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Ball Don't Lie

Fri Mar 05 08:10am PST

'To block or not to block' — a soliloquy by Chris Andersen

By Trey Kerby

To block or not to block - that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The shots and layups of outrageous shooters,
Or to take arms against a sea of floaters
And, by opposing, stuff them. To block, to shoot
No more - and by block to say we end
The heartache of the thousand natural shots
That ball is heir to - ‘tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To shoot, to block
To block, perchance to dream.

(Words paraphrased from William Shakespeare. Video via A Stern Warning. Mustache via Chris Andersen(notes).)

Related: Shocking dialogue

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63 Comments

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  1. Irish
    1. Posted by Irish Fri Mar 05, 2010 11:20 am EST

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    almost 70 blocks behind the Beast in the Southeast. long way to go Birdman to catch the best center in the league. This guy is not on Dwight Howards level of blocking. Bogut is better than this glorified D League all star
  2. ScottR
    2. Posted by ScottR Fri Mar 05, 2010 11:41 am EST

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    That's beautiful man
  3. hotvietdood
    3. Posted by hotvietdood Fri Mar 05, 2010 12:03 pm EST

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    That was deep man. And thats more than I can say for Skeets. I think theres dust in my eyes..
  4. brad
    4. Posted by brad Fri Mar 05, 2010 12:28 pm EST

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    Chris Anderson is certainly not a glorified D- League Star. He also isn't even close to Dwight Howard. He is a solid role player though.
  5. Stan H
    5. Posted by Stan H Fri Mar 05, 2010 12:41 pm EST

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    70 blocks behind Dwight? And is that considering Dwight plays 13 more minutes per game than Birdman?
  6. y2andru
    6. Posted by y2andru Fri Mar 05, 2010 12:43 pm EST

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    That spoke volumes about him. He swats the shot and instead of paying attention to the rest of the play, he looks into the crowd for recognition and to try to look tough while the ball was in play. Any coach that lets that slide is failing his team. Too bad Boston didn't recover and score while Andersen was praising himself.
  7. gaborik10m
    7. Posted by gaborik10m Fri Mar 05, 2010 12:47 pm EST

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    "That spoke volumes about him. He swats the shot and instead of paying attention to the rest of the play, he looks into the crowd for recognition and to try to look tough while the ball was in play. Any coach that lets that slide is failing his team. Too bad Boston didn't recover and score while Andersen was praising himself. "
    Whatever, you big poon. He watched it go out of bounds.
  8. Crest
    8. Posted by Crest Fri Mar 05, 2010 12:48 pm EST

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    @ Post number #8- Agreed.
  9. Il Mago
    9. Posted by Il Mago Fri Mar 05, 2010 12:54 pm EST

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    to y2andru, what a dumbass, look at the video. He clearly waits till after he knows for sure that the ball is out before gloating, and hilariously at that. Get that stick out of your ass. These are the moments that make the NBA amazing, those amazing "holy crap no way " moments.
  10. Rodger Digital
    10. Posted by Rodger Digital Fri Mar 05, 2010 1:03 pm EST

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    nice to see he's off the drugs
  11. cjoeyc995
    11. Posted by cjoeyc995 Fri Mar 05, 2010 1:14 pm EST

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    he's a solid role player.
    i mean, as a BACKUP center, playing at most 20some minutes a game, he's only behind dwight howard, who plays 30+ minutes a game on a night where he's not in foul trouble, by only 70 blocks. that's SOLID. factor in the fact that there's been 60~ games played so far. think for a second. dwight is only up by about 1 block a game. .... that's not that many.
  12. The Phil Jackson 5
    12. Posted by The Phil Jackson 5 Fri Mar 05, 2010 1:14 pm EST

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    that was a nice block, he has good timing for those moments...wouldve been better if he kept it in play...still though, a pretty demoralizing swat
  13. Czheck
    13. Posted by Czheck Fri Mar 05, 2010 1:23 pm EST

