Lifetime achievements awards behind this season's All-Star snubs
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02/10/2012 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - For the most part, the NBA's coaches do an outstanding job picking the reserves for the NBA All-Star Game.
With so few slots available there are always a number of players who are going to feel slighted but you can almost always defend the ones picked. That changed a bit this time around with three big names selected that have no business being in Orlando in late February.
Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki, Boston's Paul Pierce and the Suns' Steve Nash will all be enshrined in Springfield one day but their selection as All-Star reserves this season smacked as more of a lifetime achievement award and was a direct slap in the face to players like Kyle Lowry, Rudy Gay, Josh Smith and Danny Granger.
In the West, the 33-year-old Nowitzki, who has struggled with conditioning and a balky knee in this lockout-shortened season, is arguably having his worst campaign as a professional. Despite his travails, Nowitzki was humbled by the respect he received.
"I am really excited to make the All-Star Team this year," Nowitzki said. "It was a tough road back to full health for me, but I am honored that the coaches thought enough of me to make me an All-Star. It has been a privilege to represent the Mavericks organization over the last decade and I look forward to doing it again in Orlando."
Nash, who turned 38 earlier this week and is as crafty as ever, becomes just the fourth player in NBA history to earn an All-Star selection at 38 or older, joining a Hall of Fame club that includes only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan and Karl Malone.
He's also got some solid numbers and is currently enjoying the best statistical season for a point guard 38-or-older, averaging 15.1 points and an NBA-best 10.0 assists entering play tonight. However, Nash pilots a team that is just 11-15 and is a major liability at the defensive end.
TNT aired the All-Star reserves selection show and a number of its analysts were up in arms over the picks of Nowitzki and Nash, former teammates in Dallas as well as past NBA MVPs.
"Clearly, we gave Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki a lifetime achievement award," Charles Barkley said. "Kyle Lowry should've been an All-Star. I'm rewarding Kyle Lowry. No disrespect for Steve Nash."
"Rudy Gay is the biggest snub [in the West]," the Hall of Famer added.
Cross over to the East and Pierce, who has come on a bit lately, even admitted surprise to TNT's Craig Sager when he was selected. In fact, most thought if Boston was going to have an All-Star this season, it would be point guard Rajon Rondo, the team's one ascending player.
"I would've liked to see my man Rondo on there" former C's big man Shaquille O'Neal said. "Rondo is still the best point guard in the game. He's the best true point guard in the game."
Barkley concurred: "Paul Pierce is a great player but he did not deserve to be on the team."
Chris Webber took to social media and Twitter to make the case for the Hawks' Smith:
"Josh smith. Call 911.You got robbed. No mask no gloves- its fingerprints- all over the place call first 48-no call Atlanta CSI- Call the FBI," the former All-Star Tweeted.
Kenny Smith was similarly perplexed with who wasn't on the team.
"The contributions from Danny Granger and Josh Smith, when the game is on the line, have been well above some of the other guys," the former point guard said.
What makes the selections of Nowitzki, Nash and Pierce so puzzling is that the coaches didn't rely solely on reputation. There were five first time All-Stars selected in Chicago's Luol Deng, Philadelphia's Andre Iguodala, Indiana's Roy Hibbert, Portland's LaMarcus Aldridge and the Grizzlies' Marc Gasol.
"I could not be more proud of Andre Iguodala for being recognized as an All- Star," said Sixers coach Doug Collins. "Andre has meant so much to the success of our team this season and he is one of the most talented, unselfish players I have ever had the opportunity to coach."
In the grand scheme of things, the actual NBA All-Star Game, like all the rest in professional sports, is meaningless. The honor, as you can see by Collins' reaction to Iggy's place on the team, remains anything but.
Being named an All-Star is still a major deal for NBA players, whether it's a veteran on the downside of a spectacular career like Nash, or a first-timer like Iguodala and Company.
Missing the cut, meanwhile, is often a tough pill to swallow, especially when All-Star appearances don't dot the resume on a yearly basis.
There's no guarantee players like Lowry or Smith will ever be back at the precipice again, making their neglect by the coaches harder to understand and defend.
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Lifetime achievement awards behind this season's All-Star snubs >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - For the most part, the NBA's coaches do an
outstanding job picking the reserves for the NBA All-Star Game.
With so few slots available there are always a number of players who are going
to feel slighted bu
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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.
No. 1 always seems to fit USC.
Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.
Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.
Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.
"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."
Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.
"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."
The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.
"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."
Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.
"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"
USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.
"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."
While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.
As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.
But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.
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The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.
The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.
The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.
No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.
Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.
Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.
Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.
The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.
South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.
The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.
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