Erick Blasco

Nothing in the commercial hints that they're homosexual other than the fact that they live together, or that they've ran out on their wife and kids. The commercial shows each of them living a carefree lifestyle filled with sneakers, cars, and video games. It places LeBron and Kobe almost as mature adolescents who obviously wouldn't have kids. Though you are right. Family-oriented doesn't sell sneakers to the urban youth, so they take the pretext of family away from Kobe and LeBron. The concept of a child protecting his mother from a potential boyfriend is universal to all races. It could've been a White, black, or asian and it would've conveyed the same message. All I've done is displayed what Nike has explicitly chosen to show and what those representations mean. You're assuming things that aren't there. The Doritos commercial assumes little other than that the man is physically attracted to the woman shown by the male-gaze [expletive] shot of the woman walking. We assume its her place (feminist scholars must be thrilled), and it's well-kept. You're making wild assumptions that aren't suggested by the commercial. Again, nothing suggests that because the kid is black that white people shouldn't look up to Kobe or LeBron. I haven't twisted anything. I took image choices Nike deliberately made and how they reflect black, urban, youth culture, and reflect dominant ideologies. You're grasping at examples in order to make me look ridiculous without looking at how ideologies work.

Over the course of his career, Vince Carter has made a habit out of coasting through big games, wilting down the stretch, and playing like a milquetoast wimp. Nothing has changed this season, where Carter’s frequent disappearing acts have put a damper on the Orlando Magic’s hope for a fairy tale ending. Carter’s timidity was on full bore as he drifted through a listless 1-5, three point performance over the first 42 minutes against the Cleveland Cavaliers. He refused to attack the rim, was absent on many help assignments, and mustered no competitive fire whatsoever. It appeared as if the Magic would lose their third straight game to the Cavs this year, and would look less and less like viable contenders to Cleveland’s potential Eastern Conference stranglehold. Then, out of absolutely nowhere, Mount Carter erupted and willed the Magic to victory. After a 1-2 high screen with Jameer Nelson, Delonte West picked Carter up on a switch. Carter promptly backed him down and earned a foul, making two free throws.Another 1-2 screen and switch allowed Carter to spin to the baseline and drive to the basket where he emphatically delivered a powerful dunk which roused his competitive juices.Another Carter post up on Anthony Parker led to a difficult fade away jumper which VC swished.The same 1-2 screen gave Carter a lane to the basket where he finished with strength and self-control over Antawn Jamison who moved over looking to take a charge.After Shaq switched onto Carter after an elbow screen, he knew Dwight Howard was guarded by smaller defenders, took his time for Howard to open up, and threw an accurate lob which resulted in a catch, foul, and one free throw made.A drive and kick out to the corner led to Rashard Lewis’ game-clinching three. The criticism with Carter isn’t that he can’t do what he did against the Cavs, but that he doesn’t do that enough. Instead of using his wondrous talents to dominate in the paint, Carter often drifts through games, is scared to finish at the rim, and is far-too-often often a non-factor for somebody with his prodigious talents. While his help defense is still horrendous, when Carter attacks on offense the way he did in the fourth quarter, he allows the Magic to compete with and beat any team in basketball. The emphasis for Orlando is for Carter to continue to play with the same kind of fire he displayed against the Cavs. Unfortunately for Magic fans, often times, those rare glimpses of greatness Carter delivers disappear as quickly as they come. Carter wasn’t Orlando’s other hero. Here are the other reasons why Cleveland won: Why Orlando Won Jameer Nelson proved how clutch he is by making huge shot after huge shot—three jumpers in the final six minutes, including two threes.Rashard Lewis is another member of Orlando’s clutch corps, and his three with 20 seconds to go was the nail in Cleveland’s coffin.Dwight Howard struggled in his post defense on Shaquille O’Neal, but his help defense was extraordinary—four blocks, and countless more altered. Most impressive was Howard’s rotations on LeBron James. Whereas LeBron is used to running through brick walls (and obliterating smaller defenders), he bounced straight off Howard’s steel frame and found himself begging for calls on drives to the rim.Deterred because of Howard, only three of LeBron’s shot attempts came inside the paint in the second half. LeBron frequently overhandled (as did many of his teammates) and forced jumpers despite misfiring on nine of his 12 shots from outside the paint.Aside from his solid help