NBA 2012 All-Star Game

As the 2012 All-Star Game ends and the regular season in the National Basketball Association continues, NBA fans and internet betting fans are getting more and more excited to know which team is going to be named champion for this year.

The NBA All-Star day had several exciting events such as the BBVA Rising Stars Challenge, the Sprite Slam Dunk Competition, Foot Locker Three-Point Contest, Taco Bell Skills Challenge and also the Haier Shooting Stars Contest. The game between the Western Conference All-Stars between the Eastern Conference All-Stars ended along with the Western Conference All-Stars group winning, 152-149.

Kevin Durant, playing small forward for the Oklahoma City Thunders was given the prestigious NBA All-Star MVP award, beating big names like Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard and LeBron James, among others. He won and finished the match with 36 points. The BBVA Rising Stars Game ended with Team Chuck winning, led by Kyrie Irving, who scored 34 points on 8/8 three-point shooting and who also received the MVP award in the Rising Stars Challenge. For the Sprite Slam Dunk Game, fans were wowed by Arkansan Jeremy Evans who plays small forward for the Utah Jazz. The winner with the Slam Dunk Contest was decided by Twitter vote and text. Over 3 million votes were cast and the winner of the competition was Evans, with over 29% of the vote. Kevin Love for the Minnesota Timberwolves won the Foot Locker Three-Point Contest wherein, Kevin Love and Kevin Durant had a finals tiebreaker which then ended with Love taking home the prize with a final score of 17-14. Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs succeeded the Taco Bell Skills Challenge, which showed an obstacle course including things like dribbling, passing and shooting. In the end, Tony Parker took home the trophy by topping Rajon Rondo's time in a playoff. Meanwhile Stanford Cardinal alum, Landry Fields, took home first place included in Team New York at the annual Haier Shooting Stars competition, with teammates Cappie Pondexter together with Allan Houston. All To sum it up, it has been a very exciting weekend for NBA supporters.

But all good things must come to an end, even this NBA All-Star Game; and for all of those other athletes and the world of sports betting, they're now back in the real game. Everyone is going to follow the remaining season to wait for the overall 2012 NBA winner. Some say that with the attention Jeremy Lin with the New York Knicks gets, the team itself is gathering support, which is a plus factor for it enhances the overall team determination to make it to the finals. But we'll just need to wait and see. To excite the world of sports and online sports bettors, Bet365 sports betting, one of the leading sportsbooks using the web, like the NBA, is also continuously giving their fans the best promos and exciting specials to add spice to their NBA nights. Bet365 is promoting its Refer a Friend promo, wherein the customers may take advantage of the rewards just by spreading the news about bet365 to close friends, relatives or other people who are into sports betting.

All they need to do is fill the referral form. The user will be handed a $50 bonus to bet on sports for every friend he or she referred. What's more exciting is that bet365 will offer the referred friend $50 which can be used on the sportsbook; the more friends they refer,the more cash they'll receive. But not only will they get even more bonuses by referring friends, they also have the opportunity to enjoy watching the remaining parts of the NBA season while enjoying the rewards with them. With the intense NBA months and exciting Bet365 promos, this pair will surely make every game time worth watching.

A Super Star Jeremy Shu-How Lin Is Born

Jeremy Shu-How Lin, attended Harvard University economic professional and native zhejiang pinghu, his parents were Taiwanese earlier on immigration to the United States, LinShuHao born in California, height 191 cm, 90 kg, Harvard University basketball team captain of the team, the secretary point guard, has "the Chinese Nash," said. 2010 season back on LinShuHao NCAA really made. Beijing time on August 18, 2010, the NBA for 2010 th rookie official filming as official propaganda, and interpreting of the NBA.

