2003–04 Houston Rockets Season
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2003–04 Houston Rockets Season
The 2003–04 NBA season was the Rockets' 37th season in the National Basketball Association, and their 33rd season in the city of Houston. The season saw the Rockets move their home games from Compaq Center to the new Toyota Center. During the offseason, the Rockets hired head coach Jeff Van Gundy, who is best known for his tenure with the New York Knicks, and signed free agent Jim Jackson. Midway through the season, they signed free agent point guard Mark Jackson. The Rockets finished fifth in the Midwest Division with a 45–37 record, and qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 1999 as the number 7 seed in the Western Conference. Second-year star Yao Ming and Steve Francis were both selected for the 2004 NBA All-Star Game. However, the Rockets were eliminated from the first round of the playoffs by the Los Angeles Lakers, who added Karl Malone and Gary Payton to join Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, in five games. This also marked Francis' only playoff appearanc ...
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Jeff Van Gundy
Jeffrey William Van Gundy (born January 19, 1962) is an American commentator for ESPN and former basketball coach. He served as head coach of the New York Knicks and the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). During his tenure on the Knicks, he led the team to the 1999 NBA Finals, where they ultimately lost to the San Antonio Spurs. Early life Van Gundy was born in Hemet, California, and grew up in the town of Martinez, California. He is the son of a basketball coach, Bill Van Gundy, the former head coach at SUNY Brockport and at Genesee Community College. Jeff's elder brother, Stan, later became head coach of the NBA's Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, and the New Orleans Pelicans, and is the former head coach and director of basketball operations for the Detroit Pistons. As a high-school point guard, Van Gundy was a two-time All Greater Rochester selection in 1979 and 1980, leading Brockport Central to the Class AA finals. He continued his basketball playing ...
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2003–04 Los Angeles Lakers Season
The 2003–04 NBA season was the Lakers' 56th season in the National Basketball Association and 44th in the city of Los Angeles. The Lakers entered the season following a disappointing second-round loss to the eventual champion San Antonio Spurs in the 2003 playoffs. During the offseason, the Lakers signed star free agents Karl Malone and Gary Payton and re-signed free agent power forward Horace Grant. Following these acquisitions, the Lakers became the instant favorites to win the NBA title. Despite major acquisitions, key moves, and becoming overnight title favorites, the Lakers would run into major setbacks to begin the season. During the 2003 off-season, superstar guard Kobe Bryant had been accused of sexual assault in Colorado. Media attention surrounding the case would prove to be an ongoing distraction for the team, and Bryant missed games during his trial. In addition, Bryant's feud with superstar center Shaquille O'Neal reached a peak during the season, as both players ...
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Andy Greer
Andy Greer (born August 6, 1962) is an American professional basketball coach who serves as assistant coach for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was formerly an assistant for the Minnesota Timberwolves, in charge of their defense. He was the head coach of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy from 1993 to 1997 and served as interim head coach for the Northern Illinois University during the second half of the 2000–01 season. Coaching career On June 29, 2015, he was hired to serve as an assistant coach by the Toronto Raptors. He joined the Minnesota Timberwolves as an assistant coach on September 25, 2016. On January 6, 2019, he was relieved of his duties together with head coach Tom Thibodeau. On September 4, 2020, Greer was hired as an assistant coach for the New York Knicks under head coach Tom Thibodeau. Head coaching record Personal life Greer's younger brother, Larry, serves as an assistant coach for the New York Knicks The New Y ...
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Patrick Ewing
Patrick Aloysius Ewing (born August 5, 1962) is a Jamaican-American basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach of the Georgetown University men's team. He played most of his career as the starting center for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA) before ending his playing career with brief stints with the Seattle SuperSonics and Orlando Magic. Ewing is regarded as one of the greatest centers of all time, playing a dominant role in the New York Knicks 1990's success. Highly recruited out of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Ewing played center for Georgetown for four years—in three of which the team reached the NCAA Championship Game. ESPN in 2008 designated him the 16th-greatest college basketball player of all time. He had a seventeen-year NBA career, predominantly playing for the New York Knicks, where he was an eleven-time all-star and named to seven All-NBA teams. The Knicks appeared in the NBA Finals twice (1994 and 1999) du ...
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Steve Clifford
Steven Gerald Clifford (born September 17, 1961) is an American basketball coach who is the head coach of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has previously served as the head coach of the Orlando Magic. Early life Born in Island Falls, Maine, Clifford grew up in Mattawamkeag, Maine, until the third grade, when he moved to Vermont. He played varsity basketball under Gerald Clifford, his father and head coach at North Country Union High School in Newport, Vermont. Clifford attended the University of Maine at Farmington, where he played college basketball for four years. In his final two seasons, he was team captain and was named Best Defensive Player. He graduated with a degree in special education. Coaching career After graduating from college, Clifford became a teacher at Woodland High School in Maine. He also gained his first coaching experience at the school, serving as their head coach for two seasons while leading them to two tournaments ...
