JEFF TEAGUE & MIKE CONLEY Jr. Feature-VISION

The Tipping Point.

By TIM DAVID HARVEY

Our #GeneralSeries taking Point Guards on head-to-head continues with an assembling with our #SuperheroSeason series.

Behold vision like no other! Marvel at these heroes. Point Gods...generally speaking. When the world is talking about other quarterbacks in this game, these two still touchdown. Sure the old hand used to talk about Deron Williams vs Chris Paul, but now this next gen, video game like contest is looking at the changing of the guard, MVP likes of Russell Westbook and Stephen Curry, unbelievably amazing dunkers and shooters who are so much more than just catch and assists. Yet beyond the Magic and just like a Kidd there's just something about those old fashioned guards that doesn't change over the years. Two particular points of authority in this league may be as great as they are underrated, but that doesn't stop them from being two of the best this league see's today and may have seen for quite some decades. Now that's real vision...forget about hindsight. Just look at the one from sweet Georgia. Skilled like a Globetrotter. The king of Peachtree with the peach. He wears nothing on his back like Westbrook, but carries it all too with the burdens of those who just wrote him off. His name rhymes with league, but some dismiss him like he doesn't belong in the L. Yet they really know as much as the digit below his shoulders. His name is Jeff! Teague leader. Still, when you talk about sports nothing dominates the track and field quite like the Conley family. Isn't that right Mo Cheeks? Still every great family deserves a junior and Mike Conley is the begotten son. Born in a competitive fire and growing like an eternal light. You see the rest of the league may just see two regular players. Yet look closer and you'll see these point pupils see the floor and the game like few other in the field of sight.

Welcome to Atlanta, where the players play so good, some of the ATL's hottest music stars honor them at halftime with one of Jermaine Dupri and Ludacris' classic hits. Yet behind the stars we know there's more to this fledgling franchise that brought us Dominique Wilkins and Spud Webb than just a couple of guys. That's why almost the whole Eastern Conference, All-Star starting five can be made up of feathers from Hawks taking wing. In the A, Al Horford may have stood proud and tallest for the longest and Paul Millsap adds more beef to the frontcourt muscle. Whereas Hawkeye Kyle Korver rains threes that fly like an eagle to the perch of the rim. Still in this feast for the birds you can't forget about the guy that sets the table and all that comes from nothing. Teague is the leader and the reason Korver finds as many open sweet spots as Horford and Millsap do in the paint or off the pick. Straight out of Indiana, Pine and Wake Forest this young Hawk flew through the trees like he does on court in search for his opening. Jazzy Jeff plays this game behind the notes and is a passing perfectionist. A steal in more ways than one who can grab a rebound, or two (and a half, as per his average). A true team-player who thinks about his squad solely, but one who can also sneaker score at speed too. Just look at his tied career high of 34 or the 15.9 he puts up each game. After 5 years the Hawks know they need this guy as much as their dual paint, or triple perimeter power, That's why they stuck their talons into the Bucks $34 mill offer sheet and matched-up, keeping Jeff in their nest. Now Teague is a player of his own in a league of his own and although his and his Hawks, two zip lead to the Brooklyn Nets and their legendary point man, Deron Williams has been matched and tied, there's still time and tide for this young Hawk and his Atlanta brave falcon like flyers to soar again.

If you thought the Hawks made a point at being an animal in this association then just wait until you see what kind of beast the Grizzlies have. The grit and grind of Memphis is anything but blue suede. These hound dogs are all about team, not kings. From Gasol brother Marc taking over what was once Pau's powerhouse, to Zach Randolph giving him the Millsap meat to his Horford muscle. And of course this team is swingman stacked. From the D of Tony Allen to the dunk of Vince Carter and the underrated next star of this league Jeff Green. Another third string that the Thunder should have tied up. Still, yet again like with the Hawks nothing tames this Grizz animal like the man that can bring all those inside men and outsiders onto court together for the better of hardwood play. Conley is the true grit and 9-5 grind of this underrated and still writing people off Western, powerhouse contender franchise that he embodies to those very definition. The 27 year old has never left, since his 2007 fourth choice via draft. His father was an Olympian to the gold and silver medal. His uncle a linebacker to the Pittsburgh Steelers, but Mike? Check this, Mike Conley Jr is a Memphis man forever. The bear necessity of this grizzled and strong squad. The man who has always been there or there about is a scoring, assist and rebound triple threat to the tune up of 15.8 points, 5.4 assists and 3 rebounds per contest. Rocking and rolling for years as the belle of Memphis keeping them from the bleak, Mike now faces his greatest challenge yet. Against another of the leagues, new generation greatest points, Damian Lillard in a series against the evenly matched West best mainstay; the Portland Trail Blazers. This face off has even resulted in a Westbrook like face injury for Conley, who is now facing everything down on the ropes of courtside. So will these favorite teams and their favorite franchise faces actually end up meeting in the Finals? Especially in their current tied up and down states? Either way in this head-to-head or another, Teague and Conley are more than just two guys marking each other. They are two guys leading the present towards the promise of a point making future. That's real vision. Seeing the game before it happens...an even greater look. Open your eyes!