defense, and stellar board work—16 rebounds—Howard displayed an assortment of post moves. He decimated Anderson Varejao on left hooks from the right box, and on the left box showed a nice shimmy into a right-hook, several quick face-and-go’s driving left, a 12-foot made jumper, to go with his power moves near the rim. For the game he finished with 7-15 FG, 8-13 FT, 22 points, two assists, and zero turnovers.Also, James’ six assists are neutralized by his five turnovers.It should be noted that many of Cleveland’s early attempts to double team Howard were weak and ineffective, with Jamison as the main culprit.Mickael Pietrus came to play, with a buzzer-beating putback to end the third quarter, and a pair of threes among his 5-6 shooting, 13-point performance.Cleveland couldn’t buy a basket from downtown—3-16 3FG—despite many open looks.Cleveland’s guards simply didn’t show up. Mo Williams shot 1-9, and Delonte West shot 2-9. Mo Williams was as awful on defense as he was on offense. His worst transgression? Going under a Jameer Nelson screen, affording Nelson one of his endgame triples.Cleveland had trouble spacing the floor for their post players. With Shaq in the post, and J.J. Hickson on the floor, Orlando would drop Rashard Lewis into the passing lane to effectively double team Shaq before he caught the ball. Hickson was left wide open, but missed the resulting jump shot. The same tactic was employed with Varejao on the floor, but Varejao only went 1-2 on wide open 20-footers.After a flurry of points from Jamison when posting Lewis, Orlando fronted Jamison. Because Shaq or Varejao aren’t floor spacers, Orlando dropped Dwight Howard behind Jamison to discourage the Cavs from feeding him the ball.Orlando proved that sometimes when you score is more important than how much you score.Why Cleveland Almost Won Orlando’s transition defense was atrocious. Orlando’s guards were too scared to get in front of LeBron James and stop him from going coast to coast for several full court layups.Jameer Nelson frequently made bad decisions with the ball. Forcing entry passes into wedged teammates, forcing shots, not taking driving lanes to the basket, and losing his handle several times for unforced turnovers. Combined with Jason Williams, who also lost his handle for an unforced turnover, seven of Orlando’s 13 turnovers came from their primary ball handlers and decision makers.Rashard Lewis—5-12 FG, 2-6 3FG, 3-4 FT, 15 PTS—disappeared for long stretches and is only sometimes involved in the offense. As a result, he forced several threes feeling that it was his time to shoot.Antawn Jamison destroyed Lewis in the post, and made four straight baskets to start the third quarter. Jamison also made a three on a screen/fade, and showed a level of versatility that will be tough to contend with as the Cavs move forward.A botched call on a block/charge gave Jamison his fifth foul early in the fourth, forcing him to an extended stay on the bench.Aside from Dwight Howard, the Magic were soft in every facet.Cleveland outrebounded the Magic 43-34. Should Vince Carter’s fourth quarter be the norm and not the exception, Orlando has the interior defense, the firepower, and the moxie to win the season’s final game. Unfortunately, since Carter only offers brief teases of his talents, it’ll be a lot to ask of the rest of the Magic to come out of the East. Meanwhile, Cleveland took a trip back to last year’s Conference Finals, where LeBron’s failed jumpers, Mo Williams’ dismal play, and Cleveland’s inability to contest Orlando’s late-game threes doomed them. If the pattern repeats itself in the postseason, not even Antawn Jamison will be able to save the Cavs.

In Rivers' first year in Boston, he took a team that started Pierce, Raef LaFrentz, Marc Blount, a washed up Gary Payton, a rookie Tony Allen, and Jiri Welsch to the playoffs. Those were the players that started the most games for the Celtics that season. Ricky Davis was their second leading scorer. Rivers took them to the playoffs. In Rivers' second year, the team was gutted with trades in an attempt to rebuild. In Rivers' third year, Pierce was injured, Szczerbiak was injured and the rest of the roster was made up of kids. In Rivers' next year, he won the title. In Orlando, in Rivers' first year, he took a team of expiring contracts to a 41-41 record in 99-00. The core of that team was a baby Ben Wallace, Bo Outlaw, John Amaechi (the most offensively impotent frontcourt ever), and role players like Tariq Abdul-Wahad, and Pat Garrity. From there on out, he was playing with a $10 million dollar a year handicap since Grant Hill was always injured. Plus, he was limited by T-Mac's relative softness. He still made the playoffs three straight years with players like Andrew DeClercq, Pat Garrity, and the ghosts of Shawn Kemp and Patrick Ewing contributing major minutes. Of course he won little with the garbage rosters he's had to work with. He still almost upset last year's Eastern Conference champs last season with arguably his best player injured, and no depth.

