Saitama (city)
Saitama is the capital and the most populous city of Saitama Prefecture, Japan. Its area incorporates the former cities of Urawa, Ōmiya and Iwatsuki, it is a city designated by government ordinance. Being in the Greater Tokyo Area and lying 15 to 30 kilometres north of central Tokyo, many of its residents commute into Tokyo; as of 1 February 2016, the city had an estimated population of 1,226,656, a population density of 5830 persons per km². Its total area is 217.43 square kilometres. The city was founded on May 1, 2001, was designated on April 1, 2003 as a government ordinance. For the histories of Urawa, Ōmiya and Yono before the merger, see: Urawa-ku, Saitama Ōmiya-ku, Saitama and Yono, respectively. On April 1, 2005, Saitama absorbed the city of Iwatsuki to its east, which became a new ward, Iwatsuki-ku; the name "Saitama" comes from the Sakitama District of what is now the city of Gyōda in the northern part of what is now known as Saitama Prefecture. "Sakitama" has an ancient history and is mentioned in the famous 8th century poetry anthology Man'yōshū.
The pronunciation has changed from Sakitama to Saitama over the years. With the merger of Urawa, Ōmiya, Yono it was decided that a new name, one fitting for this newly created prefectural capital, was needed; the prefectural name "Saitama" was changed from kanji into hiragana, thus Saitama City was born. It is the only prefectural capital in Japan whose name is always written in hiragana, belongs to the list of hiragana cities. However, Saitama written in hiragana finished in second place in public polling to Saitama written in kanji. Despite this, government officials decided to name the new city Saitama in hiragana, not kanji. In third place in the poll was Ōmiya. In fourth was Saitama, written with an alternative kanji for "sai" which means "colorful"; the "sai" used in the prefectural name is a rare form of a common character that means'cape' or'promontory'. The city is located 20 to 30 km north of central Tokyo at the center of the Kantō Plain. Situated in the center of Saitama Prefecture, the city is topographically comprised by lowlands and plateaus, at less than 20 m above sea level, with no mountain ranges or hills within the city boundaries.
The western portion of the city lies on the lowland created by the Arakawa River along with those created by small rivers such as the Moto-Arakawa River, Shiba River, Ayase River. The rest of the area resides on the Ōmiya Plateau lying in the north-south direction. Dispersed in this region, major rivers flow southward paralleling to one another. Saitama Prefecture Ageo Hasuda Shiraoka Asaka Kawaguchi Toda Warabi Koshigaya Kasukabe Kawagoe Shiki Fujimi Saitama has ten wards, which were assigned official colours as of April 2005: Saitama's economy is principally constituted by commercial business; the city is one of many commercial centers of the Greater Tokyo area and serves Saitama Prefecture, North Kanto, northeast Honshu. Saitama is home to various manufacturers, exporting automotive, optical and pharmaceutical products. Calsonic Kansei, a global automotive company is headquartered in the city. Iwatsuki is famous for manufacturing of ornate kabuto. Representative station is Urawa Station. Saitama is a regional transportation hub for both passengers and freight train lines.
Ōmiya Station, part of the Shinkansen high-speed train network, serves as the biggest railway hub in the prefecture. The closest major airports are Haneda Airport and Narita International Airport, both about two hours away. Honda Airport in Okegawa offers no scheduled transport services. Commuter helicopter flights to Narita Airport are offered from Kawajima. ■ East Japan Railway Company ■ Tōhoku, Yamagata, Jōetsu and Hokuriku Shinkansen Ōmiya ■ Utsunomiya Line Urawa - Saitama-Shintoshin - Ōmiya - Toro - Higashi-Ōmiya ■ Takasaki Line Urawa - Saitama-Shintoshin - Ōmiya - Miyahara ■ Keihin-Tōhoku Line Minami-Urawa - Urawa - Kita-Urawa - Yono - Saitama-Shintoshin - Ōmiya ■ Saikyō Line Musashi-Urawa - Naka-Urawa - Minami-Yono - Yonohommachi - Kita-Yono - Ōmiya ■ Musashino Line Nishi-Urawa - Musashi-Urawa - Minami-Urawa - Higashi-Urawa ■ Kawagoe Line Ōmiya - Nisshin - Nishi-Ōmiya - Sashiōgi■ Saitama Rapid Railway Line Urawa Misono■ Tobu Urban Park Line Ōmiya - Kita-Ōmiya - Ōmiya-kōen - Ōwada - Nanasato - Iwatsuki - Higashi-Iwatsuki■ Saitama New Urban Transit Ōmiya - Tetsudō-Hakubutsukan - Kamonomiya - Higashi-Miyahara - Konba - Yoshinohara Tohoku Expressway Tokyo Gaikan Expressway Shuto Expressway National Route 16 National Route 17 National Route 122 National Route 293 National Route 463 The executive mayor, directly elected, is Sōichi Aikawa, an independent backed by the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito.
