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Kenny Anderson

Kenny Anderson

Kenneth Anderson (born 9th October 1970, Queens, New York) is a left-handed point guard currently playing in the NBA. Selected by the New Jersey Nets with the second pick in the 1991 NBA Draft out of Georgia Tech, he was the youngest player in the league, at that time. He failed to make an expected impact during his rookie campaign in 1991-92, averaging only seven points, two rebounds and 3.2 assists per game. However, in his second season he broke out, more than doubling his points, rebounds and assists averages. He played solidly for the next 3½ seasons before being traded to the Charlotte Hornets in 1996. Throughout his career he has played for the Hornets (including both Charlotte and New Orleans franchises), Portland Trail Blazers, Boston Celtics, Seattle SuperSonics, Indiana Pacers, and split a season for the Atlanta Hawks and Los Angeles Clippers. In 1998, Portland traded him to the Toronto Raptors for Damon Stoudamire, but he refused to report to the Raptors because he did not want to play in Canada. Without playing a single game for them, Anderson forced the Raptors' hand and they traded him to the Celtics for Chauncey Billups. He has experienced off-court problems as well. As a result of a divorce from his ex-wife (due to infidelity), she successfully acquired a sizeable portion of his assets. She had a license plate custom-made to mark her victory with the phrase "HISCASH".

External links


- [http://www.nba.com/playerfile/kenny_anderson/bio.html NBA.com biography]
- [http://www.hoopsstats.com/basketball/fantasy/nba/los-angeles-clippers/players/kenny-anderson/profile/05/12/529/ NBA Fantasy Basketball Stats - Kenny Anderson] Anderson, Kenny Anderson, Kenny Anderson, Kenny Anderson, Kenny Anderson, Kenny Anderson, Kenny Anderson, Kenny Anderson, Kenny Anderson, Kenny Anderson, Kenny Anderson, Kenny Anderson, Kenny

9th October

October 9 is the 282nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (283rd in Leap years). There are 83 days remaining.

Events


- 1000 - Leif Ericson discovers Vinland, becoming the first known European to set foot in North America.
- 1238 - James I of Aragon conquered Valencia and founded the Kingdom of Valencia.
- 1446 - The Hangul alphabet is published in Korea.
- 1514 - marriage of Louis XII of France and Mary Tudor
- 1582 - Due to the implementation of the Gregorian calendar this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
- 1635 - Founder of Rhode Island Roger Williams is banished from Massachusetts Bay Colony as a religious dissident after he spoke out against punishments for religious offenses and giving away Native American land.
- 1701 - The Collegiate School of Connecticut (later renamed Yale University) is chartered in Old Saybrook, Connecticut.
- 1771 - The Dutch merchant ship Vrouw Maria sinks near the coast of Finland.
- 1776 - Father Francisco Palou founds Mission San Francisco de Asis in what is now San Francisco, California.
- 1812 - War of 1812: In a naval engagement on Lake Erie, American forces capture two British ships; the HMS Detroit and the HMS Caledonia.
- 1820 - Guayaquil declared independence from Spain.
- 1831 - Capo d'Istria was assassinated.
- 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Tom's Brook - Union cavalrymen in the Shenandoah Valley defeat Confederate forces at Tom's Brook, Virginia.
- 1871 - The Great Chicago Fire is brought under control.
- 1874 - General Postal Union was created as a result of the Treaty of Berne.
- 1888 - The Washington Monument officially opens to the general public.
- 1914 - World War I: Siege of Antwerp - Antwerp, Belgium falls to German troops.
- 1919 - Black Sox scandal: The Cincinnati Reds "win" the World Series.
- 1936 - Generators at Boulder Dam (later renamed to Hoover Dam) begin to transmit electricity from the Colorado River 266 miles to Los Angeles, California.
- 1940 - World War II: Battle of Britain - During a nighttime air raid by the German Luftwaffe, St. Paul's Cathedral is pierced by a bomb.
- 1942 - Statute of Westminster Adoption Act formalizes Australian autonomy.
- 1944 - World War II: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Union Premier Joseph Stalin begin a nine-day conference in Moscow to discuss the future of Europe.
- 1957 - Neil H. McElroy was sworn in as the 6th Secretary of Defense of United States.
- 1962 - Uganda becomes a republic.
- 1963 - In northeast Italy, over 2,000 people are killed when a large landslide behind the Vajont Dam causes a giant wave of water to overtop it.
- 1967 - A day after being caught, Che Guevara is executed for attempting to incite a revolution in Bolivia.
- 1969 - In Chicago, Illinois, the United States National Guard is called in for crowd control as demonstrations continue in connection to the trial of the "Chicago Eight" (trial started on September 24).
- 1969 - Students from the University of the Philippines formed the first Upsilonian Congress and established the Upsiloan Alpha Beta Grand Fraternity in Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines.
- 1970 - The Khmer Republic is proclaimed in Cambodia.
- 1986 - United States District Court Judge Harry E. Claiborne becomes the fifth federal official to be removed from office through impeachment.
- 1989 - An official news agency in the Soviet Union reports the landing of a UFO in Voronezh.
- 1989 - In Leipzig, East Germany, 70,000 protesters demand the legalization of opposition groups and democratic reforms.
- 1991 - Ecuador becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
- 1992 - A 13 kilogram (est.) meteorite lands in the driveway of the Knapp residence in Peekskill, New York, destroying the family's 1980 Chevrolet Malibu.
- 1995 - An Amtrak Sunset Limited train is derailed by saboteurs near Palo Verde, Arizona.
- 2002 - After losing a massive amount of ground during the summer of 2002, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closes at 7,286.27, its lowest level in five years. The NASDAQ also hit a six-year low of 1,114.11.
- 2004 - Jo Brauner resign as the anchor of German Tagesschau news show after 30 years.
- 2004 - Democratic elections held for the first time in Afghanistan.
- 2004 - The tri-annual federal election is held in Australia and Liberal Party of Australia leader, John Howard, wins a fourth term as Prime Minister in a landslide victory over opponent, Mark Latham of the Australian Labor Party.
- 2005 - China's State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping officially announced the new accurate height of Everest is 8848.43 m.
- 2005 - When Tropical Depression 23 stengthened into the Hurricane Vince it made the 2005 Atlantic Hurricane Season the first season to use the V name.