Poe. You win the internet.

It's not just that LeBron and Kobe are black. The little kid who lives with them was DJing, and they portrayed Santa Claus as black, something Nike carefully chose, considering the dominant portrayal of Santa Claus is white. Nike chose that image especially to appeal to urban culture, and by portraying Santa as black, Nike is selecting the images they associate with black culture. Kobe and LeBron probably aren't delving too deeply into ideology and see $$$ signs attached to the commercial. And what conduit for reaching the public is more mainstream than commercials? The commercial isn't a parody, which uses different rules. It isn't a commercial made purely for comedic purposes. It's why there's nothing wrong with the other commercials. Two well-off individuals live together, they live unassuming lives in a well-furnished house, they act as pseudo-mentors to a youngster, Kobe acts a bit ridiculous and is balanced out by LeBron who is more of a straight character who opposes Kobe having a snake eating a shoe and opposes Kobe for not caring that his house is burned down because his shoe is too hot. If the ideology is that blacks/young adult males/basketball players care more about shoes than safety, it's balanced out by the fire chief and LeBron's displeasure in Kobe's decisions. What you get out of the fire commercial is that shoes are not more important than safety and that Kobe's new kicks are sweet. In the rap commercial, the message is that even if you live in a rundown place of living, bling, basketball, knowing the hood, and crushing those who challenge you are more important than social mobility. That's the contradiction. If Santa has enough money and time to buy jewelry and play basketball, why does he have a dirty stove, no furnishings, and a light bulb dangling down from the ceiling? This is an admitted stretch, but there's also no Mrs. Claus either, while many white Santa images of Santa in his home will somewhere have a Mrs. Claus in there. I'm not going to make a huge deal about it---it's a 2 minute commercial---but it's another stereotype reinforced. Most of the other images of the mainstream commercial are harmless---getting revenge on bullies isn't a negative statement at all, but the diminishing of Kobe/LeBron's speech, and especially Nike's deliberate choice in how to portray Santa are nothing but reinforcing stereotypes. Parodies are a little bit different. You aren't veiling the stereotypes, in fact, you're bringing them to the forefront and blowing them way out of proportion. Nash claims to make the office better by his presence. He walks into the room and asks if anybody needs a pick-me-up. Nobody responds. He signs the woman's Shaq shoe when she doesn't want him to, she curses him out. The commercial isn't hiding the fact that Nash is absurd, and his absurdity is being rejected by the office's disapproval of Nash. The message evolves into acting as if you are the center of everybody else's universe = bad. Also, look at the powers at be in the commercials, plus assumed stereotypes. Assuming white corporations are the powers that be, Nash is often in positions that mirror the dominant structure. An office spokesman, a vitamin water flavor creator spokesman, etc. If anyone is reflected poorly, it's the dominant power structure, which isn't nearly as severe as attacking other groups. Also, what assumed stereotypes are made in the commercials? Is it that white people are jerks? The other white people in the commercials don't really back that up. Is it that getting paid is the most important thing? That statement is mocked by Nash's ridiculous dance. And in the other commercials, like the most ridiculous man in the world commercial, it's nothing but pure silliness with no meanings lying whatsoever. Silliness is mostly harmless without context to add meaning. You're statement works if you assume that the commercial is surreal. Just because it's not indicative of reality doesn't mean the messages encoded aren't indicative of assumed cultural stereotypes.

They definitely should be an option and have done a terrific job financially.