COURTSIDE COLUMN-League Sleevers

Roll Out.

Up in arms! That's what the NBA and it's collective organisations and players where only a year and change back when the NBA added jerseys with a little extra something, something on the arms. These sleeved jerseys brought all new meaning to the term 'Shooting Shirts' and after almost being thrown out of the L's bounds like that infamous ball that ripped up players hands, players wanted to tear these arms up too. Yet here they still are today and it looks like they're here to stay. Love 'em or hate 'em and with some chance you may rock them this Summer season we present the best of the best...or worst, Either way you'll have it...

Brooklyn Boys-The Brooklyn Nets are by far the league leaders when it comes to sleeves, if not anything else. Bringing all new meaning to the name New Jersey in more ways than one, the B.K. now sets the tone for duds in the association...and we aren't talking about the cesspool poor state of rotten Big Apple basketball. Former teammate Paul Pierce may accuse the likes of Deron Williams and Joe Johnson of not trying enough, but at least they look good. Those logo facing black numbers where the best Christmas present and as for those power blue numbers over grey? Forget about it. Just when you didn't think it could get any better, this season the team with the most "regular" regular jerseys in the game gave us a home alternative that could join its bestselling off-court apparel in being some of the most popular NBA fashion wear for those who don't even like the sport. A perfect stars and Nets, clean white throwback to those good ole New York Net days, these sleeves could even roll back to the days of the ABA. Number one with an Afro.

Los Angeles Kings-It's Clipper city now and the sky is the limit for those Lob boys of STAPLES. Yet those rumored new jerseys of next season are looking atrociously awful in relation to their classic signature. Still they'll always have the powered blue. As for their bad neighbors who seem too embarrassed to come out the house these days, the Los Angeles Lakers still want to prove that at the end of the day they are still all L.A. Their 'Hollywood Nights' sure are a start and this years sleeve mod to the purple and golds new favorite Sunday white alternative may not be as perfect as the original all black swap, but if you've got the arms, this kits got the goods.

Lunar Modules-From Christmas to New Year the NBA is always gifting its fans with some limited edition, special occasion jerseys. Whether Santa or your parents shopping list likes it or not. Still in a move that's almost as all encompassingly right as their 'Los' jerseys, the NBA brought in the Lunar New Year with some jerseys that celebrated exactly that. The Golden State Warriors who have already added so much more to the material game, got a nice little orange character and trim addition to their charcoal jerseys that where wrongly slated. Still it was the red Rocket numbers for Houston featuring the teams name translated in Chinese characters that really left a mark on your bank account. We feel from right here to the Far East these ones will be legendary for some time. But if you want to see a real original lost in translation you might want to throw it back to R. Kelly's 'Thoia Thoing' video, that even had an early LeBron Cleveland number 23 jersey that had them all singing.

The Best Of The Rest-Recently St. Patrick has seen green that even left those 'Big Logo' Christmas Day gifts envious. Yet when it comes to those crest chests not much beats the white Thunder or Pacer home jerseys that really draw crowds. Yet two of our favorites remain the black Timberwolves uniforms that make the whole squad look like a gridiron gang and those new Portland 'Rip City' instant vintage classics that keep Portland repping Basketball lovers in Oregon for a blazing Old Town that will never die. Now let's not forget those San Antonio camo ones...no...wait, lets. It doesn't matter if you're the champion Pop, did you not learn from Toronto? Those tired fatigues are terrible. Roll them down boys! Roll them down! TIM DAVID HARVEY.

