Yet again the Barclays Premier League delivered. Every year, we say the season passed has been the best in recent memory, but many could argue that this season has been one of the best seasons in the history of the Premier League era.
We saw the re-emergence of Liverpool as a force in English football, Jose Mourinho and his crazy antics returned to the Premier, League, and Manchester United sacked a manager for the first time in over 25 years. The race for Champions League qualification went down to the dying seconds of the campaign and the relegation battle struck fear into the bottom ten teams late on. These are the TSM™ Barclays Premier League Awards 2013/14. The TSM™ team and close associates have picked nominees for each award and have voted. If you missed last years awards, you can recap here before reading this article.
The awards are as follows: Best Signing, Worst Signing, Youngstar Award, Most Improved Player, Best Match, Best Goal, The Peter Schmeichel Award, The Sol Campbell Award, The Claude Makelele Award, The van Nistelrooy Award, Best Manager, The Team of the Season. A stellar total of 12 awards for the taking here.
Best Signing Nominees:
Willian – Chelsea
Wilfried Bony – Swansea
Mathieu Flamini – Arsenal
Dejan Lovren – Southampton
Jesus Navas – Manchester City Simon Mignolet – Liverpool
WINNER: Wilfried Bony – Swansea
Worst Signing Nominees:
Iago Aspas – Liverpool Roberto Soldado – Tottenham Marouane Fellaini – Man United Etienne Capoue – Tottenham Ricky van Wolfswinkel – Norwich
WINNER: Marouane Fellaini – Man United
Youngstar Award Nominees (u21):
Ross Barkley – Everton
Raheem Sterling – Liverpool
John Stones – Everton
Romelu Lukaku – Everton
Jon Flanagan – Liverpool
WINNER- Raheem Sterling
Most Improved Player Nominees:
Jordan Henderson – Liverpool Adam Lallana – Southampton Kevin Mirallas – Everton Per Mertesacker – Arsenal Edin Dzeko –Man City
Winner – Adam Lallana
Best Match Nominees:
Man City 6-3 Arsenal Stoke 3-5 Liverpool
Aston Villa 4-3 West Brom Liverpool 3-3 Everton Sunderland 3-4 Chelsea Liverpool 3-2 Man City
David Marshall – Cardiff Simon Mignolet –Liverpool
Julian Speroni – Crystal Palace Petr Cech – Chelsea
WINNER – Petr Cech – Chelsea
Sol Campbell Award Nominees:
John Terry – Chelsea Laurent Koscielny – Arsenal Gary Cahill – Chelsea
WINNER – Gary Cahill – Chelsea
Claude Makelele Award Nominees:
Eden Hazard – Chelsea Adam Lallana – Southampton Yaya Toure – Man City Steven Gerrard – Liverpool
WINNER – Yaya Toure – Man City
van Nistelrooy Award Nominees:
Edin Dzeko – Man City Daniel Sturridge – Liverpool Luis Suarez – Liverpool
WINNER – Luis Suarez – Liverpool (2nd Title)
Best Manager Nominees:
Gus Poyet – Sunderland Tony Pulis – Crystal Palace Roberto Martinez – Everton Manuel Pellegrini – Man City Brendan Rodgers – Liverpool Mauricio Pocchetino – Southampton
WINNER – Brendan Rodgers & Tony Pulis
Team of The Season with ratings picked by TSM™ writers only: Lineup: Cech, Cahill, Terry, Koscielny, Toure, Gerrard, Lallana, Hazard, Sturridge, Suarez, Dzeko
TheSportMatrix.com – Your place for The Premier League. Your place for Sports.
If you could use one word to describe the talent in the NBA, one word comes to mind, Greatness. Throughout the 2012-13 season we saw amazing feats of record-breaking achievements to awe-inspiring plays and highlight-reel material posterzing dunks, aswell as a great sense of overall team-play. The 2012/13 NBA season was one to remember. These are the TSM NBA Awards 2012/13. The TSM team and close associates have picked 5 nominees for each award and have voted.
There are 13 awards for the taking:
Match of the Year, Coach of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year, Most Improved Player, Underachiever of the Year, Mr. Villian, Mr. Nice Guy, Defensive Player of the Year, The LOL Award,Best Throwdown of the Year, The All-NBA Teams, Rookie of the Year, and the notorious MVP award.
#1 – Match of the Year (excluding Playoffs)
– Boston Celtics @ Denver Nuggets – February 10, 2013 – Miami HEAT @ Chicago Bulls – March 27, 2013 – Toronto Raptors @ LA Lakers – March 8, 2013 – Miami HEAT @ Boston Celtics – March 18, 2013 – Golden State Warriors @ NY Knicks – February 27, 2013
WINNER – Boston Celtics @ Denver Nuggets – February 10, 2013:
Paul Pierce finished with his second triple-double of the past two weeks, as the Boston Celtics fought their way past the Denver Nuggets with a 118-114 win in a TRIPLE overtime thriller, which consisted of CLUTCH shot-after-shot.
