NBA Turbo Southwest Division

Here are the fighters from the Southwest Division:

San Antonio Spurs - El Fuerte

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San Antonio has a very large Latino population so it seemed fitting to choose El Fuerte to represent them.  If you squint, you can make out the numbers of the Spur's Big Three in the stars on El Fuerte's mask.  Subtlety at its finest!

Dallas Mavericks - Guile

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For those of you living under a rock during the past year, the Mavs won the 2011 NBA Playoffs!!!  I combined both my favorite Street Fighter character, Guile, and Dallas Maverick, Dirk, to make the sonic boom-tacular man-beast you see above!  REPEAT 2012!!!

Memphis Grizzlies - Zangief

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Like the Mavs, the Grizzlies were also in the 2011 Playoffs, although, unlike the Mavs, they did NOT win the NBA Championship.  I once again incorporated a team's logo into the chest hair of a Street Fighter character, which works eerily well way too often...

Houston Rockets - Chun Li

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Chun Li is too cool of a character to leave out of this sausage fest just because she's a woman.  Fortunately, my girlfriend is a Rockets fan AND Chun Li fan so I deemed it fitting to pair the two of them together!

New Orleans Hornets - Remy

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Like the Raptors, I decided to pair the Hornet's with a French Street Fighter character given the cultural influences of the French in New Orleans.  Chris Kaman has gross, long hair so I thought he'd work well although the final drawing ended up looking more like some bizarro sketch of Kurt Cobain than anything else, which is actually pretty cool as long as you're into Nirvana.

NBA Turbo Pacific Division

Here are the fighters from the Pacific Division:

LA Lakers - Ken

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The Celtics and Lakers have a longstanding rivalry between them, just like Ryu and Ken.  Since the Celtics are Ryu then it only made sense for the Lakers to be Ken.

LA Clippers - Akuma

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The Clippers are the unwanted stepchild of LA.  That's harsh and not entirely true but the Lakers are definitely the more popular of the two teams.  Therefore Akuma, the evil version of Ryu and Ken, made sense for the Clippers and as a bonus his red hair just happened to match Blake Griffin's.

Golden State Warriors - Shadowgeist

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The Warrior's mascot and Shadowgeist look EXACTLY the same!  Seriously, google it!

Phoenix Suns - Guy

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Guy wears an orange karate gi and looks enough like Steve Nash for this combo to work.

Sacramento Kings - Dudley

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IF Kings = England AND Dudley = Englishman THEN John Salmons = Dudley.  It's science.

NBA Turbo Northwest Division

Here are the fighters from the Northwest Division:

Oklahoma City Thunder - Vega

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The Thunder were around for the 2011 Playoffs and while I don't remember any real reason for choosing Vega to represent them I do think that their logo/colors worked well on his mask.  Ooh, I just thought of something.  Vega is LIGHTNING quick.   Lightning/Thunder.  Yeah, that works!  Oh, and that's obviously Durant behind the mask.

Denver Nuggets - Blanka

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The Nugget's mountain logo fit too well into Blanka's chest hair not to combine the two.  Also, Nene Hilario's hair kind of resembles Blanka's shaggy mane.

Utah Jazz - E. Honda

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Utah's Al Jefferson is ranked #11 on the NBA's list of huskiest players.  I personally don't see it but who am I to argue with the experts.  Therefore the Jazz are represented by big-bellied E. Honda.

Portland Trailblazers - Gen

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Gen is clearly an elderly man and the Trailblazers roster includes Kurt Thomas, the oldest active NBA player in the league.  It's a cruddy reasons to match the two but Gen's battle stance is pretty badass so overall I believe it's a fair tradeoff.

Minnesota Timberwolves - Alex

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Alex has a rugged, wolf-like quality about him and Michael Beasley's hair is just long enough to make it all work.

NBA Turbo Southeast Division

Here are the fighters from the Southeast Division:

Miami Heat - Dhalsim

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I created the Heat's character during last year's Playoffs when they lost to the Mavs in the Finals.  (Suckas!)  I replaced the skulls around Dhalsim's neck with the shrunken heads of the Big Three, who's names are so horrible that I dare not utter (or type) them on here.

Orlando Magic - Sagat

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A lot of players in the NBA choose or are required by the league to wear arm sleeves.  Dwight Howard wears them and so does Sagat, although his arm bands have a more "mummy wrapping" look to them.  Either way, I figured that this made the pair suitable partners and after replacing Sagat's chest scar with the jagged Magic logo really think that this is one of the most seamless character combos of the bunch.

Atlanta Hawks - T. Hawk

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I really don't feel like I have to explain this one.

Washington Wizards - Gouken

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Of all of the characters in Street Fighter, Gouken most resembles a wizard in appearance, which was good enough for me.  Rashard Lewis has a pretty good wizard beard himself so I chose him to represent the team.

Charlotte Bobcats - Dan Hibiki

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Dan Hibiki is something of a joke in Street Fighter.  In terms of fighting ability he is literally the WORST and so it was only fitting that he represent the WORST team in the NBA: The Charlotte Bobcats!

NBA Turbo Central Division

Here are the fighters from the Central Division:


Chicago Bulls - M. Bison

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The Bulls were another team that I drew during last year's Playoffs.  M. Bison's name had a bullish ring to it so i added a few Chicago logo's to his getup and equipped him with a flaming basketball to boot.

Indiana Pacers - Charlie

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According to Street Fighter canon, Charlie trained Guile.  Rick Carlisle, the current head coach for the Mavs, was the head coach for the Pacers before taking the job in Dallas.  Since I had already drawn Guile for the Mavs I thought it would be cool to draw Rick Carlisle as Charlie for the Pacers.  Charlie trained Guile.  Rick coached the Mavs...after the Pacers.  I swear it makes sense if you really think about it!

Milwaukee Bucks - Birdie

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Birdie is one of the goofiest looking characters in Street Fighter.  After googling "crazy hair NBA" I decided that the Buck's own Drew Gooden had his own funky look, especially with his old dreadlocks beard.  Sorry Bucks fans.

Cleveland Cavaliers - Dee Jay

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The Cavaliers were another team that got matched with a fighter for no real rhyme or reason.

Detroit Pistons - Adon

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If Birdie had the "weirdest" hair of any Street Fighter character then Adon had "biggest" hair and no one in the NBA has bigger hair than big Ben Wallace of the Detroit Pistons!