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Tom Thibodeau
Thomas Joseph Thibodeau Jr. ( ; born January 17, 1958) is an American basketball coach who is the head coach for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He served as an assistant coach for the United States men's national basketball team from 2013 to 2016, and helped Team USA win a gold medal at the 2016 Olympic Games. As a defensive coach, he helped the Houston Rockets rank among the Top 5 in the league in scoring defense and field goal percentage defense from 2004 to 2007, and he has helped his team finish in the league's Top 10 in team defense 15 times.Christopher L. GasperIt all stops with mastermind Thibodeau ''The Boston Globe'', June 4, 2008. He has coached in 214 playoff games as an assistant coach, associate head coach, and head coach. Also, he was part of the 1999 NBA Finals as an assistant coach with the New York Knicks before joining the Boston Celtics, with whom he won the 2008 NBA Finals as well as helping guide them back to the 2010 NBA Fi ...
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TV Langen
TV Langen, nicknamed ''Die Giraffen'' (the Giraffes), is a German basketball club based in Langen, Hesse. The club men's senior team currently plays in the Regionalliga, the fourth tier of German basketball. Langen has played in the first tier Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) in the seasons of 1981/82, 1985-1988, 1984/85, 1988/89, 1990/91. The club is a cooperation team of the Frankfurt Skyliners, and is especially known for developing young basketball talents. The team's manager has been Jürgen Barth. Notable players ; * Robin Benzing until -'09 *Johannes Herber 3 seasons: '99-'02 * Alex King 1 season: '05-'06 * Denis Wucherer 1 season: '91-'92 ; *Malick Badiane Malick Badiane (born January 1, 1984) is a Senegalese former professional basketball player. He played mainly as a center (basketball), center, but could also play at the Power forward (basketball), power forward position. He is 6 ft 11 in (2. ... 2 seasons: '01-'03 External linksOfficial website References {{ ...
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Malick Badiane
Malick Badiane (born January 1, 1984) is a Senegalese former professional basketball player. He played mainly as a center (basketball), center, but could also play at the Power forward (basketball), power forward position. He is 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) in height. Club career Early years Badiane started his career playing for the US Rail Thies team in the Senegalese Division I Basketball League, Senegalese League in the 2000–01 season. He emerged on the American basketball scene after an impressive showing at the ABCD Camp in Teaneck, New Jersey, Teaneck, New Jersey, United States. There, he shined despite getting limited touches, emerging as one of the camp's top 30 players.Pro Basketball - Centers.
retrieved on April 6, 2007


Europe

Badiane, then eighteen years old, signed with ...
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2004–05 Orlando Magic Season
The 2004–05 season was the 16th season of the Orlando Magic in the National Basketball Association (NBA). After finishing the previous year with a league-worst 21–61 record, the Magic won the NBA Draft Lottery for the third time in franchise history, and selected high school star Dwight Howard with the first overall pick in the 2004 NBA draft. During the offseason, the Magic acquired All-Star guard Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley from the Houston Rockets, and signed free agent Hedo Turkoglu. The team looked to be a playoff contender playing above .500 for the first half of the season. In January, Mobley was traded to the Sacramento Kings for Doug Christie. However, head coach Johnny Davis was fired after a 31–33 start, and was replaced with Chris Jent. The Magic finished third in the Southeast Division with a 36–46 record, a 15-game improvement from the previous season. Grant Hill finally played a full season with the Magic averaging 19.7 points per game, while being s ...
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Kelvin Cato
Kelvin Tavares Cato (born August 26, 1974) is an American former professional basketball player. College career Cato was an obscure player averaging six points and six rebounds at the University of South Alabama in 1992–93. At that time, he struck up a relationship with then University of New Orleans coach Tim Floyd, who recognized Cato's potential. In 1994, Floyd took over as head coach at Iowa State University and convinced Cato to transfer to Iowa State. Cato averaged 11 points, eight rebounds and four blocks per game for an Iowa State team that reached the Sweet Sixteen of the 1997 NCAA basketball tournament. NBA career Drafted 15th overall in the 1997 NBA draft by the Dallas Mavericks, Cato's draft rights were immediately traded to the Portland Trail Blazers for the draft rights to Chris Anstey and cash considerations. Cato averaged 3.8 and 3.5 points per game in his two seasons in Portland before being bundled in a six-for-one deal with the Houston Rockets that s ...
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Cuttino Mobley
Cuttino Rashawn Mobley (born September 1, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association from 1998 to 2008. He played college basketball for the Rhode Island Rams, earning conference player of the year honors in the Atlantic 10 in 1998. Mobley was selected in the second round of the 1998 NBA draft by the Houston Rockets and was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team. He has played in the 3x3 basketball in the Big3. Early life/ College career Cuttino, also known as the "Cat", attended Incarnation of Our Lord grade school in the Olney section of Philadelphia. After graduating from grade school, Mobley attended Cardinal Dougherty High School, transferred to Maine Central Institute in 1992, and graduated in 1993. After high school, he attended the University of Rhode Island from 1993 to 1998 and redshirted his first year. At Rhode Island, he helped lead the Rams team to an Elite Eight appearance in the 1998 NCAA Men's ...
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Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bean Bryant ( ; August 23, 1978 – January 26, 2020) was an American professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he spent his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players and scorers of all time, Bryant won five NBA championships, was an 18-time All-Star, a 15-time member of the All-NBA Team, a 12-time member of the All-Defensive Team, the 2008 NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP), and a two-time NBA Finals MVP. Bryant also led the NBA in scoring twice, and ranks fourth in league all-time regular season and postseason scoring. He was posthumously voted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2020 and named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team in 2021. The son of former NBA player Joe Bryant, he was born in Philadelphia and partly raised in Italy. Recognized as the top American high-school basketball player while at Philadelphia suburb Lower Merion ...
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