The NBA Moves One Step Closer to H-O-R-S-E
Believe it or not, but the NBA actually listens to its fans.
Fantastic news: After years and years of people begging for it, the NBA has finally decided to try it out. The League is experimenting with H-O-R-S-E during All-Star Weekend, and NDBL players are serving as the guinea pigs. Hopefully, they won’t screw this up.
From True Hoop’s Henry Abbott:
I talked to the head of the NBA’s D-League, Dan Reed, today (more on that later), and he told me the excellent news that this All-Star Weekend’s Friday night festivities will include a D-League H-O-R-S-E competition.
An official role of the D-League is to experiment with things the NBA is considering doing.
While this is certainly a step in the right direction, I’m a little apprehensive. Unless the right people are playing it, H-O-R-S-E can be extremely tedious to watch. You need to get guys who absolutely love this kind of stuff and would actually take it seriously (Gilbert Arenas, anyone?).
A shame Pistol Pete isn’t still around to show everyone how to do it.
38 Responses to “The NBA Moves One Step Closer to H-O-R-S-E”
Jan.17 at 11:01 am
Russ Bengtson says:
Between this and the Patriots, Bill Simmons is going to have a stroke.
Jan.17 at 11:05 am
Tarzan Cooper says:
this should be interesting at the least.
Jan.17 at 11:08 am
Russ Bengtson says:
NBA teams should intentionally send down non-All-Stars to have ringers. “Wait, Ray Allen’s in the D-League?”
Jan.17 at 11:12 am
Jukai says:
Oh my goodness, I hope Josh McRoberts competes in this.
Jan.17 at 11:16 am
Tom says:
that pistol pete link was gold mutoni.
Jan.17 at 11:27 am
white hot eboy says:
Who gives a fu*k. I’d rather see a SLAM staff H.O.R.S.E game, to be honest.
Jan.17 at 11:37 am
TADOne says:
Rasheed needs to be in this.
Jan.17 at 11:47 am
Captain America says:
I’m less dubious. The All Star thingy gets stall easy. Therefore, more experimentation is a good thing. HORSE looks like a quick win. Everyone knows how it is played. The competition should be fierce.
Jan.17 at 11:55 am
Tom says:
if they really wanted to make it exciting they’d have to DL players go 1 on 1 with a 10 days contract at stake
Jan.17 at 11:59 am
Russ Bengtson says:
Coincidentally, today Starbury is one step closer to the glue factory.
Jan.17 at 12:04 pm
whooo! says:
i like the idea cuz you can say, ‘d-league sucks,’ but you know that their are good guys out there who are gonna kill for the chance at the type of national attention of the nba asg. i think it should be good, and why criticize em for actually TRYING to change things up, rather than continue complaining that the asg is whack like some ppl always do.
Jan.17 at 12:08 pm
Sizzle says:
nice idea to put it into the all-star weekend
but it would be even better if absolut shooting-duds like ben wallace etc would take part
Jan.17 at 12:15 pm
Randy Brown says:
DO NOT WANT
I don’t think the NBA has the right players to make this entertaining (besides Gil of course). I do hope participants can draft in other players as human props. Then someone can try the ‘making a layup while making Tim Duncan smile’ shot
Jan.17 at 12:19 pm
bobby stew says:
5 best NBA guys for a H-O-R-S-E game
Gilbert Arenas
-Kobe Bryant-
Eddie House-
Jamal Crawford-
Steve Nash
Jan.17 at 12:21 pm
Jukai says:
Is dunking allowed? Cause then Shaq could probably beat Tony Parker.
Jan.17 at 12:26 pm
Sizzle says:
no! it´s boring watching guys hit shot after shot, the best line-up would be shaq, big ben, adonal foyle, ericka dampier & the frenchman tony parker but i have another idea, what about shoot-out from the charity-stripe with these guys! lol
Jan.17 at 12:39 pm
BETCATS says:
Gilbert Arenas, Tracy McGrady, Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson, Nate Robinson. THE ULTIMATE HORSE GAME
Jan.17 at 12:51 pm
FLUD says:
Wasn’t the Birdman canned for playin’ a little horse or somethin? Sarah Jessica Parker’s face would win a game of HORSE against anybody.
