Weirdest NBA Photos of the 2012 Season

Frequent visitors to NBA.com should have noticed something at this point in this year's season: Whoever is in charge of throwing photos up on the front page is really messing with us.

For some reason—and really, I don't understand why it didn't happen quite as often in the past—NBA photographers are doing a much better job of capturing the silly faces, ridiculous scenarios and just humorous goings-on all throughout this season.

When you think about it, it makes sense. Guys are banging around and just trying to score with no reason to care about what they may look like, so it seems like these pictures should come out more often.

There have been some good pictures to come out in the past, but in all honesty this year has been over the top in terms of funny basketball pictures, so obviously there's no way I can pass up a chance to take a look at these pictures.

To save you the time of going through the corners of the Internet, I've decided to compile the best of the best. Enjoy.

Linsanity vs. Vinsanity

This is probably my favorite picture to come out of the month-long period that was lovingly referred to as Linsanity in New York.

There's nothing particularly hilarious about this photo. I just enjoy the not-so-subtle undertones of the man that was dubbed with the Linsanity moniker sprinting past the man that became famous under the name Vinsanity.

That's just neat.

LeBron Does Not Care

The phrase "You reach, I teach" became synonymous with basketball because of Michael Jordan's commercial where he's playing basketball with himself.

This picture gives a whole new meaning to that phrase, as Kobe Bryant is basically extending as far as he possibly can as LeBron James seems to look away uncaring as he dribbles along.

Of course, you've got to look at Kobe and say he's playing aggressive defense and LeBron is throwing his knee into Kobe, but it really doesn't make the picture any less great.

Huuuuuh

I really wish this were the reaction of Jeremy Lin and Jared Jeffries when Carmelo Anthony hit that cold-blooded three to tie the game against the Bulls yesterday, sending Madison Square Garden into a fit of the crazies.

Actually, you know what? I think we're all better off not knowing what these guys are looking at. Perhaps they just caught a glimpse of Josh Harrellson in a pair of short jorts.

Save the Last Dance

For those of you looking to go see the 3D re-release of Titanic, go ahead and pass it up. Instead, just look at this picture of Blake Griffin staring lovingly into Kevin Love's eyes and you'll get all the feel-goods that you need.

It seems like these two have been in a relationship for years with this photo, as Griffin is refusing to let go of Love, but I'm sure there's going to be the inevitable point where Griffin will freeze to death in the depths of the North Atlantic and Love will have to push him away so he can signal a lifeboat to come save him.

Where's He Reaching?

There are two things great about this picture.

First, the fact that Lou Amundson is involved is enough to make me smile, especially because I was told that I was his spitting image whenever I had my hair in a ponytail (unfortunately, I've chopped the locks off and don't have a picture for proof—sorry Internet).

Second, the first time I saw this picture it was cropped so that you couldn't see anything below Amundson's legs—just Deron Williams reaching down as if he were trying to deliver a baby. I put the full picture on here for you guys to clear up any confusion, and even as a whole it's still pretty humorous.

The Black Mamba

Take The Flash and combine him with Iron Man and you've got the face-masked version of Kobe Bryant that everyone fell in love with earlier this year.

Kobe looks even more super heroic (or super villainous, depending on your view of Kobe) than usual in this picture because of the low stance and the intense look in the eyes.

The only thing that would make this better would be if Rip Hamilton were still on the Pistons and we had a showdown of the two masked stars.

We're Wearing What?

So here's what I'm thinking what went on leading up to this picture.

First, news came down to the Grizzlies that they would be wearing new throwbacks this year, but nobody on the team knew exactly what they were going to look like, it was a surprise.

They got the jerseys and were forced to dress blindfolded and walk on out to the court. Then, during the pregame shoot-around they were instructed to remove the blindfolds. This was the reaction.

Love Is Scared

Okay, so you may be looking at this picture thinking that there's no way any normal human should be making this face at any point in their adult life. Well, I'm here to tell you that you've all made this face at least once.

Whether you're going to the bathroom late at night and you think you see something move in the darkness or you're running back up the stairs form a darkened basement, everyone has done the classic "ohmygoodgod, something slimy is going to grab my ankle and eat me" scurry at some point in their life.

Kobe Seduces Everyone

Sometimes when you're on a basketball court and you know you look good, you just have to show the other team that you're disgusted with them for not looking nearly as good as you do.

This is what I would call Kobe Bryant's "disgusted supermodel" face as he stares down the normal people on the street on his way into his fashion show of the night.

However, that face also shows that there's something going on in his mind—after all, there's more to life than just being really, really ridiculously good-looking.

Dat Strut

Sometimes you just gotta strut. Everybody does it. Most do it when few, if any, people are watching; Derrick Rose just did it while a few million people had their eyes on him.

Because of that, this wonderful picture is going to be around for a long, long time. Hey, at least Kyle Korver likes it. 

Bosh Poses for Edvard Munch

This is the reason why DVR is one of the greatest inventions of the past 100 years—otherwise we could only make fun of Chris Bosh with the use of videos, and there's only so much you can do with that.

Here we see one of the more impressive captures of Bosh doing something weird, which for him is a daily occurrence, so at this point it's more normal than weird.

Bosh has either realized that there's a sale on bow ties at Macy's or he's doing a postmodern live-action interpretation of Edvard Munch's The Scream.

This...Whatever This Is

Sometimes things happen on the basketball court that logic can't explain. Manu Ginobili slapped a bat out of the air, Tyronn Lue has a championship ring and Andrew Bynum has yet to get hurt this year, but this picture tops them all.

Here we see Chris Bosh flailing like only Chris Bosh knows how and Andre Iguodala falling forward while popping his hip. All the while Nikola Vucevic is just trying to get out of the way of what is surely the filming of another sequel to Angels in the Outfield.

In His Own Face

Every so often a picture comes out that is so amazing that it goes down in the annals of history and transcends photography and becomes a part of culture.

There's the picture of Florence Owens Thompson taken with her three children during the Great Depression, Salvador Dali walking his anteater and many others, but now we can add Shelden Williams dunking on his own face to that list.

This photo is not only incredibly detailed (look at the facial compression and the sweat flying from his face!), but it's basically summing up the entire Nets season with just one click of a button.

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