Dallas considers themselves a Western Conference Finals team, I'd imagine. They got to the second round last season and improved their team this year with Marion. They were supposed to have a ton of depth. They started the season exceptionally in defensive rating and have collapsed to reach the 15 spot they now hold. Despite upgrading their roster, the Mavs are in the same position they were last year. Miami couldn't reasonably expect Wade to hold up after all he had to do last year. There had to be some regression. Most of Miami's youth isn't the kind that improves. Chalmers and Beasley yes, but Cook is what he is, a defenseless, sporadic gunner. Q-Rich is as average as they come, and nobody thought Jermaine O'Neal would have more than a handful of good games a month. Despite all those roster flaws, Miami is plugging away at a playoff spot I thought would go to the Wizards or Pacers in the offseason. They've played the sixth toughest schedule in the league and have been fine. Before the Butler trade, Dallas had lost 10 of its previous 17 games, and had gone from a possible 2 seed, to joining the glut of teams that can finish anywhere from third to out of the playoffs completely.

Horrible luck for the Grizzlies.

A completely immature person.

Has anyone ever watched the Celtics and said, man this team isn't well-coached? Rivers has a few flaws, namely he plays his starters a ton (You can tell he's from the Riley school), but coaching isn't Boston's problem. Health, age, and an offensive spark off the bench are their problems.

Durant's a lot better defensively this year as to last year. He straight up swatted two jump shots right into shooters faces. You don't see that too often. And he can get away with not being a great defender when he's as good a scorer as he is, and when he hits a huge game-tying three to send the game into overtime. Make plays down the stretch. T-MAC didn't and Durant did. BTW, the bad defender I was referring to was Lee. McGrady was actually average. He made a few nice plays on Durant, stripped a few dribbles, and was active on the boards. He also twice let the Thunder waltz to the rim in transition. He looks excited to playing defense again, something he didn't always do in Houston.

There are clearly racist undertones with the Rapping Santa commercial clearly presenting an unflattering portrait of its target audience, black youth basketball fans. Since the puppets in the video are black, the portrait envelops Nike's view on black youths more than it would white youths. The common stereotype is that blacks speak in ebonics and not proper English. This stereotype is reinforced through the commercial, which contains no white puppets. They take Kobe and LeBron, two very articulate individuals, and make them look like fools by associating them in a song with pointless self-promotion. There are also numerous references to "The hood" and "The streets" in KRS-One's version and Lupe's version. If you look at the images from the mainstream video, Santa has jewelry on, but when they show his kitchen, it has a run down stove, a calendar, a dingy light bulb hanging down, a hat, phone, and no wallpaper. The implied message is that even though he's Santa Claus, because he's black, he lives in a low-income house. Even a mythical figure, if he's black lives in squalor. And yet he has jewelry and is used to push sneakers. Nike choose all the elements of the lyrics and the images. Nothing was accidental. Broken Grammar"Ghetto" SantaSelf PromotionA dumbed down version of who Kobe and LeBron really are, which is harmless in most commercials---in the fire commercial, Kobe's ditziness and valuing his shoe over the safety of the people in the house are used for comedic effect and balanced by LeBron's disapproval of Kobe's actions by sighing and shaking his head---but not in this one, which has no redeeming value.By dumbing down LeBron and Kobe, Nike is saying that what Kobe and LeBron represent (as media icons) has value, but who they are as spokespeople doesn't have value, hence their ultimate diminishing as people. This is how stereotypes perpetuate and dominant ideologies are spread. By mass-marketing these images to the public, they become absorbed and accepted. Veiled Racism doesn't lie in the obvious, it lies in the contradictions of those who encode the meanings.

Like two missed free throws? Let T-Mac ease into shape before you ask him to save the Knicks.

You think T-Mac's in shape to do anything explosive at the end? Guy hasn't played more than 8 minutes a game in 12 months. He had a chance to go out a winner after a decent game and choked at the line. He's the best passer with size the Knicks have, so they used him as the inbounder at the end. If McGrady makes a free throw, and if David Lee doesn't botch a defensive assignment by being six feet behind Nick Collison on Durant's three, the Knicks win. Chokers choke, bad defenders make bad defensive plays, and both kinds of players lose ball games.

Good find, Houston does still have flexibility. Though I wouldn't call Hilton Armstrong an asset .