The New York Knicks claimed Lin off waivers on December 27 to be a backup behind Toney Douglas and Mike Bibby after an injury to guard Iman Shumpert; recently-signed guard Baron Davis was also injured and weeks away from playing.Lin becomes a restricted free agent at the end of the season. Lin said he was "competing for a backup spot, and people see me as the 12th to 15th guy on the roster. It's a numbers game." The Knicks' third-string point guard, he made his season debut on the road against the Warriors, where he was warmly cheered in his return to Oracle Arena.On January 17, 2012, Lin was assigned to the Erie BayHawks of the D-League.On January 20, he had a triple-double with 28 points, 11 rebounds, and 12 assists in the BayHawks' 122–113 victory over the Maine Red Claws. Lin was recalled by the Knicks three days later.

On January 28, Davis suffered a setback that postponed his Knicks debut.
 Then New York considered releasing Lin before his contract became guaranteed on February 10 so they could sign a new player. However, after the Knicks squandered a fourth quarter lead in a February 3 loss to the Boston Celtics, coach Mike D'Antoni decided to give Lin a chance to play. "He got lucky because we were playing so bad," said D'Antoni.
Lin had played only 55 minutes through the Knicks' first 23 games.

"Players playing that well don't usually come out of nowhere. It seems like they come out of nowhere, but if you can go back and take a look, his skill level was probably there from the beginning. It probably just went unnoticed."
—Kobe Bryant, after Lin scored 38 points on February 10, 2012.

On February 4, 2012, Lin had 25 points, five rebounds, and seven assists—all career-highs—in a 99–92 Knicks victory over the New Jersey Nets. Teammate Carmelo Anthony suggested to coach Mike D'Antoni at halftime that Lin should play more in the second half. After the game, D'Antoni said Lin has a point-guard mentality and "a rhyme and a reason for what he is doing out there.'' In the subsequent game against the Utah Jazz, Lin made his first career start. He had 28 points and eight assists. In a game against the Washington Wizards, Lin had 23 points and 10 assists. It was his first double-double.On February 10, Lin scored a new career-high 38 points and had seven assists, leading the Knicks in their 92–85 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. He outscored the Lakers' Kobe Bryant, who had 34 points. On February 11, Lin scored 20 points and had 8 assists in a narrow 100–98 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.Lin scored 89, 109, and 136 points in his first three, four, and five career starts, respectively, all three of which are the most by any player since the merger between the American Basketball Association (ABA) and the NBA in 1976–77.He is the first NBA player to score at least 20 points and seven assists in each of his first four starts.Lin was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week after averaging 27.3 points, 8.3 assists and 2.0 steals in those four starts with the Knicks going undefeated.On February 14, Lin scored a game-winning three-pointer against the Toronto Raptors with less than a second remaining in a game. In the following game against the Sacramento Kings, Lin recorded a career-high 13 assists and led the Knicks back to .500.
External images
    Lin on February 20, 2012 cover of Sports Illustrated

The Associated Press called Lin "the most surprising story in the NBA".
Bloomberg News wrote that Lin "has already become the most famous [Asian American NBA player]". Knicks fans developed nicknames for him along with a new lexicon inspired by his name, Lin.Time.com ran an article titled, "It's Official: Linsanity Is for Real". Hall of Fame player Magic Johnson said, "The excitement [Lin] has caused in [Madison Square] Garden, man, I hadn't seen that in a long time."He appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the headline "Against All Odds", which The New York Times called, "the greatest tribute". Lin's story was also on the front-page of many Taipei newspapers.On February 16, Lin was invited to participate in the 2012 NBA All-Star Game weekend in the Rising Stars Challenge, Shooting Stars competition and in the Slam Dunk Contest as the passer for the Knicks' Shumpert.

The Knicks scrambled to start selling replicas of Lin's No. 17 jerseys and t-shirts, and the sales and traffic for their online store increased more than 3,000%Lin credited his success to playing without pressure. "I've surrendered that to God. I'm not in a battle with what everybody else thinks anymore," said Lin.

