The Playoff Action Continues

So I totally left the Knicks stuff hanging…Too bad we aren’t the Spurs.

True, the Knicks season survived, and it was an exciting afternoon, but Miami wasn’t going to keep playing around in Game 5.

As everyone expected, the Heat beat the Knicks down in South Beach to advance to the second round. The Knicks’ season was over. You know how the NBA Playoffs tagline is WIN OR GO HOME? Yeah, the NYK went home. Oh well. Once again, waiting for next year. Knicks fans are used to that.

With the Knicks out, I’m not as into the Playoffs as I wanted to be. I was really looking forward to the Thunder-Lakers series, but games from the Western Conference are late at night, and unfortunately, I just can’t fight my slumber. Actually, I probably could have tried harder…I don’t know why I didn’t.

The NBA is set for the Conference Finals now. The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Los Angeles Lakers in five games to match up against the undefeated San Antonio Spurs in the West. The Miami Heat took out the Indiana Pacers in six games and will play the Boston Celtics who ousted the Philadelphia 76ers in a Game 7 last night.

The action continues tonight with Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. The OKC Thunder will be visiting the Spurs. One of the best in the West are going to be adding a loss to their Playoffs record tonight. Should be a fun game.

Also, memes are fun–as long as they don’t take personal shots at players. I’ll admit the personal shots can be funny, but I feel bad for laughing sometimes…because believe it or not, NBA players and celebrities are people too.

And who really believes LeBron’s never getting a ring, anyway?

Happy One-Year Anniversary!

This thing called summer vacation made me forget my own anniversary of blogging life this past May 19, 2012.

I was planning to post exactly one year after Tip Off, but watching new episodes of Saturday morning shows, the old movie Dennis the Menace, and grabbing Fruity Yogurt with my cousins preoccupied me last week, causing me to subconsciously dismiss from my memory a previously-made intention to publish an anniversary post.

So, that’s what I’m doing today, one week late.

I really want to say thank you.

My subscribers are quite few, and actual readers are probably fewer, but they mean a lot to me. It means a lot that people took the time to type in their email addresses in the space on the right to follow my blog via email. It means a lot that people searched for “h2 hoops” on Google. It means a lot that people left comments, likes, and clicks. It means a lot that people read just one post, or two, or three. Thank you.

It’s been a fun year. I’ve truly enjoyed writing on H2 Hoops and occasionally on American Muslim Mom for my internship/job–where my unexpected love for transforming my scattered thoughts into cohesive reflective blog posts was first discovered. I like making a post look and sound nice, and I love getting feedback. It always makes my day when people tell me they read a post of mine.

Thanks for reading, readers.

This post has a semi-sad tone to it, and I don’t know why. I’m not planning on signing out of this WordPress World anytime soon. Maybe an exclamation point will help! And a smiley face! :)

The Knicks’ Season Survives

In my last post about the Knicks, I was hoping the boys in orange and blue were gonna pull off a miracle and steal Game 2 in Miami.

Unfortunately, the Knicks couldn’t snag the W; instead, they lost 104-94. After the game, Amar’e Stoudemire apparently punched the glass protecting a fire extinguisher out of frustration and cut his hand pretty badly, resulting in stitches and his sitting out in the Knicks’ Game 3 loss at home. Every Knick fan was like, “smh, bro.”

The NYK came into today’s Game 4 against the Miami Heat down 3-0, facing elimination from the playoffs. Losing would mean a second straight year of a Round 1 series sweep. It would also add on loss #13 to the longest losing streak in NBA Playoffs history.

The Knicks hadn’t won a playoff game in over 10 years, and many expected Miami to sweep them away today…including me. I found the first half to be extremely dull, but I was relieved the Knicks had at least kept the score close.

The game became significantly more entertaining during the second half. I was at the edge of my seat, throwing my hands in the air, fist pumping, and talking to the TV. It was fun to finally feel GOOD watching a Knicks playoff game.

What didn’t feel good was witnessing yet another injury causing a player to go down. Knicks’ guard Baron Davis was rolled off the court on a stretcher with a dislocated right patella in the third quarter. Davis’ knee injury added to his personal list of pains and the league’s as a whole. SO many guys are down and out: Iman Shumpert, Jeremy Lin, Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, Ricky Rubio, Wilson Chandler, Dwight Howard, Kendrick Perkins, and there’s definitely like 20 more players I’m forgetting…

While Davis lay on the stretcher, I actually gained an ounce of respect back for LeBron and D-Wade. They nudged Baron’s head and arm as a “Get well soon, Buddy” gesture. I really like good sportsmanship and people being kind to one another.

