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There are many ways for NBA coaches to show their frustration during games. They can yell at referees about a perceived lack of fairness. They can stew about it on the bench. Or they can suppress it, act like everything's fine, crack under the pressure over time, and eventually get fired. Choose whichever option works best for you! One thing they can't do, though, is kick a ball during a game. That's a technical foul, at least, and very likely an ejection. On Wednesday night, with the Dallas Mavericks down 73-67 to the Oklahoma City Thunder at the 9:40 mark the fourth quarter, Russell Westbrook finished a breakaway dunk with such force that the ball bounced towards Mavs coach Rick Carlisle. In a very casual move, Carlisle brought back his leg and kicked it with a decent amount of force. He already had one technical, so that decision earned him a second tech and automatic ejection from the game. Check out the video above from the Yahoo! Sports Minute. He apologized for his actions after the game. From the Associated Press:
Well, kicking it to the referee also would have been a technical, so it's not as if the execution was the only problem. He still hurt the team, even if he didn't mean to put anyone in the crowd in danger. To Carlisle's credit, he immediately checked on the fans to make sure they were all right. Of course, maybe there's an argument that, as long as no one got hurt, creating a memorably bizarre moment like this one is more valuable than coaching Dallas for eight minutes of game time in a largely meaningless game during a pretty weird compressed season. Perhaps you won in the long run, Rick. |
Ball Don't Lie - NBA
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At this point, seemingly half the NBA is on Twitter. It's a wild world of training updates, questions as to which movies they should go see, and explanations of their Call of Duty prowess. Every so often, though, you also get a picture into the more interesting aspects of NBA life. This feature is your window into that world.
Nate Robinson: Lol RT @caliFAWNia: You gotta risk it to get the biscuit.-@nate_robinson
Kenneth Faried: One of my female followers swag has gain an interest to me.. I think I should hit dat follow button hmmm
John Amaechi: Also, and not to boast about my weight loss (much) - but I dunked on someone last night for the first time in 4 years! #comeback?NO!
Nolan Smith: I gotta half eaten turkey sandwich if you want it! RT @aldridge_12: I'm hungry and roomservice is closed. smh
Julian Wright: So.. Lebron's "Decision" is bad but HS fb players been makin their "decisions" for years (w/ props!), & they be changing they minds too! You can also follow Eric Freeman on Twitter at @freemaneric. |  |
Picture, if you can, an NBA player with the following stats: 31.8 minutes per game, 17.2 ppg, 45.5 percent shooting from the field, 21.6 percent shooting from three-point range, and 6.0 rpg for a 14-11 team. Is that player an All-Star? The easy answer is an obvious "no." Unfortunately, the case is not so easy, because the player in question just happens to be Dirk Nowitzki, the reigning Finals MVP, a surefire Hall of Famer, and the best foreign player in NBA history. While his performance over the first month of this bizarre NBA season hasn't earned him a spot on this year's West squad, there's a strong argument to be made that he deserves one just for his career accomplishments. An All-Star Game without Nowitzki would seem to lack some essential star power. Dirk isn't especially arrogant, though, and he's not pushing for a place on the roster. In fact, he thinks he doesn't deserve one at all. From Tim MacMahon for ESPNDallas.com (via PBT):
There are at most four additional reserve spots for forwards on the West, and players like LaMarcus Aldridge, Kevin Love, Rudy Gay, and Paul Millsap have quite clearly out-performed Dirk this season. It's also totally in keeping with Dirk's selfless personality that he's more concerned with the Mavericks improving their playoff seed — they're currently just 8th — than with earning a personal accolade. [ Related: Blazers' LaMarcus Aldridge waiting for All-Star call ] So, if I may be so bold, let me act as Nowitzki's hype man. As I argued on Friday, the All-Star Game is not only about season-to-date performance. It's an exhibition meant to sell the league in all its grandeur. In such a context, an absent Nowitzki hurts the game. For all the accomplishments of Paul Millsap this year, there are few fans outside of Utah who want to see him play with the league's best more than they do Dirk. Q-rating and reputation matter in the All-Star Game — it's the NBA's version of a circus. We have the All-NBA teams for on-court merit, anyway, and it's a lot less arbitrary to measure a player's quality by a full season than a few weeks of play. Let's show the world the NBA at its hype-fueled best. Put Dirk in the All-Star Game in Orlando, because not every decision has to be governed by results-based logic. Other popular content on the Yahoo! network: |  |
LeBron James rode his bike to work on Sunday, and "work" happens to be a nationally televised game between his Miami Heat and a Chicago Bulls squad with the best record in the NBA. This is quite cool, it makes this massive talent of a man look all the more human, and if Kevin Durant or Derrick Rose biked to work when Oklahoma City or Chicago's weather warmed up, they'd have a statue and/or Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year award waiting for them by the time they got to the arena. When LeBron pulls it off? It's a little different, for whatever reason. Part his fault, part the media(myself very much included)'s fault. Still, here's a shot of James commuting, forced into a bike ride due to the Miami Marathon that took place on Sunday.
FOXSports.com's Chris Tomassson has the lowdown, starting off with why James decided to bike in:
OK, putting your nickname on your own bike is a bit much. I bet each of Michael Jordan's motorcycles have the Jumpman logo on them, though. Other popular content on Yahoo! Sports: |  |
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There's quite a bit to Gordon Monson's column revisiting of the end of the Jerry Sloan era in Utah, none more surprising than the claim from Jazz legend Karl Malone that Malone had to pay for a ticket from a scalper to watch the Jazz on Feb. 11 of last year (a day after Sloan retired) after the team told him they were out of ducats. It's been almost a year to the day that Jerry Sloan abruptly retired from the Utah Jazz in a move that absolutely nobody saw coming. Following an in-game and then postgame tiff with then-star guard Deron Williams, Sloan apparently felt unsupported by management, and quit despite the organization's attempts to win him back. Just as abruptly, Malone flew to Utah to speak his piece with the media before the following game against the Suns, whereupon he was told that the game was sold out. Whereupon I tell the Jazz that I've seen countless local "celebrities" sneak onto or given good seats on press row, and then tell the Jazz to find Malone's 6-9 frame a folding chair or two. Monson, in a brief aside toward the beginning of a must-read piece, had this to say:
The turn in front of the reporters spoke to Malone's distaste with how GM Kevin O'Connor handled Sloan's frustrations following his back-and-forth with Williams and Sloan's exit, as he told the media he would give the Jazz "a D or F, and I would lean more toward an F." He's right and wrong. We'll get to that aspect in a second. First, the part where the Jazz are completely wrong? I don't care how late Malone flies in. I don't care if he's there to stir things up that you want nothing to do with as you deal with the craziest three-day-span (Finals included) in team history, or if he finished his career with the Los Angeles Lakers some seven years earlier. You find a guy a seat. You stick him near the bench. You offer a team investor the story of a lifetime in an otherwise miserable game and setting against the Phoenix Suns (the Jazz lost that night, badly), and wonder if he'll move to the hallways where the GMs hang out. You find a luxury box, and bring him some tasty Mexi-spring rolls. Or, you do as dozens of teams have done for years, and work over press row a little bit, move things around, and find a seat for the anti-dignitary (of sorts) courtside. [Also: Kenyon Martin agrees to sign with Clippers] He'll get free box scores, an Internet connection, pretzels and pop. All the perks. Parking, too. You figure something out, and quick, that doesn't have Malone (assuming he's telling the truth) relaying these embarrassing things a year later. Now, it's more than feasible that the Jazz were able to scare up a ticket or two, that the seats weren't to Malone's liking, and that Karl decided to pay a stiffer fee to sit in a seat that wouldn't stiffen his back. Through all of his strength on and off the court, Malone has always enjoyed playing the martyr to the press, and this could be another example of such. It doesn't mean that the Jazz couldn't have avoided it, though. Assuming Malone's story is spot on. O'Connor, a year later, doesn't like people like yours truly, Gordon Monson, or Karl Malone pretending as if they were in the meeting between Sloan and the Jazz GM following his fight with Deron Williams. But you don't have to be in the meeting when you have second-tier unnamed sources describing exactly what you would think someone like Sloan would do in a situation that felt to him the absolute apex of his team undermining his ability to lead as he saw fit. Everyone can roll back on their ideals in a time of great storm and stress, as Sloan may have done, but it just isn't Jerry Sloan's style to take himself and his longtime lead assistant (Phil Johnson) away from his Jazz late at night following a game, with over two months left in a season. And if we're completely wrong in this, well, Sloan has earned that benefit of the doubt. Sloan and Johnson aren't talking about it, either way. That's where Karl is right or wrong. Sloan and his longtime aide-de-camp have made as much clear with their silence. They want nothing to do with talking about specific details behind an unfortunate divorce. I'm sure there are times where Sloan loves it when Karl stirs things up a bit, but I'm sure there are just as many times where he doesn't want to be reminded of the whole affair. As for the scalped ticket? Utah's Energy Solutions Arena holds 19,911 people, and every seat was sold that night. Doesn't matter. They could have found another, no matter how critical they knew Karl was going to be about Sloan and Utah's separation. Other popular content on the Yahoo! network: |  |
