Can't Ban the Snowman: The Legend of Tony Snow

[chosenone58]

Very dope Instagram post. I’d follow him if I could

Nike showing love to the boy

[chosenone58]

Miami Heat: All Business

MIAMI - Last season, the Miami Heat were able to give Dwyane Wade the perfect send off after winning a championship. There was some skepticism about what would happen this year, as more teams were able to game plan better for the last year’s rookie sensation, Antonio Snow. Would they play as well as they did last year?

They actually played better. 16 wins better. And those wins were, more often than not, fueled by this year’s scoring leader, Antonio Snow.

“Oh, I know there were doubters. I like to say I don’t take things personally, but I do. I was told by my mentor that every game his goal was to make guys want to rethink their career choice every time he stepped between those four lines. I internalized that.”

Not only did Snow prove that his winning Rookie of the Year and MVP last season was not a fluke by averaging nearly 10 more points per game this season than last, but he also led the league in assists, finishing with 9.3 dimes a game. He played so well, in fact, he was named MVP for the second consecutive season, becoming the 12th player in NBA history to win the trophy back-to-back.

“It’s been all about taking care of business from day one for these guys,” said Erik Spoelstra.

From the season opening blowout win over the Charlotte Hornets after receiving their championship rings, to the season ending blowout win over the Orlando Magic, the Miami Heat have been all business. They dominated the league this season, finishing with a franchise best 72 wins, beating out the previous franchise record of 66 wins set by the 2012-13 Heat team on their way to their second title. At one point, the Heat appeared to be on track for a league best record, they had only 8 losses on March 26th before picking up the 9th loss two nights later at the hands of the Houston Rockets.

“It was fun, but we’re only focused on one thing,” said Carmelo Anthony. He has been a mentor to Miami’s young trio of Snow, Mikal Bridges and Josh Richardson. He averaged 7.6 points per game this season off the bench. Anthony announced his retirement mid-season and he is looking to go out with another championship. “What good is winning 75-games if you don’t take home the Larry O’Brien at the end?”

Miami is definitely locked in for the post season. They have every intention of finishing this season in the same manner they finished the last.

[chosenone58]

[chosenone58]

NOTES & QUOTES

Heat Starting Five: Antonio Snow, Mikal Bridges, Josh Richardson, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Hassan Whiteside

Summary: The Irving-Snow match-up is back on. Game 1 went to Antonio Snow on the stat sheet and on the scoreboard. Orlando had the opportunity to take this game, but any edge that might have had was snatched away by a determined Miami Heat team. The first quarter was closely played with Miami having a 2-point lead. Antonio Snow found himself in early foul trouble and sat for most of the second quarter as Orlando pushed their lead to 17 points by halftime.

Snow played beside Tony Parker at the shooting guard position as he helped tie the game at 77 with 5:56 left in the fourth quarter. Miami continued to let Snow do what he does best as he scored Miami’s last ten points of the quarter.

Antonio Snow on early foul trouble: It’s part of the game. I was upset about it, because if we lost this game it was going to be my fault. I can’t help the team from the bench. So, I begged coach to let me back on the floor.

Erik Spoelstra on Snow’s foul trouble: We are way better with him than without him. He knows that. The team knows that. He promised he would be on his best behavior, and he was. He had three fouls in the second quarter, and he finished the game with three fouls.

Antonio Snow on 50 points: The win was always at the forefront of my mind. I always want the win, but when I can get it with a little flair, it’s different.

Kyrie Irving on his performance: I sucked. This was not good. We had a chance to put this game away and we didn’t do that. As a leader on this team, that’s on me.

Top Performers
Orlando Magic
Aaron Gordon – 23 PTS, 6 REB, 2 STL
Kyrie Irving – 18 PTS, 5 REB, 6 AST
Willie Reed – 12 PTS, 7 REB, 2 AST


Miami Heat
Antonio Snow – 50 PTS, 3 REB, 2 AST
Thaddeus Young – 11 PTS, 6 REB
Hassan Whiteside – 9 PTS, 13 REB, 2 AST

[chosenone58]

[kibaxx7]

What a comeback. 50-piece!!!

[Agent]

How they got my guy Kyrie

[chosenone58]

What a comeback. 50-piece!!!

This game was a grind, but the Snowman did his thing.

How they got my guy Kyrie

He was feeling himself. Snow had to shut that down.

[chosenone58]

Rookie Mistake

I thought I saw her there, but I wasn’t sure. But now that I am pulling up to my building, I see that it is indeed a real thing. Her Honda Civic is parked in the visitors parking at the front of the building. I take a deep breath before flashing my lights twice. She gets in my car, and I drive into the parking garage. Neither of us says anything until we enter my condo.

“You want something to drink?”

“Water if you have it.” She looks around my place. I’m not sure what she’s expecting to see. Nothing has really changed since she gave back the keys five months ago.

“The kitchen is in the same place. You can grab it yourself. I’m gonna put my bags up.”

I take my time putting my gear away. I hear her moving around the kitchen. It’s weird having her here. Familiar, but still different, I guess. I hate to admit it, but I’ve been hoping that she would come back. Maybe tonight is the start of that. I head back into the living room and I see that she’s taken a seat on the couch. She’s sitting with one leg curled underneath her. The sight looks familiar. Right.