Births


- 1201 - Robert de Sorbon, French theologian and founder of the Sorbonne (d. 1274)
- 1221 - Salimbene di Adam, Italian chronicler
- 1261 - King Dinis of Portugal (d. 1325)
- 1328 - King Peter I of Cyprus (d. 1369)
- 1581 - Claude Gaspard Bachet de Méziriac, French mathematician (d. 1638)
- 1585 - Heinrich Schütz, German composer (d. 1672)
- 1586 - Archduke Leopold V of Austria (d. 1632)
- 1757 - King Charles X of France (d. 1836)
- 1796 - Joseph Bonomi the Younger, English Egyptologist (d. 1878)
- 1835 - Camille Saint-Saëns, French composer (d. 1921)
- 1840 - Simeon Solomon, British artist (d. 1905)
- 1852 - Hermann Emil Fischer, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1919)
- 1859 - Alfred Dreyfus, French military officer (d. 1935)
- 1873 - Karl Schwarzschild, German physicist and astronomer (d. 1916)
- 1873 - Charles Walgreen, American entrepreneur (d. 1939)
- 1873 - Carl Flesch, Hungarian violinist (d. 1944)
- 1874 - Nicholas Roerich, Russian painter (d. 1947)
- 1879 - Max von Laue, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1960)
- 1886 - Rube Marquard, baseball player (d. 1980)
- 1888 - Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin, Russian politician (d. 1938)
- 1890 - Aimee Semple McPherson, American evangelist (d. 1944)
- 1892 - Ivo Andrić, Serbo-Croatian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1975)
- 1892 - Marina Tsvetaeva, Russian poet (d. 1941)
- 1893 - Mário de Andrade, Brazilian writer and photographer (d. 1945)
- 1900 - Alastair Sim, Scottish actor (d. 1976)
- 1907 - Quintin Hogg, British politician (d. 2001)
- 1908 - Jacques Tati, French filmmaker (d. 1982)
- 1909 - Donald Coggan, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 2000)
- 1911 - Joe Rosenthal, American photographer
- 1915 - Clifford M. Hardin, United States Secretary of Agriculture
- 1920 - Jens Bjørneboe, Norwegian author (d. 1976)
- 1923 - Fyvush Finkel, American actor
- 1928 - Einojuhani Rautavaara, Finnish composer
- 1933 - Peter Mansfield, British physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 1936 - Brian Blessed, English actor
- 1938 - Heinz Fischer, Austrian politician
- 1940 - John Lennon, British musician and songwriter (The Beatles) (d. 1980)
- 1941 - Trent Lott, American politician
- 1944 - John Entwistle, British musician (The Who) (d. 2002)
- 1944 - Nona Hendryx, American singer (LaBelle)
- 1944 - Peter Tosh, Jamaican musician (d. 1987)
- 1946 - Tansu Çiller, Prime Minister of Turkey
- 1948 - Jackson Browne, American musician
- 1950 - Jody Williams, American teacher and aid worker, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- 1952 - Sharon Osbourne, English music manager and wife of Ozzy Osbourne
- 1953 - Tony Shalhoub, American actor
- 1954 - Scott Bakula, American actor
- 1958 - Michael Pare, American actor
- 1962 - Jorge Burruchaga, Argentinian footballer
- 1966 - David Cameron, Britsh politician
- 1967 - Eddie Guerrero, Mexican Professional Wrestler (d. 2005)
- 1969 - P.J. Harvey, English musician
- 1970 - Kenny Anderson, American basketball player
- 1970 - Savannah, American actress (d. 1994)
- 1970 - Annika Sörenstam, Swedish golfer
- 1971 - Simon Atlee, British photographer (d. 2004)
- 1971 - Michael Manna, American professional wrestler
- 1973 - Steven Burns, actor and musician
- 1975 - Sean Lennon, English musician
- 1978 - Nicky Byrne, Irish musician (Westlife)
- 1978 - Juan Dixon, American basketball player
- 1979 - Gonzalo Sorondo, Uruguayan footballer
- 1981 - Darius Miles, American basketball player
- 1986 - Laure Manaudou, French swimmer
- 1990 - Thomas Murphy, Australian actor

Deaths


- 1047 - Pope Clement II (b. 1005)
- 1253 - Robert Grosseteste, English statesman and bishop
- 1390 - King John I of Castile (b. 1358)
- 1555 - Justus Jonas, German protestant reformer (b. 1493)
- 1562 - Gabriele Falloppio, Italian anatomist (b. 1523)
- 1569 - Vladimir of Staritsa, Russian prince (b. 1533)
- 1597 - Ashikaga Yoshiaki, Japanese shogun (b. 1537)
- 1691 - William Sacheverell, English statesman (b. 1638)
- 1709 - Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland, English mistress of Charles II of England (b. 1640)
- 1729 - Richard Blackmore, English physician and writer (b. 1654)
- 1793 - Jean Joseph Marie Amiot, French missionary (b. 1718)
- 1797 - Vilna Gaon, Lithuanian rabbi (b. 1720)
- 1806 - Benjamin Banneker, American astronomer (b. 1731)
- 1831 - John Capodistria, Governor of Greece (b. 1776)
- 1924 - Valery Bryusov, Russian writer and critic (b. 1873)
- 1934 - King Alexander I of Yugoslavia (assassinated) (b. 1888)
- 1934 - Louis Barthou, Prime Minister of France (assassinated) (b. 1862)
- 1941 - Helen Morgan, American singer and actress (b. 1900)
- 1943 - Pieter Zeeman, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
- 1955 - Theodor Cardinal Innitzer, Austrian Catholic archbishop (b. 1875)
- 1956 - Marie Doro, American actress (b. 1882)
- 1958 - Pope Pius XII (b. 1876)
- 1962 - Milan Vidmar, Slovenian electrical engineer and chess player (b. 1885)
- 1967 - Che Guevara, Argentine revolutionary and guerilla leader (executed) (b. 1928)
- 1967 - Cyril Norman Hinshelwood, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
- 1972 - Miriam Hopkins, American actress (b. 1902)
- 1974 - Oskar Schindler, German businessman (b. 1908)
- 1978 - Jacques Brel, Belgian musician (b. 1929)
- 1987 - Guru Gopinath, Indian classical dancer (b. 1908)
- 1987 - Clare Boothe Luce, American diplomat (b. 1903)
- 1987 - William Parry Murphy, American physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1892)
- 1989 - Penny Lernoux, American journalist and author (b. 1940)
- 1995 - Alec Douglas-Home, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1903)
- 1996 - Walter Kerr, American theater critic (b. 1913)
- 2000 - David Dukes, American actor (b. 1945)
- 2001 - Dagmar, American television personality (b. 1921)
- 2005 - Louis Nye, American comedian and actor (b. 1913)
- 1989-Jonathan Cedermaz, born in Oakland from Marcelo and Heather Cedermaz futer emporer of the moon

Holidays


- RC Saints - Saint Denis, Saint John Leonardi
- Also see October 9 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- South Korea - Hangul Day: celebrating the invention of Hangul, the native Korean phonetic alphabet.
- Uganda - Independence Day (from Britain, 1962)
- Leif Erikson Day - in United States, Iceland and Norway: celebrating the first European landing in North America
- Ecuador - Guayaquil's Independence Day (from Spain 1820) (Dia de la independencia de Guayaquil)