Jan.17 at 12:59 pm
Kihwan says:
I think this has disaster written all over it. It’s only going to be interesting if the contestants try wacky shots from crazy spots on the floor. Who wants to watch a dude shoot a regular jump shot? So if guys try crazy, difficult shots, in all likelihood, there will be some misses and that’ll kill the momentum of the game. Think back to the dunk contest. Nate’s between the legs dunk would have been cool if it didn’t take him 64 tries. I don’t want to see a guy try “left-handed, eyes closed, off the shot clock, nothing but net” 10 tries.
Jan.17 at 1:12 pm
maleko42 says:
It would be more interesting to bring back former NBA players to play HORSE. Jordan vs Bird - Mcdonalds 1993
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oACRt-Qp-s
Jan.17 at 1:21 pm
bobby stew says:
bird and jordan mcdonald’s horse commercial, nothing tops that
Jan.17 at 1:32 pm
memyselfand9 says:
^^word
http://youtube.com/watch?v=_oACRt-Qp-s
Jan.17 at 2:03 pm
Jukai says:
Hey, good idea! Bird, Jordan, Magic, Kareem, and Barkley, all-star game horse! I guarentee, even if none of them make a shot, everyone will be watching it.
Jan.17 at 2:28 pm
dave o.b. says:
please do bird,jordan,magic,kareem & barkley that would be legendary.
i would actually travel to new orleans or wherever to see that…
Jan.17 at 2:46 pm
dma says:
horse is a good idea with either a) crappy big men or b) guys shooting crazy shots. we all know deshawn stevenson has a rep for being a “bad shooter” but on that youtube clip, he was hitting shot after shot. so even the bad guards are decent. or else they could have everyone shoot the tim duncan bank shot from 3.
Jan.17 at 3:38 pm
RV says:
wouldn’t it be difficult to add this considering the length of time can be very short or very long? It wouldn’t make sense to declare a tie after a certain number of attempts, but it would also be horrible watching 2 guys trying outrageous shots and just missing, its like watching Nate going up against himself in the dunk contest.
Jan.17 at 4:03 pm
davidR says:
what about the dunkon contest? mutombo could be the blocker
Jan.17 at 4:43 pm
Iversonbrotha says:
hmmmm . . . what about turning the dunk contest into a HORSE game. Oh, I forgot. We don’t have any dunkers anymore.
Jan.17 at 4:52 pm
crazylee12 says:
FLUD- That one killed me, man! Whether you agree with him or not, you gotta give FLUD his props for that SJP knock.
A good joke going unappreciated makes Jewish babies cry. If they cry, who will bring us future laughter?
Jan.17 at 5:10 pm
detroit says:
they absolutly cannot hhave a horse game unless SHEEEEEEEEEd participates. Has anyone seen his trick shots segment? He may be a power forward (although he is our center?) but he would give gil a run for his money.
Jan.17 at 5:24 pm
will says:
This sounds SHEEDtastic. This would be the only event they could tie celebrities, retired stars or WNBA players into that will still be watchable.
Jan.17 at 7:47 pm
polowthaJon says:
as long as 2ball is gone Im a happy man!
Jan.17 at 9:06 pm
Bubba Chuck says:
they need sum streetballaz 2 come into tha dleague quick! TADOne I agree sheed should b in dis & gilbert
Jan.17 at 9:25 pm
Bryant Reeves says:
It is easy to make the game shorter, simply substitute N-B-A or N-B-D-L instead of the 5 letter “horse”
Jan.17 at 10:37 pm
ktokyo says:
behind the back, eyes closed, off the scoreboard, NOTHING BUT NET…
Jan.18 at 2:06 am
bootlace says:
Wow I hope fans didnt actually ask for this crap. What I would want though is a 1 on 1 challenge (or make it 2vs2 or 3vs3). Players must be from different teams for 2vs2 or 3vs3. So you would have teams like T-mac+VC squaring off against Carmelo+LeBron. Or you would have one on ones like AI vs Chris Paul, Rafer Alston vs Baron Davis. Or 3 on 3s like Kidd+Kobe+Amare VS Nash+Arenas+Dwight Howard. Now THAT is stuff any fan would be crazy not to salivate over. I doubt the one on ones would happen as NBA players dont want to put their ego on the line, but 2on2 or 3on3 mini tournys with players teaming up with old college teammates/good friends would be a good laugh, and the best thing for the NBA since the shot clock.
Jan.18 at 6:09 am
zion says:
i know this has no relation with the topic of the post but i think i just saw a slam issue in an old nike commercial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2OJ9YJ1yFc&feature=related
Jan.18 at 6:19 am
hursty says:
co-sign bootlace, thats a sick idea.