Liam Santamaria

I like to think that I bring the all-important little man’s perspective to the Downtown crew. The rim may be 10-feet high folks but the court, itself, is at ground level. My one season playing ball on the national scene was back in 2001/02, when I played the vital role of 4th-string PG as a member of the Victoria Titans. Go back and watch the tapes, I’m confident that only Patty Mills outranks me worldwide as an end-of-the-bench towel-waver. This experience, however, gives me the kind of an insight into pro hoops that can only be gained by spending time ‘behind the curtain’. These days I spend most of my spare time squeezing every last cent out of my League Pass subscription. And when I’m not playing, watching, writing about or podcasting about basketball, you’ll find me soundly outplaying all-comers at the fantasy version of the game. Safe to say that if I had a tatoo it would say ‘mum’. But if I had two tatoos, the second one would definitely be of a basketball.

Follow me on twitter: @Downtownball

Who Will Win the 2014 NBA Slam Dunk Contest?

Published by Liam Santamaria on February 9, 2014

“The reason this is going to be the best Slam Dunk [Contest] in five years is it’s the first time we knew who the guys were.” - Charles Barkley The Round Mound of Rebound summed it up right there folks…finally we have some legit players competing in the Dunk Comp. Back in the day, superstars like Michael Jordan (competed 3… Read more →

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Roy Hibbert Dreams BIG

Published by Liam Santamaria on February 8, 2014

When Indiana Pacers All-Star center Roy Hibbert was in the third grade he had big dreams. It was then that he first dreamt of becoming an NBA player. Recently, as part of the NBA’s ‘dream BIG’ campaign, the favourite for this year’s NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award made a surprise visit to the Paramount School of Excellence in… Read more →

Alex Owumi: I played basketball for Gaddafi

Published by Liam Santamaria on February 8, 2014

From www.bbc.co.uk: When US basketball player Alex Owumi signed a contract to play for a team in Benghazi, Libya, he had no idea that his employer was the most feared man in the country. Nor did he guess the country was about to descend into war. Here he tells his story, parts of which some readers may find distressing. Read… Read more →

Pharrell Williams - Happy (Golden State Warriors Edition)

Published by Liam Santamaria on February 1, 2014

As we draw nearer to the NBA All-Star break, the Golden State Warriors are sitting 7th in the very tough Western Conference. Their star player, Steph Curry, was recently named a starter for the league’s showcase event in New Orleans on Feb 16 and they began the 2014 calendar year putting the finishing touches on an impressive 10 game winning… Read more →

An Open Letter to Melbourne’s Basketball Community

Published by Liam Santamaria on January 31, 2014

Dear Melbourne’s Basketball Community, This Sunday afternoon the 3rd placed Melbourne Tigers host the league-leading Perth Wildcats at Hisense Arena - right in the middle of our world-famous sporting precinct by the river. The Tigers are flying high at the moment after securing two away wins last weekend, including a thrilling last-second victory over the Wildcats at the Perth Arena. … Read more →

The Adams Family

Published by Liam Santamaria on January 27, 2014

There is something about Oklahoma City rookie and New Zealand native Steven Adams that annoys people. In his very short time playing NBA basketball to date, four players have been ejected from NBA games for retaliating to some kind of physical contact they encountered from Adams. The most recent occurrence of this was Larry Sanders, who was tossed on January… Read more →

Uncle Cliff on Survivor

Published by Liam Santamaria on January 24, 2014

It turns out the rumours were all true! Former NBA All-Star Cliff Robinson will be appearing in the next season of Survivor - Survivor: Cagayan. The season, which is the 28th season of the show, will premiere in late February and will feature 18 contestants separated into three tribes: brawn, brains, and beauty. Uncle Cliff, who stands at a powerful… Read more →

Flying Under the Radar - Part 2

Published by Liam Santamaria on January 10, 2014

The 2013/14 NBA season has so far been dominated by headlines of high-profile injuries and rehabs (Rose, Lopez, Horford, Kobe, Westbrook, CP3). We have also had the superstars that have been doing their thing (LeBron, Durant, KLove). But what about the guys who are flying under the radar? It’s a time-honoured ‘Survivor’ strategy – one that often (but not always)… Read more →

The Worm in North Korea

Published by Liam Santamaria on January 9, 2014

Dennis Rodman’s latest trip to North Korea has been just as bizarre as expected. This time around Rodman has taken a bunch of former NBA players to North Korea to play an exhibition game as a “birthday present” to his BFF, dictator Kim Jong Un. Rodman’s squad features ex-All Stars Kenny Anderson, Cliff Robinson and Vin Baker as well as… Read more →

Flying Under the Radar - Part 1

Published by Liam Santamaria on January 3, 2014

The 2013/14 NBA season has so far been dominated by headlines of high-profile injuries and rehabs. The Rose, Lopez and Horford injuries have been hard to stomach for fans of all teams as have the interrupted #returns of Kobe Bryant and Russell Westbrook. There have also been the enjoyable storylines of superstars such as LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul… Read more →