http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/brian-scalabrine-dominated-competition-boston-one-one-challenge-231654445--nba.html


Over 11 NBA seasons, journeyman forward Brian Scalabrine cultivated an image of a regular guy who just happened to play basketball. Eventually, many fans came to believe that Scalabrine was an Average Joe, not an elite athlete (as all NBA players are), and figured that he probably wasn't that great at the profession that earned him tens of millions of dollars. This summer, Scalabrine said that he resented this suggestion (even if he also heartily embraced the regular guy image), and in December he challenged any Boston-area amateur basketball players to games of one-on-one.

On Monday, Scalabrine faced four hand-picked competitors. He destroyed them all. From CBS Boston (via TBJ):

Scalabrine, who retired over the summer after a very serviceable 11-year NBA career, took on four of Boston’s best ballers in 98.5 The Sports Hub’s 1-on-1 “Scallenge,” put on by morning hosts Toucher & Rich.

Listeners sent in their try-out videos, showing off their skills and talking some trash towards Scal, but it turns out even Boston’s best was no match for Scalabrine.

Scalabrine — who spent the last few seasons of his career seen as the “human victory cigar” — easily defeated all four of his opponents, throwing down monstrous jams and sinking smooth jumpers as he beat them all by a combined score of 44-6.

That link also features a 30-minute video of the action, and it becomes very clear very quickly that Scalabrine is on another level from these athletes. Even against decent competition — the first challenger, Matt Tomaszewski, was on Syracuse's roster just last season — Scalabrine owned everyone. The second and third games were both shutouts, and the six points scored included one two-pointer. In four games, Scalabrine conceded just five baskets.

This full-scale domination isn't terribly surprising, because it really is amazingly difficult to play in the NBA for 11 seasons. Scalabrine managed to do so in part because he found a role as a good teammate, which made him more valuable than his talent may have suggested, but even then he was in competition with an exceedingly small group of potential employees. The idea that any random weekend warrior could challenge him is ridiculous.

We are only left to wonder why this challenge was necessary in the first place. For that, Scalabrine has to look at himself. While no fan should ever feel like he's on the same athletic plane as a professional athlete, the fact of the matter is that some pros embrace that image because it provides them new opportunities. Without it, Scalabrine probably never would have gotten his current job as an analyst for CSN New England. He deserves more respect than he's been given, but there are also identifiable reasons for why he doesn't always get it.

RAW FOOTAGE!!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHrz5Q29ECM&feature=player_embedded#!

* - sorry, that was the point at which the thread died, but unfortunately I CANT get it out my head when I see The Marine references.

I tried to block it out to keep the marine mystique afloat in my mind.

That made it waaaay better

nigga just gave up and joined in the party


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Young Broadway Star Urgently Needs a Bone Marrow Donor. Is it you? http://MatchShannon.com/







O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

REALLY believed everything he was saying. He had the perfect tone in everything he was saying that made it all seem like this was a dude that REALLY believed that his YMCA league could hang with pros. As soon as he posted that haiku line it made it obvious that he was playing along, and most likely the playing along didn't start at that point, but long before.

That's why people were calling for archive before that. At some point he had to have started playing along making up stuff, but he was doing it so well there wasn't a clear point that jumped out as "Oh, he gotta be making this up"...but he was posting so much that we knew at some point he'd slip and post something that was obviously fake. The haiku line was it.

Then he started playing along to save face.

especially where he didn't even start the post (we would've been clowning the OP had he not shown up).

the most sincere part was when he brought up that convo with his teammates where he talked about what OKS said and they chuckled at us like WE were the idiots.

>Then he started playing along to save face.

It was obvious that he was TRULY serious at the beginning, and also he had to have started playing along at some time. But what made that post special is that he did it so gradually and sincerely that you couldn't really point to one post he made and say "okay that's it, he's playing along and trolling at this point." It was honestly a perfect transition...he was clearly being real when he was talking about the all the players at the Y, and also when he started naming players they were better than like Telfair, Reddick, and Sean May. Dude even came back the next day and was still clearly being sincere, and kept making more and more outlandish claims.

He probably started playing around sometime around when people wanted to actually come through but he didn't want outsiders to come in. But there still wasn't something that jumped out as obviously fake until he dropped that haiku line.

You know what? eff it. I think I might agree with OE now - I'm rereading that joint and I think he actually WAS serious until that line. That ish is the greatest post in the history of the internet.

When people are like "he is sorry, I could beat him one on one," or "if only I trained I could ..."

No, he's not, no, you couldn't.

Most dudes who say that couldn't find a beatable opponent in womens college basketball.

Anybody who saw Scales in college knew he could whip any local yokel.

I used to hear that all through my 20's.

Uh...ok dude.

>Anybody who saw Scales in college knew he could whip any local
>yokel.