It's not just that Brewer traded, its the fact that it was essentially a salary dump. If Brewer were traded for some random veteran, say Steve Blake, I don't think Williams is feeling totally upset. You can say it was a basketball-related move designed to try to make the team better. Since Brewer was traded for nobody who will help the team this year, the Jazz are a worse team. The only way it becomes a good basketball decision to trade away a player for nobody is if that player is a problem or is clogging up playing time for other good players, something that isn't really the case in Utah as nobody in Utah's toolbox of wings is appreciably better than Brewer and needs more playing time.

Grades are not relative to team's abilities. Those are what power rankings are for. Grades are to determine how a team is doing relative to expectations. Dallas' defense had fallen apart, too many players weren't consistent, and Dirk's defense had been just as mediocre as ever. In other words, par for the course. It is, hence the B, but the Jazz are still a team that considers themselves a top-tier team, which they aren't. So a solid B, but no A. If they keep picking up impressive road wins though, that may quickly change.

I believe that, but he still doesn't get enough touches. They ignore him way too often. Even when his field goal attempts are up, he's not getting enough touches. He's averaging 2.4 shot attempts per game fewer than last season, and he's averaging 0.2 fewer free throw attempts than last season. Those numbers are only partially made up for by an extra 0.2 assists. Your premise is right, he needs more touches.

It's a much smaller sample size, and of course his numbers will be better---they couldn't be any worse. The grades don't say that Orlando is an average team, they say that Orlando is having an average season relative to their expectations.

Sorry for the late replies. Hectic week. BFT and Poe, Looking at the rankings after a week away, maybe I did rank the Heat a bit too high. However though, the team has no consistent talent on it other than Beasley and Wade. Toronto has more firepower top to bottom than the Heat. Somehow, even with virtually an entire roster of either underperforming players, or at least players who have not played as well as last year, Miami is still over 500. I think that's a fairly impressive feat.

Utah has an expensive team and will probably be luxury tax payers. They have a glut at wing, and need to slash some money somewhere. Brewer still can't shoot well, and the Jazz have guys like Matthews and Miles who can produce from the wing. The Jazz lose defense and are worse off in the short term, but they aren't a championship contender anyway. Memphis gets another athlete who excels without the ball (the kind of player they don't really have. He plays well on execution, he'd really pair up well with Gasol.

Sacramento gets rid of Kevin Martin's horrendous contract and overrated performances for one of the better post scorers in the league. A very good post player + cap space +ridding themselves of a problem + clearing up a glut at guard. This is a big time win for the Kings.

Everyone has injuries though. As long as the Blazers and Rockets are winning games, no team has to right to complain about injuries. Build a team so that you can match expectations even with injuries. Sacramento gets an A because they were supposed to be god-awful. Kevin Martin and a bunch of rookies. A record is nice, but playing great basketball is better. Don't make the mistake of the middle-decade Mavs teams which had great records but never impressed too much with the why or the how. The Lakers have played great without Kobe the last three games. Lets see if they don't miss a beat with him. They play Denver at the end of the month. Go win five of the next six games in impressive fashion and remind the Nuggets that they aren't in LA's league. Then I'll be impressed.

Why then does Howard only have 9 shot attempts against Cleveland, and why does Carter shoot 4-15 until garbage time? A fluke game against the Hornets doesn't mean Carter is where he needs to be.

A lot of people thought the Heat would drop off considerably and the Raptors would be a middle tiered playoff team. Over the course of the year, the Raptors have finally played better but they have players on their roster. Taking away Bosh and Bargnani, the Raptors have Calderon and Turkoglu. Taking away Wade and Beasley, the Heat have...a lot of problems. None of their players besides Wade have been able to play consistently in several years, and hear they are fighting for a playoff berth. The Cavs haven't shown any major holes at all while the Lakers have alternated from relying totally on Kobe, to not playing well because Kobe dominated the ball. Gasol hasn't played up to par, Odom hasn't played up to par, the bench has played worse, and Bynum still hasn't matured. They haven't played well and were blown out in three of their four games against the Cavs and Nuggets. A home win over the Magic is okay, and everyone is beating the Celtics. What have they done to really say, "we're the best team in basketball." Second place won't mean anything to the Lakers. They have much higher expectations. The Kings play hard, and they finally have athletes. They'll lose games, but they're progressing nicely on offense. I thought they'd be the worst team in the NBA this year (along with the Bucks), but have played much better than I expected.