 rebounds. In the East LeBron James scored 28 points with 6 rebounds and 6 assists. Dwight Howard added 20 points with 12 rebounds.

All-Star Weekend 2007: Sprite Slam Dunk Contest Video

Here's the video of the Slam Dunk Contest. Didn't reserve Dwight Howard to be in the final?

All-Star Weekend 2007: Green and Kapono won the contests

Gerald Green, the Celtic's forward, won the Slam Dunk Contest with a final dunk jumping over a table and performing a windmill. He started the contest with a two-handed dunk after an alley-oop pass off the side of the backboard by Paul Pierce. Then, he jumped over the finalist, Nate Robinson, shielding his eyes with his elbow, like Dee Brown did in 1991.

In the final there was Nate Robinson, but he couldn't compete with Green, because he needed 9 attempts to perform a one-handed spin move. The most original dunk of the night was done by Dwight Howard. He catched a high bounce pass from Jameer Nelson, and then he reached nearly the top of the backboard to slap a sticker. According the Nelson, it was high 12 feet and 6 inches.

In the Three-Point Shootout, Jason Kapono defeated Gilbert Arenas and Dirk Nowitzki in an incredible final round, where he scored 24 out of 30 points. In the final round Nowitzki scored only 9 points, and Arenas 17.

The winner of the Shooting Stars competition was Detroit's team of Chauncey Billups, Bill Laimbeer and Swin Cash. They won because Chicago was disquafilied for shooting out of order. They though that a shot was in, but it wasn't.

Finally, Dwyane Wade defended his crown in the Skills Challenge with an amazing final run in only 26.4 second. He defeated Kobe Bryant in the final.

All-Star Weekend 2007: The Sophomores won the Rookie Challenge

As expected, the Sophomore team defeated the Rookie team (155-114) in the Rookie Challenge. The MVP of the game was David Lee, with 30 points and 11 rebounds, followed by Monta Ellis with 28 points and Chris Paul (16 points, 17 assists, 9 steals). In the Rookie team the top-scorers were Rudy Gay and Paul Millsap (both with 22 points), followed by Adam Morrison with 16 points. The Spanish Jorge Garbajosa finished the game with 6 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists. The Sophomores set a new record, this is the highest score in the history.

Kevin Durant makes history in the Big 12

The college player Kevin Durant became yesterday the first player in the history of the Big 12 division of the NCAA to score at least 30 points and grab 20 rebounds. He finished a game against Texas Tech with exactly 37 points and 23 rebounds. He even impressed Bob Knight, Texas Tech head coach.

"He's really good," he said. "The guy is 6-9, he is mobile, he's quick, he's fast. I mean what more does he have to do. There's no secret thing that he drinks before the game."

Actually it seems like Durant just wants to have some fun in the NCAA before he turns 19 years old and jumps to the NBA next season. He should be the #1 pick in any Draft, but not the next year, where he'll have to compete with the beast, Greg Oden.

All-Star Weekend 2007: Rookie Challenge

The first important event of the NBA All-Star Weekend 2007 in Las Vegas will be the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge, in february 16th. In this challenge the rookies (players that are playing in the league for their first time) will face the sophomores (players that are playing is second year in the league) in a 40-minute game.

The rookie team is composed by Andrea Bargnani and Jorge Garbajosa (Toronto Raptors), Jordan Farmar (Los Angeles Lakers), Randy Foye (Minnesota Timberwolves), Rudy Gay (Memphis Grizzlies), Paul Millsap (Utah Jazz), Adam Morrison (Charlotte Bobcats), Brandon Roy (Portland Trail Blazers) and Marcus Williams (New Jersey Nets).

The sophomore team features Andrew Bogut (Milwaukee Bucks), Andrew Bynum (Los Angeles Lakers), Monta Ellis (Golden State Warriors), Raymond Felton (Charlotte Bobcats), Danny Granger (Indiana Pacers), Luther Head (Houston Rockets), David Lee (New York Knicks), Chris Paul (New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets) and Deron Williams (Utah Jazz).

The players to follow in this game are Bargnani, Garbajosa, Roy, Gay and Morrison in the rookie team and Bogut, Bynum, Ellis, Paul and Williams in the sophomore team. Last year's contest was won by the sophomores led by the MVP of the game, Andre Iguodala (in the photo).

Wilt Chamberlain (1936-1999)

Wilt Chamberlain is one of my all-time favourite basketball players. He was born in 1936 in Philadelphia, and he started playin basketball in the Overbrook High School. There he did some amazing things, for example he xcored 90 points in a single game and 60 points in only two minutes, calling the attention of all the country. He finished his High School years averaging 38.2 points per game (47.2 in his last year).

Then he went to the University of Kansas for two years, where he won a National Championship and was chosen twice for the All-American team. After his brilliant years in High School and NCAA, he decided to jump to the NBA.

Chamberlain was chosen in the 1959 NBA Draft by the Philadelphia Warriors. In his rookie year he averaged 37.6 ppg and 27 rpg, being named MVP and Rookie of the Year. Before leaving the team, Chamberlain set an amazing record. He scored 100 points in a single game. After four years, the Warriors moved to San Francisco, and Chamberlain decided to leave the franchise.

In 1964 he joined the Philadelphia 76ers, returning to his hometown. In the same year, the 76ers won the NBA title, defeating Chamberlain's former team, San Francisco Warriors. That season, Chamberlain was named MVP (third time in his career). In these years Chamberlain changed his style, becoming a pass-first player and led the NBA in assits in 1967-1968 (8.6 apg), being named again MVP. He asked to being traded and went to Los Angeles Lakers in the next year, where he finishes his career.

My first post

Hi, this my blog and I'll write about my favourite sport: basketball. I'll write about european and american leagues, historic players and some young players that will become famous in the future. I hope I will often update this blog.