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To be sure, the win came against the lowly New Jersey Nets. And, for all we know, the career arc of 23-year-old New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin could come crashing back to the realm of the "pretty good" pretty soon. But until then, it's worth pointing out that Lin gave Knicks fans easily their biggest charge of what has been a pretty frustrating season thus far on Saturday night. Lin came off the bench to drop 25 points in the New York win, adding all sorts of style points as he managed seven assists and five rebounds in the process. By the end of the game, the Madison Square Garden crowd was chanting his first name (that's enough chills for a lifetime, there), the PA was blasting Pearl Jam's "Jeremy," and a starting point guard -- if not star -- was born. By Monday morning he was dominating the team's official website, as seen in the screen shot above. Take a look at the highlight package from Saturday:
If you'd like to watch an extended mix of Lin's time on the court, check out this video from Posting and Toasting:
And, of course, what would be a scintillating news story without the eventual treatment from the Taiwanese media:
Before his potentially season-saving performance on Saturday, Lin was best known for becoming the first Asian-American to play in the NBA in over half a decade when he suited up for the Golden State Warriors last season. The Harvard-educated point man came through with a solid summer league run in 2010, but it failed to gain him any traction as a rookie on a guard-heavy Warriors team. With the Knicks desperate for anyone that can run a screen and roll ably, Lin's ascension is a welcome sight. Will it last? Again, he's 23, and there will be growing pains along the way even if Lin were some six-time All-Star in his prime that the Knicks just traded for. That's just how the most important position in basketball works. But it's a start. And, as mentioned above, Lin will start on Monday night. And, while coupled with Stanford product Landry Fields in the New York backcourt, the Knicks will lead the NBA in perimeter-based combined SAT scores. |  |
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On Thursday the NBA announced the starters that will take the floor at the outset of the 2012 All-Star game, and while we had a few minor quibbles here and there with the fans vote, more or less the starting fives are on point. And, in the spirit of slow-mo video and lots of cool dunks, let's take a look at video breakdowns as furnished by the NBA, for each of the announced starters. Dig:
Eastern Conference Guard, Derrick Rose: Guard, Dwyane Wade: Forward, LeBron James: Forward, Carmelo Anthony: Center, Dwight Howard: Western Conference Guard, Chris Paul: Guard, Kobe Bryant: Forward, Kevin Durant: Forward, Blake Griffin: Center, Andrew Bynum: |  |
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New York Knicks point guard Baron Davis is both a frustrating basketball player and an impressive person. Blessed with more talent (natural and otherwise) than any other point guard of his generation, he nevertheless has troubles focusing on basketball, which means he's only intermittently fulfilled his massive potential. When he has, such as during the Warriors' "We Believe" playoff run, in 2007, it's been amazing. When he hasn't, it's usually been because he seems more interesting in producing movies or generally setting himself up for life after basketball. He's the kind of guy you'd like to have a conversation with, but not necessarily someone you want on your team. It's weird how that works out. Davis hasn't played for the Knicks yet as he recovers from a back injury, but he's still using New York to his advantage. Sadly, for distraught Knicks fans, those moves involve creating and acting on television programs, not basketball. From Sam Alipour for ESPN's Page 2 (via TBJ):
Sounds like Baron is well on his way to "stealing" an Emmy and turning his acting career into a "slam dunk." (Puns are a hallmark of good writing; just ask the writing staff of "Sex and the City.") It might seem weird that Davis would be starstruck by a woman best known these days as a sentient Internet meme, but his love of "Golden Girls" really just proves that he has good taste. White is a legend, and her chemistry with Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty was just about the best on TV at the time. It was a show about old ladies, sure, but also the bonds of friendship and how to get along with someone you may not even like a lot of the time. Give the reruns a chance some time. Ah, right, this is a basketball blog. Davis filmed this appearance in November, but Knicks fans nonetheless can't be happy that Baron has Hollywood on his mind while he should be spending as much time as possible rehabbing his injury. Then again, at this point in his career the extracurricular interests are a given. This is what he wants to do with his life, clearly, and any team that hires him to play basketball must know he's going to explore those opportunities, especially in a city like New York. It has to be tolerated, if not loved; the Knicks have no one to blame but themselves. Frankly, the more interesting question to ask isn't why Baron doesn't spend all his time on basketball, but why so many fans have such a problem with his use of time. Any other person, when they begin to become unfulfilled by their primary job, seeks out other activities — it's a natural part of prolonged employment. Why should Davis be any different? |  |
Remember back in 2009, when LeBron James announced that he'd be taking part in the 2010 NBA slam dunk contest?
Remember the eventual participants of the 2010 NBA slam dunk contest? LeBron was talking about possibly taking part again, after Wednesday's shootaround before the Miami Heat's loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. The Palm Beach Post's Ethan Skolnick has the quotes:
Just about nothing but bad things could come out of this. It would be fantastic to see James toss in some of his one-handed windmills, but unless James has some 20-foot jumping ability that we're unaware of, all he's going to do is enter the contest as the favorite and disappoint those with unrealistic expectations. Because, nearly 30 years after the NBA instituted its first contest, all the dunks have just about been done. LeBron, clearly, is an astonishing in-game dunker. But he's also the best player on a team with legitimate title aspirations (which Michael Jordan most certainly was not when he represented the Chicago Bulls in the 1985, '87 and '88 contests), and rest is vital in this or any other season. We've been critical of LeBron at times in these pages, but we're really not looking forward to a few days of cable TV criticism about how James failed to jump over three cars or set fire to the shot clock in mid-air while blindfolded. Even for an exhibition pitched on basic cable in the middle of February, people take the contest pretty seriously, mainly because there's absolutely nothing to talk about during the sports weekend it dominates. And unless people develop a saner sense of expectation between now and Feb. 25 (not bloody likely), we'd suggest James give this one a miss. Plus, it leaves us more time to watch this over and over again: |  |
The video of the meeting between famed competitive eating champion Takeru Kobayashi and Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah is as funny as you think it will be, with a stern looking Kobayashi posing for pictures with a closed fist as if he was promoting a heavyweight bout as Noah hung loose, and with Bull Brian Scalabrine acting all "Brian Scalabrine" in the background. Take a look:
It's this column on Kobi, which admittedly has nothing to do with the NBA outside of the fact that he met up with several Bulls following their loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night, that is the real hoot. The quotes, from Philly.com's Pattison Ave.'s Ryan Petzar, are golden, not unlike the fried chicken wings Kobi will be attempting to down by the hundreds in Friday's Wing Bowl XX. I'm so sorry for that last line. I haven't had my 300 wings for breakfast, as Kobi enjoyed the other day, yet.