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/9 BBC: On This Day] ---- October 8 - October 10 - September 9 - November 9 - more historical anniversaries The national holiday of Tom's birthday. ko:10월 9일 ms:9 Oktober ja:10月9日 simple:October 9 th:9 ตุลาคม

Queens

:This is about the New York City borough. For the monarchs, see queen. queen Queens is the largest of the five boroughs of New York City in area. It is coterminous with Queens County in the U.S. state of New York and is located on western Long Island. It is the most ethnically diverse county in the United States. Established on November 1, 1683, it was named for the then-queen consort, Catherine of Braganza, wife of Charles II. As of 2000, the population is 2,229,379. Its county seat is the district of Jamaica, a neighborhood of New York City. The United States Postal Service divides the borough into four "towns": Long Island City, Jamaica, Flushing, and Far Rockaway; mail addressed to a residence or business in Queens includes the name of the applicable neighborhood (such as Ozone Park) on the next line below the street address—rather than "Queens, New York"—followed by the ZIP Code. Note that these ZIP codes do not necessarily accurately determine neighborhood names and boundaries, as "East Elmhurst" was largely coined by the United States Postal Service. Most neighborhoods have no solid boundaries and at times residents are left guessing to what neighborhood they belong. Queens is a particularly interesting borough because of the diversity of suburban and urban areas. Neighborhoods in the eastern part of the borough are similar to towns in western Nassau County, having a more suburban look, while neighborhoods in the western and central sections loosely resemble The Bronx (particularly the eastern Bronx) and Brooklyn (particularly northeastern Brooklyn, which borders Queens), having more urban characteristics. Queens' characterization as a suburb is not especially accurate, or least not so since the 1960s.

Geography

urban Queens County is in the western part of Long Island and includes a few smaller islands, most of which are in Jamaica Bay and form part of Gateway National Recreation Area. The tallest tree in the New York metropolitan area, called the Queens Giant, is also the oldest living thing in the New York metro area. It is located in northeastern Queens, and is 450 years old and 134 feet tall as of 2005. According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 461.7 km² (178.3 mi²). 282.9 km² (109.2 mi²) of it is land and 178.8 km² (69.0 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 38.73% water.

History

The borough of Queens was originally named after Queen Catherine of Braganza, the Portuguese wife of King Charles II of England. Originally, Queens County included the adjacent area now comprising Nassau County. It was an original county of New York State, one of twelve created in 1683. By 1870 Queens County consisted of six towns: Newtown, Flushing, Jamaica, North Hempstead, Hempstead, and Oyster Bay. In 1870, the city of Long Island City was incorporated, consisting of what had been the Village of Astoria and some unincorporated areas in the Town of Newtown. Long Island City, Newtown, Flushing, Jamaica, and the Rockaway Peninsula of the Town of Hempstead became the borough of Queens in Greater New York on January 1, 1898. The part of Queens County that was not annexed to New York City, consisting of the towns of North Hempstead and Oyster Bay and all of the Town of Hempstead except the Rockaway Peninsula, was constituted as the new Nassau County in 1899.

Neighborhoods

1899 The borough of Queens is a patchwork quilt of dozens of unique neighborhoods, each with its own distinct identity. Residents of Queens have been known to identify more with their neighborhood than with the borough as a whole. Howard Beach and Middle Village are home to large Italian-American populations, Rockaway Beach has a large Irish-American population, Astoria, in the northwest, is traditionally home to one of the largest Greek populations outside of Greece, and is home to a growing population of young professionals from Manhattan, and nearby Long Island City, in the southwest, is a major manufacturing and commercial center, as well as being the location of the Queensbridge housing project, with its infamous Hip Hop history and large proportion of famous rappers; Jackson Heights, Elmhurst and Corona make up an enormous conglomeration of Hispanic and Asian communities; Flushing, in the north-central part of the borough, is a major commercial hub for Chinese and Korean businesses; Richmond Hill, in the south, has the largest population of Indian Sikhs outside of India; Forest Hills and Kew Gardens, in central Queens, have traditionally large Jewish populations as well as large hispanic populations while Jamaica is a major business and transportation hub for the borough, and also home to large African-American and Caribbean populations. There are also middle class African-American, Latino and Caribbean neighborhoods such as Saint Albans, Cambria Heights, Queens Village, Rosedale and Laurelton along East and Southeast Queens.Together, these neighborhoods comprise the most diverse county in the US, and easily provide the richest cultural experience found anywhere in the world. Some Queens neighborhoods, such as Ozone Park, Bayside, Maspeth and Woodside are home to a very diverse mix of many different nationalities. ZIP Codes in Queens range from 11351 to 11499 and from 11101 to 11120. The borough is politically divided into 14 community boards :
- 1 : Astoria, Long Island City, Queensbridge, Ditmars, Ravenswood, Steinway, and Woodside
- 2 : Long Island City, Woodside, and Sunnyside
- 3 : Jackson Heights, East Elmhurst
- 4 : Elmhurst, Corona, Lefrak City, Flushing Meadows
- 5 : Ridgewood, Glendale, Middle Village, Maspeth
- 6 : Forest Hills and Rego Park
- 7 : Flushing, Bay Terrace, College Point, Whitestone, Malba, Beechhurst, Queensboro Hill and Willets Point
- 8 : Fresh Meadows, Cunningham Heights, Hilltop Village, Pomonak Houses, Jamaica Estates, Holliswood, Utopia, Kew Gardens Hills, and Briarwood
- 9 : Richmond Hill, Woodhaven, Ozone Park, and Kew Gardens
- 10 : Howard Beach, South Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, Tudor Village, and Lindenwood
- 11 : Bayside, Douglaston, Little Neck, Auburndale, East Flushing, Oakland Gardens, and Hollis Hills
- 12 : Jamaica, Hollis, Saint Albans, Springfield Gardens, Rochdale Village, and South Jamaica
- 13 : Queens Village, Glen Oaks, New Hyde Park, Bellerose, Cambria Heights, Laurelton, Rosedale, Floral Park, and Brookville
- 14 : Breezy Point, Belle Harbor, Neponsit, Arverne, Bayswater, Edgemere, Rockaway Park, Rockaway and Far Rockaway See: List of Queens neighborhoods

Economy

List of Queens neighborhoods The economy of Queens is based on tourism, industry, and trade. Queens has two of the busiest airports in the world, John F. Kennedy International Airport, located in Jamaica, and La Guardia Airport, in Flushing. Queens is increasingly attracting film studios — a return of an industry that had departed decades earlier — notably the Kaufman Studios in Astoria, where a number of television shows are made. Western Queens is becoming an artistic hub, including the Noguchi Museum, Socrates Sculpture Park, Museum for African Art, and the American Museum of the Moving Image. The current poet laureate of Queens is Ishle Yi Park. The Queens Museum of Art and the New York Hall of Science are further east, in Flushing Meadows Park — site of both the 1939 New York World's Fair, the 1964 New York World's Fair and the annual US Open tennis tournament. Shea Stadium, home of the New York Mets baseball team, is just north of the park. Several large companies have their headquarters in Queens. They include Bulova, Glacéau, JetBlue and Steinway & Sons.