On May 24, 2009, Aikawa lost his bid for reelection against Hayato Shimizu, backed by the opposition DPJ. The city assembly of Saitama has 64 elected members. Saitama mayoral election, 2005 Mejiro University Nihon University Faculty of Law The Open University of Japan Omiya Study Center Saitama University Shibaura Institute of Technology University of Human Arts and Sciences Urawa University Nippon Institute of Technology Kokusai Gakuin Saitama Junior College Urawa University Junior College Omiya Law School Saitama was one of the host cities for the playoffs and the final of the official 2006 Basketball World Championship, it is home
Darren Collison
Darren Michael Collison is an American professional basketball player for the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association. He earned NBA All-Rookie Team honors in his first season in the NBA with the New Orleans Hornets. Collison played four seasons of college basketball for the UCLA Bruins, he earned All-Pac-10 conference honors three times, won the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award his senior year as the top college player standing 6 feet or under. He was drafted by the Hornets in the first round with the 21st overall pick of the 2009 NBA draft. Collison played for the Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Clippers and Sacramento Kings. Collison was born in Rancho Cucamonga, California to parents Dennis and June, who were both elite track and field athletes for Guyana; as a senior at Etiwanda High School under coach Dave Kleckner, Collison was named a fourth-team Parade All-American. Considered a four-star recruit by Rivals.com, Collison was listed as the No. 16 point guard and the No. 100 player in the nation in 2005.
He was a backup to Jordan Farmar in the Bruins' 2005–06 season, becoming the starting point guard the following season. He was awarded the MVP of the Maui Invitational Tournament in December 2006 and was named the Pacific-10 Conference Player of the Week on December 4, 2006, again on February 18, 2007. During the 2006–07 season, Collison averaged 2.2 steals per game—the most in the Pacific-10 Conference. He averaged 5.7 assists, as well as a three-point shooting percentage of 44.7 percent. Collison returned to UCLA for his junior and senior years and ended up playing in a total of 142 games at UCLA, tied for the most ever. In his senior year in 2008–09, he was named to the All-Pac-10 team after averaging 14.4 points, 4.7 assists, 1.6 steals per game. He led the conference in free throw percentage, was third in assists and assists-to-turnover ratio. Collison won the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award that year, awarded to the best college player 6 ft 0 in or shorter, he was named the Bruins' co-Most Valuable Player along with Josh Shipp.
Collison and fellow senior teammates Shipp and Alfred Aboya finished their careers as the winningest class in UCLA history with 123 wins. The distinction was relative, as John Wooden's legendary teams played shorter seasons and freshmen were ineligible. Collison was considered to be one of the top point guard prospects in the 2009 NBA Draft coming out of UCLA, he was selected in the first round with the 21st overall by the New Orleans Hornets. With Chris Paul out for months at two separate times during the 2009–10 season, Collison became the starting point guard. Collison handed out a Hornets rookie-record 18 assists and scored 17 points on January 30, 2010 when New Orleans ended Memphis's 11-game home winning streak with a 113–111 overtime victory. On March 8, 2010, Collison broke his own record with a Hornets rookie-record 20 assists in a 135–131 victory over the Golden State Warriors. In a game against the Indiana Pacers on February 19, 2010, Collison became only the second rookie of the 2009–10 season to get a triple-double with 18 points, 13 rebounds, 12 assists.