The crowd applauded Davis, and the game continued. The score remained close, fouls were committed, free throws were missed, free throws were made, triples were hit, timeouts were taken, and the score of 89-87 was finalized as Dwyane Wade’s jumper came up short.

The Knicks came away with the win–the playoff win–the first playoff win in 11 years and the first Knick playoff win I’ve ever seen live as a fan. It was a win that dodged death–the Knicks have lived to play another game.

So put the brooms back in the closet Miami, because the Knicks aren’t getting swept this year.

An Obligatory Reflective Post

Obligatory reflective post on my most recent semester at Rutgers in 3…2…1…GO!

My sophomore year in college is almost over. I’ve got one more paper left to write, and then I’m officially done. In terms of driving 20 minutes to and from New Brunswick, that was over yesterday.

Yup. Classes done. Exams done. All that stands in the way of my summer vacation is a 6-10 page research paper for my Development of Mass Media class. I’ve decided to write about Twitter. Because Twitter is fun. If I’m going to write a 6-10 page research paper on something, I want to enjoy researching the topic.

I kind of wish more stood in the way of my summer vacation, though. I love relaxing, but too much of it throws me off balance. I just don’t know what to do with myself sometimes, even though there’s a million things to do. SO many things to read and learn–about different cultures, historical events, articles in the news, how things work and function and survive. SO many people that need help–around the town, country, and world. SO many friends to visit, catch up with, and make new memories with. SO many good habits to develop–religiously, spiritually, and intellectually.

My list could go on forever.

When I think about the semester I’ve had, I feel truly blessed. I’ve learned so much inside the doors of my classrooms. I’ve been presented with numerous readings and lectures on the structure and content of the Hebrew Bible, Sufi theology and Sufi poetry overflowing with words of wisdom, scrupulous works of contemporary Muslim feminists, novels highlighting journalism at its finest, and articles time-lining the development of media.

I’ve learned a whole lot outside the classroom doors, too. I’ve conquered fears of driving in dark and crowded parking decks, interviewed “experts” in person for my articles, maintained relationships from semesters past, and had really genuine and nice conversations with really genuine and nice people.

So, looking back, I can’t help but laugh at the person I was when I wrote this post from December. I mean, this entire excerpt is still applicable, word-for-word:

“I really, really enjoyed these few months. My classes were educational and enlightening, and I met a bunch of fascinating and friendly people.”

But, if someone from the future was to visit my December 3, 2011 self and tell her that her fourth semester at RU was going to turn out the way it did, the following attitude would definitely have been more willing to embrace what was to come:

“Having to get used to a new semester all over again in January until that becomes normal just sounds like, you know, a task.”

I can now say, that task was one of the most wonderful tasks I ever had the pleasure of checking off of my to-do list.

That’s the funny the thing about the future. As much as it is at my fingertips, it’s still unknown. I guess if you were warned beforehand of all the curve-balls life was going to throw at you, it wouldn’t be as exciting to be up at bat.

That’s a pretty reflective post, right?

Rise Up NYK

It was a sad start to the 2012 NBA Playoffs this weekend…for me anyway.

I had some family gatherings to attend pretty much all of Saturday. Seeing my extended family was awesome–don’t get me wrong. But, sitting in the backseat of a Toyota Camry directing my mom to switch in between from 1050 ESPN Radio New York and 1040, which sometimes gives a better signal, was not my idea of watching Game 1 of the Knicks and Heat series. Plus the backseat makes me nauseous.

I didn’t expect to keep hearing the word “crush” to describe what was happening to the Knicks in the American Airlines Arena Saturday afternoon. I avidly checked Twitter for game updates while sitting in the car, unable to get to a TV set. When I saw the following tweet, I realized “crush” may have been used lightly.

RT @WindhorstESPN: Knicks need another basket to avoid all-time playoff scoring low of 67.

—
The NBA on ESPN (@NBAonESPN) April 28, 2012

What’s worse is that the Knicks’ defensive weapon, Iman Shumpert collapsed to the floor and tore his ACL, ending the rookie’s season. Chicago point guard Derrick Rose is also out for the rest of the playoffs with the same injury suffered in the Bulls’ Game 1 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.