DAMIAN LILLARD Feature-DAREDEVIL

Ill Lill.

By TIM DAVID HARVEY

#SuperheroSeason

Blazing across the court like glory is someone leaving a trail like no other in Portland, Oregon. The defence look like snails in relation to this guy! He's like the Flash, but that superhero is still scorching hot in Miami in the form of Dwyane 'Deadpool' Wade. Nah this guy is something else! If Iron Men are all over a league of guys trying to be Captain America then you have to search for a different type of hero this season. Especially with the hammer of Thor striking thunderbolts in Oklahoma, Hawkeye dropping arrows in Atlanta under the alias Kyle Korver and Ant Man, Anthony Davis rising above it all like a Pelican in New Orleans. You look at this guy differently. They say there are different ways to see...and this guy has court vision like no other. It's not just his eyes. It's like all his senses are engaged. The smell of leather and wood. The touch of the rock and the floor. The sound of sneakers screeching on the hardwood, making three point turns like speed racers. The taste of anticipation. Feeling it doesn't even begin to describe it. It's like Magic! Its like the basketball God's delivered this Point Guard, basketball quarterback from heaven. But he's got a name like a son of a gun. Yet you may as well call this Damian 'Murdock', because Lillard is a Daredevil the way he runs the floor and cooks in basketball's Hells Kitchen, sometimes like chef Curry didn't even know what hot was!

MVP? They'll probably treat this guy like he's nothing. Yet another guy in this league with zero aback his jersey is finally being heralded as a hero...and just like the wonder that is Westbrook, Lillard will one day get his time in his prime too. He's not too far behind. In speed and in stature. Just you wait. Just like a 24 year old kid from Oakland, California knows all about. Now this man is ready to make this whole league his own. Standing next to the L.A. king of LaMarcus Aldridge, killing them in the paint as big brother. Ready to keep Portland in the weird, Wild West dominated by the boot clicking old hands of the Spurs in Texas' big basketball draw of San Antonio. This Nike town of the PDX is known famously for the running shoes of track and field, yet now Oregon is for basketball lovers too...and we aren't just talking about those mighty Ducks or Beavers either. Moving Old Town with the funk, Dame time is going to give it to you like no other. Don't believe me just watch! HAH! Repping 'Rip City' to the death and the sleeves of a nice, white alternative. Hipsters beware, this Portlandia king doesn't even have a beard. Face it, keep these beasts caged, but these former Jail Blazers that featured the likes of Rasheed Wallace and Damon Stoudemire are now running free thanks to the locomotive speed of the Dame train. This cities got basketball history. From Bill Walton to Clyde Drexler, Sabonis to Petrovic and like the Spurs and Texan neighbour Mavs, but not the struggling Sacramento and Lakers they have been in contention (or at least flying around the Autumn closing window) for a long, damn time. Like the start of the new millennium long. Like playing through the injury pain of those 'what could have been', Greg Oden and Brandon Roy years. Now after all that this franchise could finally face it all down with a future set for the history books for the record. With the new school of Cory McCollum joining D in the backcourt class. Along with vets like Steve Blake and big players like Batum and the Brook brother, Robin Lopez who is anything but a sideshow Bob. Figure Aldridge into this behind his big numbers equation then what do you have left? Nothing!

More like zero and this whole teams agent of change. Making the city of Roses bloom like Derrick was playing in a Garden no longer renamed the Moda Centre. Can you smell the flowers? This guys ending it all like the previous points career, no matter how classic it could have been, despite the injury thorn in the side. A Roy upgrade to the speed and skill of a next gen Point Guard, making this NBA live like we really are playing a video game in this android age. Yeah sure this league is full of these new type of P.G's. Ones who are at a rapid rate revolutionizing the games starting and most important position already, but this guys still right there with the Russell's and Steph's that have taken over the Deron Williams and Chris Paul debate, that the old testament of Rajon Rondo changed the school books syllabus to over the last few years. But these kids?! These 90's babies are on a whole new curriculum. Before they even left their school halls they looked ready for the basketball ones. From the corridor to the trophy cabinet this is a hallway scene like no other. Yet in this game of Kings and thrones you thought guys like this where merely clutching at straws? Well, turns out no ones as clutch as this dude. This guys a judge, jury and executioner, defence resting game winner when he drops the hammer. Period...its done! Guys like Ralph Sampson, Oscar Robertson and the greatest Michael Jordan can relate to that. Just like the answer of Allen Iverson and Zeke, Isiah Thomas can compare to the numbers this unanimous Rookie Of The Year put in after being selected sixth. Just look up all the numbers this two timing All-Star has made his name famous for. It doesn't add up to the 'O' on his back. That stands for the journey from Oakland to Oregon and everything in between. A journey that's far from over in these clean and crisp, perfect Portland streets that can only be explained by this guy wiping the floor. That will only happen when the clutch clock reads 0.00. Then guess who will be left standing?

