{"id":2690,"date":"2018-06-01T17:08:57","date_gmt":"2018-06-01T07:08:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/?p=2690"},"modified":"2018-06-06T08:34:45","modified_gmt":"2018-06-05T22:34:45","slug":"one-man-band","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/2018\/06\/one-man-band\/","title":{"rendered":"The One Man Band"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>From the park to the big leagues, you\u2019ll find that most teams are dominated by one special player who on most occasions can turn a match in his team\u2019s favour at will. As your parents would have told you there\u2019s no I in \u2018team\u2019 but there\u2019s definitely a \u2018me\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>While even Michael Jordan had Scotty Pippen in his glory years, the Bulls were always Jordan\u2019s team. While most people will argue that basketball or football is a team sport, for some players it\u2019s all about them.<\/p>\n<p>After the efforts of LeBron James in the NBA Finals, we thought it would be a good time to salute some of those special players that get the ball more than most.<\/p>\n<h6><strong>LeBron James<\/strong><\/h6>\n<p>LeBron James is the only player in the league that will ever come close to matching Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan as the greatest player of all time. While James may not boast Jordan\u2019s flawless Championship record, the Cleveland Cavs legend has single-handily carried his side to another NBA Finals series.<\/p>\n<p>James hit 51-points in the opening game of the finals series. While team-mate JR Smith will be regretting his decision in the last few moments of game one to not listen to the league\u2019s best player, few can argue that James may carry the Cavs to one more NBA Championship<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"LeBron James Full Game 1 Highlights vs Warriors 2018 NBA Finals - 51 Pts, 8 Ast, 8 Reb\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/b4fnnKF1Axg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h6><strong>Cristiano Ronaldo<\/strong><\/h6>\n<p>The Portuguese talisman has dominated football with Manchester United, Real Madrid and Portugal. While Barcelona supporters will argue that Ronaldo will always be second best to Lionel Messi, few can argue that the Portuguese star is capable of winning games off his own boot. Ronaldo is sure to determine Portugal\u2019s fortunes in Russia but for now, watch his effort against Juventus in the Champions League.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Cristiano Ronaldo amazing goal vs Juventus 3\/04\/2018 UCL 1\/4 final\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/x7-3HQTV15Q?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h6><strong>Russell Westbrook<\/strong><\/h6>\n<p>Oklahoma City guard Russell Westbrook is a triple-double specialist. The OKC star won the 2017 MVP with a virtuoso performance for his side. While the Thunder may have been bundled out of the playoffs this season, there\u2019s no doubting Westbrook\u2019s genius on the court.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Russell Westbrook UNREAL Full Game 5 Highlights vs Jazz 2018 NBA Playoffs - 45 Pts, EPIC COMEBACK\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LrvZWXHkBOI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h6><strong>Mo Salah<\/strong><\/h6>\n<p>The Egyptian forward was once discarded by Jos\u00e9 Mourinho at Chelsea and returned to the EPL this season with a bang for Liverpool. While the Reds didn\u2019t win the title, the midfielder became the first Egyptian player to top the scoring charts in the EPL. Egypt will be desperate for him to lead his side\u2019s charge at the World Cup in Russia.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=6-LrkLHmShU<\/p>\n<h6><strong>Gary Ablett<\/strong><\/h6>\n<p>Like father, like son, both of the Ablett\u2019s have dominated the AFL for Geelong and the Gold Coast Suns. While the 2018 version may have lost a step due to injury, his Geelong teammates will always kick the ball to Gary.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Gary Ablett vs Gary Ablett, father vs Gold Coast sun, Jr vs Snr. Who do you think is the Best\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AAFjfsWj2-g?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h6><strong>Peyton Manning<\/strong><\/h6>\n<p>Former Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning was always the centre of attention for his side. Manning dominated the NFL for sixteen years, with the highlight being 2007 Super Bowl MVP.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Peyton Manning - Career Highlights \u1d34\u1d30\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nMEOyJm-BPQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h6><strong>Johnny Wilkinson<\/strong><\/h6>\n<p>Former England playmaker Johnny Wilkinson was the man who broke the Wallabies hearts in 2003. The English number 10 helped his side claim a World Cup title when they defeated Australia in the final down under.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Jonny Wilkinson || King of Rugby || Legend Tribute\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SO7BoHtiuz8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h6><strong>Neymar<\/strong><\/h6>\n<p>After playing in the shadows of Messi at Barcelona, Neymar made the controversial move to France to ply his trade for Paris Saint Germain. The Brazilian is determined to become the best player in the world and a World Cup title in Russia will make sure he gets there.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=0GqwJfceB9g<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From the park to the big leagues, you\u2019ll find that most teams are dominated by one special player who on most occasions can turn a match in his team\u2019s favour at will. As your parents would have told you there\u2019s no I in \u2018team\u2019 but there\u2019s definitely a \u2018me\u2019. While even Michael Jordan had Scotty&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":2691,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,9,10,13,8,598,344],"tags":[813,1716,1356,1321,1718,631,1124,1391,696,1683,1719,1717,1412,1221,638,1715,36],"hub_post_cat":[],"class_list":["post-2690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australian-rules","category-basketball","category-cricket","category-american-football","category-soccer","category-special-interest","category-sports","tag-brazil","tag-chicago-bulls","tag-cleveland-cavs","tag-cristiano-ronaldo","tag-johnny-wilkinson","tag-lebron-james","tag-michael-jordan","tag-mo-salah","tag-nba-finals","tag-neymar","tag-paris-saint-germain","tag-peyton-manning","tag-portugal","tag-real-madrid","tag-russell-westbrook","tag-scotty-pippen","tag-special-interest"],"acf":{"md_tip_date":null,"md_tip_date_end":null,"md_market_url":"","tip_date":"01\/06\/2018","event_country":"Australia"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2690"},{"taxonomy":"hub_post_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hub_post_cat?post=2690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}