He finished 4th in the NBA Rookie of the Year voting and averaged 18.8 points and 9.1 assists in the 37 games as a starter, but had four turnovers a contest as a starter in his first NBA season. On August 11, 2010, the Hornets traded Collison and James Posey to the Indiana Pacers in a four-team, five-player deal that sent Troy Murphy to the New Jersey Nets, Trevor Ariza to the New Orleans Hornets and Courtney Lee to the Houston Rockets. On July 12, 2012, Collison and Dahntay Jones were traded to the Dallas Mavericks for Ian Mahinmi. Collison became the Mavericks' starting point guard. Collison was a key player in Dallas' 4–1 start in 2012–13, but he struggled as they lost 8 of their next 11. After starting the team's first 14 games, Collison came off the bench for one game, he missed the next game with a sprained right middle finger. Fisher started in his first game with the Mavericks. 14 games on December 27, 2012, he regained the starting job. On July 10, 2013, Collison signed a deal with the Los Angeles Clippers.
He again backed up Chris Paul, on the Clippers. When Paul was out 18 games with an injured shoulder, Collison started and averaged 13.3 points and 6.5 assists in 32.6 minutes. The Clippers went 12–6 in that span, coach Doc Rivers said the team "weathered the storm" without their All-Star point guard. In Game 4 of the second round of the 2014 NBA Playoffs against the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Clippers overcame a 22-point deficit to tie the series at 2–2, as Collison scored 12 of his 18 points in the final quarter to help lead the team to a 101–99 win. On July 12, 2014, Collison signed a three-year, $16 million deal with the Sacramento Kings; the Kings offered him a starting job at point guard, the Clippers were unable to match either the deal or the playing time. On December 27, 2014, Collison had a season-best game with 27 points and 10 assists in a 135–129 overtime win over the New York Knicks. On February 26, 2015, he was ruled out for three to six weeks with a right hip flexor. Collison was suspended for the first 8 games of the 2016-17 season after pleading guilty on a misdemeanor charge of domestic battery.
On July 7, 2017, Collison signed with the Indiana Pacers, returning to the franchise for a second stint. Collison had knee surgery in early February 2018. In 2017–18, his.468 3-point percentage led the NBA. On December 10, 2018, in a 109–101 win over the Washington Wiz
Houston Rockets
The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston, Texas. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association, as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division; the team plays its home games at the Toyota Center, located in downtown Houston. The Rockets have won four Western Conference titles; the team was established as the San Diego Rockets, an expansion team based in San Diego, in 1967. In 1971, the Rockets moved to Houston; the Rockets won only 15 games in their debut season as a franchise in 1967. In the 1968 NBA draft, the Rockets, picking first overall, selected power forward Elvin Hayes, who would lead the team to its first playoff appearance in his rookie season; the Rockets did not finish a season with a winning record until the 1976–77 season, when they traded for center Moses Malone. Malone went on to win the NBA Most Valuable Player award twice and led Houston to the conference finals in his first year with the team, he led the Rockets to the NBA Finals in 1981 where they were defeated in six games by the Boston Celtics, led by Larry Bird and future Rockets coach Kevin McHale.
In the 1984 NBA draft, the Rockets drafted center Hakeem Olajuwon, who would be paired with 7 feet 4 inches Ralph Sampson, forming one of the tallest front courts in the NBA. Nicknamed the "Twin Towers", they led the team to the 1986 NBA Finals—the second NBA Finals appearance in franchise history—where Houston was again defeated by the Boston Celtics; the Rockets continued to reach the playoffs throughout the 1980s, but failed to advance past the first round for several years following a second-round defeat to the Seattle SuperSonics in 1987. Rudy Tomjanovich took over as head coach midway through the 1991–92 season, ushering in the most successful period in franchise history; the Olajuwon-led Rockets went to the 1994 NBA Finals and won the franchise's first championship against Patrick Ewing and the New York Knicks. The following season, reinforced by another All-Star, Clyde Drexler, the Rockets repeated as champions with a four-game sweep of the Orlando Magic, who were led by a young Shaquille O'Neal and Penny Hardaway.
Houston, seeded sixth in the Western Conference during the 1995 playoffs, became the lowest-seeded team in NBA history to win the title. The Rockets acquired all-star forward Charles Barkley in 1996, but the presence of three of the NBA's 50 greatest players of all-time was not enough to propel Houston past the Western Conference Finals; each one of the aging trio had left the team by 2001, the Rockets of the early 2000s, led by superstars Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming, followed the trend of consistent regular season respectability followed by playoff underachievement as both players struggled with injuries. After Yao's early retirement in 2011, the Rockets entered a period of rebuilding dismantling and retooling their roster; the acquisition of franchise player James Harden in 2012 has launched the Rockets back into championship contention in the mid-2010s. Moses Malone, Hakeem Olajuwon and James Harden have been named the NBA's Most Valuable Player while playing for the Rockets, for a total of four MVP awards.
