Chicago Bulls coach, Tom Thibodeau (source):

Granmama, Larry Johnson (source):

We've featured various NBA stars here in the past, teaching English basketball-related phrases for English Baby!. Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic is the latest player to help out the English-learning masses with this clip, talking about slang for shot-blocking.

Superman 2.0's natural personality comes across in this video and he even shows off some of his Mandarin-speaking skills that he learnt whilst in China.

Other English Baby! stars we've featured previously:

Zydrunas Ilgauskas

Rip Hamilton and Carmelo Anthony

You can check out others, such as Yi Jianlian, Al Horford, Zaza Pachulia, Danny Granger, Channing Frye and Juwan Howard here at English Baby!

This dunk is simply ridiculous.

Owen Good, over at Kotaku, has an interesting piece on the surprising resurgence of popularity in NBA 2K11. 

At first blush it doesn’t seem to stand out: NBA 2K11 cracked the top 20 of most played titles on the Xbox 360 for the week of Jan. 16. But when you peel it back, that’s actually quite astonishing, to see an old version of a sports video game resurface more than 15 months after its release.

Surprising it is, although not altogether unbelievable. 

Whilst the guys at 2K Sports would be happy with this increased shelf-life of an old title, it may cast unfavourable aspersions on their newer NBA 2K12 hoops game.

As Good points out, there could be a few factors at play here:

• The "Jordan Challenge" mode on NBA 2K11 was extremely popular and emblematic in hoops games in recent times;
• There have been problems with the 2K12 multiplayer mode;
• Simply, the price of an older title is always cheaper after reductions come into shops;
• A case of possible confusion, when people look at the similar Jordan cover of the 2K11/2K12 titles. Irregular sports gamers can be confused by the naming conventions on yearly release sports games.

The other thing is, there has been some negative sentiment with regard to the playability of 2K12 amongst some gamers. Many will claim that 2K11 is simply "too hard" which is often put off as "game play problems" amongst those that are struggling to play a tightly controlled simulation. For the casual gamers -- those more inclined toward the likes of NBA JAM -- a sports sim can be too full-on sometimes. And often, you will simply play the game that your friends are playing, thus leading to a return to the more favoured NBA 2K11.   

Whatever the reason, it's an interesting set of circumstances to see in play.

(photo courtesy of @AndrewMBogut on twitter)

Unfortunate news for Andrew Bogut and the Milwaukee Bucks as the star big man went down with an ankle injury nine minutes into their victory over the Houston Rockets yesterday.

Our hearts go out to Bogey. Ankle injuries are one of the most unavoidable aspects of basketball -- they can happen even when you're not in a highly tense contest. This one has put Bogut out "indefinitely". The most likely beneficiary of additional minutes will be Drew Gooden.

You can see how it happened 20 seconds into this match recap:

Inexplicably, Bogut is reporting receiving hated-filled negativity via twitter following the injury. The wonders of the cranially-bereft on the internet will never cease, will they?

The fracture to his ankle puts Bogut's preparations for the London 2012 Olympics with the Australian Boomers in doubt. A key focal point of the Boomers offence and defence, along with point guard Patty Mills, the absence of Bogut would mean a huge drop in the projected rankings for the Aussies. That said, with six months today until the Games start, there is time for recovery.

There is always going to be some rivalry when the Clippers and Lakers match up in a Los Angeles cross-town duel. And of course, there is always that thing that a lot of American players seem to have against Spaniards and other "Euro floppers". So, when things got heated at the end of this Lakers victory, it's no wonder that Chris Paul over-reacted to a good natured Pau Gasol rub on the head.

Watch the video and see what you think...

And this is what the two players had to say after the game, courtesy of the Los Angeles Times:

What do you think? Did CP3 over-react, or did he have a right to be angry about this gesture?

Note: Sometimes life gets a bit busy and it takes a while to get things posted. But here it is!

Friday night saw the Perth Wildcats visit the Kingdome in Sydney. The Sydney Kings team that met them was different to that which has appeared in other lacklustre performances earlier in the season, going down by a mere point in what was an impressive encounter.

What did we learn from this game?

If you know Japanese manga or anime, you've heard of SLAM DUNK. The manga (comics) were serialised in Japan from 1990 to 1996 and focus on the story of the high school basketball team in Shohoku. The series, which was also adapted into an anime (animated) series, has been immensely popular, both in Japan and worldwide.

The author, Takehiko Inoue, was even awarded a special commendation by the Japan Basketball Association for helping to popularise basketball in Japan.

Due to my love for both art and basketball (and my secret devotion to manga/anime), I've long intended to write about SLAM DUNK here. Now my hand has been forced by this awesome effort made by students at the National Taiwan University of Arts, who put together a frame-by-frame remaking of the opening sequences of the SLAM DUNK anime series.

Check out the video:

(h/t: Kotaku and Jose Tanako)

Former NBA and FIBA great, Vlade Divac is currently in Australia and today visited the Sydney Kings. A great humanitarian, Divac is spreading the word about his charity "Fondacija Ana i Vlade Divac" which seeks to alleviate the plight of refugees who have lost their homes due to war. You can read more about the foundation at the official website. 

In this video, the former Los Angeles Lakers, Sacramento Kings and Charlotte Hornets star talks to Sydney Kings GM David Wolf about his time in the NBA, how he felt when he was traded for Kobe Bryant, his late friend Drazen Petrovic and the fact that he will be visiting Andrew Gaze in Melbourne.

More photos from the visit on the Sydney Kings Facebook page.

BONUS: Here is the photo from when I met Vlade at Istanbul airport in 2010, after he had been inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame... he was looking slightly more tired at this point. But he still posed for a photo, poor fella!

• Boti Nagy of the Adelaide Advertiser describes how the Adelaide 36ers killed off their slim Finals hopes in one play:
  
  Import Andrew Warren, who had carved up the Sixers in Cairns' previous 72-67 win in Adelaide, had been well contained to two points when he saw daylight with 3:43 left.
  
  Daniel Johnson and Everard Bartlett rushed at him and fouled as his three-point basket swished, giving him a bonus free throw.
  
  Sixers coach Marty Clarke remonstrated with the officials, only to have his team smacked with a bench technical foul.
  
  That meant an additional two free throws to the Taipans, plus a sideline possession.
  
  Warren calmly potted his bonus free throw, then Jamar Wilson - who killed the 36ers with 25 points and four assists - stepped up to stick two more.
  
  On the additional possession, Aaron Grabau swished a three-point basket at 3:22 left, meaning effectively, in 21 seconds, Cairns had gone from 66-66 to 75-66.
  
  Ball game.
  
  It was an unforgivable moment of ill discipline which leaves the 36ers' season languishing on a 5-12 record and the team currently arguably the worst in the league.
   
• So, somewhat unsurprisngly, Ayinde Ubaka has joined the Wollongong Hawks after his axing by the Melbourne Tigers. Asa Schuster caught up with the new import in the Gong to see what he thinks of his new home and their upcoming matchup with the Tigers:
  
  
  
  As Ubaka tweeted, it's #TimeForTheGong.
  
  
• NBA, International and European basketball legend Vlade Divac visited the Sydney Kings today to pass on some words of wisdom. Check out the pictures here on facebook.