All The Smoke (DR) / NBA (DR)
By Joël Pütz | Sports journalist
Los Angeles has always been a subject of fascination for NBA players, the Californian megacity having always been avant-garde when it comes to entertainment. The cheer leaders were particularly appreciated by a double champion…
Clearly, it wasn’t easy to be an NBA guard in the same era as Michael Jordan. The Bulls star was essential for this position in the 90s in particular, but he still had some serious competitors. We obviously think of legends like Reggie Miller or Clyde Drexler, but also of Vernon Maxwell who often caused problems for His Airness:
For those who may not know, Vernon Maxwell was a problem. For everybody. Mad Max, y’all…https://t.co/MPaXGD0T3S
— Rex Chapman???????? (@RexChapman) October 2, 2018
From a statistical point of view, “Mad Max” was far from being a terror since he averaged 12 points, three assists and one interception in his career with very mediocre shooting percentages (39% including 28 % from afar). But to compensate, the guard distinguished himself by unfailing energy and self-sacrifice, who was not afraid of coming to blows with his opponents.
Read also
Tony Parker (41) honest about his alcohol consumption: “A day, I drink…
Vernon Maxwell, hothead on the floors and inveterate flirt
This role of soldier dedicated to the collective, the double NBA champion fulfilled it marvelously at the Rockets with whom he signed a back-to-back before joining Gary Payton at the Sonics. Houston player in the mid-90s, Robert Horry was his teammate and during his appearance on the podcast All The Smoke a few months ago, “Big Shot Rob” shared a funny anecdote about the guy:
Vernon could score you 30 to 40 points in a game, he was one of the craziest athletes you could ever see on the field. He could spend the night drinking, smoking and this guy could still score 40 points. His favorite thing was coming to play in Los Angeles, he loved playing in LA because that’s where the cheerleaders sat in the front row.
When this guy took a jump shot, he would intentionally fall backwards and land on the cheerleaders, he would look at them and give them a big smile with all his white teeth and he would say: “I’m going to do them this time.” evening, baby.” (…) Because he was crazy, because he was Mad Max, people don’t talk about him a lot but he was a crazy competitor, a great athlete.
Very quick to shoot but capable of dropping offensive cards, a real hothead to the point of getting confused with teammates and opponents like going to flirt with the cheer leaders in the middle of a match: all this perfectly sums up the colorful character that Vernon was Maxwell during his career. A hell of a customer!
2024-02-05 21:30:00
#loved #playing #cheerleaders