RUSSELL WESTBROOK & STEPHEN CURRY Feature-VIDEO GAMES

M-V-Points.

By TIM DAVID HARVEY

Our new #GeneralSeries takes some of the leagues best Point Guards on head-to-head.

Player 1 Select: Westbrook. How do you quantity speed when the numbers don't even lie in the same ballpark? How do you even find the words when the verbs couldn't run as far as this guy? You remember that bus that Keanu Reeves got on in the 90's right? Well its that kind of 'Speed'. Russell Westbrook is playing like if his total goes below 50 points per game his whole team will blow up. This assassin is taking names like 'John Wick', dunking repeatedly from the clip as killer as a gun. The ball, the bullet. The hole, the one in the dome. He's the business end of the shotgun. All for his dog, the alpha Kevin Durant. Injured and done for the season. But it's his 'Matrix' now. From zero to Neo. So sick, sing it out loud. He is the one. How could you not choose this guy? This piece of Thunderball is your fantasy, winning lottery ticket. Pick him, forget the draft. He's a thunderstorm in the wind of a tornado when he leaves you struck with his hammers like Thor. Marvel at this Avenger in this age of Ultron, ultra plays. From OKC to D.C. Whether K.D's here or not. Just wait until he slips on that Bane mask too like Rip Hamilton, Kobe or LeBron. Face off! Ghostface killer! The phantom menace in his opera. Seeing through the Matt Murdock inhibiting mask like a Daredevil cooking in Hells Kitchen. Breaking to the basket with bad, Bane brutality. Breaking defences backs like Batman, the hardwood cracking, crushing and falling apart beneath him like that 'Dark Knight Rises' stadium crushing scene when he runs the floor. Explosive isn't the word! His jersey should read C-4. Yet it reads nothing. For all the times he's been wrote off. They thought him merely a wild card. Little did they know he was his team, city, league and while world of sports ace in the hole. Believe it or not, this guys riding on the magic of a unicorn to more memes and vines than a hash tag buzz feed could handle. You can't cage a beast. You can't leave classic American muscle in the garage under tarpaulin. Especially when this princes little, red corvette could bust through any brick wall. You have to let it ride. Fast and furious with the nitrus engaged in torque turquoise, leaving everyone else for tortoise and smoke. You can't see through the fog. Or the reign. Moving from Seattle at a supersonic speed and leaving a storm in its wake. You can't umbrella this Thunder. Everything else is clouds. Beyond that heaven sent. Point God from the basketball ones. Let it rain down like champagne.