The Rockets, under general manager Daryl Morey, are notable for popularizing the use of advanced statistical analytics in player acquisitions and style of play. The Rockets were founded in 1967 in San Diego by Robert Breitbard, who paid an entry fee of US $1.75 million to join the NBA as an expansion team for the 1967–68 season. The NBA wanted to add more teams in the Western United States, chose San Diego based on the city's strong economic and population growth, along with the local success of an ice hockey team owned by Breitbard, the San Diego Gulls; the resulting contest to name the franchise chose the name "Rockets", which paid homage to San Diego's theme of "a city in motion" and the local arm of General Dynamics developing the Atlas missile and booster rocket program. Breitbard brought in Jack McMahon coach of the Cincinnati Royals, to serve as the Rockets' coach and general manager; the team, that would join the league along with the Seattle SuperSonics built its roster with both veteran players at an expansion draft, college players from the 1967 NBA draft, where San Diego's first draft pick was Pat Riley.
The Rockets lost 67 games in their inaugural season, an NBA record for losses in a season at the time. In 1968, after the Rockets won a coin toss against the Baltimore Bullets to determine who would have the first overall pick in the 1968 NBA draft, they selected Elvin Hayes from the University of Houston. Hayes improved the Rockets' record to 37 wins and 45 losses, enough for the franchise's first playoff appearance in 1969, but the Rockets lost in the semi-finals of the Western Division to the Atlanta Hawks, four games to two. Despite the additions of Calvin Murphy and Rudy Tomjanovich and the management of Hall of Fame coach Alex Hannum, the Rockets tallied a 67–97 record in the following two seasons and did not make the playoffs in either season; because of the low performance and attendance, Breitbard looked to sell the team, in 1971, Texas Sports Investments bought the franchise for $5.6 million, moved the team to Houston. The franchise became the first NBA team in Texas, the nickname "Rockets" took on greater relevance after the move, given Houston's long connection to the space industry.
Before the start of the 1971–72 season, Hannum left for the Denver Rockets of the American Basketball Association – renamed Denver Nuggets, who joined the NBA in 1976 – and Tex Winter was hired in his place. However, Winter's clashes with Hayes, due to a system that contrasted with the offensive style
Zion Williamson
Zion Lateef Williamson is an American college basketball player for the Duke Blue Devils of the Atlantic Coast Conference. Listed at 6 ft 7 in and 285 pounds, he plays the small power forward positions. According to many sports analysts, he is projected to be the first overall pick in the 2019 NBA draft. Born in Salisbury, North Carolina, Williamson attended Spartanburg Day School, where he was a consensus five-star recruit and was ranked among the top five players in the 2018 class, he led his team to three straight state championships and earned South Carolina Mr. Basketball recognition in his senior season. Williamson left high school as a McDonald's All-American, runner-up for Mr. Basketball USA, USA Today All-USA first team honoree. In high school, he drew national attention for his slam dunks. In his freshman season with Duke, Williamson was named ACC Player of the Year and ACC Rookie of the Year, he set the single-game school scoring record for freshmen in January 2019, claimed ACC Rookie of the Week accolades five times, earned AP Player of the Year, Sporting News College Player of the Year recognition and won the Wayman Tisdale Award.
Before starting basketball, Williamson played the quarterback position in football. When he was five years old, he set sights on becoming a college basketball star. At age nine, Williamson began waking up every morning at 5 a.m. to train. He competed in youth leagues with his mother Sharonda Sampson coaching and played for the Sumter Falcons on the Amateur Athletic Union circuit, facing opponents four years older than him. Williamson began working with his stepfather, former college basketball player Lee Anderson, to improve his skills as a point guard, he joined the basketball team at Johnakin Middle School in Marion, South Carolina, where he was again coached by his mother and averaged 20 points per game. In middle school, Williamson lost only three games in two years. In 2013, he guided Johnakin to an 8 -- a conference title. Williamson attended Spartanburg Day School, a small K–12 private school in Spartanburg, South Carolina, where he played basketball for the Griffins. Between eighth and ninth grade, he grew from 5 ft 9 in to 6 ft 3 in.
