Kobe Bryant just hit 61 points in his last game against the knicks, and guess what? He was wearing his new Kobe IV , a low cut basketball sneaker. Bryant reached maturity in his game and is constantly searching a way to improve his performance on the court. Nike’s designer Eric Avar has built a low cut sneaker to help Kobe move freely on the court, to get more dynamism and lightness ( Wt. 11.2 oz.). I’m happy that such an influential player on the shoes business is now playing with low tops.

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Last weekend was the Turkish basketball league all star game. The event took place in the third biggest city of the country, Izmir, a seaside resort, one hour far from Istanbul by plane. Around 10 000 people were packed in the gym for the usual ” foreigners vs. natives” game but also for the Slam Nation’s first show in Turkey. The foreigners selection won the game 133 : 122 with a incredible performance from a former NBA warrior ,Robert “Tractor” Traylor, hitting 20 points and 8 rebounds for the MVP title. Even more of a spectacle tho was brought courtesy of the one and only french dunking crew surrounding “the dunkfather” kadour ziani, slam nation! sergio boloko, brice de blaine, habib tiour and yann de blaine ate their wheaties for breakfast, performing 4 times during the course of the day, and throwing down a ton of nasty dunks for their huge turkish fanbase.

Robert ” Tractor” Traylor , Most valuable player of the turkish ASG. Read More »

Last December was the French All Star Game, the best native players against the foreign players of our 1st pro division (Pro A). Around 15 000 fans gathered in Paris, not only for a simple basketball game but also for the main attraction : the dunk contest. As it is broadcasted on National TV, some great dunkers like Kadour Ziani, the De Blaine brothers, Steve Lobel or Guy Dupuy entered in our dunk ” hall of fame” and basketball history. Each year there’s a big emulation on “who’s gonna compete ? what each guy is able to do…” , this edition was special because two great well known high flyers came from the States : Kevin ” Golden Child ” Kemp and Justin Darlington. I went lucky to get in the backstages of this contest so just enjoy the pictures and video below.

Justin Darlington, Nobel Boungou Colo , Kevin Kemp, Max Kouguere, Yann de Blaine

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Dude is everywhere these days, including the nation of hoop. k1x welcomes the new president to washington with this limited tee. the man is gonna have to perform magic to make history, so it’s a good thing barack has the makings of a wizard…

Now available at exclusive streetwear pushers across Europe

Read first : A French in New York – City of New York, Parks & Recreation – Saved by the ball

25th September, I woke up excited like a kid buying his first pair of sneakers. In fact I was about to buy my first real Fish-eye lens for my Canon camera. Why this lens in particular ? Because I grew up watching skateboarding videos where the fisheye is a religion. A few basketball photographers are using it, to me it’s the best lens to capture action in the paint and dunks of course. So I went to B&H megastore, always funny to see all those jewish people selling high tech and handling lots of cash. I did a first stop near the Madison, maybe not the most beautiful building but I just needed to try my new toy.

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The Hip Hop crew Duo Live just released its new video clip on a track called Shootin’ , a perfect ode to New York’s streetball with some footages of the best tournaments of the city. We can hear Fre and Sid V featuring the ” Brooklyn All Stars ” composed of Billions, Joell Ortiz, Red Cafe, Uncle Murder and M.O.P.

Read first : A French in New York – City of New York, Parks & Recreation

After our Columbus playground sessions, we went up on Lafayette Street to eat breakfast and taste again Eileen Cheesecakes , New York City’s best. Then, Times Square to meet a hometown friend who was in NYC at the same time. It was around 5 pm and we hadn’t played ball yet. Back in 2004, I went lucky to get in touch with Bobbito. He always helps me to find a run, to see games, to live my passion and explore NYC. On this 23rd September he told me he had a Basketball City league game in Trevor Day school on 87th St. off Central Park West, unfortunately the rosters were fixed so we couldn’t play. We watched Kool Bob Love doing his thing, he made 6 of his 7 threes in the first half and finished with 25 points. His young intern Andre Johnson was on the opposing team, the kid is quick, not afraid to drive in the paint and can kill you with his special crossover. That happened to Bobbito as he was guarding the 17 years old fella, however the mentor rarely misses an opportunity to teach Andre a new bball lesson. Bobbito’s squad won the game by 15 points, a good performance considering the level, some former D1 & overseas players usually compete in this winter league.

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You must read first : A French in New York

Monday, 22th of September, our first week in New York is starting. Romain found a place to sleep in Greenpoint, Brooklyn and me in Spanish Harlem. It was hard to be really synchronized everyday because we were on two different areas. Our first day of chilling started at Union Square, and went upper town. We didn’t have any bball games planned or any open gym session so we decided to walk and search for the bball court in Central Park. After a few minutes, we found that ” Great Lawn Playground”. Two full courts on a green concrete, low rims, nets, half circled boards and this plate on the ground : ” Foot locker and Nike basketball court”. Some kids were playing, we just started to shoot, two kids joined us and as usual I took some pictures.

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