Law, government, and politics


Queens is a borough of New York City. The current borough president is Democrat Helen Marshall. Queens is considered a volatile swing county in New York politics. Although it is heavily Democratic, Republicans who do well in Queens usually win statewide or citywide, like former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, current Mayor Michael Bloomberg and current New York Governor George Pataki. Despite being largely liberal, Queens is the home of State Senator Serphin Maltese, a conservative Republican who represents a huge chunk of central and southern Queens Hence, Queens residents voted for Michael Bloomberg for Mayor in 2001 by 210,432 votes to 163,528 to his Democratic opponent Mark Green. In 2002, they voted against George Pataki for Governor with a slim 45.01% (155,599) to 46.50% (160,746) for its democratic opponent Carl McCall. Queens residents voted for Senator Kerry for President in 2004 by 71.7% (433,835) to 21.4% (165,954) for President Bush. However, apart from Staten Island, Queens is the last borough in heavily Democratic New York City in which a majority voted Republican in a presidential election : in 1972 when Queens went for Richard Nixon. Indeed, even if Queens votes now overwhemingly democratic in Presidential election, this trend is pretty new. Until the late 80s, although being clearly a Democratic area, the borough was still a competitive one.

Transportation

The Borough of Queens has crucial importance in international and interstate air traffic. LaGuardia Airport, which handles plenty of the interstate air traffic, is located on the northern shores of Queens. Along the southern shores of Queens is where John F. Kennedy International Airport is located. Cutting through the borough is the Long Island Expressway, which serves as the main artery for traffic between the New York City and Long Island.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there are 2,229,379 people, 782,664 households, and 537,690 families residing in the county. The population density is 7,879.6/km² (20,409.0/mi²). There are 817,250 housing units at an average density of 2,888.5/km² (7,481.6/mi²). The racial makeup of the county is 44.08% White, 20.01% Black or African American, 0.50% Native American, 17.56% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 11.68% from other races, and 6.11% from two or more races. 24.97% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. Some main European ancestry in Queens, 2000 :
- Italian : 8.99%
- Irish : 7.05%
- German : 4.74%
- English : 1.32% According to the Census Bureau, the population increased to 2,237,216 in 2004. There are 782,664 households out of which 31.5% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.9% are married couples living together, 16.0% have a female householder with no husband present, and 31.3% are non-families. 25.6% of all households are made up of individuals and 9.7% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.81 and the average family size is 3.39. In the county the population is spread out with 22.8% under the age of 18, 9.6% from 18 to 24, 33.1% from 25 to 44, 21.7% from 45 to 64, and 12.7% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 35 years. For every 100 females there are 92.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 89.6 males. The median income for a household in the county is $42,439, and the median income for a family is $48,608. Males have a median income of $35,576 versus $31,628 for females. The per capita income for the county is $19,222. 14.6% of the population and 11.9% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 18.8% of those under the age of 18 and 13.0% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

Famous people from Queens

:Kenny Anderson :Susan Anspach :Anthrax :Ron Artest :Hank Azaria - Forest Hills :Tony Bennett - Astoria :Adrien Brody :David Caruso :Cormega :Mario Cuomo - Forest Hills :Drea de Matteo - Whitestone :Fran Drescher - Flushing :Mobb Deep :Ron Eldard :Richard Feynman - Far Rockaway :Art Garfunkel :Stephen Jay Gould :Barbara Grizzuti Harrison :Carl Icahn :Jam Master Jay :Ja Rule :Ron Jeremy :Jin :LL Cool J :Cyndi Lauper - Ozone Park :Lynn Lavner :John Leguizamo - Jackson Heights :Lucy Liu - Jackson Heights :John McEnroe - Briarwood :Ethel Merman :Nas :N.O.R.E. :Carroll O'Connor - Forest Hills :Lamar Odom :Bernadette Peters :Lou Pearlman :Joey Ramone :Nancy Reagan :Ray Romano :Al Roker :Run-DMC, :Russell Simmons :Paul Simon :Nina Sky :Jerry Stiller :Cecil Taylor :George Tenet :Donald Trump :Christopher Walken - Jamaica Estates :Steven Weber :John Zorn :Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson Fictional characters include Archie Bunker, Edith Bunker, George Costanza, Fran Fine, Doug Heffernan, Vincent Chase and his friends on the HBO series Entourage, Mr. Met, and Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man.

Sports and other attractions

Queens is the home of the New York Mets baseball team, the US Open tennis tournament, and Aqueduct Racetrack. Just over the Queens line (in Nassau County) is Belmont Park Race Track, the home of the Belmont Stakes. Queens is also home to York College (New York), Queens College, Queensborough Community College and Saint John's University, which is renowned for its men's basketball and men's soccer teams.

External links


- [http://queens.about.com/ About.com's Queens site]
- [http://docs.unh.edu/NY/brkl91ne.jpg 1891 map of southwestern Queens]
- [http://docs.unh.edu/NY/brkl98ne.jpg 1898 map of southwestern Queens]
- [http://bklyn-genealogy-info.com/Map/Queens.1910.1.html 1910 map of Queens (west)]
- [http://bklyn-genealogy-info.com/Map/Queens.1910.2.html 1910 map of Queens (east)]
- [http://www.queenschamber.org/QueensInfo/NeighborhoodPages/neighborhoods.html Queens Neighborhoods] Category:New York City Category:New York counties Category:Long Island ja:クイーンズ区

NBA

] The National Basketball Association, more popularly known as the NBA, is the world's premier men's professional basketball league and one of the major professional sports leagues of North America. The league was founded in New York City on June 6, 1946 as the Basketball Association of America (BAA). The league adopted the name National Basketball Association in the fall of 1949 after merging with the rival National Basketball League. The league's several international and individual team offices are directed out its head offices located in the Olympic Tower at 645 Fifth Avenue in New York City. NBA Entertainment and NBA TV studios are directed out of offices located in Secaucus, New Jersey.