There's this warning, from five-time Wing Bowl champion Bill "El Wingador" Simmons, a name that couldn't be funnier even if it was the other Bill Simmons competing in a Mexican wrestling max in his spare time:
Good thing, to try to shoot for the win in a competitive eating contest by swallowing. Better than petering out at 20 wings after a few minutes and then starting to chuck the leftovers at your competitors, which is what I'd do. And we'd like to thank "El Wingador" for bringing up the idea that "jaw strength has been a factor for [Kobayashi] in the past." Move over Rob Gronkowski, tell Luol Deng the news. This will be Kobi's first Wing Bowl as a participant. He did show up to last year's spectacle to down a Philly Cheesesteak in a world record 24 seconds. Again, I'd take a different approach and eat the hoagie pretty slowly. Mainly because, well, have you ever had one of those things? They're delicious! I decided that life was fair and that I wanted to propose to my wife after eating one. We won't enjoy Friday's Wing Bowl XX as much as we enjoyed Super Bowl XX, which saw the Chicago Bears down the New England Patriots by a 46-10 score. But we can suggest that Wing Bowl XX will be much, much more competitive. (HT: Don Povia at the HHR Media Group.) |
On Thursday night, the NBA announced the All-Star starters, culled from fan votes spread out over a season that has only been playing live basketball for 39 days. Yikes. So you know there are bound to be some misses, as the fans take to the ballot both online and off. Did the fans make the right call as to who they're sending to the scorer's to start the game on Feb. 26? Or is it time to hand the vote to Larry Brown and a whole bunch of other basketballniks who know who Cliff Hagan is? Let's find out, after the jump. And the Western takes can be found here.
Center Fans pick: Orlando Magic's Dwight Howard. Nailed it? Nailed it. Howard started slow and his production has dipped slightly as his Orlando Magic have fallen off the face of the earth over the last week and a half. But even while taking off some plays, he remains dominant overall defensively -- that's how great Howard was when he was engaged; this is his version of mailing it in and he's still causing havoc -- and his 20-point, 15-rebound averages are more than deserving of an All-Star nod. Competitors Joakim Noah started even slower than Howard while Brook Lopez, Andrew Bogut and Al Horford have been out due to injury. Tyson Chandler has enjoyed a fine season, but he just isn't in Howard's company. [Related: Judging the fan vote for starters on the Western All-Star squad ] Forwards Fans pick: Miami Heat's LeBron James, New York Knicks' Carmelo Anthony. Nailed it? Halfway. James, without question, has been far and away the best player in basketball this season. Not amongst a group of three or four greats, mind you, but the best in the NBA by a wide margin. He's having a career year, which is saying something both because of his staggering regular-season accomplishments in years prior, but also because of the draining nature of this truncated season. Anthony is not having his best season -- far from it -- and the lure of a big-name scorer with New York recognition was too much for the fans to pass on. Miami's Chris Bosh, averaging 20 points (on a much better shooting percentage) and eight rebounds, would have been the better choice here. And we're saying that without attempting to make a distinction between the two forward slots. Guards Fans pick: Chicago Bulls' Derrick Rose, Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade. Nailed it? Nailed it. Wade has played only 13 games this season while dealing with his usual brand of lower extremity maladies, but he's so much better than the rest of the shooting guards in the East -- what happened to this position out East? -- that you have to give him the nod here in spite of missing nine of his team's 22 games. Or instead of picking another point guard like New Jersey's Deron Williams or Boston's Rajon Rondo. Even as his toe pains him with every step, much less each stop on a dime and bound to the rim through a series of defenders, Derrick Rose has gotten even better in his fourth NBA season. The Bulls guard is averaging 23 points and 7.7 assists for the East's best team. Three things of note …
1. Dwight Howard, jumping center, in Orlando. By all accounts, he'll still be with the Magic by the time the All-Star game tips off on Feb. 26. And Magic fans, mindful of the nationally televised audience and their own team's dodgy future, will no doubt give Howard the biggest standing ovation he's ever heard as he's introduced. That's how fans work. They'll save the boos and hisses for when Howard eventually leaves the team this summer. And he will leave this team. Which will make the ovation -- as a recruiting tool -- a needless exercise. Sad. 2. Miami, getting reps. It's hard to believe that after 104 regular-season games spread out over two seasons and a trip to the sixth game of the Finals last year that Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and LeBron James still have work to do in order to develop a chemistry worth their collective talent, but every minute of practice counts with these three. If the East isn't coached by Erik Spoelstra this year, the coach would be wise to sub in Bosh while taking James and Wade out. You don't want The Big Click to happen under your watch, coach. 3. No Lob City. Derrick Rose isn't a selfish player, but he's not a natural playmaker and passer in the mold of a Chris Paul or Steve Nash. What he can do is score, score, score, not unlike all the other players in this starting five. The West? They'll be easier on the eyes, attempting alley-oops left and right and trying to entertain. This is what we tune in for, sure, but any watch of the most recent All-Star games reminds you that this is no recipe for success. While the West is throwing half-courters for attempted dunks gone wrong, the East's perimeter-oriented core of Rose, James, Wade and Anthony will be grabbing long rebounds and going coast-to-coast for scores. Other popular content on Yahoo! Sports: |  |
On Thursday night, the NBA announced the All-Star starters, culled from fan votes spread out over a season that has only been playing live basketball for 39 days. Yikes. So you know there are bound to be some misses, as the fans take to the ballot both online and off. Did the fans make the right call as to who they're sending to the scorer's to start the game on Feb. 26? Or is it time to hand the vote to Larry Brown and a whole bunch of other basketballniks who know who Cliff Hagan is? Let's find out, after the jump. And the Eastern takes can be found here.
Center Fans pick: Los Angeles Lakers' Andrew Bynum. Nailed it? Nailed it. Because he's been healthy, and because of a 6.5 minutes per game uptick, All-Star fans are finding out what per-minute obsessives have known for years: Bynum is an All-Star when you give him a good run. Bynum's points per minute are actually down slightly from what he came through with in 2009 and '10, but his overall production has stayed pretty much the same since 2007 or so. Good to see that he's healthy enough to take advantage of those skills. The West has enjoyed some solid production out of its pivotmen this year, as Memphis' Marc Gasol has played well, Houston's Samuel Dalembert has come on as of late, and Al Jefferson (forced into being center-ish by his forward-heavy Jazz squad) has matched Bynum offensively. But this is the right pick. [Related: Judging the fan vote for starters on the Eastern All-Star squad] Forwards Fans pick: Oklahoma City Thunder's Kevin Durant, Los Angeles Clippers' Blake Griffin. Nailed it? Nearly. Durant is the right pick here. His scoring is down a bit in his fifth (!) season, but he remains as potent as ever (shooting above 50 percent) for a Thunder team with the best record in basketball. As was the case with Glen Rice in 1997, Durant is a few flicks of the wrist away from getting hot and shooting his way toward the MVP. And, yes, there is a hot hand for the All-Star game, basketball intelligentsia. Let me at least have that one. Griffin is a worthy All-Star in terms of his production, and he'll clearly be looked upon to provide highlight after highlight while slapping the top of the backboard each time. Has he played the best basketball of any big forward in the West this year, or at least any Western forward short of Durant? That hasn't been the case -- Minnesota's Kevin Love would have been the better pick, as would Portland's LaMarcus Aldridge or even Utah's Paul Millsap, if you can overlook the fact that he plays just 31.7 minutes per game. With that in place, this is for the fans, and Griffin has had a great season. Hard to go wrong at this loaded position. Guards Fans pick: Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Clippers' Chris Paul. Nailed it? Nailed it. Bryant, despite confounding at times with his decision-making late in games, is having a brilliant season. We still have quibbles about Kobe taking nearly as many shots as Bynum and Pau Gasol combined, but the man is leading the NBA in scoring while overcoming what should be a debilitating wrist injury. A no-brainer pick, and another chance to fete this marvel of a competitor. Paul's selection is a little tougher on one brand of paper, mainly because he's played in just 14 games thus far, missing six for a Clippers team with the West's second-best record. Doesn't matter. This guy's efficiency is off the charts, again. He's averaging 19 points on 52 percent shooting with nine assists, and he's turned it over 29 times so far. All season, 29 times. And if those lobs, as noted in the East's section, connect? He could hoist the game's MVP award. Three things of note … 1. The Lakers and Clippers kind of hate each other, and there are a lot of Lakers and Clippers. Four players from one city amongst the All-Star starters is impressive enough, but in the wake of a series cross-arena matches between the Clippers and Lakers (including what was a spirited batch of preseason games as well), this could be an interesting buildup. Making things potentially nastier is the fact that in Bryant and Paul, you have the NBA's two predominant ball dominators -- ones that were nearly teammates before the NBA put the kibosh on a proposed Laker deal for Paul. This could get even nastier if Pau Gasol, who sparred briefly (NBA-style) with Paul last week, is selected by the coaches as an All-Star reserve. 