#2 – Coach of the Year
– George Karl, Denver Nuggets – (57-25 Record)
–Tom Thibodeau, Chicago Bulls – (45-37 Record)
– Erik Spoelstra, Miami HEAT – (66-16 Record)
– Gregg Popovich, San Antonio Spurs – (58-24 Record)
– Mark Jackson, Golden State Warriors – 47-35 Record)
WINNER – Gregg Popovich – San Antonio Spurs
Gregg Popovich, widely regarded as the best coach in the NBA and one of the greatest of all-time, lead the Spurs to their 14th straight 50+ win season, a NBA record. Although coming up short in the NBA Finals, Greg Popovich proved once again why he is the best.
#3 – Sixth Man of the Year
– Jamal Crawford, Los Angeles Clippers
– Jarrett Jack, Golden State Warriors
– JR Smith, New York Knicks
– Kevin Martin, Oklahoma City Thunder
– Jeff Green, Boston Celtics
WINNER – JR Smith – New York Knicks
JR Smith averaged 18.1 points in 80 games, all off the bench. He had 29 games in which he scored 20 points as a reserve, and this lead to the TSM to vote JR Smith as the Sixth Man of the Year. Some may have complained about coming off the bench, but Smith honored the opportunity and thrived.
As evident, Paul George is set for a monster 2014. Not just by looking at his stats, but if you tuned into the ECF Pacers vs. HEAT, you would see the confidence oozing from the Fresno State star. He looked confidence on offense, handing out multiple posterzers and highlight reel material throw-downs. In addition, on defense, he strived tremendously, matching-up with LeBron and helping to limit his offensive production.
– Oklahoma City Thunder – Jeremy Lin, Houston Rockets – Andrew Bynum, Philadelphia 76ers – Los Angeles Lakers – Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls
WINNER – Los Angeles Lakers
After a incredible offseason that bought 2x MVP Steve Nash and the best Center in the NBA Dwight Howard to L.A., the Lakers looked prime to win the championship with one of the greatest starting 5s in recent memory.
However, this wasn’t the case, and the team struggled from beginning to end. It was a complete disaster.
#6 – Mr. Villain Award
– LeBron James, Miami HEAT – Ray Allen, Miami HEAT – Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers – David Stern – Dwight Howard, Los Angeles Lakers
WINNER – Dwight Howard – Los Angeles Lakers
In 2008-2009 Dwight Howard was soaring in Orlando and was at the height of his popularity. But it all turned sour during the 2012 season as Dwight vented his frustration at the Magic’ franchise. After a turbulent, indecisive offseason, Dwight Howard joined L.A. and looked destined for greatness, but the Lakers struggled and much blame was put on Dwight, from fans and from Kobe. Dwight once again made headline this 2013 offseason as he decided to join Houston which angered many fans as they question his loyalty.
#7 – Mr. Nice Guy Award
– Jason Kidd, New York Knicks
– Jerry Stackhouse, Brooklyn Nets
– Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City Thunder
– Grant Hill, Los Angeles Clippers
– Tim Duncan, San Antonio Spurs
WINNER – Tim Duncan – San Antonio Spurs
With 4 rings, 2 MVPs, 14 All-Stars and numerous other accolades, Tim Duncan has a lot to brag about. However, he is always focused on the game and on the court, helping his teammates where possible. He keeps everything on the court and doesn’t share his life to the public media.
Some say he is boring, but they only say that because he plays smart, effective, fundamental basketball. His style is not flashy, it’s not loaded with highlight dunks and fancy passes. But he is one of the most effective players because he’s smart… He doesn’t make stupid statements at press conferences, Timmy D always keeps it calm and collected. He lets his game do the talking.
#8 – Defensive Player of the Year
– Serge Ibaka, Oklahoma City Thunder
– LeBron James, Miami HEAT
– Josh Smith, Atlanta Hawks
– Avery Bradley, Boston Celtics
– Marc Gasol, Memphis Grizzlies
WINNER – Josh Smith – Atlanta Hawks
Josh Smith had a stellar season on both ends of the floor, vicious throw-downs on one end, and game-changing blocks on the other. A real defensive and offensive beast in the paint.
#9 – The LOL Award
– Miami HEAT, Harlem Shake
– Bulls’ inbound pass
– Brandon Knight’s Tweet after being POSTERIZED by DeAndre Jordan
It wasn’t in the scouting reports that the clippers threw lobs lol — Brandon E Knight (@BrandonKnight07) March 11, 2013
– Russell Westbrook’s rejection on Denver’s Mascot
Damian Lillard’s time is almost now. Winning the 2013 NBA Rookie of the Year award, averaging 19.0 Points, 6.5 Assists, 3.1 Rebounds, confirmed what most of us already know about the Portland Trail Blazers guard—he’s on the precipice of stardom. Lillard has joined the company of big names such as Kyrie Irving, Derrick Rose, LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Chris Paul, among others.
Well, was there any doubt? Whether you hate him or not, you cannot deny that LeBron is the greatest basketball player on the planet without a doubt, and one of the greatest athletes in Sports History. Fresh off of his 1st ring, 3rd MVP, NBA Finals MVP & Olympic Gold Medal in 2012, LeBron James got straight back to work in 2013 and lead the HEAT to an impressive 66-16 record, topping the Eastern Conference, and then ultimately leading them to the championship.
This is LeBron’s 4th straight MVP award, and he’s not done yet.
TheSportMatrix.com – Your place for NBA. Your place for Sports.