Today, I found out LeBron James flopped all over the court in Saturday’s game–which made sense of the “Flop of the Night” TT on Twitter.

RT @imnotblakemeans: @HoopIdea LeBron with huuuuge flop! #FlopOfTheNight

—
  (@HoopIdea) April 28, 2012

I just saw the clips of LeFlop’s masterpieces from Saturday on the MSG Network’s pregame show, and I’m gonna jump on the Stop the Flop train. It’s disgusting. Cut the act, and play some ball.

With just under three minutes left in the first quarter of Game 2, New York trails Miami 18-14.

Good to see Tyson Chandler on the court. Carmelo Anthony is off to a better shooting start than Saturday, and Jeremy Lin said in an interview fans may see him suited up with the ball in his hands down the road in the first round.

Rise up NYK. Let’s do this.

Apparently, It’s April 20th

I cannot emphasize enough how much time freaks me out.

The Knicks are playing their fourth-to-last game right now. After tonight’s match against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Knickerbockers will only have three more games to play in the regular season. I know the season was shortened and everything, so that definitely made it feel like it passed by quicker, but like…still. And even though NBA Xmas felt like a long time ago, the months in between just flew.

Well, no. They didn’t fly, not like a bird anyway. More like flying at the speed of light. Does light fly? Travel? Travel. Because that makes sense.

What really gets to me though, is how little I accomplish in a given day. I know I have hours to get a set list of tasks done, so I will end up procrastinating  two hours before I have to get ready for school. Sure, there’s 10-20 minutes worth of focused work occurring in between the half-hours of pointless YouTube videos being watched before those two hours of panic hit, but there will always be leftover tasks on my list.

It’s sad, really. Time is such a precious thing, and to waste it…well, isn’t that sinful? I mean, if I wasn’t going to be spending that time doing work, I could have at least blessed my body with a couple more hours of sleep instead of battling my tiredness during my first two classes (which aren’t even early in the morning).

So with summer vacation approaching aka FOUR MONTHS OF FREE TIME, I need to set some goals. Real goals. My friend’s been telling me to write a bucket list, and I think I’ll do it. That, in addition to like just things I need to accomplish in the summer–like reorganizing everything in my room, reading some books, and setting some good religious habits again.

This video (YouTube’s not all bad, that’s for sure. If only I could just limit my viewing to my subscriptions…) shares a nice way to be on top of your productivity. I may take up the method this summer, and continue it during the school year if it proves successful.

So yeah. April has just 10 days remaining in it. This is only my first post for the month–even when there’s been PLENTY of exciting NBA news to write about like…

• The Knicks’ general roller-coaster of a season. Clinched the playoff berth last night, but are currently down 14 to the Cavs at the start of the fourth quarter.
• 15-5 record with interim head coach Mike Woodson, after Mike D’Antoni’s firing/resignation mid-March
• Melo’s second triple-double of his career, and recently explosive point performances
• Steve Novak’s position as the No. 1 three-point shooter in the game right now

That’s just some Knicks news within the week. There’s 29 other teams in the NBA, with a month’s worth of STUFF that’s happened. And I haven’t written about any of it. Sigh.

What is time?

Learning My Lesson

Lately, I’ve been receiving some very eye-opening messages. Some of them hit me like a ton of bricks–even though they are SO tiny. And since they are so small, I’m left wondering if I’ve completely overlooked some messages.

I should explain.

I tend to complain–a lot–about schoolwork. I’ll complain to my mom, my friends, Twitter. Whining never helps though; it just frustrates me (and probably the people around me) more about my workload. Actually, it’s one of my methods of procrastination.

Ehh, I don’t feel like doing my work right now…let me just complain about how much I have to get done instead of doing it.

Asking for help, I should clarify, is different. I’ll explain a dreaded assignment to my sisters, expecting their responses to ignite inside me a very much needed inspiration. Hope isn’t something I need– I know I’ll eventually finish. It’s just a matter of getting motivated enough to start, continue, and complete.

But anyway, back to those special messages. The past few months, very often when I begin to complain about an assignment, an exam, blah blah, something happens to make it easier.