Ridnour Quietly Off To Impressive Start For Wolves

The crowd is roaring at Target Center this season for the first time in recent memory.
A new generation of Timberwolves fan serenades Ricky Rubio with chants of “Ole! Ole! Ole! Ole!” every time he threads a lob pass to a teammate at the rim. Kevin Love hears “MVP! MVP!” whenever he steps to the free throw line.
Luke Ridnour’s work, meanwhile, goes largely unnoticed in the shadows. Creating a turnover here while helping in the post, knocking down a jump shot there as the shot clock winds down.

And that’s just the way Ridnour likes it.
“The best thing about me is I don’t read anything or know anything that’s going on,” Ridnour said after scoring 25 points and dishing nine assists in a victory over Sacramento on Monday. “So I just come out and play.”
Ridnour prefers to be out of the spotlight, and he is quietly putting together the best start of his career to give the Timberwolves the steady, veteran presence they’ve sorely lacked.
Ridnour is averaging career highs in scoring (12.9 points per game) and shooting percentage (52 percent) through the first 13 games. He switched from point guard to shooting guard to make room for Rubio in the starting lineup, and he hasn’t missed a beat.
The ninth-year pro appeared to have an uncertain future in Minnesota after the Wolves signed veteran J.J. Barea away from the Mavericks in the offseason. With Rubio coming over from Spain, there figured to be precious little playing time for Ridnour.
But Barea has been hampered by hamstring and ankle injuries, and all Ridnour has done is make himself indispensable with his ability to knock down open shots and play gritty defense against much bigger guards.
“I knew all along I was going to play two point guards together,” said Wolves coach Rick Adelman, who used a similar strategy at previous stops in Houston, Sacramento and Portland. “In my mind, it made a lot of sense and I don’t think Luke’s ever bought into that.”
Ridnour’s sharp play at the beginning of this hectic, lockout-shortened season is all the more impressive considering he didn’t have much time to devote to basketball in the offseason. Luke’s wife gave birth to twin boys in May, and one of them, Kyson, has struggled with health problems that kept him in the hospital for four straight months.
Intensely private, Ridnour has been reluctant to talk about the situation, but he nearly broke down on the team’s media day before the season began when he talked of the strength that his wife and son have shown.
“Just to see what we’ve been through, my wife and how strong she’s been, it’s been more about family than anything this offseason,” Ridnour said then. “Actually this break, this long offseason has been much needed for my family.”
There have been ups and downs for Ridnour’s little guy since he left the hospital in September, but you’d never know it with how his dad has been playing this season.
Against the Kings, Ridnour scored 10 points in the first quarter while the rest of the Timberwolves struggled to find their shots. He even blocked a shot and harassed the much bigger Marcus Thornton into 4-for-12 shooting and just 12 points on the other end.
“Luke’s tough,” Adelman said. “He’s going to take the challenge up and guard people bigger than him. And that’s the whole key. If he can guard people bigger than him, they have a hard time guarding him.”
Playing with another point guard in the same backcourt is nothing new to Ridnour. He did it withBrandon Jennings in Milwaukee, helping the Bucks make the playoffs two years ago. He signed a four-year, $16 million deal to come to Minnesota last year, and suffered perhaps as much as any player on the roster during a 17-win season.
“It was tough, really tough, especially when you come from making the playoffs to that,” Ridnour said. “But it’s a new era and it’s a new everything here. I think the way it’s going is definitely the right direction.”
Rubio credits Ridnour with helping him make the transition from Spain to the NBA, and the chemistry has been quick to form between two distinctly different personalities.
“He’s a kind of point guard that doesn’t get crazy,” Rubio said. “He’s smart. He’s doing things in the right way. So he helps me a lot.”
And while there have been many ooohs and ahhhs at Rubio’s handiwork with the basketball this season, Ridnour hasn’t exactly been the vanilla alter ego. He’ll sprinkle in a behind-the-back bounce pass here and there and picked up a nifty assist against the Kings when he bounced a pass to Love off the backboard in traffic for a layup.
“I think he likes it,” Adelman said of Ridnour playing with Rubio. “He did it in Milwaukee with Jennings. I’ve found when you have a point guard like that and you slide him there … all of a sudden they’re faster than the other guards, and they’re hard to guard.”
On most game nights, Ridnour is showered, dressed and out of the locker room before the media even gets in to talk to the players. He’s perfectly content with Love and Rubio getting all the attention.
His wife and boys are waiting for him, and that’s all the attention he needs.

