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Nike Zoom Kobe III MVP

To pay homage to their most valuable branded athlete, Nike cooked up these MVP Zoom Kobe III’s for #24 to rock during the Western Conference Semi Finals. The player exclusive kicks feature an MVP tag on the tongue, which shows Nike designers put faith in Bryant way before an official announcement. No word on if these will be released or not, but we’re thinking House Of Hoops might stock them in the near future.
[KixandTheCity]

Popularity: 89% [?]

Ballers: The Chosen One Jumps Off

If you’re into streetball-style pick-up games where stars can pull off over-the-top acrobatic moves that are hard to come by in a real life NBA game, NBA Ballers Chosen One is your joint. Think of the title as a next-gen NBA Jam that features the best 65 players in the league and gameplay modes of one-on-one, two-on-two, and one v. one v. one (a.ka. threesome, PAUSE). When we were down in New Orleans for All-Star weekend, the Midway developers repeatedly sonned us using cover athlete (and Soulja Boy-Stan) Dwight Howard, who presents major matchup problems for most of the virtual players. Although Howard is the obvious choice if you’re looking to rack up some easy W’s, you’ll impress the gaming-geeks by wrecking shop with Al Horford of Atlanta Hawks—the game’s under-the-radar superstar.

Besides the entertaining arcade style game play, hip-hop heads will enjoy color commentary by Chuck D, and a soundtrack that’s was fully scored by hit maker Just Blaze. (Be sure to check our exclusive Just Blaze interview on the game in the June/July issue of Complex.) Ballers: The Chosen One launches today for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. See some screens after the jump.

Popularity: 88% [?]

Kobe Is Back On Top!

With a 124-101 thrashing of the Sacramento Kings Tuesday in their final regular season game, Kobe Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers (57-25) secured the number-one seed in the NBA’s Western Conference Playoffs. A complete asshole might make a reference to Bryant’s 2003 sexual assault charge and say he’s back on top (but only a complete asshole). After the jump, we recount the saga of Kobe’s long, hard road back from the bottom.

Popularity: 89% [?]

Hyperdunk: The Kobe 4?

In more awesomeness news from the Nike “Innovation Summit” on Beijing Olympics tech comes the Hyperdunk. This basketball shoe features “Flywire” technology, a feature that was originally developed to help Nike make a lighter-than-air track spike (which they did and will also debut at Beijing). Flywire works a lot like a suspension bridge, where instead of panels providing support, there are “cables” that are sewn across the foot for support while cutting back and forth, cutting down on weight substantially. Kobe is gonna run point on making you want to buy it, and will be wearing it during tonight’s game versus the Clippers. Check out some photos of Kobe, Mark Parker, and design sketches of the shoe, after the jump.

Popularity: 90% [?]