Regular season

Following the summer breaks, teams hold training camps in October. Training camps allow teams to evaluate players, especially rookies, to scout the team's strengths and weaknesses, to prepare the players for the rigorous regular season, and to determine the 12-man active roster and, if needed, a 3-man injured list with which they will begin the regular season. Teams have the ability to assign players with less than two years of experience to the NBA development league. After training camp, a series of preseason exhibition games are held. In the first week of November, the NBA regular season begins. In the regular season, each team plays 82 games, which are divided evenly between home and away games. Schedules are not identical for all teams. A team faces opponents in its own division four times a year, teams from the other two divisions in its conference either three or four times, and teams in the other conference twice apiece. A team can therefore have a relatively easy or difficult schedule, depending on the division and conference it is located in. Following the recent changes to the National Hockey League's scheduling format, the NBA is now the only major league in which all the teams play each other during the regular season, and where a season ticket holder can see every team in the league come to town in any one season. In February, the NBA regular season is interrupted to celebrate the annual NBA All-Star Game. Fans are balloted throughout the United States, Canada and through the Internet, and the top vote-getters at each position in each conference are given a starting spot on their conference's All-Star team. Coaches vote to choose the remaining 14 All-Stars. Then, East faces West in the All-Star game. The player with the best performance during the game is rewarded with a Game MVP award, which is usually given to a player on the winning team. Other attractions of the All-Star break include the got milk? Rookie Challenge game, which pits the best rookies and the best second-year players against each other; the Foot Locker Three-Point Shootout, a competition between players to see who is the best 3-point shooter; and the Sprite Rising Stars Slam Dunk contest, to see which player dunks the ball in the most entertaining way. Shortly after the All-Star break is the league's trade deadline. After this date, teams are not allowed to exchange players with each other for the remainder of the season, although they may still sign and release players. Often, major trades are completed right before the trading deadline, making that day a hectic time for general managers. In April, the regular season ends. It is during this time that voting begins for individual awards, as well as the selection of the honorary league-wide postseason teams. The NBA Sixth Man Award is awarded to the best contributor off the bench. The NBA Rookie of the Year Award is awarded to the best rookie player. The NBA Most Improved Player Award is awarded to the most improved player. The NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award is awarded to the league's best defender. The NBA Coach of the Year Award is awarded to either the best coach in the league or the coach that has made the most positive difference to a team. The NBA Most Valuable Player Award is given to player deemed the most valuable for that season. Additionally, The Sporting News awards an unofficial (but widely recognized) NBA Executive of the Year Award to the general manager who is adjudged to have done the best job for his franchise. The postseason teams are the All-NBA Teams, the All-Defensive Teams, and the All-Rookie Teams. There are three All-NBA teams, consisting of the top players at each position, with first-team status being most desirable. There are two All-Defensive teams, consisting of the top defenders at each position. There are also two All-Rookie teams, consisting of the top first-year players regardless of position.

Playoffs

In late April, the NBA Playoffs begin. Eight teams in each conference qualify for the playoffs. The seed of each team is determined by several factors. The top three seeds for each conference are determined by taking the winners of the three divisions of the conference and ranking them by regular season record. The remaining five seeds are determined by taking the five teams with the next-best records from among the non-division winning teams in the conference. However, the seeding system has one feature that is unusual in North American sports. Division champions do not necessarily have home-court advantage in the playoffs. Although the playoff brackets are not reseeded, home-court advantage is based strictly on regular-season record, without regard to whether a team won its division. Having a higher seed offers several advantages. Since the first seed plays the eighth seed, the second seed plays the seventh seed, the third seed plays the sixth seed, and the fourth seed plays the fifth seed in the playoffs, having a higher seed generally means you will be facing a weaker team. The team in each series with the better record has home court advantage, including the First Round. This means that, for example, if the team who receives the 6 (six) seed has a better record than the team with the 3 (three) seed (seeded thus by virtue of a divisional championship), the 6 seed would have home court advantage, even though the other team has a higher seed than them. Therefore, the team with the best regular season record in the league is guaranteed home court advantage in every series it plays. The playoffs follow a tournament format. Each team plays a rival in a best-of-seven series, with the first team to win four games advancing into the second round, while the other team is eliminated from the playoffs. In the next round, the successful team plays against another advancing team of the same conference. Thus, all but one team in each conference are eliminated from the playoffs. Since the NBA does not re-seed teams, the playoff bracket in each conference uses a traditional design, with the winner of the series matching the 1st and 8th seeded teams playing the winner of the series matching the 4th and 5th seeded teams, and the winner of the series matching the 2nd and 7th seeded teams playing the winner of the series matching the 3rd and 6th seeded teams. In every round except the NBA Finals, the best of seven series follows a 2-2-1-1-1 pattern, meaning that one team will have home court in games 1, 2, 5, and 7, while the other plays at home in games 3, 4, and 6. For the final round (NBA Finals), the series follows a 2-3-2 pattern. The final playoff round, a best-of-seven series between the victors of both conferences, is known as the NBA Finals, held annually in June. The victor in the NBA Finals wins the Larry O'Brien Trophy. Each player and major contributor, including coaches and the general manager, on the winning team receive a championship ring. In addition, the league awards an NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award, which, while not by rule, nearly always goes to a member of the winning team. There has been only one exception to date: Jerry West won the award in 1969 (the award's first season) even though his Los Angeles Lakers did not win the championship.

History

A detailed year-by-year look at the history of the NBA can be found here.