2. Blake Griffin, and the weight of expectation. The swift realization that -- shock, horror -- Blake Griffin might have some holes in his game has been a little startling this season. Usually because the things that Griffin does not excel at (defensive rotations, leaving the refs alone, moving without the ball in the half court) fair-weather fans (especially those up at midnight, Eastern) don't tend to notice this quickly. What with their lives and all. Worse, every time Griffin's on TV, he's being willed by a local or national audience to do something they've never seen before. So if the lobs aren't perfect, and especially if Griffin fails to defend his dunk contest title the night before the game, this could be a frustrating weekend for the youngster. We think he'll be just fine. 3. Kobe and Bynum, popping and locking. Bynum's career-long rash of injuries have come about because the Lakers big man has had some terrible luck when it comes to people (teammates, even) falling into his knees. Of course, because of all those injuries, he technically now is "injury prone" and the wear and tear of all the surgeries is bound to stack up. Bryant is playing with one good arm and he has to have his fluids drained more times than a Formula 1 racing car. They both -- in a 66-game season playing on a top-heavy Lakers team, where they more or less represent "the top" -- could use some time off. So, pencil them in for 40 minutes apiece. Can't wait. Other popular content on Yahoo! Sports: |  |
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On Thursday night, we relayed the idea that Blake Griffin could have a disappointing All-Star weekend later this month, merely by just playing sound All-Star level basketball in the game but by failing to come through with the sort of never-seen-before dunks we're accustomed to seeing from the Clippers' big forward. Mix those unfair expectations and perhaps a second or third-place finish while defending his Slam Dunk title, and you've got a recipe for sad Blake. Griffin, smartly, has responded by passing the torch and deciding to retire his Slam Dunk Contest run after one championship season. Telling Arash Markazi at ESPN Los Angeles this on Thursday:
Indeed. And as we brought up in Thursday's post about LeBron James' possible inclusion in the contest, there just aren't a whole lot of things to do with a ball (or two, if you're Larry Nance) and a 10-foot (or higher, if you're Dwight Howard) rim. Or two rims, if you're Javale McGee. Adding a bunch of unknowns to the mix has been tried before, but the NBA has also dropped the ball on a few of those unknowns over the last half-decade or so. Still, the league has to try to rebuild the contest in an organic way, and not like, say, Lorne Michaels hiring 47 semi-stars (some aged 47) for "Saturday Night Live" in 1994. Going with unknowns may not please Tony Kornheiser on some random Thursday in late February, but it might be best for the health of the contest. And, for someone expected to lead his team deep into the playoffs, the health of Blake Griffin. Because, remember -- there's always DeAndre Jordan. Other popular content on the Yahoo! network: |  |
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At this point in his life, it's no big deal to say that Los Angeles Lakers forward Metta World Peace is a weird guy. All we can do when discussing him is point out new incidents that add to his reputation, or try to figure out if what he's talking about even happened or if he's just playing to the cameras. So, without further commentary, we present this video from Melissa Rohlin of the Los Angeles Times interviewing MWP. Rohlin asks how World Peace feels about road trips, which he hears as "roaches." Then things get weird from there, with everyone's favorite insane person talking at length about how he used to be friends with roaches while growing up in poverty in Queens. Somewhere, deep inside, there's a serious story here. (via EOB) |
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When Russian oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov bought the Nets, the expectation was that his money would both turn the franchise into a viable contender and lead to a fair amount of bizarre events given his eccentric foreign ways. Neither of those things has come come to pass, unfortunately, with Prokhorov generally taking a hands-off approach. The Nets look like most NBA franchises, hiring a retread general manager like Billy King and overspending for role players. If Deron Williams leaves in free agency this summer, they'll start games in Brooklyn next fall with a whimper, not the intended bang. It turns out that they might also lose their owner. As we noted in December, Prokhorov has mounted a campaign challenging Vladimir Putin for the Russian presidency, which put the future status of his considerable business holdings into question. Now, he's come out with a pledge that he'll sell everything if elected and donate the profits to charity. From Jake Rudnitsky and Ilya Arkhipov for Bloomberg (via TrueHoop):
Most people would have trouble living on 1/18 of their life savings, but most people don't have $18 billion to play with. That lesser fortune would require a considerable change in lifestyle, of course, though something tells me Prokhorov will figure out a way to live with five jetskis instead of his customary twenty. Sacrifices must be made for the good of the nation! Nets fans shouldn't lament their loss just yet, and not just because early returns suggest Prokhorov isn't an essential part of the franchise's future success. Politicians are full of empty campaign promises, for one thing, and it might not even be a good bet that Putin will lose the election, let alone to Prokhorov (you know, because he might rig it). This pledge might only be as valuable as the state-run airwaves it was broadcast on. For all we know, President Prokhorov will end up selling his assets to friends at discounts and taking them back when his term runs out. Something tells me a man who's devoted his adult life to making as much money as possible won't give up his fortune quite so easily. Then again, if this promise is real, and Prokhorov does in fact win the election, Nets fans will have to adjust to a new reality for the second time in three years. That might not be such a bad thing, if their new expectations become more reasonable. The promise of a brighter future, whether in sports or politics, rarely becomes fact quite so easily as the public may have hoped. |  |
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In the summer of 2000, after three successful seasons with the Toronto Raptors, free-agent forward Tracy McGrady signed a max-level contract. It was an unfortunate turn of events for the Raptors, but also a reasonable one. While McGrady was considered one of the most talented and most versatile young wings in the NBA at just 21 years old, he was coming off a season in which he'd averaged just 15.4 points per game on 45.1 percent shooting as second option to intergalactic superstar Vince Carter. The Raptors were understandably sad to see McGrady go, but giving him that much money represented a significant gamble, and the Raptors just didn't have room to pay both McGrady and Carter that sort of scratch. So they chose the guy who looked like he'd be one of the league's top players for another decade. Unfortunately, the guy they let go ended up being that player. Carter, as most fans know, turned out not to be much of a leader and left Toronto under pretty awful circumstances. The Raptors ended up in bad shape and haven't really recovered since. That said, the decision at the time made complete sense, and it's tough to blame McGrady for taking the chance to become a superstar in Orlando. Still, Toronto fans haven't forgotten that he chose another franchise. Nearly 12 years later, they're still booing him when he comes to town, including during Tuesday night's 100-77 loss to McGrady's Atlanta Hawks. Mike Ganter weighed in on the situation in the Toronto Sun (via TrueHoop):
Boos for opposing players are often irrational, but this McGrady situation makes the Toronto fans look a little ridiculous. It's one thing to boo a former player who really did a city wrong, or a sorely missed star. But McGrady's now playing for his fifth team since leaving Toronto, and he's only a role player on a middling playoff team in the East. He didn't leave Toronto under the most ideal circumstances, but he's nowhere close to Carter on the city's hate list. Is it really necessary to stay mad at him so many years later? Apparently so, because it continues. The question to ask is why. The most likely answer, it seems, is that the Raptors have had such a bad time recovering from the Carter/McGrady era that T-Mac's mere presence in the city still hurts. That was a great time for the franchise, one full of hope, and the way it ended killed all those good feelings. Even if he wasn't the primary reason for the bad feelings, he's still associated with them. We can only hope that, after McGrady retires, he reaches some sort of understanding with Toronto fans. There's no reason for this bad blood to persist much longer. |  |
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The recent story of Keith Bogans is an odd one. After the Chicago Bulls struck out at attempting to sign a more high-profile shooting guard during the 2010 offseason (from Dwyane Wade to J.J. Redick), the team had to settle on Bogans to start each of the team's 98 regular-season and playoff games. Bogans was a brilliant defender in his turn at the position, helping Chicago's league-best defense, but he was startlingly well below-average in all other areas save for his 38 percent 3-point shooting, which was slightly above average. As it was, Bogans (now with the New Jersey Nets) was a well-respected liability on the team with the NBA's best record. Worked his tail off, shut down opponents, and worked as the consummate team player but also a, sorry, zero on the offensive end. To Chicago's chagrin, as Derrick Rose seemed to go at it alone in his team's playoff loss to Miami. And when it came time for the Bulls to attempt to upgrade, this time with former All-Star Rip Hamilton, the uneasy release of Bogans didn't exactly warm Keith's heart. From K.C. Johnson at the Chicago Tribune:
Before you laugh at that last line, understand that for Bulls fans the idea of an angry Keith Bogans locking down (cleanly, I might add) on Derrick Rose is no laughing matter for us. K.C. Johnson's piece goes on to point out that the Bulls not only hung onto Bogans during the opening stages of the NBA's odd 2011 training camp as they waited for Hamilton's physical and signing to clear, but they also kept the guy on the active roster so as to potentially turn his small contract into a draft pick via trade. It's a business, the Bulls have to improve their team, but Bogans doesn't want to hear that. Especially when he played through pain last season, and was all around the team's training camp working out and preparing for the season with nary a word from the front office to Bogans about his (to quote Phil Jackson, in discussing the same front office) permanence and impermanence. Chicago's under no obligation to give him daily updates, because they have their business to run. What upsets most Bulls fans, even the ones (like me) that know how important Brian Scalabrine's presence on that team's bench and in the locker room remains, is the fact that the team has left Scal's place on the roster intact while serviceable players like Bogans, Mike James, or even a Tracy McGrady have to go elsewhere. Or the team's retaining of John Lucas III, whose efficiency and passing wasn't anywhere near James' levels during their runs earlier this year. Scal is huge. Just watch his interactions with Rose especially during games, as they bounce ideas off of each other and determine ways to down the opponent away from the coaching staff. But it's as if the payoff for his fantastic presence as a type of player-coach is to give him that "player" mantle. And though Ronnie Brewer and Jimmy Butler have played sound wing defense this season, the Bulls could use someone like Bogans when going up against Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, and the Miami Heat. If just for short stretches, while we're reminded about the liability that he was at times last year against that same opponent. It's a good problem to have, with all that depth, a top-notch team leader in Scalabrine, and players wanting to be part of your team. But hurt feelings are bound to turn up from time to time. Keith Bogans' case, in a way, is pretty expected. |  |
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Oklahoma City has so many good young players that some of them get lost in the shuffle. For instance, few power forwards in the league have progressed as quickly as 22-year-old Serge Ibaka, and yet he's consistently overshadowed by Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden and the venerable 27-year-old Kendrick Perkins. He'd get far more attention on another team. Then again, he probably also wouldn't be nearly as close as he is to an NBA championship. Nevertheless, Ibaka is much-loved by those in the know, and for good reason. In fact, he just happened to be the star of OKC's 95-86 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night. Yes, Durant and Westbrook combined for 56 points, but Ibaka held down the paint with a whopping 10 blocks to set a franchise record (that includes the Seattle days, for the sake of accuracy, though no one can be blamed for considering that a different team). Now, you can watch them all above via this handy video. (via DailyThunder.com) |
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The starters for the 2012 NBA All-Star Game in Orlando were announced Thursday night (West here, East here), with the usual group of superstars and even more super superstars. Now, we must decide the reserves for both the East and West squads. While most discussions of reserves concern merit based on season-to-date performance, that approach neglects that the All-Star game is an exhibition intended to be a fun advertisement for the NBA as a whole. The goal shouldn't be just to pick deserving players, but to make the game an entertaining look at what's most worth watching in the NBA. With that in mind, I chose the seven reserves for each team that will make for the most exciting game. Not everything makes sense based on the stats and standings, but that's not the point. Below, find the East selections. For the West, go here. PG Deron Williams, New Jersey Nets: The Nets are a horrible team, and Williams' stats have suffered this year as he finds himself surrounded with (maybe) one starter-level NBA player. Nevertheless, the quality of an All-Star game is often defined by the degree to which point guards get the other players involved, and Williams is one of the best floor generals in the league. On top of that, he's likely to be a player of major importance this summer as he decides between accompanying the Nets on their move to Brooklyn (with Dwight Howard, maybe) or joining an established contender like his hometown Mavericks in free agency. Williams matters to the long-term health of the league, and an All-Star game without him would represent a serious case of myopia. PG Kyrie Irving, Cleveland Cavaliers: New players are exciting, whether for one team or the league as a whole, and it's in the NBA's best interest to promote those guys whenever possible. Irving deserves to get in on the merits, too, with 18.1 ppg and 4.9 apg in only 28.8 minutes as the Cavs battle for a playoff spot. He's only going to get better and play more, and the league should take advantage of his budding stardom as soon as possible. Hype only seems stupid when a player's success peters out -- Irving's not going to get to that point for some time. PG Jrue Holiday, Philadelphia 76ers: The Sixers are one of the league's surprise teams, currently holding a 16-6 record that has them tied with Miami for the second-best record in the conference. They're going to be a notable story in the playoffs, even if they're only the victims of a first-round upset, and fans need to get acquainted with their players. Holiday has been one of the major factors in their success, improving every game as a floor leader and, for the sake of aesthetics, versatile enough to play alongside one of the East's other talented point guards during the ASG itself. His stellar defense won't come across in an exhibition context, but he's athletic enough to do a few things that everyone will remember. SG/SF Andre Iguodala, Philadelphia 76ers: Holiday is Philly's up-and-comer, but Iguodala is the best representative of what they do well: He's capable of playing multiple positions and contributes in every aspect of the game. Plus, for the sake of watchability, he's the sort of leaper that could catch and finish any number of alley-oops from the East's many quality point guards. Oh, and who doesn't like a story about a veteran finally finding himself after many years of sitting on the cusp of stardom? PF Josh Smith, Atlanta Hawks: Smith has never made an All-Star team, although he was the most egregious snub two years ago in Dallas. There are few players as exciting in the league (at least when he chooses not to shoot jumpers), so it stands to reason he'd produce at least one obscene dunk and an out-of-nowhere dunk that ramps up the defensive pressure on both sides for at least a few minutes. And while the Hawks have settled into a weird middle ground in which they're a playoff mainstay with no chance of making a legitimate run, they're relevant enough that an ASG without any of their players would seem like a poor overview of the NBA landscape. PF Chris Bosh, Miami: Yes, Bosh is easy to mock and looks like some kind of human-dinosaur hybrid from an underground remake of "The Flintstones." He's also really good, a consistent producer, and potentially the difference between the Heat falling short once again and finishing as champions in June. Bosh matters to the league, even if commentators try to marginalize him at every opportunity, and an East squad with three members of the NBA's most talked about team would reflect just show large a shadow they cast over the rest of the league. And don't you want to see him awkwardly react to everything that happens during Saturday's festivities? PF Amar'e Stoudemire, New York Knicks: Stoudemire in no way deserves to make this team based on his production this year; the Knicks are a massive disappointment in part because he hasn't figured out how to coexist with Carmelo Anthony, a player he desperately wanted in blue and orange. Yet, by all other metrics, Amar'e is a star, the sort of player who defines discussion about the Eastern Conference more than most of the players who came before him on this list. He also needs a kick in the butt right now, or at least a reminder that we expect much more from him. Consider this selection a display of good faith, a sign that we still believe he's the star he's supposed to be. It can also serve as a warning that a failure to live up to this billing will leave him off next year's team. If Amar'e fears one thing, it's not being taken seriously anymore. Toughest snub: The Indiana Pacers, like the Sixers, figure to play a major part in this spring's playoffs. So why are they not included on this list? The easy answer is that they have no clear choice, at least by entertainment value: Danny Granger hasn't had a particularly great year, and Roy Hibbert fits the bill as a much-needed big man but plays with a style that can charitably be described as deliberate. So, unfortunately, we must leave them unrepresented. That's not all bad, though, because the franchise's reputation as a deep, hardworking squad plays into the idea that they don't have one true star. In the end, this might not be the worst outcome. |  |
After a frustrating Dallas Mavericks loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night, one that saw Mavs coach Rick Carlisle ejected for booting a basketball in the stands after the refs enraged him with a no-call, Dallas owner Mark Cuban has predictably taken to the press with complaints about dodgy officiating. From ESPN Dallas:
Cuban is right. The referees have done a terrible job, for the most part, this season in officiating games. But what can be done to right this particular ship? We're having a hard time thinking of anything significant that can be done. The refs are going to stink this season, and we're going to have to find some way to deal with it.