The Memphis Tigers Men's Basketball Team

The Memphis Tigers men's basketball team has been around for 90 years and they have been a very successful team over the course of the history of the University by many accounts. The team has managed a great winning percentage and has had quite a bit of success within their conference and in tournament play.
The Tigers' basketball team has managed to win 1406 games through the history of the school. They meanwhile have lost just 820 games. Add in one tie and the winning percentage of the team sits at a solid .632. That percentage is pretty impressive and the team has had a lot to be excited about over the years.
The team began having a fair amount of success in 1955. This marked the first time in the history of the university that the Tigers had made the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA Tournament is the biggest stage in college basketball and is a great accomplishment. The team has gone on to make the NCAA Tournament 21 times in the history of the school. This includes two different seasons that were later vacated by the NCAA. These seasons were vacated because of procedures that took place in the school that were contrary to rules in the NCAA.
The team has also had quite a bit of success in their conference play. The team managed to win the MVC two times in the 1970s. The team later went on to play in the Metro in the 1980s. While playing in the Metro they managed to win 3 more conference titles. The team went on to play in the GMWC and won another conference championship in 1995.
The team really managed to find the most success in Conference USA. The team won the championship in that conference in 1996, but took a while before they were really able to win again. The team then turned around dramatically in 2004. The team won 5 conference championships between 2004 and 2009. This was a result of what we know as the John Calipari era.
John Calipari was quickly a successful coach at Memphis. He managed to win the NIT in 2002 and then went on to become a perennial player in the NCAA Tournament. Calipari was well known for his ability to recruit top prospects to Memphis. This was a huge feat as Memphis did not have nearly the same pull as many other schools out there.

The West Virginia Mountaineers Men's Basketball Team

The West Virginia Mountaineers men's basketball team has some great stories and traditions that have highlighted their past. They currently are a division one basketball team. They play in a conference called the Big East Conference. The team is currently coached by Bob Huggins. Huggins has been leading the gold and blue team for three years up to this point.
In the past few years the team has showed that they are one of the top teams in all of the NCAA. Although many people have noted that they have become one of the top teams recently, they did have a winning tradition in years past as well.
The first bit of major success that the team ever saw came in 1942. Most people that follow college basketball see the NCAA Tournament as the biggest tournament available to participate in throughout all of college basketball. Although that is the case today, it was not always the case. In the early years of college basketball the biggest tournament to play in was the NIT. The NIT is more of a tournament filled with teams that did not make the NCAA Tournament today, but in 1942 only the top teams in the nations would be invited to take part in that tournament. The played well through that prestigious tournament and made their way all the way to the finals of the tournament before they fell.
Although that was the first bit of success that they team had on a large scale, that trip to the NIT Final is often overlooked. The team eventually became much more famous through players such as Jerry West and Rod Hundley.
Rod Hundley went to the school and really started to turn things around. He was the star player that helped the team jump up into the top 25 of the NCAA rankings on a yearly basis while he was there. He was eventually a good enough player to take his skills to the NBA. After he left he was remembered for his legacy that he had established in West Virginia.
The team was of course sad to see the departure of Hundley, but they got something even better. One of the most famous basketball players of all time joined the squad to take over the reins. Jerry West became the new star guard to lead the squad. Although he was a guard he was a presence in the inside and outside of the court during his time at West Virginia. It was not uncommon for West to get more than 10 rebounds even as a point guard.
While West was on the team they tallied amazing records such as their 26-2 record that was achieved in his rookie season. He went on to lead the team to a number one ranking during his career at West Virginia. Eventually he led the team the furthest into the NCAA Tournament that they had ever been. They went all the way to the final of the tournament before taking on California. The finals game was a good one, but eventually the California team was able to beat the West Virginia squad by one point.