A paper…

For example, a couple weeks back, I had the heaviest workload I can remember in a single week. For my Sufism class, I had to write a paper. My professor gave us three topics to choose from, and I had decided on topic #2.

I was dreading it. I had so many resources to look at and read through, and I felt like I had no significant knowledge to even make a mental outline. This paper was due the week before my spring break, in addition to another paper, three midterms, and a quiz–all due/taking place in three consecutive days.

So I looked back to the sheet with the topics before I officially set my brain to write-a-paper-mode and discovered topic #1 was significantly easier. I had a good idea about that paper’s background info and even had an argument in mind! I thought, “Wow, God sure has a way of doing things.”

A novel…

I had to read almost an entire novel (I was about 50 pages into a ~250-page book…my fault–procrastination) for one of my midterms, and I was stressing out. The book was great, and I knew that, but 150 more pages to read in a single night AND absorb the info seemed impossible. I was not motivated at all, and complained to Twitter.

Within seconds–like literally two seconds–I realized that all I have to do is enjoy reading this good book. I’m not reading it for my midterm; I’m just reading a good book tonight called Having Our Say. The stress pretty much melted away. I would read a little and sleep a little, but I finished the book and got full points for that question on my midterm, Alhamdulillah.

And, another paper.

Most recently– I have a paper due tomorrow for my Development of Mass Media class. It was assigned long ago and only needs to be three pages long, but I just wasn’t feeling it. I rarely take good notes in that class due to my professor’s uploading of her Power Points online. Today, I checked the online course site for the recent slides to get some information for my paper and saw she hadn’t yet uploaded any of the presentations from March.

Really, Prof? You’re making time to upload our readings and not the lecture slides? You couldn’t have at least told us so we’d take better notes to prevent ourselves from being screwed for the paper?

And right after I decided not to tweet a 140-character version of the above complaint, I clicked on one of the Power Points my professor uploaded from earlier in the semester. It was exactly what I needed for my paper.

SubhanAllah.

These are just three times I’ve received these messages. It’s happened a LOT more, and I’m sure these messages will keep coming.

I’m trying to learn my lesson: Stop complaining. Open your eyes, even just a little, and the realization will come–it’s really not that bad. Log off Twitter and YouTube, be grateful, say Bismillah, and get your work done.

The Death of All Things Fun

I guess it’s that time of the semester again–time to freak out. Please, excuse me for this: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHASDFGHJKL;OMGWAT

Last year, my Intro to Media Systems and Processing professor would always keep us students up to date on, well, dates. He’d say things like,

“Hey! Two weeks from tomorrow–SPRING BREAK! And three weeks after you get back, you get to register for classes next semester!”

That’s not exactly what he said (I guess I’m tainting the sacredness that is a quotation–but whatever), in terms of the numbers, but that’s the message he was always reminding us of. This semester, I don’t have that reminding professor, but I figured the time lapse between spring break and the day to register would be the same.

So today, I checked to see if I could start planning course schedules. I tried a couple times a few weeks back, and it was kind of a relief that the Fall 2012 semester wasn’t available yet. But today–today, it was available.

I freaked out to say the least. My heart started pounding as I shakily moved my index finger on the trackpad to check what classes I needed to register for and how many credits I needed for my majors.

Some classes are “open to juniors and seniors only.” I’ve naturally been ignoring those for the past three semesters, but it hit me today–next year, those classes will be available to me because I won’t be a sophomore anymore. I’ll be a junior next semester, God-willing.

AND THAT FREAKS ME OUT.

Because after junior year is senior year, and at the end of senior year (where some of my friends are at right now) is graduation. STINKING GRADUATION FROM COLLEGE. You know what’s after that? Real. Life.

If the next three and a half semesters go by as quickly as the past three and a half, I don’t know what I will do with myself. I hate how time flies. Time shouldn’t fly when you’re having fun because then the fun passes by quicker. Time should go by really slow when fun is being had because then it’s as if the fun is never-ending.

I want the fun times to last forever, not fly by. Not that life after college is the Death of All Things Fun or something, but I’m having fun in the Right Now. And I want to stay in the Right Now forever.

I like to believe that I will get over this anxiety soon, in an attempt to keep my head on straight. I mean, I’ve always felt like this–when I was in ninth grade observing the eleventh graders studying their physics book, I thought to myself, “Wow, I’m glad I’m not them. I’ll never be able to do that.”

