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!

NBA Turbo Atlantic Division

Here are the fighters from the Atlantic Division:

Philadelphia 76ers - Balrog

             
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Balrog made sense for Philly since he's a boxer and "Rocky", the most famous boxing movie of all time, takes place there.  My attempt to draw Sylvester Stallone ended up looking more like Oliver Platt in drag but what are you going to do...

Boston Celtics - Ryu

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I drew Paul Pierce as Ryu for last year's Playoffs.  The Celtics are one of the original NBA teams still playing today so it made sense to draw them as the quintessential character from Street Fighter. 

New York Knicks - Fei Long

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Jeremy Lin's rise to stardom couldn't have come at a better time.  I decided to pair him up with one of the most badass Asian characters in the game, tattooing the Knicks logo on his chest and shortening his pants to knickerbocker length.  Easy!

Toronto Raptors - Abel

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With the Raptors being the only Canadian team in the NBA I decided to go after that aspect.  Abel is not Canadian but he is French, which is close enough as far as I'm concerned.  It was happy coincidence that the Raptor's star Center, Andrea Bargini, looks like Abel.  Sort of...

New Jersey Nets - Seth

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I was really scraping the bottom of the barrel by the time I got to the Nets.  I thought that the Yin-Yang symbol on his stomach was easily replaced with the Net's logo and added Deron William's face in an attempt to strengthen the mix.

Super NBA Street Fighter II: Turbo

Last year I combined two of my favorite things in the world: the NBA playoffs and Street Fighter.  This year, I have finished what I started by matching every NBA team to a unique Street Fighter character!  Here's to hoping the Mavs (Guile) have what it takes to win this year's tournament, especially now that so many more fighters have entered the fray!

I Know That Look...

I haven't posted in awhile but I just had to share this video in which a man commits a "blooper" while on live TV and then receives an all too recognizable Stare of Death from his wife.  I also thought Mike might find the video equally amusing/familiar...

HOOK'EM!!!

Mel reminded me this morning that this weekend marks the kickoff of this season of Longhorns Football!  Being someone who has been surrounded by championship caliber organizations his whole life (The Cowboys, The Mavs, The Longhorns '05/'09, St. Patrick Panthers 5th grade peewee football) I have very high expectations for my sports teams.  While the Longhorns certainly have a tough road ahead of them this year I will be rooting for them the whole way!  Hook'em Horns!

TEXAS!  FIGHT!                                           TW

Old Friends

Continuing this week's theme of catching up with old acquaintances, I got a message today from one of my best friends who I haven't seen (nor spoken with) since kindergarten, back when I lived in El Paso.  Apparently, he lives in Dallas now and wants to catch up, which I think is nice.

This guy and I were in a gang together (back in kindergarten), which my mom did NOT approve of but, as I always told her, "it's a good gang, mom."  She couldn't seem to understand that there were GOOD gangs and BAD gangs, thinking that all gangs were bad.  We were like the positive enforcers of the playground.  But before you go thinking we were all soft or something let me just say that we WERE exclusive; you couldn't just waltz into our numbers.  We had to like you!

Aside from our daily gang activities, we played together on the same, undefeated soccer team, The Jets!  I also always wanted to play at his house b/c he had all of the cool Bucky O'Hare action figures.  One time, my parents took advantage of this desire and made us hang out when he had the chickenpox so that I would contract them at a young age.  I had to sit next to him, let him laugh/breathe on me, drink from his sippy cup after him.  I remember being pretty cool with it which makes me think that either I had not been fully informed of the consequences at the time or that since being sick meant you got to miss school back in those days, I was in full support of it.

Anyway, we will be meeting up soon.  The fact that he reached out to me after 20 or so years makes me think that he must still be a really nice, cool guy so it should be fun.

Just Like Old Times                                        TW