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    to block the shot or lose game 6 of the western conference finals letting luke walton dunk on carmellos birthday.
    to block the shot or get dunked on that is the question and the answer is gettin dunked on by half the league. blocking a few shots
  14. Edward
    14. Posted by Edward Fri Mar 05, 2010 2:16 pm EST

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    PLAYER NAME, TEAM NAME GP MPG BLK PF BLKPG BLKP48M BLK/PF
    1 Joel Anthony , MIA 61 14.8 80 115 1.31 4.25 .7
    2 Chris Andersen , DEN 58 22.3 107 131 1.84 3.98 .82
    3 Samuel Dalembert , PHI 60 25.8 125 193 2.08 3.87 .65
    4 Dwight Howard , ORL 62 35.1 172 223 2.77 3.8 .77
    5 Andrew Bogut , MIL 54 32.3 129 173 2.39 3.55 .75
    Yep that's right Dwight Howard is the best blocker out there. Wait what is that you say? Per 48 Minutes there are better blockers? Get out of town!
    As a pure blocker Chris Anderson is the better blocker because of his technique and timing. Howard due to his athletism is right up there but he is 7 years younger and over an inch taller with a bigger wingspan. Over time he should get better.
    As too the ones that one knock on about being dunked on. How about all the panzies in the league that don't even try to block instead either try to take a flop or get the hell out of the way. At least he challenges people.
  15. JA
    15. Posted by JA Fri Mar 05, 2010 2:26 pm EST

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    Trey: I have to write this out because this is probably lost on a lot of BDL readers.
    How appropriate to use Hamlet as your source text as Andersen is himself Danish--indeed, Andersen, coming off the bench, is the true Prince of DEN.
  16. C-Note Tha Great
    16. Posted by C-Note Tha Great Fri Mar 05, 2010 2:34 pm EST

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    That's the type of BLOWTORCH-esq prose I expect from T.Kirbs/Brad Miller now that he's on BDL. Hilarity.
    Trey, your getting a few more comments on this site now, huh?
  17. Mike S
    17. Posted by Mike S Fri Mar 05, 2010 2:57 pm EST

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    If you don't want the Birdman playing 20 min a night on your team, you're an idiot. Easily of the best 2nd team Big defender in the league in terms of help defense. This guy keeps them in the game defensively while the 1st team offense is on the pine for a minute.
  18. Walter E
    18. Posted by Walter E Fri Mar 05, 2010 3:14 pm EST

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    Another sexual offender candidate....
  19. schwarz
    19. Posted by schwarz Fri Mar 05, 2010 3:48 pm EST

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    @ Irish...the Birdman leads the league in per 48 min blocks by a whole block. He also outblocks Dwight 5.76 to 3.93, almost two full blocks per 48 minutes. yet he's not on dwight howards level of blocking?
  20. vondior
    20. Posted by vondior Fri Mar 05, 2010 3:53 pm EST

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    here comes the haters
  21. KneeJerkNBA
    21. Posted by KneeJerkNBA Fri Mar 05, 2010 5:12 pm EST

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    'sea of floaters' PURE WIN
  22. Peter Y
    22. Posted by Peter Y Fri Mar 05, 2010 5:19 pm EST

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    I think it's a very easy question for Birdman. The answer is always "To Block"
  23. Belicheat
    23. Posted by Belicheat Fri Mar 05, 2010 5:23 pm EST

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    okay birdman much respect, People forget well mostly idiots forgets that chris anderson is coming off the bench. Dwight is starting, You want to go by stats go back per 48 stats not by game. Per 48 Dwight 3.80 Anderson 3.98. Last year Anderson was avg 2.5 blocks off the freaking bench his per 48 must be off the charts. Anderson is very damn good shot blocker, he is as good as dwight. Last year stats Dwight 2.92 blocks per game Anderson of the bench 2.5. Last year per 48 Dwight 3.93 Anderson a fing 5.75 that is crazy. So people who have no basketball knowledge please STFU.

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