“I’m surprised that you're still in town. Don’t you have class tomorrow?”

“I don’t have any classes on Monday, so I’m actually flying back tomorrow afternoon.”

“And you chose to spend your last night of Spring Break in town at a basketball game?”

“Playoff game,” she said with a smile. “My dad invited me to stay and watch the game and I am glad that I did. You looked great out there.”

Even after everything that went on between us, I still leave two tickets for her dad in case he ever wants to catch a game. I've seen him a few times.

“Just doing what I do.”

“I actually forgot how well you do it.”

“Is that right?"

“Yeah.”

“You know I saw you, but I wasn’t sure if it was you. When coach pulled me after that third foul and I was walking to the bench, I thought I saw you.”

“I didn’t even see you glance my way.”

“I thought I was tripping, so I didn’t look that way for the rest of the night.”

“But you played like you knew I was watching,” she said with a smirk. “You dropped fifty tonight! That’s major, Antonio.”

I couldn’t fight the smile on my face. We got the win and my girl was there to see it. Starting to feel like old times.

I stood up from the couch and winced a little as pain began to move through my legs. They were still a little tight from the game, but I guess with all the adrenaline I wasn’t paying much attention to it.

“You okay?” She looked concerned.

“Yeah, I’m good. Muscles are a little sore that’s all. Didn’t really want to take an ice bath after the game. Fifty points is hard work.”

She patted the couch cushion. “Sit back down.”

When I did, she grabbed my leg and pulled it across her lap. She started to massage my calf muscle. She worked her way from my calves to my lower thigh. I was trying to be cool. There wasn’t anything sexual about it, but I have seen her naked so, it was kind of hard not to imagine…

Her hands continued to travel a little higher and then drift towards the part of me that I was trying to keep under control. She brushed her hand over it, causing me to tense up a little, then reached for my other thigh and started to massage it. The smirk on her face told me that she knew what I was thinking.

“Why are you being weird?” She smiled, teasing me.

“I’m not being weird. You’re being weird.”

“Feeling better?”

“Much.” I flinched and grabbed her hand when she hit a particularly sore spot. There was a nice sized bruise there. She stopped for a second and then brushed her lips across the spot on my leg. The action felt familiar. Right. I leaned forward and tilted her chin up to look at me and I kissed her. I kissed her like I never wanted to let her go. And deep down, I didn’t.

When we finally broke apart for air, she looked me in the eyes and asked one question. “Where’s Nico?”

It made me laugh. She was always weird about having sex with him in the house. Like he was going to walk in on us and be scarred for life.

“He and Tyrus have a research project due in the morning, so he went over there after the game to finish it.”

I looked at her lips and then back into her eyes. I stood from the couch and reached for her hand, leading her to my bedroom.

“How are your legs?”

“I’ll let you tell me afterwards.”

#########################################

The next morning, I rolled over and woke up to an empty bed. My place was quiet. Too quiet. Like empty quiet. I didn’t hear the shower running and I didn’t smell any bacon frying.

I walked around and found that my condo was completely empty. It’s like she was never even here. The glass that she used last night had been cleaned and placed beside the sink. She was definitely here. She said she was leaving later this afternoon, so there wasn’t a need for her to rush out of here. I went in search of my cell phone because I wanted some answers.

I found it between the sofa cushions. Before I could get to my text messages, there was a knock at my door. Maybe she went to get breakfast, I thought to myself. But when I opened it, it wasn’t Eva on the other side. It was Dani.

“Hey, handsome.” She leaned in and pecked me on the cheek.

“Did we have plans today?”

“Nothing major. I just thought since I wasn’t able to make it to the game last night, we could have a celebratory breakfast this morning.” It was then that I noticed she was holding a large, insulated food bag. “I texted you after the game. And I sent you another one on my way over.”

I looked down at my phone. Sure enough, there was a text from Dani about breakfast. Then a text from me confirming and telling her to hit me up in the morning. Followed by another this morning saying she’d be at my place in an hour.

“I thought we were going to meet up some place.” I lied. Whenever she had the opportunity to actually cook for me, she did. We rarely went to restaurants. We hadn’t seen each other in a few weeks because we were grinding out the last few games of the season and her food truck was keeping her busy. So, she never really stressed me about us not spending a lot of time together. I took the bag from her and brought it into the kitchen.

While she was setting the table, I decided to go in my room and make a quick call. The phone rang twice and went to voicemail. Eva was ignoring my calls. I tried again. Two rings. Voicemail. Then I got a text notification.

Last night was fun, but it looks like you had plans for this morning.

I’ve gotta change the lock code on my phone from her birthday.

[chosenone58]

Top Performers
Orlando Magic
Kyrie Irving – 31 PTS, 3 REB
Aaron Gordon – 14 PTS, 8 REB
Markelle Fultz – 8 PTS, 3 REB, 2 AST


Miami Heat
Antonio Snow – 35 PTS, 2 REB, 16 AST
Hassan Whiteside – 16 PTS, 18 REB, 2 BLK
Mikal Bridges – 11 PTS, 7 REB, 2 STL