The Basketball Association of America was founded in 1946 by the owners of major sports arenas in the Northeast and Midwest, notably including Madison Square Garden in New York City. Although there had been earlier attempts at professional basketball leagues, including the American Basketball League and the National Basketball League, the BAA was the first league to attempt to play primarily in large arenas in major cities. During its early years, though, the quality of play in the BAA was not obviously better than those other leagues or among leading independent clubs such as the Harlem Globetrotters. For instance the 1947 ABL finalist Baltimore Bullets moved to the BAA and won its 1948 title, followed by the 1948 NBL champion Minneapolis Lakers who won the 1949 BAA title. Following the 1949 season, the BAA agreed to merge with the NBL, expanding the rechristened National Basketball Association to seventeen franchises that were a mix of large and small cities, as well as large arenas and smaller gymnasiums and armories. In 1950, the NBA consolidated to eleven franchises, a process that continued until 1954, when the league reached its smallest size of eight franchises, all of which are still in the league (the Knicks, Celtics, Warriors, Lakers, Royals/Kings, Pistons, Hawks, and Nationals/76ers). While contracting, the league also saw in its smaller city franchises shift to larger cities. The Hawks shifted from "Tri-Cities" to Milwaukee and then to St. Louis; the Royals from Rochester to Cincinnati, the Pistons from Fort Wayne to Detroit. 1950 also saw the NBA integrate, with the addition of African American players by several teams including Chuck Cooper with the Boston Celtics, Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton with the New York Knicks, and Earl Lloyd with the Washington Capitols. During this period, the Minneapolis Lakers, led by center George Mikan, won five NBA Finals and established themselves as its first dynasty. To liven up play, the league introduced the 24 second shot clock in 1954. In 1956, rookie center Bill Russell joined the Boston Celtics, who already featured guard Bob Cousy and coach Red Auerbach, and led the club to eleven NBA titles in thirteen seasons. Center Wilt Chamberlain entered the league in 1959 and became the dominant individual star of the 1960's, setting new records in scoring and rebounding. Russell's rivaly with Chamberlain became one of the great individual rivalries in the history of team sports. Through this period, the NBA continued to strengthen with the shift of the Lakers to Los Angeles, the Philadelphia Warriors to San Francisco, and the Syracuse Nationals to Philadelphia, as well as the addition of its first expansion franchises. In 1967, the league faced a new external threat with the formation of the American Basketball Association. The leagues engaged in a bidding war for talent. The NBA landed the most important college star of the era, Kareem Abdul Jabbar (then known as Lew Alcindor), who in his second season led the Milwaukee Bucks to a title together with Oscar Robertson, and who later played on five Laker championship teams. However, the NBA's leading scorer, Rick Barry jumped to the ABA, as did four veteran referees -- Norm Drucker, Earl Strom, John Vanak and Joe Gushue. The ABA also succeeded in signing a number of major stars, including Julius Erving, in part because it allowed teams to sign college undergraduates. The NBA expanded rapidly during this period, one result of which was to tie up most viable cities. Following the 1976 season, the leagues reached a settlement that provided for the addition of four ABA franchises to the NBA, raising the number of franchises in the league at that time to 22. The league added the ABA's innovative Three-point field goal beginning in 1979 to open up the game. Also in 1979, rookies Larry Bird and Magic Johnson joined the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers, respectively, initiating a period of significant growth in fan interest in the NBA throughout the country and throughout the world. Bird went on to lead the Celtics to three titles, and Johnson went on to lead the Lakers to five. Michael Jordan, entered the league five years later with the Chicago Bulls, providing an even more popular star to support growing interest in the league. By 1989, further expansion had raised the number of teams in the league to 27. During the 1990's, Jordan went on to lead the Bulls to six titles. The 1990's also saw greater globalization. The 1992 Olympic basketball Dream Team, the first to use current NBA stars, featured Jordan, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. A growing number of NBA star players also began coming from other countries. Initially, many of these players, such as 1994 NBA MVP Hakeem Olajuwon of Nigeria, first played NCAA basketball to enhance their skills. An increasing number, though, such as 2002 NBA Rookie of the Year Pau Gasol of Spain, 2002 first pick in the NBA Draft Yao Ming of China, and 2004 Olympic Tournament MVP Emanuel Ginobili of Argentina, have moved directly from playing elsewhere in the world to starring in the NBA. The NBA is now televised in 212 nations in 42 languages. In 1996 the NBA created a women's league, the Women's National Basketball Association, and in 2002 created an affiliated minor league, the National Basketball Development League. Today, the NBA has reached 30 franchises and continues to evolve as one of the premier sports leagues in the world.

Lockout

The Collective Bargining Agreement between the two agencies expired on June 30, 2005. On June 22, 2005, a bargaining agreement was reached, preventing a lockout. The last time the NBA went though a lockout, a large portion of the 1998-99 season was cancelled, resulting in a shortened 50-game regular season schedule. The All-Star game was not played that year, but the playoffs were not affected. Fortunately for fans an agreement was reached, with the most significant change being an assignment system within the NBDL, as well as a one time salary cap amnesty clause.

Teams

Current Teams

Defunct teams


- Anderson Packers (1949–1950)
- Baltimore Bullets (1947–1955: last NBA team to fold)
- Chicago Stags (1946–1950)
- Cleveland Rebels (1946–1947)
- Denver Nuggets (1949–1950)
- Detroit Falcons (1946–1947)
- Detroit Gems (1949–1950)
- Indianapolis Jets (1948–1949)
- Indianapolis Olympians (1949–1953)
- Pittsburgh Ironmen (1946–1947)
- Providence Steamrollers (1946–1949)
- St. Louis Bombers (1946–1950)
- Sheboygan Redskins (1949–1950)
- Toronto Huskies (1946–1947)
- Washington Capitols (1946–1951)
- Waterloo Hawks (1949–1950)

Important people

Presidents and commissioners


- Maurice Podoloff, President from 1946 to 1963
- Walter Kennedy, President from 1963 to 1967 and Commissioner from 1967 to 1975
- Larry O'Brien, Commissioner from 1975 to 1984
- David Stern, Commissioner since 1984

Players


- List of NBA players
- List of Current NBA Team Rosters

See also


- Rivalries of the NBA
- NBA expansion potential
- National Basketball Association All-Star Game
- NBA Finals
- Basketball Hall of Fame
- NBA Development League (or NBA D-League)
- NBA Most Valuable Player Award
- NBA Rookie of the Year Award
- NBA Most Improved Player Award
- NBA Coach of the Year Award
- NBA Sixth Man Award
- NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award
- NBA Finals MVP Award
- List of National Basketball Association franchise post-season droughts
- Women's National Basketball Association
- List of professional sports leagues
- NBA Draft
- NBA first overall draft pick
- List of NBA Drafts
- NBA Live video game series
- NBA 2K video game series
- NBA Street video game series
- Shot clock
- NBA Dress Code

External links

Official Sites


- [http://www.nba.com NBA.com]
- [http://www.nbpa.com National Basketball Players Association]

Statistics


- [http://www.btgraphix.com/nba/ NBA Player Statistic Analyzer]
- [http://www.dougstats.com/ Doug's NBA Statistics]
- [http://www.82games.com/teams.htm NBA Statistics] from 82games.com
- [http://www.basketballreference.com/ Historical NBA Statistics] from BasketballReference.com
- [http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/nba0405.htm Jeff Sagarin NBA ratings]
- [http://dir.yahoo.com/Recreation/Sports/Basketball/Leagues/National_Basketball_Association__NBA_/Players/ NBA Players] on Yahoo!
- [http://www.betroyal.com/teams/NBA/ NBA Stats & Matchups] from BetRoyal
- [http://www.hoopsstats.com/basketball/fantasy/nba/stats/06/ Hoopsstats.com - NBA Fantasy Basketball Stats]

News/Rumors


- [http://www.centercourthoops.com NBA Basketball News and Rumors] from CenterCourt Hoops
- [http://www.insidehoops.com/nba_rumors.shtml NBA Rumors] from InsideHoops
- [http://www.nbawire.com NBA News and Rumors] from NBAwire.com
- [http://www.prosportsdaily.com/nba/nba.html NBA News] from Pro Sports Daily
- [http://www.hoopshype.com/ NBA News and Rumors] from HoopsHype

Discussion


- [http://forums.centercourthoops.com/ CenterCourt Hoops Message Boards]
- [http://www.basketballboards.net/ BasketballBoards.net]
- [http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/APBR_analysis/ Association for Professional Basketball Analysis]
- [http://www.nbaboards.net NBA Boards]

