It’s not that often that you hear a standing ovation at a basketball game for a player with a career 3.2 ppg average. But that’s only if you’ve never heard of 10 year NBA veteran, NBA Champion, and fan favorite Brian Scalabrine a.k.a the “White Mamba.”
Not to be confused with Kobe Bryant, known as the “Black Mamba”, Scalabrine plays the game much closer to the hardwood, consisting of hustle plays and high percentage 3 point shooting.
After starring at USC from ‘98-’01, Scalabrine was selected by the NJ Nets in the 2nd Round of the 2001 NBA Draft and was a member of the Nets ‘02 NBA Eastern Conference Championship team before becoming a key member of the Boston Celtics 2008 NBA Championship squad.
In 2010, he played in 18 games for the Chicago Bulls before playing for Benetton Treviso in Italy during the NBA Lockout. Although the “White Mamba” has started only 61 career games, his highlight mix includes a career high of 29 points in a game, a best of 45 minutes played, and a classic NBA Finals press conference where he tells off a randy reporter as a member of the Celtics.
This season, much to the fans of the “Windy City’s” delight, Scalabrine re-signed with the Bulls. Although he’s played in only 4 games, is averaging 4.3 minutes, and is already well known for his career lowlights , he still gets a standing ovation every time he’s introduced or touches the ball.
Recently, with the Bulls blowing out the Pistons at home, and with former Bulls legend Luc Longely sitting courtside, the “White Mamba” made a grand entrance with 2:43 remaining in the 4th quarter with the entire crowd chanting…..MAMBA!…..MAMBA!….
The Crowd Goes Nuts For Brian Scalabrine aka “White Mamba”:
Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen has also provided content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, Cleveland.com, CSN Philly.com, Buckets Magazine, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.