Player 2 Select: Curry. It doesn't get much hotter than this. You see those commercials for visiting California. Los Angeles, San Francisco. Yet cross that bridge and you'll see something more in the Oracle of Oakland's eye. A new California king putting everyone to bed. Dub this Warrior your most valuable commodity. It's almost movie making. You see all those 'Planet Of The Apes', 'Terminator' and 'Godzilla' movies making that iconic red bridge in the bay and the rim of the pacific their new Hollywood backdrop for their stunning set pieces. Yet nothing is defeating Steph as he holds down his side of the Golden Gate. The Western kid has got so much range he could probably shoot from one side of the gate to the other and it'd all be gold. 77 miles and times over! Representing the city of Golden State like a true Warrior, bringing these two towns and the rest of the United States together. The baby faced assassin, with his father Dell's shooting gene embedded into him like a digital code from a computer. He looks like a teen, but makes children out of men. Along with his Splash Brother, the 'Human Torch', Klay Thompson, Curry flames on like the other side of Russell Westbrook's NBA Jam. Yet even without him this kid produces more water than what lies under the Golden Gate Bridge. Oceans of talent in this Pacific clinching and winning division. The only thing that could stop the heat of Curry is his wet jumper. When Chef Curry is cooking and this hot in his house, even a Bird couldn't fly quite like this. Even Kyle Korver may have to adjust his Westbrook face-mask to a more Russell athletic setting. When he leaves the net fried like Kentucky chicken, compares to Steph Curry everyone else is Drake with the shot. S.dot is just that good. One day this number 30 will have ESPN putting another one next to that...and this guy hasn't even left his twenties yet. Does he make you feel old? Either way he's in the prime of his life and time of his basketball moment. Oakland's Golden State have had a lot of good looks like their classic carriage throwback that this current team bring up to date, but nothing quite as visionary as this. The Run-DMC of 'Rock' Mitch Richmond, Chris Mullin and Tim Hardaway was a 'Fab Five', hip-hop like jam, but this scratches the sound in a different direction for the record. Even Jason Richardson's slam dunk revolution or the upsets that Baron Davis' Dirk dunk brought can't bring everyone out the seats quite like this. And this team has Igudola coming off the bench. Not to mention a talented mix of David Lee and Draymond Green. Yet, like giving up offensive hot to Monta Ellis nothing hits home harder than when Curry hits the back of the nylons neck, down the throat of his opponents, burning their snapping and breaking hearts with more than indigestion. Sure Stephen has all the traditional qualities of a savvy Point Guard, from the passes to the picks, but like his Oklahoma opponent he brings something more to the table he sets for this dinner reservation. They say threes a crowd and when Curry shoots them he brings the biggest one. Leaving everyone wafting their mouths on disbelief. Inducing watery eyes. It's getting real hot in here. Yet nothing is more volcanic than the igniting of Curry.

God's on point, on this day who will be the daily bread? What's most valuable to this National Basketball Association this year? You could select the king of course in the four time champ LeBron James, yet it might be time for something and someone different. By the beard of Zeus some people are saying the new King James Harden and by the mono-brow of Anthony Davis, some too fear the New Orleans Pelican. Still, no matter how good the next legendary big-man of this tall guys game and the guy Euro-stepping this game in a new crossover direction are they still have to make way for two, next gen Point Guards. Or should we say Gods. Because now everything runs through them. On the floor they see everything. In this league between Chris Paul and Deron Williams and then Derrick Rose and Kyrie Irving, the debate over who made the best Point in this guard game has raged. Yet two going against the machine and woodgrain and leather are defying conventions. All whilst still being conventional P.G.'s at their source in all their nickels and dimes. From the passing to the slashing. Yet a cut above the rest and the bar this game and position was always supposed to meet. The face of evolution in this expressive jazz like game that is free to be at the whim and will of its creator behind and beyond the notes and playbooks. If you're a Los Angeles Laker all you have to do is look at the Showtime of Magic Johnson or another retired legend in the Canadian game changer Steve Nash. Now this double act of floor general skills and special skill sets make this basketball quarterback duo a real touchdown for their teams, redefining what makes the West best, even in the face of the new beast East. Two guys whether turning the power on dunking like they wanted to shut down the world, or hitting shots so circus miraculous, that jumping through hoops of fire are extinguished in the face of this blaze of glory. Two guys making this game look easy, scripted, rehearsed. Movie like, music to our ears. Making it all look like video games. Better looking than Lana Del Ray. Something so incredible it looks like these selected players sliders are set to full, with the fatigue turned off. The numbers like codes cheating just won't stop loading up. Two of the most exciting ball players of all and any time. In tomorrows world they are the future. They look like they could go all day and night, like their shot and slam practiced in the dusk till dawn gym they become rats in to its court cheese. Two guys that are just that incredible and inspired, with their highlights of highlights engraved in our minds memory cards. Two guys that you'll always want to watch on league pass and then in this digital age, emulate in the arcades later. Instant classics like Konami, but ahead of their time like the next Playstation. In this game forever like EA. You know who to select when it comes to these Co-P.G's. Just make sure when you enter their names, you spell them, M-V-P!