Two major factors have created this uneasy product. For one, scores of veteran referees retired before the 2011-12 season even started, creating an influx of younger referees brought up from the college or minor-league ranks. Secondly, the sheer amount of games that the NBA has greedily mashed together (66 will be placed this year in a space that usually seats about 50) is forcing the referees to officiate even more games than the players are playing. This is a long work week, with insane amounts of travel and, as the cliché goes, every game is a road game for the referees. Cuban wants greater accountability and more transparent data on which refs are doing what, but what will this actually change? So we'll remember their names easier, go into games with more of a bias against Big Meanie No. 45 That Always Goes Against Dallas, and that ref (because he's human) will then, in turn, look to overreach in response to the known "bias" and attempt to even calls out artificially? As we've pleaded with people to understand for years, this is an impossible game to call at this level, and the sheer amount of rules rung up by-the-book and unofficial ways (with make-up calls and the like) of calling games provide nothing but a frustrating back-and-forth that is inconsistent and makes for some uneven games. Taking away the hand-check some eight years ago resulted in a better NBA product, but it also means players are dashing to the rim faster than ever, and refs can only see so much in the chaos. Toss in coaches complaining that referees are either calling fouls out of their particular zone, or not delving into a different zone to blow the whistle, and the result is one ugly mess. The Mavs owner is on point for calling these things out, but what's the next step? Cuban has been hoarding his own referee data for over a decade now. The league surely knows about it and keeps its own brand of ref data, but what will any sort of publishing or re-jigging solve? Wednesday night, Mark went on:
OK, there you are. Something needs to be done. Now what? |  |
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Lots of history swirling around Kobe Bryant as his Lakers head into Philadelphia on Monday night to take on the 76ers. The game is in Bryant's initial adopted American hometown, where he went to high school at Lower Merion High. Philly was also home to Wilt Chamberlain, as we set to take in the 50th anniversary of Wilt's 100-point game that he performed as a Philadelphia Warrior in March of 1962. Topping that, Kobe (whose 81 points in a game from six years ago is second all time to Wilt's 100) needs 24 points to pass former teammate Shaquille O'Neal for fifth place on the NBA's all-time scoring list. No. 4 on the list is, you guessed it, Wilt. Lots of numbers. ESPN's Dave McMenamin asked Kobe about two of the more startling ones: "100," and "81."
Mmm, nope. Nope, Kobe. Nope.
Not only "nope," but can we please go back and look at just how remarkable one of those numbers was? Not the 100, sorry Wilt, but Kobe's 81. We've said it many times here at Ball Don't Lie: Kobe Bryant's 81-point night against the Toronto Raptors six years ago was more impressive than the night Wilt Chamberlain scored 19 more points against the New York Knicks. [ Related: Kobe passes Shaq on NBA's all-time scoring list ] We know. "Eighty-one ain't 100." But the Raptors, crummy though they may have been on defense, weren't missing their starting shooting guard. The Knicks were without their starting center, against Wilt. The Lakers didn't foul the Raptors, in a blowout, to get the ball back to Kobe time and time again so that he could put up more and more shots on his way towards his point total. That's what the Warriors did, in a game that already featured way more possessions (and, thus, more chances for Wilt to score) than the Lakers and Raptors worked with. The Warriors, by the second quarter, were determined to help Wilt hit a 100 in what was a blowout game throughout. Kobe may have tossed in a couple of game-capping jumpers with the lead well at hand in his explosion from six years ago, but his points were needed. His points were more impressive. His points came with the aid of a 3-point line that, lest you forget, is from 25-feet away and a whole lot harder to hit from than a spot right in front of the basket with a guy six inches smaller than you attempting to block your dunk. Respect the heck out of Wilt's night, please. Then read this fantastic book on the occasion from Gary Pomerantz while you're at it, assuming you haven't already. But appreciate Kobe's more because, Jalen Rose jokes aside, it was tougher. And it's going to take a pretty special player, with a pretty white-hot touch from everywhere on the court, to come close to 81 points in the NBA's lifetime. Other popular content on the Yahoo! network: |  |
Minnesota's Kevin Love seems well on his way toward a first-team All-NBA selection and all the requisite perks that go with it. Five-year contract extensions, fan selection to the starting slot on the All-Star team and whistles for foul calls for when he's actually fouled in the process of shooting. In the span of a week and a half, though, Love missed out on all three of those things. No dice on the deal, Blake Griffin got the nod for Orlando and the Houston Rockets got away with a few hacks on Kevin on Saturday night. It doesn't excuse the stupid and suspension-worthy act on Love's part that followed:
Not cool. We're surprised, with the sporting nation's eyes turned elsewhere on Super Bowl Sunday, that the NBA didn't come down with a suspension that would have been page 13 fodder in the sports section. The league did announce early Monday afternoon that Love had been suspended two games for the foul. It was also upgraded from an, um, "not foul" to a flagrant two foul. [Related: Lakers coach Mike Brown suspended one game, fined for bumping ref] Luis Scola, the stompee, was not amused. And after the incident he seemed more upset at Love's personal foul that wasn't called (the hack on the hook Scola was attempting) than the stomp:
Love has released a statement following the suspension:
(HT: ClutchFans.net.) Other popular content on the Yahoo! network: |
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Former NBA sharpshooter Casey Jacobsen bounced around quite a bit in his journeyman career before landing a gig in Germany, and a spot on SLAM's online roster of bloggers. And in a recent post detailing some of the quirkier habits of his diverse group of former teammates, he tosses out this nugget about former Memphis Grizzlies teammate and current Minnesota Timberwolves big man Darko Milicic:
Yes, you should have asked a follow-up question. Because I'm just about ready to round up a cast of characters, "Mad Mad Mad Mad World"-style, to try and find Darko's buried millions. The guy has made over $42 million in his NBA career and he's got about $7 million coming to him over the next two years of his partially guaranteed deal with the Wolves. It's time to teach Darko a lesson in smart investing and cat burglary.