Anyone with a brain will say "Oh, he played 11 years in the NBA. He's gotta be amazing just to get there. I'm justgonna fall back now."

the CLEAR difference in technique between Scalabrine and his competition is his defensive technique -- his balance on defense, how he uses his hands, the way he slides and moves the player into places they don't want to be. he lets them move around a bit, but never move anywhere dangerous. and he starts out in some DEEP knee bends but towards the end he's clearly gassed a bit and not giving it everything, but *still* those dudes can't figure out what to do against him.

cool stunt. cool for Scalabrine to talk the shit then back it up.

they couldn't do anything when he gave them the Shaq boom boom in the post. Next time, pick on a man your own size. Even a scrub in the Association can score on a smaller player at will.

http://card.mygamercard.net/lastgame/rjcc.png

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

game, scales could score easily at will in the post.

Seeing a j.j. barea type cat would def be more entertaining bc there isn't the obvious size disparity. Of course, you'd expect jj or whatever G equivalent to scales is would still murk whoever.

he starts out every possession in the triple threat and utilizes that properly -- jab steps, pump fakes, then commits aggressively to the move he wants, either taking a hard first step left or right or rising up into a clean jumper.

his drives get him into the key every time, but 2 or 3 of the guys he plays have the strength to bother him down there, so then he has to go into the low-post routines, either giving them the up and under or occasionally the defender gets good enough position that Scales has to drop some footwork for the spinning fadeaway or spinning hook. his technique on all the moves is solid but he actually bricks a LOT.

but that's the thing -- even with every brick he has, he doesn't pay on the other side, because he's able to slide, keep balance, keep guys out of good positions in the key, and bother them with his length. I don't think he gets any steals but he TORTURES these dudes who are obviously drilled with playground (or possibly lower level comp) D. nobody really makes a clean shot on him, they're ALL having to go pretty deep into the bag to pull out shots but they're so bothered it doesn't matter they can't convert.

seriously -- I didn't do the math but it seemed like Scalabrine was shooting in the 40% or less range against these dudes. he gets inside, drops some obviously well-drilled footwork, then the ball skips off the rim (he starts cussing at himself towards the end because the 4th dude gets a 2-1 lead on him after a made prayer 2, and actually that's another funny part you can see has another level of focus where he's locked into competition and is only worried about how he's going to win, the other dudes have that "gee I'm playing Scales!" look on their face).

but yeah -- it's actually a pretty cool vid even though it's kinda just some playground shit. it's fun to see the difference in game between the pros and the joes.

yeah, no shit -- that's prolly why the NBA gave him a paycheck for 11 years.

I can't say the same against cats in the association.

but yeah, they all looked like they'd be pretty good on offense in a normal pick-up game, he just made them uncomfortable.

The Marine doesn't just put in work, he's the consummate teammate. And in more than just the laughing at Paul Pierce's jokes/noddin along when KG says he's gonna kill some fool way.

He don't have the ball IQ to sit at the
table


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Young Broadway Star Urgently Needs a Bone Marrow Donor. Is it you? http://MatchShannon.com/







O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

Til then , he's still got something to prove

dude's like a sniper in the grass.

.

Not asying that to shit on Scal by any means, I'm sure he would whoop me and most street ballers. But Boston clearly isn't offering much talent with these idiots airballing layups and shit

one of those "idiots" was a Syracuse recruit, obviously not any random scrub, but Scalz made him look like one.

it goes to show you how good Scalz is on the low. could you even crack a D3 roster?


>Not asying that to shit on Scal by any means, I'm sure he
>would whoop me and most street ballers. But Boston clearly
>isn't offering much talent with these idiots airballing layups
>and shit

1, 3, and 4 looked in better shape than Scal

Would I crack a D3 roster? LOL cmon man I played college ball, and I know Scal would probably cook me anyways, but these cats look SORRY AS HELL. Only dude who looked like he could play was the black dude...

random 12th man type NBA cats used to always be up in there
bodybagging everyone

didnt matter how good those dudes were
they were good for mortals

these dudes are pros

even random overseas dudes used to destroy in there and it was some really good comp

Ya'll stay twisting words

in Gardena (L.A.) and seeing him dominate, even 5-6 years after he was in the finals, was amazing. Because he was going at dudes who were stars in HS, but didn't have the grades or quite enough talent to play at UCLA/USC...some went to the Cal State's like Lucious did, but were bench players. Some played at the local Junior Colleges. But yeah, he'd really look like a STAR out there, to where you really felt he could average 12 pts a game if he had a chance.

ain't nobody playing D in pick-up ball, so if you give him daylight and that's a layup for him even if he's pushing 50. Shyt, Steve Kerr was still lighting up teams from the outside when he was on his last legs in the big leagues.

the first dude gave him the best game but he might have been just warming up

if you can't shoot, there is no point in implementing the triple treat.