I also never imagined I would be able to drive home all by myself in the dark from college like my older siblings did.

But I did do it. I passed that class. And the class after that. And I passed my classes during my first three and a half semesters at college from which I drove myself back home in the dark.

No matter how nervous I get, I know that:

“God does not impose upon any soul a duty but to the extent of its ability” (Qur’an 02:286).

Alhamdulillah. He’s gotten me this far, after all.

It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Today is just one of those (awesome) days. It’s March 8th–technically still winter–and it’s 64 degrees outside. The wind is blowing my scarf over my face, the sun is shining, and it’s a beautifully simple feel-good day.

The first half of the semester is coming to an end as spring break starts tomorrow for many and today for those who have the pleasure of free Fridays.

I’m going to publish a post with more substance in a few days, God willing. I find it slightly difficult writing a thorough and thought-provoking post from the WordPress app on my phone.

Exams done, papers done. Two more enjoyable classes before I can call it a school week.

2012 NBA All-Star Weekend

All-Star Weekend has officially come to an end. (Well, there’s an encore presentation playing on TNT right now…but that’s a replay)

So, let’s break it down.

Friday

BBVA Rising Stars Challenge. MVP Kyrie Irving (who is MY AGE…mind blown) and Team Chuck got the win. Not much defense–but that’s a commonality every year when All-Star Weekend comes around. Still, an entertaining game that gave fans the opportunity to witness the great youngsters in the L. Check out the awesome mini-movie by NBA covering the players’ good times:

Saturday

• Haier Shooting Stars Competition: Team New York consisting of Allan Houston, Landry Fields, and Cappie Pondexter brought the trophy to the Big Apple.
• Taco Bell Skills Challenge: Tony Parker, who commentators called the most underrated point guard in the NBA, proved his veteran worth against all the fresh, young talent.
• Foot-Locker Three-Point Contest: Big man Kevin Love brought home the trophy.
• All these All-Star Saturday events build up to the most anticipated event of the night, the Sprite Slam Dunk Competition.

Sprite Slam Dunk Competition

This year, the rules for the Dunk Contest were a little different. In the past, a panel of judges would score the four contestants on their first two dunks–the two players with the highest scores would move onto the next and final round. The finalists would perform two more dunks, and then fans would start texting and clicking in their votes for the winner. However, for 2012 in Orlando, each contestant performed three dunks, judges were completely eliminated, and fans voted throughout the competition for the final winner. Fans have a bad reputation for screwing up results when it comes to voting.

The Contestants

• Chase Budinger of the Houston Rockets: dressed up like Billy from White Men Can’t Jump, Budinger rehearsed a dunk with P. Diddy. He also slammed a reverse dunk completely blindfolded.
• Jeremy Evans of the Utah Jazz: Last-minute replacement for New York Knicks rookie Iman Shumpert who had to pass on the competition to tend to an injury. Evans wasn’t a favorite of mine, but I give him mad props for completing the dunk with two balls passed to him by teammate Gordon Haywood. He ended up winning with 29 percent of the votes.
• Paul George of the Indiana Pacers: seemed to be the favorite. I thought he was the most creative– jumping over two men, one a 7-ft, 2 in. teammate & performing a dunk with all the lights off in a glow-in-the-dark uniform. George Legacy; The Human Glow-Stick.
• Derrick Williams of the Minnesota Timberwolves came onto the court riding a motorcycle and continued to dunk over it. On his second, he took the pass from teammate Ricky Rubio off the side of the backboard, slightly reminiscent of Andre Iguodala’s dunk from 2006.

The NBA uploaded another praiseworthy video summing up Saturday’s moments to remember:

Sunday

The mid-season break means All-Stars put on a show sharing the same court. The 61st annual NBA All-Star Game was a high-scoring one per usual, but Team East, who had been trailing the entire game cut it close in the fourth quarter. They were unable to overcome Team West however who was led by MVP Kevin Durant, who scored 36 points.

Kobe Bryant, although suffering a bloody nose from a foul committed by D-Wade, moved ahead of Michael Jordan to claim the title of all-time leading scorer in All-Star Game history.

LeBron James led the East, also with 36 points, and Melo along with 19 points and 9 boards showed off some of his defensive skill:

It’s been a great weekend, Alhamdulillah. Time for the Knicks and the rest of the NBA teams to head back home and prepare for the second half of the season.