In the summer leading up to his first season, Williamson practiced in the school gym and developed the ability to dunk. At the time, he competed for the South Carolina Hornets AAU team as well, where he was teammates with Ja Morant; as a freshman, Williamson averaged 24.4 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 3.3 steals and 3.0 blocks, earning All-State and All-Region honors. He led Spartanburg Day to a South Carolina Independent School Association state championship game appearance. In March 2015, Williamson took part in the SCISA North-South All-Star Game in Sumter, South Carolina. By his second year in high school, he stood 6 ft 6 in. In his sophomore season, Williamson averaged 28.3 points, 10.4 rebounds, 3.9 blocks, 2.7 steals per game and was named SCISA Region I-2A Player of the Year. He led the Griffins to their first SCISA Region I-2A title in program history. In June 2016, Williamson participated in the National Basketball Players Association Top 100 camp and was its leading scorer. In August, he won the Under Armour Elite 24 showcase dunk contest in New York City.
As a junior, Williamson averaged 36.8 points, 13 rebounds, 3 steals, 2.5 blocks per game. Entering the season, he was among 50 players selected to the Naismith Prep Player of the Year Award watch list. Starting in the 2016–17 season, Williamson was propelled into the national spotlight for his viral highlight videos, he made his season debut on November 15, 2016, recording 42 points and 16 rebounds in a win over Cardinal Newman High School. In the same month, his highlights drew the praise of NBA player Stephen Curry. On November 24, Williamson erupted for 50 points, including 10 dunks, along with 16 rebounds and 5 blocks versus Proviso East High School at the Tournament of Champions. In a 73–53 victory over Gray Collegiate Academy at the Chick-fil-A Classic on December 21, he posted a tournament-record 53 points and 16 rebounds, shooting 25-of-28 from the field. On December 30, Williamson recorded 31 points and 14 rebounds to win most valuable player at the Farm Bureau Insurance Classic. On January 15, 2017, he received nationwide publicity after rapper Drake wore his jersey in an Instagram post.
Williamson surpassed the 2,000-point barrier on January 20, when he tallied 48 points against Oakbrook Preparatory School. On February 14, he led Spartanburg Day past Oakbrook Prep for their first SCISA Region I-2A title, chipping in a game-high 37 points in a 105–49 rout. Williamson broke the state record for most 30-point games in a season, with 27 by the end of the regular season, he repeated as SCISA Region I-2A Player of the Year. High school sports website MaxPreps named him National Junior of the Year and to the High School All-American first team, while USA Today High School Sports gave him All-USA first team recognition. On April 22, 2017, Williamson recorded 26 points and 7 rebounds for his AAU team SC Supreme in a loss to touted recruit Romeo Langford and Twenty Two Vision at an Adidas Gauntlet tournament. In June, he appeared on the cover of basketball magazine Slam. Williamson, in a publicized AAU game on July 27, scored 28 points and led SC Supreme to a 104–92 win over 2019 class recruit LaMelo Ball and Big Ballers at the Adidas Uprising Summer Championships.
In August, he was named MVP of the 2017 Adidas Nations camp after averaging 22.5 points and 7.2 rebounds through 6 games. In his senior season, Williamson averaged 11.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. He debuted on November 15, 2017, erupting for 46 points and 15 rebounds in
Miami Heat
The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association, as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division; the Heat play their home games at American Airlines Arena, have won three NBA championships. The franchise began play in 1988 as an expansion team, where after a period of mediocrity, the Heat would gain relevance during the 1990s following the appointment of former head coach Pat Riley in the role of team president. Riley would construct the high-profile trades of Alonzo Mourning in 1995, of Tim Hardaway in 1996, which propelled the team into playoff contention. Mourning and Hardaway would lead the Heat to four division titles, prior to their departures in 2001 and 2002, respectively; as a result, the team struggled, entered into a rebuild in time for the 2002–03 season. Led by Dwyane Wade, following a trade for former NBA Most Valuable Player Shaquille O'Neal, Miami made the NBA Finals in 2006, where they clinched their first championship, led by Riley as head coach.
