Basketball The MVP

guillaume F. (France)
49 words 46 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. MVP
    the player judged to be the most important to the sport
    In the 1996-97 NBA season, Karl Malone was named the league MVP.
  2. accepted
    generally approved or compelling recognition
    He was one of the very few players in the history of American sports who was widely accepted to be the best ever WHILE PLAYING.
  3. amaze
    affect with wonder
    But it’s a small group, and — again, in the abstract — it didn’t matter that they decided to spread the wealth a little bit and honor an amazing player like Karl Malone
  4. athlete
    a person trained to compete in sports
    Worldwide, he was probably the most famous American athlete since … ever?
  5. basketball
    a game played on a court by two opposing teams of 5 players
    It was a heck of a season by one of the best power forwards to ever play basketball.
  6. basketball player
    an athlete who plays basketball
    But as a basketball player?
  7. big shot
    an important influential person
    Still, Rose missed the big shot, and he missed a couple of big free throws, and he committed 19 turnovers, and though he did some amazing things, well …
    … one more time, nobody on earth could have thought for one second that Derrick Rose was more valuable than LeBron James.
  8. boards
    the stage of a theater
    He averaged nine boards and seven assists.
  9. certainly
    definitely or positively
    I didn’t mean ANY of that, though I certainly can understand why readers would get that impression.
  10. championship
    a competition at which a winner is chosen
    They seemed to think that I was already relegating Derrick Rose to Karl Malone’s close-but-no-championship career.
  11. checked
    patterned with alternating squares of color
    There aren’t many in sports history who have checked all three of those boxes.
  12. depend
    be determined by something else
    Wilt or Russell, depending on your preference, might have had that in the younger days of the NBA.
  13. despite
    contemptuous disregard
    Think hard about it and see how many players you can come up with who left despite the love and despite a better offer.
  14. every year
    without missing a year
    But it’s a small group, and — again, in the abstract — it didn’t matter that they decided to spread the wealth a little bit and honor an amazing player like Karl Malone rather than just give the MVP award to Jordan every year.
  15. final
    an exam administered at the end of an academic term
    And when the Bulls played the Jazz in the NBA Finals that year, with Jordan and Malone on the same floor, there was this roaring undercurrent that you could almost see on Jordan’s face: “Really?
  16. free agent
    someone acting freely or even irresponsibly
    It’s funny, people like to say: “Oh, leave LeBron alone — free agents leave all the time.”
  17. free throw
    an unhindered basketball shot from the foul line
    Still, Rose missed the big shot, and he missed a couple of big free throws, and he committed 19 turnovers, and though he did some amazing things, well …
    … one more time, nobody on earth could have thought for one second that Derrick Rose was more valuable than LeBron James.
  18. funny
    an account of an amusing incident
    It’s funny, people like to say: “Oh, leave LeBron alone — free agents leave all the time.”
  19. game
    an amusement or pastime
    He averaged 27 points a game, grabbed 10 rebounds, handed out 4.5 assists.
  20. grab
    take or seize suddenly
    He averaged 27 points a game, grabbed 10 rebounds, handed out 4.5 assists.
  21. guy
    an informal term for a youth or man
    That guy?
  22. handed
    having or involving the use of hands
    He averaged 27 points a game, grabbed 10 rebounds, handed out 4.5 assists.
  23. incredibly
    exceedingly; extremely
    The guy was great, and incredibly fun to watch.
  24. initially
    at the beginning
    Even Shaq, who draws the most comparisons, was initially low-balled by Orlando.
  25. interest
    a sense of concern with and curiosity about something
    There have been only a handful of players in the last 25 years or so who could make me stop what I was doing and watch an NBA regular-season game that I would otherwise have no interest in.
  26. need
    require or want
    I suppose it’s no secret that I need curiously long posts to get my thoughts across.
  27. only
    without any others being included or involved
    Now, Twitter is only 140 characters.
  28. performance
    the act of doing something successfully
    It was a virtuoso performance by the man who had something to prove.
  29. pointer
    a mark to indicate a direction or relation
    He made two three-pointers in the wild final minutes of Game 5, in Chicago, when the Bulls seemed to have put away the game.
  30. prematurely
    too soon; earlier than expected
    They seemed to think that I was prematurely judging a 22-year-old’s basketball legacy.
  31. prove
    establish the validity of something
    The point was proven.
  32. reader
    a person who can read; a literate person
    I didn’t mean ANY of that, though I certainly can understand why readers would get that impression.
  33. rebound
    spring back; spring away from an impact
    He averaged 27 points a game, grabbed 10 rebounds, handed out 4.5 assists.
  34. relegate
    assign to a lower position
    They seemed to think that I was already relegating Derrick Rose to Karl Malone’s close-but-no-championship career.
  35. relegating
    authorizing subordinates to make certain decisions
    They seemed to think that I was already relegating Derrick Rose to Karl Malone’s close-but-no-championship career.
  36. second
    coming next after the first in position in space or time
    But in the bright colors of reality, nobody on earth could have thought for one second that Karl Malone was more valuable than Michael Jordan.
  37. single
    existing alone or consisting of one entity or part or aspect or individual
    Because after Game 1 of the series — when Rose played brilliantly and James drifted — it was plain pretty much every single moment of every single game that LeBron James was the best basketball player on the floor.
  38. specific
    stated explicitly or in detail
    I was thinking about something specific and did not do a very good job of making that point.
  39. steal
    take without the owner's consent
    Again, the numbers are special: 25 points, 8 assists, 4 rebounds, a steal, a block; he had a remarkable season.
  40. superstar
    someone who is dazzlingly skilled in any field
    And Rose is such a breakout superstar, and he’s the soul of a brilliant young team.
  41. team up
    form a team
    The way he teamed up with his mega-talented buddies to chase a championship was as non-Jordan as you can get.
  42. though
    (postpositive) however
    I didn’t mean ANY of that, though I certainly can understand why readers would get that impression.
  43. time
    the continuum of experience in which events pass to the past
    It’s funny, people like to say: “Oh, leave LeBron alone — free agents leave all the time.”
  44. twitter
    make high-pitched sounds, as of birds
    I bring this up because on Twitter on Thursday night, with pain in my heart, I wrote this:
    Derrick Rose is a marvelous player.
  45. virtuoso
    someone who is dazzlingly skilled in any field
    It was a virtuoso performance by the man who had something to prove.
  46. watch
    look attentively
    The guy was great, and incredibly fun to watch.
  47. win
    a victory (as in a race or other competition)
    I don’t know what to make of basketball win shares, but he led the NBA in offensive win shares and was third in defensive win shares (and led the league overall for the third straight season).
  48. young
    any immature animal
    Wilt or Russell, depending on your preference, might have had that in the younger days of the NBA.
  49. rebound
    spring back; spring away from an impact
Created on Sun May 29 04:04:37 EDT 2011 (updated Sat Jul 07 04:25:51 EDT 2012)

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