(HT: Can't Stop the Bleeding, and Deadspin.) |  |
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Former Lakers legend and champion NBA general manager Jerry West did not mention disgruntled Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard by name in his radio interview when he chided teams for not calling a player's bluff on trade demands, but it's pretty clear who he's talking about. With Carmelo Anthony in New York and Chris Paul in Los Angeles, Dwight's just about the only one left actively seeking a new home via trade. Unless you count Chris Kaman. And nobody should. Here's the quote, via ESPN Los Angeles:
On paper, especially with the NBA's new collective bargaining agreement aiding more than ever in making it tough for teams to want to leave their current homes once free agency hits, West's saber-rattling on behalf of GMs rings true. Let Howard try to find his way with a terrible New Jersey Nets team (that would be gutted even more, should they attempt to clear space to sign Dwight) next year, or some other group with cap space. Let him leave sunny Florida and the lack of income tax for less money elsewhere. Way less, actually. And for a shorter amount of time. The problem this time around is that it almost looks as if West is picking and choosing his spots. And he's in a good place to do so. Yes, the Magic have been run terribly of late, but the sheer lack of assets available in a trade for Howard (with a team like the Nets, or the Golden State Warriors) also make it easier for even a terrible GM (and Orlando's Otis Smith is a bad GM) to decline a deal. On top of that, the penalties for leaving are even greater this time around, and no team on Howard's wish list (save for the woeful Nets) will have the space to sign Howard to even the limited (in comparison to what he'd receive from the Magic) contract next summer. On top of that, the Magic (with an engaged Howard) could actually do some damage in the playoffs despite its recent swoon, and it's not as if Smith is going to make a New Jersey Net the starting center in this month's All-Star game when it's held in Orlando. Howard is still gone, we're pretty sure, come July. But this is an easy call for Smith and West. Assuming the Lakers don't re-enter the mix with Howard's All-Star counterpart in Andrew Bynum on the ready. This other radio interview that West put together? This is tricky:
If you'll recall, the Warriors were rumored to be putting a package together for Howard that would fit expiring parts and a few salvageable players for Howard. And, though he isn't the face of the franchise, West still works for the Warriors as a consultant. Essentially, West is warning the Magic (OK, OK: "an executive on a team where a player says he's going to leave") not to take exactly the sort of package Golden State would be offering. And what New Orleans, with the disgruntled Kaman and Eric Gordon, got back for Chris Paul. That's a refreshing bit of honesty. Especially with a little while to go before the trade deadline and a pell-mell type like Otis Smith potentially on the other end of the phone in a few weeks, desperate to get something for Howard. We were in favor of Smith trying to get something, anything, for Howard last fall. But after needlessly re-signing Jason Richardson and Glen Davis to two too-big deals, the Magic have to drag Howard along as long as they can and either hope for that slim chance that he'll return, or take whatever cap freedom they'll get with a clean break. This team could get a "clean break" by offering Howard up later this month for all expiring deals, but why waste the income and run of a potential play into May just for what you're about to get for Howard anyway plus some potential draft picks in the low first round? In all, a fascinating pair of interviews with West. He could be upset and wanting to undermine his new bosses in Golden State, terrifically candid, or pulling the bluff to overcome Howard's bluff. Either way, more please. |  |
You might remember this image, as culled from Comcast by The Basketball Jones, from this time last year. It features Washington Wizards forward Andray Blatche wearing a jersey that not only doesn't say "Blatche" on the back, but seems to (in its typo) typify Blatche's tendency to go all wrong with his talent. A bit of a Baltche: Now, thanks to Dan Steinberg at DC Sports Bog, we now know that some Wizards fan with a healthy sense of humor has put together a custom jersey featuring the Baltche-y-est move of all time. Look at the Baltche on that guy. |  |
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Sad news out of Florida, where the brother of New York Knicks star forward Amar'e Stoudemire was killed early Monday morning in a car crash. Amar'e has left the Knicks as a result for an undetermined amount of time to be with his family as they grieve. According to TMZ, Hazell was traveling "at a high rate of speed" when his SUV hit a tractor trailer. Stoudemire, who was not wearing a seat belt, died at the scene. The Sun-Sentinel has further details:
Amar'e Stoudemire has overcome a tumultuous childhood and adolescence to not only become a respected NBA star, but one of the more thoughtful, intelligent players that the league is proud to showcase. Our thoughts are with him and his family as they recover from this tragedy. Other popular content on the Yahoo! network: |  |
As second banana for the Los Angeles Lakers, Pau Gasol has alternately been praised and criticized for his performance, with little room for any middle ground. When the Lakers win, it's usually because Gasol helped dominate the paint, whether by scoring or protecting the rim. When they lose, it's commonly believed that he shied away from those responsibilities. That's earned him a reputation as sometimes playing soft, which in turn has made many wonder if Gasol can still be a part of a contending Lakers team. At the same time, Gasol is as talented as all but a few big men in the league, to the point where a lot of the criticism goes overboard. So why are people so harsh on the Spaniard? Well, if you ask Pau himself, it's because they're jealous. From an interview with 790 The Ticket in Miami (via Sports Radio Interviews and PBT):
It's good that Pau feels comfortable with himself; he truly has accomplished a lot in this league and deserves credit for it. It's weird that his two championships haven't shielded him from prolonged criticism, because a ring typically validates a player in a way no one can criticize. So, yes, maybe jealousy is it play. On the other hand, that sort of reasoning gives so little credit to the other party that it comes off as its own sort of irrational attack. Jealously can definitely infect people who haven't accomplished what others have, but there are plenty of other logical reasons at play. For instance, maybe guys like Perkins and Stoudemire simply feel like they need to earn any possible advantage against Gasol and resorted to these tactics to gain it. Mind games rarely connect to established events — they're mostly about creating a different reality where psychology can get the better of a man. The point being that it's not worth debating whether which group is right here. When other players talk smack about Gasol's toughness and he responds, the back-and-forth is about more than observed data. |  |
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We've heard about stud athletes finding a sense of inner peace and calm when they're struggling through a cold or minor injury setback. How sometimes that mental or physical fatigue turns off enough synapses (or something) and deadens the anxiety level enough to where players can focus and, sometimes, dominate. What we've never heard of is an athlete watching as an uncaring motorist wrecks his beloved Italian sports car, and then using that as focus enough to score 29 points, pull in nine rebounds and add five assists in a blowout win over a division rival. That's what Portland Trail Blazer big man LaMarcus Aldridge pulled off on Saturday night. A car changed lanes in front of him without signaling (special circle of hell -- or just hell -- should be devoted to people that think it's OK to ever not signal for anything), and jammed right into his 2009 Ferrari (no make was reported) as he drove to that night's contest against the Denver Nuggets. Finding peace even after watching his ride go boom, Aldridge failed to signal and waltzed all over the Nuggets. Following the contest, he told the Oregonian this:
Twenty-nine points, nine boards and five assists is one heck of a "let it go," especially following a wreck that was (by Aldridge's account) not his fault. Credit, according to the Oregonian, also goes to Blazers director of basketball operations Nick West, who ran in to cover for Aldridge while talking to authorities as the time between the wreck and tip-off shortened. What we now need to figure out is what LMA can buy with all that insurance money, considering he'll have quite a bit of it and that he'll probably want to keep Portland weird. Knowing about his love of speed, as a fan of Ferrari, and the green-thinking Portlandians that cheer him on, we'd probably suggest a Tesla. It looks like a Lotus, goes like stink, and its electric motor won't stink up the Portland air. Sure, you can probably only drive about 40 miles before that motor peters out, but at least you won't raise the ire of jerk Toyota drivers. (HT: TBJzzzz.) |  |
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Washington Wizards center JaVale McGee has a deserved reputation for being a bit of a space cadet. That goes for his behavior both on the court and off it: he has an alter ego named "Pierre" who barely differs from the real person, once spent a good amount of a fourth quarter aiming for the NBA's most unimpressive triple-double, and just a few weeks ago got benched for throwing an alley-oop to himself while on the wrong side of a blowout. That's just the kind of player he is. On Monday night, McGee proved that he can be absentminded even when he shows considerable effort. Early in the third quarter of Washington's 111-108 overtime win over the Toronto Raptors, McGee attempted a running hook shot. When he saw it missed, he sprinted back up the court to get back on defense like a good teammate. Unfortunately, the Wizards still had the ball, so he had to hurry back into the frontcourt to make it a five-on-five game again. Then, like the icing on a stale cake, he asked for an alley-oop that John Wall couldn't throw with any accuracy. You can check out a GIF of the ordeal here, courtesy of @JohnCTownsend. Still, Javale tried, and that's worth something. Now all he has to do is figure out how to be effective. |