After the departure of O'Neal two years the team entered into another period of decline for the remainder of the 2000s. This saw the resignation of Riley as head coach, who returned to his position as team president, was replaced by Erik Spoelstra. In 2010, after creating significant cap space, the Heat partnered Wade with former league MVP LeBron James, perennial NBA All-Star Chris Bosh, creating the "Big Three". During their four-year spell together, under the guise of Spoelstra, James and Bosh, they would lead the Heat to the NBA Finals in every season, won two back-to-back championships in 2012 and 2013; the trio would all depart by 2016, the team entered another period of rebuilding. Wade was reacquired in 2018, albeit to retire with the franchise; the Heat hold the record for the NBA's third-longest streak, 27 straight games, set during the 2012–13 season. Four Hall of Famers have played for Miami, while James has won the NBA MVP Award while playing for the team. In 1987 the NBA granted one of its four new expansion teams to Miami and the team, known as the Heat began play in November 1988.
The Miami Heat began their early years with much mediocrity, only making the playoffs two times in their first eight years and falling in the first round both times. Upon the purchasing of the franchise by Carnival Cruise Lines chairman Micky Arison in 1995, Pat Riley was brought in as the team president and head coach. Riley acquired center Alonzo Mourning and point guard Tim Hardaway to serve as the centerpieces for the team, transforming Miami into a championship contender throughout the late 1990s. With them they brought in a new team trainer, Cody Posselt, to work on shooting; the Heat underwent a dramatic turnaround in the 1996–97 season, improving to a 61–21 record – a franchise record at the time, second-best in team history. That same year, Miami earned the moniker of "Road Warriors" for its remarkable 32–9 record on the road. On the backs of Hardaway and Mourning, the Heat achieved their first two series victories in the playoffs, making it to the Conference Finals against the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls before losing in five games.
Their biggest rivals of the time were the New York Knicks, Riley's former team, who would eliminate the Heat in the playoffs from 1998 through 2000. A period of mediocrity followed after, highlighted by missing the playoffs in 2002 and 2003. In the 2003 NBA draft, with the fifth overall pick, Miami selected shooting guard Dwyane Wade out of Marquette. Free-agent swing-man Lamar Odom was signed from the Los Angeles Clippers. Just prior to the start of the 2003–04 season, Riley stepped down as head coach to focus on rebuilding the Heat, promoting Stan Van Gundy to the position of head coach. Behind Van Gundy's leadership, Wade's stellar rookie year and Odom's break out season, the Heat made the 2004 NBA Playoffs, beating the New Orleans Hornets 4–3 in the 1st round and losing to the Indiana Pacers 4–2 in the 2nd round. In the offseason, Riley engineered a summer blockbuster trade for Shaquille O'Neal from the Los Angeles Lakers. Alonzo Mourning returned to the Heat in the same season. Returning as championship contenders, Miami finished with a 59–23 record garnering the first overall seed in the Eastern Conference.
Sweeping through the first round and the semifinals, Miami went back to the Conference Finals for the first time in eight years, where it met the defending champion Detroit Pistons. Despite taking a 3–2 lead, Miami lost Wade to injury for Game 6; the Heat would go on to lose Game 7 at home despite Wade's return. In the summer of 2005, Riley brought in veteran free agent Gary Payton from the Boston Celtics, brought in James Posey, Jason Williams and Antoine Walker via trades. After a disappointing 11–10 start to the 2005–06 season, Riley relieved Van Gundy of his duties and took back the head coaching job; the Heat made it to the Conference Finals in 2006 and in a re-match, defeated the Pistons, winning the series 4–2. Making its first NBA Finals appearance, they played the Dallas Mavericks, who won the first two games in Dallas in routs; the Heat won the next four games, capturing its first championship. Wade won the Finals MVP award; the Heat experienced four-years of post-title struggles from 2007 through 2010, including a 4–0 sweep by the Chicago Bulls in the 1st round of the 2007 NBA Playoffs.