Draft information


- [http://games.espn.go.com/vgm Gatorade Virtual GM]
- [http://www2.realgm.com/src_tradechecker.php RealGM Trade Checker]
- [http://www.nbadraft.net/index.asp NBADraft.net]
- [http://www.draftexpress.com/ DraftExpress]

Miscellaneous


- [http://www.gridmarks.com/NBA.html NBA Rankings]
- [http://www.nbahoopsonline.com NBA Hoops Online] the NBA knowledge site
- [http://www.nbahistory.net NBA History.Net]
- [http://www.insidehoops.com/ InsideHoops.com] Complete NBA coverage
- [http://www.justbball.com/ JustBBall.com]
- [http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm NBA Salary Cap FAQ]
- [http://www.remembertheaba.com/ Remember the ABA]
- [http://www.hoopsvibe.com/ HoopsVibe.com] Complete NBA coverage
- [http://www.sports-facts.com/nba.htm Sports-Facts.com] NBA History, Facts, and Stats
- [http://www.probasketballrefs.com NBRA] NBA Referees Category:Basketball organizations ja:NBA th:เอ็นบีเอ

New Jersey Nets

The New Jersey Nets are a National Basketball Association team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Franchise history

1967 to 1976 - The ABA Years

The franchise was established in 1967 as part of the American Basketball Association. Originally called the New Jersey Americans, the team played its first season in the Teaneck (N.J.) Armory, before changing its name and location (to Long Island) to become the New York Nets. The team was renamed to "Nets" to rhyme with two other professional sports team in New York: the New York Mets and New York Jets. In 1972, two years after the acquisition of star Rick Barry, the Nets advanced to the ABA finals. However, they could not overcome the Indiana Pacers and lost the series four games to two. Barry left after that postseason, sending the Nets into rebuilding mode. The 1972 - 1973 season was one of disappointment, as the Nets only won 30 games. In the 1973 offseason, however, the Nets acquired Julius Erving, known as "Dr. J" from the Virginia Squires. Virginia SquiresIn 1973-1974, with Erving, the Nets dramatically improved their record, ending the season with 55 victories. After Erving was voted the ABA's MVP, the Nets advanced in the playoffs and won their first title, defeating the Utah Stars in the 1974 ABA Finals. The following season they won 58 games in the regular season, but were eliminated, four games to one, by the Spirits of St. Louis in the first round of the 1975 ABA playoffs. The team rebounded in the 1975-1976 season, with Erving leading them them to a successful 55-win season; he also was named MVP again that year. After a grueling series with the Denver Nuggets, the Nets won the last ABA championship series in six games, giving them their second championship in three years.

1976 to 1980 - Move to the NBA and to New Jersey

During the summer of 1976, the ABA and NBA merged. As part of the merger agreement, four teams from the ABA -- including the Nets -- joined the NBA. However, before the Nets played a game in the NBA, they sold the rights to Erving to the Philadelphia 76ers for $3 million, ending a highly successful period in their history. The Nets finished their first season in the NBA with the worst record in the league at 22-60. Philadelphia 76ers Prior to the 1977-1978 season, team owner Roy Boe relocated the franchise back to New Jersey, renaming the team the New Jersey Nets. While the team awaited the completion of a new arena at the Meadowlands Sports Complex, they played four seasons at the Louis Brown Athletic Center on the campus of Rutgers University. In 1978, Boe sold the team to a group of seven local businessmen (led by Joe Taub and Alan Cohen) who became known as the "Secaucus Seven". The first four years in New Jersey were disappointing, as the Nets suffered through four consecutive losing seasons.

The 1980s

Secaucus The team moved into the Brendan Byrne Arena (now known as Continental Airlines Arena) in 1981 and experienced modest success with four consecutive winning seasons. In 1982-1983, while coached by Larry Brown, the Nets were having their best season since joining the NBA. However, Brown accepted the head coaching job at the University of Kansas during the last month of the season and was relieved of his coaching duties. The Nets would never recover from the coaching change and would lose in the first round of the playoffs. In the 1983-1984 season, the Nets fielded what was believed to be their best team since joining the league. Led by Darryl Dawkins, Buck Williams, Otis Birdsong, and Micheal Ray Richardson, the team won their first NBA playoff series, defeating the defending champion 76ers in the first round of the 1984 playoffs before falling to the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference semifinals in six games. Injuries plagued the team during the 1984-1985 season, but the Nets still managed to win 42 games before being eliminated from the 1985 playoffs by the Detroit Pistons in three games. The Nets would not qualify for the playoffs for the next seven seasons (1991-1992) and would not have a winning record for eight (1992-1993).

The 1990s

Detroit Pistons During the early 1990s the Nets began to improve behind a core of young players, as New Jersey drafted Derrick Coleman and Kenny Anderson and acquired the late Drazen Petrovic in a trade with the Portland Trail Blazers. Despite a losing record during the 1991-1992 season, the Nets qualified for the playoffs, losing to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round, three games to one. The team improved significantly in 1992-1993, led by the trio of Coleman, Petrovic and Anderson and new head coach Chuck Daly. However, injuries to both Anderson and Petrovic toward the end of the season sent the team into a 1-10 slump to end the regular season. The Nets finished the season at 43-39 and were seeded sixth in the Eastern Conference and faced the Cavaliers again in the first round. With Anderson recovered from a broken hand and Petrovic playing on an injured knee, the Nets lost a tough five-game series. However, the optimism of a team jelling was destroyed on June 7, when Petrovic was killed in an automobile accident in Germany at the age of 28. Depite the devastaing loss of Petrovic, the Nets managed to win 45 games during the 1993-1994 season, losing to the New York Knicks the first round of the 1994 NBA Playoffs, three games to one. Daly resigned as head coach after the season and was replaced by Butch Beard. The team struggled through the rest of the decade. During the mid-1990s the NBA's main image problem was that of the selfish, immature athlete and if one wanted to see a team that embodied that image, all one had to do was look at the Nets. In 1995, Coleman was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated as the poster child of the selfish NBA player, but with Anderson, Benoit Benjamin, Dwayne Schintzius and Chris Morris also on the roster, there were plenty of candidates for SI to choose from. The team's image was so poor that in an effort to shed its losing image, management considered renaming the team "Swamp Dragons" in 1995, but rejected the idea. In both the 1994-95 and 1995-96 seasons, the Nets finished with identical 30-52 records. In an effort to start anew, Coleman and Anderson were both traded during the 1995-96 season and John Calipari replaced Beard as head coach at the end of the season. Kerry Kittles was selected in the 1996 NBA Draft and midway through the 1996-97 season, the team traded for Sam Cassell. After a 26-56 win-loss season, the Nets made a major draft-day trade in June 1997, acquiring Keith Van Horn, Lucious Harris and two other players for Tim Thomas. The only player from the early 1990s that the Nets retained was Jayson Williams, who was developing into a rebounding specialist. The 1997-98 season was a lone bright spot for the Nets in the late 1990s. The team played well under Calipari, winning 43 games and qualifying for the playoffs on the last day of the season. The Nets were seeded eighth in the Eastern Conference and lost to the Chicago Bulls in the 1998 playoffs in three straight games. The "Secaucus Seven" sold the team in 1998 to local real estate developers, who the next year signed an agreement with New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner to form YankeeNets, a holding company that would own the two teams along with an interest in a new regional sports television called YES Network. The 1998-99 season was delayed for three months due to an owners' lockout of the players. When the abbreviated 50-game season began, the Nets were a fashionable choice by experts as a surprise team. However, Cassell was injured in the first game and the team started poorly. With the Nets underachieving at 3-15, the Nets traded Cassell to the Bucks, while the Nets acquired Stephon Marbury from the Minnesota Timberwolves. After two more losses, Calipari was fired as head coach with the team at 3-17. The team never recovered from its poor start to finish at 16-34. With the Nets already eliminated from playoff contention in April, Marbury collided with Williams in a game against the Atlanta Hawks -- Williams broke his tibia and would never play for the Nets again.

