adidas tubular shadow

[Zebulon Lizzie]

Following up on the very Bulls-looking  colorway we landed a preview of last week, adidas Basketball seems content to create combos for the new adidas adiZero Crazy Light 2 that line up with the some of the strongest teams in the East. This time around the homage points to Beantown, a longtime hub for Three Stripes fanatics, with a simple Celtics styled upper of black, green, and white. Continue reading for the full look along with some more background info on the sneakers which features designer Robbie Fuller giving some insight as to how the adidas team was able to create a strong silhouette while shaving off so many ounces.

Back in the late '80s and early '90s, Nike and Reebok went head to head to determine who would control the basketball sneaker market for what has turned out to be nearly two decades. Nike had Michael Jordan, but they went so far as to more or less copy the ever popular Reebok Pump with the Air Pressure, leading the Vector brand to respond that fans should make the decision to  Pump Up and Air Out'. We hadn't seen any such oppositional marketing since then, but with adidas purchasing Reebok outright in 2005 to unite as the world's second largest athletic brand, you just knew that wouldn't be the end.

Kobe Bryant's own Nike Basketball signature series has proven it doesn't take a huge amount of ankle support to prevent rolling and sprains, so the Black Mamba striking out against the adidas adiZero Crazy Light can be interpreted as a sign that they offer serious competition to the Swoosh. Billed as the lightest basketball sneaker ever at just 9.8oz for a US mens size 9, the Crazy Light is pictured above in a colorway that Kobe could hate even more. adidas no longer commands the services of Boston Celtics forward Kevin Garnett, but this green and white getup would certainly be a nice match for his uniforms or any other similarly colored squad, and you can pick them up for late summer ballin' at FinishLine .

The adidas Primeknit technology has been tough to track down here in the states  we just saw the first ever domestice release for that tech go down a couple weeks ago with the adidas adiZero Prime Boost . Whether or not the adidas adiZero FeatherPrime shown here will get the same treatment remains to be seen, but at the very least you can ogle them from afar. Do that with us as you check out the black and red pairs that just popped up and then head to Titolo if you want to import them.Continue reading for more photos of these, which are available for preorder now at Finishline.

Just as Nike has been able to strip away weight and add ventilation to models using its Hyperfuse construction, adidas has offered a similarly slight and breathable material composite in the form of SprintFrame and SprintWeb technologies . The latest model to employ this featherweight combo is the aptly named adidas aidZero Feather, a sleek lowtop that rides a adiPrene sole but still only weighs 6.7 oz for a US mens size 9! The running equivalent of the adiZero Crazy Light , the adidas Feather is available now at select Three Stripes retailers and Shopadidas.Click through for a closer look at four upcoming colorways and expect these at select retailers including Eastbay on June 3rd.

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