NBA Pop! Sports Series 1 Vinyl Figures by Funko

The NBA Playoffs are really heating up and now’s your chance to immortalize the 2012 season with these cute, chunky vinyl figures of your favorite basketball player! Whether you’re a Heat, Knicks or Lakers fan, there’s definitely a figure for you in Funko’s NBA Pop! Sports Series 1. What’s really amazing is there are ten figures in this first wave of NBA Pop!, making it Funko’s largest single release to date. NBA Pop! Sports Series 1 includes Lebron James, Blake Griffin, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Pau Gasol, Rajon Rondo, Kevin Love, Lamarcus Aldridge, Derrick Rose and Mr. Linsanity himself, Jeremy Lin.

The NBA Pop! Sports vinyl figures feature one point of articulation, stand 3.75” tall and come packaged in a full color displayable window box. These figures are available now in stores everywhere, but you can save yourself a trip to your local toy store by ordering them online from Entertainment Earth for $9.99 each here.

NBA Pop! Series 1 Concept Artwork by Funko

Funko has teamed with MINDstyle (yes, that MINDstyle) to produce a line of officially licensed NBA Pop! vinyl figures. Series 1 includes Lebron James, Blake Griffin, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Pau Gasol, Rajon Rondo, Kevin Love, Lamarcus Aldridge and the reigning MVP, Derrick Rose. While these figures look awesome, The Blot has just one question…where’s the beef? As in where’s Kobe Bryant!?! Pau’s great, but the Lakers fan in me needs a Kobe Pop! vinyl figure immediately. I guess I'll just have to wait until Series 2.

As a University of Texas alum, I also think it’s pretty cool to see two fellow longhorns included in this release, Kevin Durant and Lamarcus Aldridge. I guess they can’t say we’re just a football school anymore! Funko also leaked the preliminary artwork for a future Jeremy Lin NBA Pop! vinyl figure. This would make a pretty sweet New York Comic-Con 2012 exclusive wouldn’t it?

NBA Pop! Series 1 will begin shipping in late April to ensure they reach you in time to cheer on your favorite team during the playoffs!

Los Angeles Lakers Win the 2010 NBA Championship For Back to Back Titles

Wow, as a lifelong fan of the Los Angeles Lakers The Blot can honestly say I’m as excited for this NBA Championship, the franchise’s sixteenth, as I was the first time I watched the Lakers win one in the ‘80s. It’s definitely a feeling that never gets old, and this one was especially sweet considering the team’s collapse against the Boston Celtics in the 2008 NBA Finals.


It’s hard to believe the Lakers have now been to the Finals three straight years and are coming off back-to-back championships. Before Derek Fisher’s return and Pau Gasol’s arrival in 2008, the team was in a freefall and Kobe’s departure was all but certain. Now the years with Smush Parker and Kwame Brown are just a distant memory!


There are a number of reasons this championship is especially sweet, and at the top of that list is because it came against the Lakers’ hated rivals, the Celtics, and was the perfect revenge for 2008’s loss. On top of that, Kobe now has 5 titles (and 2 NBA Finals MVP awards), on par with Magic Johnson, and Phil Jackson has won 11 titles, widening his record over the Celtics Red Auerbach (who has 9 titles to his credit). Another amazing statistic is that Jackson is the only NBA coach to ever win multiple titles in a row four different times! He had two different three-peats with the Bulls, a three-peat with the Lakers and now back-to-back championships again with the Lakers. That’s just incredible, isn’t it?


Another interesting turn of events from last night’s victory is that Kobe now has more NBA titles than Shaquille O’Neal (5 to 4). When asked what winning another NBA titale means to him individually, Kobe responded “Just got one more than Shaq. You can take that to the bank. You know how I am. I don't forget anything." I may be a Shaq guy, but that’s still pretty funny (and true).


I could go on and on about Pau’s amazing performance throughout the playoffs (he probably should have won the Finals MVP award this year), Ron Artest’s amazing in game 7 or DFish’s continued clutch shooting…but I won’t, because you already know how great they were! Instead I’ll just make an impassioned plea to Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss to please, please, please resign Phi Jackson. Pay the man his money so the Lakers can you win you a second three-peat. As we all know, Phil likes to do things in 3s.

The Best News I’ve Heard All Week

Reports: Grizz to send Gasol to Lakers for Brown

Wow, did I just read that right? If so then The Blot must eat a slice of humble pie and renounce all of my previous criticism of Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak. According to ESPN.com the Memphis Grizzlies have traded former All-Star and the 2002 NBA Rookie of the Year Pau Gasol to the Los Angeles Lakers for former overall #1 pick Kwame Brown, rookie guard Javaris Grittenton and two future first round picks (2008 and 2010). (link) It is also being reported that to make the deal work, “the Lakers would need to arrange a sign-and-trade for Aaron McKie, who is not currently playing in the NBA, to make the salary cap math work for the deal.” (link)

Somebody pinch me, because right now The Blot is ecstatic. Somehow the Lakers have been able to trade a perennial under achiever in Brown and two future first round picks, which probably would be middle to late first round picks anyway, and finally get a proven all-star caliber second scorer for Kobe Bryant. Not only that, but once the Lakers are fully healthy again they will have a front line of Gasol, Lamar Odom and 20 year old sensation Andrew Bynum, which should now be able to compete with the best front courts in the NBA’s Western Conference. Things are definitely looking up for the Lakers who hit a dry spell earlier in the season with an injury to Bynum. Hopefully he will be back soon and the team will have time to gel before they make one final push for a Western Conference title and a trip to the NBA Finals.