In the 2007–08 season, Wade was plagued by injuries and the Heat had a league worst 15–67 record. O'Neal was traded to Phoenix midway through the season. Riley resigned as head coach following the season but retained his positio
NBA on TNT
The NBA on TNT is a branding used for broadcasts of the National Basketball Association games, produced by Turner Sports, the sports division of the Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary of WarnerMedia and televised on TNT since 1989. TNT's NBA coverage includes the Inside the NBA studio show, weekly doubleheaders throughout the regular season on Thursdays, as well as Tuesdays in the second half of the season, a majority of games during the first two rounds of the playoffs, one conference finals series. TNT airs many of the NBA's marquee games. In recent years, fans have reckoned it as what NBC was doing throughout that network's coverage of the league. TNT would seem to be the NBA's preferred carrier as well. TNT airs most of the big games during the regular season, TNT studio content is streamed to NBA.com via the TNT Overtime section. Ernie Johnson Jr. has been TNT's NBA studio host since the 1990-1991 season. Johnson is joined by Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, Shaquille O'Neal; the NBA postgame show which features the four, Inside the NBA, has gained popularity in recent years for the chemistry and banter they have.
Johnson, O'Neal and Barkley are joined by Chris Webber, Kevin McHale, David Aldridge, Reggie Miller or Isiah Thomas. TNT's playoff coverage is nicknamed 40 Games in 40 Nights. In previous years, TNT and TBS aired doubleheaders opposite each other on each night of the first round of the playoffs, with one network airing a doubleheader at 7:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. and the other network airing a doubleheader at 8:00 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.. TNT carries exclusive coverage of one NBA Conference Final. Since the 2004 NBA Playoffs, TNT has aired the Eastern Conference Finals in odd-number years and the Western Conference Finals in even-number years, a pattern which will continue until the expiration of its television contract. ESPN airs the other Conference Final, with weekend coverage of the ESPN-covered series and the Finals being broadcast on ABC. For the first round, TNT's coverage of the playoffs is not exclusive. After the first round, only national coverage from TNT or ESPN/ABC is produced. Starting in 2000, the NBA spread out playoff series.
TNT would air doubleheaders on most weekdays. With the advent of the new NBA television deal in 2003, TNT has aired playoff games alone, including some weekday tripleheaders; the tripleheaders, which were criticized by both fans and many in the media, consisted of one game at 6:00 p.m. another at 8:30 p.m. and a final game at 11:00 p.m. After 2003, the NBA and TNT discontinued the tripleheaders, instead settling for a doubleheader on TNT and a single game on NBA TV simultaneously. However, when Turner Sports acquired NBA TV in 2008, the network abandoned airing the lone non-national Thursday game, instead leaving it up to the local sports networks. However, TBS may still air the start of the second game in case the ongoing first game on TNT extends beyond the tip-off time of the second game. Other than their regular Thursday schedule, TNT airs NBA regular season games on Martin Luther King Day, during which tripleheaders were still used. However, in 2011, ESPN opted to air one matinee game on MLK Day, NBA TV on the second matinee, leaving TNT to air the remaining two night games.
In 2008, TNT broadcast on Christmas Day for the first time as Marv Albert, Mike Fratello and Craig Sager broadcast the game between the Washington Wizards and the Cleveland Cavaliers in Quicken Loans Arena and Kevin Harlan, Reggie Miller and Cheryl Miller broadcast the game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Portland Trail Blazers in Rose Garden. TNT broadcast on Christmas Day again in 2011, when it broadcast the game between the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden, the first game of the 2011–12 season, as a result of a lockout. Albert and Steve Kerr called the game. Due to TNT's part in coverage of the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament beginning in March 2011, the league shifted over what would have been the Thursday night games in the third week of that month to Monday nights and they aired as part of ESPN's coverage instead. In addition, NBA TV's ` Fan Night'; the studio crew of Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley would stay in the TNT Atlanta studios for all of the regular season and the first two rounds of the playoffs.
However, in the 2010-11 NBA season the studio crew started taking their pre-game and Inside the NBA shows on the road in the regular season select games involving the Miami Heat on TNT, due to the heightened media coverage surrounding the Heat's acquisitions of LeBron James and Chris Bosh. The substitute studio hosts will be on hand for Inside the NBA and the other game's pre-game and halftime presentations. On May 11, 2011, Turner Sports broadcast its 1,000th playoff telecast. In July 2011, it was announced that Shaquille O'Neal would join as an analyst and he signed a multi-year agr
Dirk Nowitzki
Dirk Werner Nowitzki is a German former professional basketball player. An alumnus of Röntgen Gymnasium and the DJK Würzburg basketball club, Nowitzki was chosen as the ninth pick in the 1998 NBA draft by the Milwaukee Bucks and was traded to the Dallas Mavericks, where he had played his entire 21-year National Basketball Association career. In the NBA, he won the league Most Valuable Player award in 2007, was an NBA champion in 2011, was a 14-time All-Star. Listed at 7 ft 0 in, Nowitzki is considered one of the greatest power forwards of all time. Nowitzki has led the Mavericks to 15 NBA playoff appearances, including the franchise's first Finals appearance in 2006 and its only NBA championship in 2011. Known for his scoring ability, his versatility, his accurate outside shooting, his trademark fadeaway jump shot, Nowitzki won the NBA Most Valuable Player Award in 2007 and the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award in 2011. Nowitzki's NBA career has been filled with accomplishments, he is the only player to play for a single franchise for 21 seasons.
