Page 18 - ARUBA TODAY

A18 SPORTS
Thursday 1 december 2016

Elder statesmen on the floor defending taking care of your health

Continued from page 17 21-year-old Andrew Wig- meant not eating Twinkies
gins to spark the Grizzlies’ before a game,” Cuban
comeback victory over said. “Guys would smoke
Same with Manu Ginobili
in San Antonio, Jason Terry Minnesota in their season cigarettes, they’d drink,
in Milwaukee, Paul Pierce opener. there would be beer —
in Los Angeles and Dirk “Again, I’ve said this be- people sometimes would
Nowitzki in Dallas, who fol- fore, I don’t put limitations have a beer at halftime.
low Carter as the oldest on anyone because of There literally were bars in
players in the NBA this sea- age, whether it’s youth or locker rooms. Things have
son. because they’re one of the changed.
“Basketball is a game a elder statesman,” Fizdale
lot of people don’t under- said. “The things that we let play-
stand,” Terry said. “When “Vince Carter, he’s a vet- ers do 15 years ago that
you are not as athletically eran, he’s a professional, created inflammation and
gifted, you still have your he stays in shape. I always created orthopedic issues
brain. I learned from none remind people he was the in their bodies, we know not
other than Jason Kidd.” In this Nov. 2, 2016, file photo, Memphis Grizzlies guard Vince best athlete in the NBA, so to do as much anymore.”
Carter (15) reacts in the first half of an NBA basketball game
Terry plays for Kidd now, his falloff athletically isn’t Carter has prolonged his
but they were teammates me it was shooting the ball. years later. the same as an average career by becoming a re-
in Dallas when the Mav- If I wanted to play for a “So he taught us how to athlete’s falloff.” serve for the last five sea-
ericks won the 2011 NBA while I needed to make an learn the game, how to Dallas coach Rick Carl- sons, and by resisting the
title. Kidd by then was well outside shot.” take your abilities and isle said the key for play- urge to create the spec-
past his dynamic days as a Michael Jordan and Kobe dominate to the best of ers who are effective into tacular highlights that
nightly triple-double threat, Bryant made similar transi- your ability,” Carter said. their mid-to-late 30s is their made him the leading
a guy who burst into the tions, outworking and out- “And with that being said, work ethic, and he mar- vote-getter to the All-Star
league with everything but smarting opponents when as I’ve gotten older, just the vels at what the 38-year- Game four times. The Griz-
a reliable jumper and left it they could no longer just little things that we tend to old Nowitzki puts himself zlies say he’s questionable
at 40 ranked third in career outplay them. Now Carter, not want to do as a young through to keep playing on to play Wednesday in To-
3-pointers. who will turn 40 on Jan. 26 guy stuck with me, as far as legs that support his 7-foot ronto, his first NBA home, af-
“As I got older, the speed and ranks in the top 25 in just the little things that we frame, particularly in this ter hurting his hip Monday.
limit started coming into ef- career points and games say a lot of guys make mis- season when he’s battled He still gets the internet
fect. Instead of going 55, played, does the same in takes on.” an injured Achilles tendon. buzzing — and occasion-
I could only go 45,” Kidd Memphis — where he sur- Carter acknowledges tir- Medical enhancements ally surprises himself — with
said. “But, you know, when passed Jordan this season ing of the endless “play have helped, with teams some vintage Vinsanity,
things started to go a little as the oldest player to score the right way” mantra providing such improve- but mostly skips the unnec-
bit slower, you got to see 20 points off the bench. preached at Chapel Hill, ments for their players that essary risks to preserve his
things a lot better. For me, Like Jordan, he played but now he lives it. He can’t Mavericks owner Mark Cu- body to get through the
things were a lot clearer. at North Carolina for “the just jump over players like ban believes young players long NBA season.
As you get older, that’s the mastermind, Dean Smith,” he did to Frederic Weis in entering the league now And how many more after
best time to get better at as Carter called him, where the 2000 Olympics , though should be able to play into this?
the game. You can always even as a teenager he was he quickly earned the trust their 40s if they have the “I don’t know yet,” he said.
learn, you can always do being prepared for how of first-time coach David talent. “I’m still flying. It’s not time
something different. For he would need to play 20 Fizdale, who had Carter “When I first got to the NBA, yet.”q

Serena Williams:

Women ‘must continue

to dream big’

The Associated Press
Serena Williams has penned an open letter calling out
what she sees as double standards faced by women in
sports.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion writes that women
“are constantly reminded” they aren’t men. She says
people call her one of the “world’s greatest female ath-
letes,” but notes that male athletes such as LeBron James,
Roger Federer and Tiger Woods aren’t described by their
gender.
Williams says the equal pay issue frustrates her because
women “have done the same work and made the same
sacrifices as our male counterparts.”
She says women “must continue to dream big” to “em-
power the next generation of women to be just as bold
in their pursuits.” In this Sept. 23, 2016, file photo, U.S. tennis star Serena Williams poses for photographers prior to
the start of the Giorgio Armani women’s Spring-Summer 2017 fashion show, that was presented in
The letter was published in Porter Magazine and repub- Milan, Italy.
lished by British newspaper The Guardian .q Associated Press