The 2000s

In 2000, the Nets hired as the team president Rod Thorn, who was best known for being the Bulls General Manager who drafted Michael Jordan and an executive with the NBA. Immediately, he began to assemble the components of the most talented team since the ABA champions of the mid-1970s. With the first pick in the 2000 Draft, the Nets selected Kenyon Martin from the University of Cincinnati. On the night of the 2001 Draft, they traded the rights to their first round selection (Eddie Griffin) to the Houston Rockets for their draft selections -- Richard Jefferson, Jason Collins and Brandon Armstrong. Just after the 2001 draft, Thorn made his boldest move. He traded all-star Marbury to the Phoenix Suns for another all-star point guard Jason Kidd. The move gave the team something it had been lacking for practically its entire NBA existence, a floor leader who also made his teammates better. That next season the Nets had their best season in their NBA history. The team won its first Atlantic Division title, finishing the regular season at 52-30 and were seeded first in Eastern Conference and faced Indiana in the first round of the 2002 NBA Playoffs. After losing the first game at home, the Nets then went on to win the next two games, before losing game four on the road. In front of a sellout crowd, the Nets played one of the more memorable games in NBA Playoff history in game five. The Nets led by nine points with five minutes remaining in regulation, however Reggie Miller made a 35-foot three-pointer at the buzzer to send the game into overtime (it should be noted that replays later showed that Miller's shot was actually after the buzzer and therefore shouldn't have counted). After Miller sent the game into double-overtime with a driving dunk, the Nets pulled away for a 120-109 victory. In the Eastern Conference Semifinals, they defeated the Charlotte Hornets four games to one to advance to the Eastern Conference Championship for the first time facing the Boston Celtics. After winning game one versus the Celtics, the Nets lost game two at home. In game three, the Nets led by 21 points going into the final period, but a tremendous Celtic comeback gave the Celtics a 94-90 victory and a 2-1 series lead. In game four played on Memorial Day afternoon in Boston, the Nets led most of the way but once again the Celtics found a way to tie the game with a minute remaining. However, in this game the Nets made enough plays at the end of the game to win it - Harris made two free throws with 6.6 seconds left and when Paul Pierce missed two free throws that would have tied the game with 1 second left, the series was tied at two games each. In game five, the Nets went on a 20-1 run early in the fourth period to coast to a 103-92 victory and a 3-2 lead in the series. In game 6, the Nets trailed by 10 at halftime, but rallied in the second half to take the lead. Van Horn's three pointer off a Kittles pass with 50 seconds left in the game clinched the Nets first Eastern Conference Championship, four games to two. In the 2002 NBA Finals, the Nets were swept by Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers in four games. Before the 2002-03 season, the Nets traded Van Horn to obtain Dikembe Mutombo from the 76ers. The move to improve the team did not work out as Mutombo sat out most of the season with a wrist injury. Despite Mutombo's absence, the Nets finished with a 49-33 record and repeated as Atlantic Division champs. In the 2003 NBA Playoffs, the Nets won their second consecutive Eastern Conference championship. The defeated the Bucks in the first round of the playoffs four games to two, then swept the Celtics and Pistons in consecutive series to advance to the 2003 NBA Finals, this time facing the Western Conference champion San Antonio Spurs. They split the first four games in the series, but the Nets played erratically in a Game 5 loss at home to go down in the series three games to two. In Game 6, the Nets led the Spurs by 10 points on the road with 10 minutes remaining, but the Spurs went on a 19-0 run to take the title in six games. Following the 2003 Finals, Kidd became a free agent and the Spurs pursued signing him away from the Nets. However, Kidd re-signed with the Nets, along with center Alonzo Mourning. In 2004, The Nets again won the Atlantic Division title, however their run of conference championships was halted in the Eastern Conference Semifinals by the eventual NBA champion Detroit Pistons. The Nets stole Game 5 in Detroit in triple overtime, only to blow a huge lead early in Game 6 in New Jersey. The Pistons won Game 7 in a rout and took the series 4 games to 3. Jason Kidd, playing on an injured knee that eventually required surgery after the season, was held scoreless in Game 7. In 2005, after two disappointing seasons, the Nets acquired disgruntled star Vince Carter from the Toronto Raptors in exchange for Mourning, who was predictably released by the Raptors (and subsequently rejoined the Miami Heat). Teamed with Kidd, Carter rallied the team from being more than 10 games out of the playoffs to gain the final seed in the Eastern Conference. However, the duo could not overcome O'Neal again and were swept by the Heat in the First Round of the 2005 NBA Playoffs. During the offseason of 2005, the Nets actively pursued a starting-quality power forward to fill that void after drafting Antoine Wright, a 6' 7" swingman because all the talented power forwards were taken in the draft. Eventually settling on Shareef Abdur-Rahim, they actively courted him and gained his approval even though they could only offer him the mid-level exception. In order to get him a larger, more lucrative contract, the Nets pursued a sign-and-trade with Portland. There, negotiations hit a snag because Portland demanded a first-round draft pick, which the Nets adamantly refused to part with. Eventually, the Nets agreed to give Portland a protected first-round pick and their trade exception acquired from the Kerry Kittles trade. This allowed the Nets to keep their mid-level exception for signing other players. However, Thorn decided to void the Abdur-Rahim trade when he failed his physical examination because of a pre-existing knee injury. To fill Abdur-Rahim's slot on the roster, the Nets acquired Marc Jackson from the Sixers. They used part of the remaining mid-level exception to re-sign