Nowitzki is a 14-time All-Star, a 12-time All-NBA Team member, the first European player to start in an All-Star Game, the first European player to receive the NBA Most Valuable Player Award. Nowitzki is the highest-scoring foreign-born player in NBA history, he is the first Maverick voted onto an All-NBA Team and holds several all-time Mavericks franchise records. On December 10, 2012, he became the first non-American player to receive the Naismith Legacy Award; as of March 18, 2019, Nowitzki stood sixth on the list of National Basketball Association career scoring leaders. Nowitzki's career in international play is noteworthy, he led the German national basketball team to a bronze medal in the 2002 FIBA World Championship and silver in EuroBasket 2005, was the leading scorer and MVP in both tournaments. Born in Würzburg, Dirk Werner Nowitzki comes from an athletic family: his mother Helga Nowitzki was a professional basketball player and his father Jörg-Werner was a handball player who represented Germany at the highest international level.
His older sister Silke Nowitzki, a local champion in track and field became a basketball player and now works for the NBA in International TV. Nowitzki was a tall child, he played handball and tennis, but soon grew tired of being called a "freak" for his height and turned to basketball. After joining the local DJK Würzburg, the 15-year-old attracted the attention of former German international basketball player Holger Geschwindner, who spotted his talent and offered to coach him individually two to three times per week. After getting both the approval of Nowitzki and his parents, Geschwindner put his student through an unorthodox training scheme: he emphasized shooting and passing exercises, shunned weight training and tactical drills, because he felt it was "unnecessary friction". Furthermore, Geschwindner encouraged Nowitzki to play a musical instrument and read literature to make him a more complete personality. After a year, the coach was so impressed with Nowitzki's progress that he advised him, "You must now decide whether you want to play against the best in the world or just stay a local hero in Germany.
If you choose the latter, we will stop training because nobody can prevent that anymore. But if you want to play against the best, we have to train on a daily basis." After pondering this lifetime decision for two days, Nowitzki agreed to enter the full-time training schedule, choosing the path to his eventual international career. Geschwindner let him train seven days a week with DJK Würzburg players and future German internationals Robert Garrett, Marvin Willoughby, Demond Greene, in the summer of 1994 16-year-old Nowitzki made the DJK squad; when Nowitzki joined the team, DJK played in Germany's 2nd-tier level league, the Second Bundesliga, South Division. His first trainer was Pit Stahl, who played the tall teenager as an outside-scoring forward rather than an inside-scoring center to utilise his shooting skills. In the 1994–95 Second Bundesliga season, ambitious DJK finished as a disappointing sixth of 12 teams. In the next 1995–96 Second Bundesliga season, Nowitzki established himself as a starter next to Finnish star forward Martti Kuisma and soon became a regular double-digit scorer: after German national basketball coach Dirk Bauermann saw him score 24 points in a DJK game, he stated that "Dirk Nowitzki is the greatest German basketball talent of the last 10, maybe 15 years."In the 1996–97 Second Bundesliga season, Nowitzki averaged 19.4 points per game and led DJK again to second place after the regular season, but could not help his team gain promotion.
In the following 1997–98 Second Bundesliga season, Nowitzki finished his "Abitur", but had to do compulsory military service in the Bundeswehr which lasted from September 1, 1997 to June 30, 1998. In the promotion playoffs, DJK broke its hex, finishing at first place with 14:2 points and earning promotion to the next higher league. Abroad, Nowitzki's progress was noticed. A year the teenager participated in the Nike "Hoop Heroes Tour", where he played against NBA star
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