In a basketball scoreboards feature, we look at the top US basketball teams from the West coast. Basketball is one of the most popular sports in the US, and arguably THE most popular sport (in tandem with football). The Pacific coast has some great teams and some fanatical supporters, which have a friendly but fierce rivalry with the East coast. The following 3 Pacific US teams are considered the best in the West.
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are without doubt the number 1 Pacific team, and in fact the number 1 team in the whole of the US. The basketball scoreboards showed that they were the 2009-2010 NBA champions, and have won the NBA champions no less than 16 times. The Los Angeles Lakers have possess some of the world’s finest basketball players such as Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and many more. Andrew Bynum is their captain and Phil Jackson is their head coach. It was in large part due to Phil’s amazing coaching that the team was able to defend their title last season. Phil won the championship for the 11th time as a coach. Kobe Bryant bagged the Most Valuable Player award for the second consecutive season. This is the team of the moment, and no one will enjoy playing against them this season!
Golden State Warriors
The Warriors are ranked as the 2nd best time in the Pacific US. The Warriors had the youngest team in 2008-2009 and possess some exceptionally talented players such as Stephen Jackson, Jamal Crawford and Anthony Morrow. Jamal Crawford became the first Warrior to score 50 points at Charlotte. Stephen Jackson established a career high of 20.7 in points, 6.7 assists and 5.1 rebounds. With this outstanding performance he became one of only four players in the NBA to average at least 20 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds. Anthony Morrow was the first NBA rookie and the first Warrior to lead the league in three point shooting. Warriors have won a couple of NBA championships, but not under the name of the Golden State Warriors.
Sacramento Kings
The Sacramento Kings are ranked 3rd in the Pacific division. Their head coach is Paul Westphaul. The Kings have a passionate following, and completely sell out almost all of their home games in Sacramento, and they performed consistently well in their home games. The Sacramento Kings have been unable to clinch the NBA title as yet, but with players like Tyreke Evans, Carl Landry and Beno Udrih, they have the potential to win the title. Tyreke Evans was named the rookie of the year for the 2009-2010 season, and his outstanding statistics are on par with Michael Jordan. 2009-2010 is the 4th season for Carl Landry. He joined the Kings in late February and since then has helped to improve the team’s performance. Beno Udrih joined the Kings in 2007 and has led the team with a great scoring record.
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