It's a battle between two players sort of named after former NBA guards. Isaiah Thomas is of no relation to Isiah Thomas, and while Wesley Matthews is the son of former Laker Wes Matthews, he prefers that you call him "Wesley" so as to make the distinction. Speaking of which: When you're blocking the shot with your elbow, and you're about six inches shorter? You've won that particular round. |
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The starters for the 2012 NBA All-Star Game in Orlando were announced Thursday night (West here, East here), with the usual group of superstars and even more super superstars. Now, we must decide the reserves for both the East and West squads. While most discussions of reserves concern merit based on season-to-date performance, that approach neglects that the All-Star game is an exhibition intended to be a fun advertisement for the NBA as a whole. The goal shouldn't be just to pick deserving players, but to make the game an entertaining look at what's most worth watching in professional basketball. With that in mind, I chose the seven reserves for each team that will make for the most exciting game. Not everything makes sense based on the stats and standings, but that's not the point. Below, find the West selections. For the East, go here. PG Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder: A no-brainer pick, Westbrook excels statistically, plays an exhibition-friendly style, and is the second-best player on a Thunder team likely to make a lot of noise in the postseason. There is no compelling reason to leave him off the team, whether for the sake of entertainment value or merit. Anyone who doesn't include him -- like Shaquille O'Neal, who chose Mo Williams instead on "Inside the NBA" on Thursday -- is thinking about the NBA way too little or far too much. PG Ty Lawson, Denver Nuggets: A deep roster and high altitude for home games has made the Nuggets a great fit for the compressed season. Yet their 15-7 record hasn't just been a function of having more able bodies than the opposition; they also have a rough hierarchy led by Lawson and forward Danilo Gallinari. For the purposes of the All-Star game, though, Lawson is the much better choice, blessed with a great sense of how to run a team and plenty of speed and quickness to start fast breaks. The Nuggets deserve representation in this game, and there's no better way to do it than with one of the league's best young guards. SF Rudy Gay, Memphis Grizzlies: The Grizzlies haven't built on last spring's playoff run quite as everyone had hoped they would, but they're in the mix again this season and figure to stay in the national picture for some time. Gay, who missed the team's surge last year, has been the biggest single reason for their ability to stay afloat this season despite a serious knee injury to power forward Zach Randolph. He also has such a smooth offensive game that he's liable to remain watchable in the All-Star game even when energy levels get low. He might be a better fit for the game's considerable downbeat moments than anyone else on the roster. PF Kevin Love, Minnesota Timberwolves: Quite frankly, the strength, shooting and rebounding that make Love one of the most productive players in the NBA don't translate particularly well to the All-Star game's loose format. Sometimes, though, watchability has to give way to the practicality of responsible marketing. Love is going to average 20 and 10 for a long time and should become a fixture on the year-end All-NBA teams. If he's not in the All-Star game, the league will look neglectful of one of their best players. Everyone wanted Tim Duncan involved in these games at his peak, no matter what they valued on the basketball court, and Love deserves inclusion for the same reasons. PF LaMarcus Aldridge, Portland Trail Blazers: There are few better stories in the league than that of Aldridge, who came into the league with questions about his toughness, looked like the weakest part of the presumed Blazers' star trio of Brandon Roy and Greg Oden, and put the team on his back when those two failed to recover from multiple injuries. He's not the most exciting player in the league on a play-to-play basis, but he's a necessary component of any game that purports to represent the best the NBA has to offer. PF Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas Mavericks: Surprisingly, Dirk has not earned an All-Star spot with his performance this season: He's averaging only 16.2 ppg on 43 percent shooting and seems to be struggling significantly with a more physically demanding schedule. Still, he's Dirk Nowitzki, reigning Finals MVP and the best foreign player of all time. Playing an All-Star game without his involvement makes the NBA look smaller than it really is. Fans want to see him and players want to wear the same uniform as him. He's perhaps the best argument for overlooking season stats when deciding who belongs on this team. C DeAndre Jordan, Los Angeles Clippers: If the ASG is meant to consist of highlights, then Jordan is perhaps the player best-suited to provide them. A preposterously high percentage of his points come on dunks, and his league-leading number of blocks suggests he's capable of making the game more of a defensive affair than it might otherwise be. Jordan doesn't necessarily deserve inclusion just on the merits -- he's productive but very limited -- and yet he stands for everything that makes the idea of the game so exciting. Who doesn't want to see as many dunks and blocks as possible? Toughest snubs: At some point in his career, Ricky Rubio will be the perfect All-Star game player, a point guard who creates many highlights for other players but doesn't need his own shots to stay involved. Steve Nash, of course, has already been close to that player. Unfortunately, I left both off this list not because they wouldn't be great to have around, but because others are simply better. Rubio, for instance, will do plenty to get people talking during All-Star weekend when he plays in the Rookie Challenge on Friday. Nash, while still terrific, has suffered from languishing in Phoenix and can offer less to a growing league than a young player on a good team like Lawson. |  |
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Every season, the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo forces the hometown Spurs out of their environs for one of the longest road trips of the NBA season. Typically, it runs at least two weeks and covers many thousands of miles. In fact, this year's trip, which begins Monday night in Memphis and ends Feb. 23 in Denver, covers nine games and 7,941 miles, long enough to tie the biggest jaunt in franchise history. It's a tough situation for the Spurs, but their veterans have experienced it enough times to have developed coping mechanisms. Point guard Tony Parker, especially, seems to have the right idea. From Jeff McDonald for the San Antonio Express-News (via James Herbert):
Parker is French, so it shouldn't come as much surprise that likes to have a little wine with his dinners. On the other hand, we typically think of NBA players — particularly vets like Parker — sticking to a strict diet with little room for indulgence. The idea of Popovich and his players getting a little tipsy at dinner seems bizarre for a group usually associated with no-frills professionalism. What this statement suggests, apart from the Spurs' mythic capacity for dry humor, is that they've relied on staying loose and comfortable with each other more than you'd think. It's not all serious business for them. Sometimes, they're going to spend a road trip having fun. Maybe that's the only way to stay sane. |  |
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Jerks tend to transcend. It's the jerkiest thing about jerks, is that they can raise the ire of any man or woman, no matter how big or small, and whatever the relative fame and/or fortune of the person the jerk is trying to get at. Like, for instance, the jerks that clearly got to the wife of Los Angeles Clippers forward Ryan Gomes on Thursday. Gomes, admittedly, has been struggling of late. Take away the time he scored 11 points in a Jan. 20 loss to the Timberwolves (missing two-thirds of his shots in the process), he's managed just six points in his last 100 minutes of action spread out over seven games. That's incredible, and just as unfortunate, and some jerkball Clipper fans (who probably couldn't pick Loy Vaught out of a lineup) decided to go after the guy's wife on Twitter. She responded, as you'll see after the jump, with some NSFW retorts on her Twitter account:
Ryan Gomes, to his everlasting credit, was more than tactful in his response: All in all, another lovely exchange just because someone needlessly gave into trolling. Here's my issue. While there shouldn't be any relative "knock it off, jerk" procedures based on how famous or how many followers someone has on Twitter, it isn't as if this is LeBron James, or Shaquille O'Neal's ex-wife, or some ESPN anchor you're railing against. This is the wife of a middling forward on the Clippers, recently thrust into a role in a rotation and struggling. Gomes has just a few more thousand followers on me, playing on a team in Los Angeles, and I'm some girl-named chump in Indiana. It's not as if he's a star that wouldn't possibly see your tweets to him amongst his haze of hundreds of thousands of followers. And then you go after his wife? It's possible that the wife of someone semi-famous might just have a Twitter account to do what most of you do from day to day. That is, to keep up with friends, follow accounts that entertain and/or inform them, or pay attention to breaking events. It's also possible that, like a lot of us, she prefers Twitter to Facebook. It's not like you're really taking it to whatever bot handles Gisele Bundchen's account when you tear at Tom Brady during the big game on Sunday. This is Ryan Gomes' wife. You're dealing with a woman who loves and is proud of her husband, someone apparently online to check her horoscope (OK, you can go off on that), and doesn't need her "@" replies filled up with jerkspeak. Not that anyone, starting with @Shaq on down, does. Danielle Gomes? Stop responding to trolls. Trolls? Stop being jerks. Those Clipper trolls? Shouldn't you be (trolling hard, now) Laker fans instead? (HT: ClutchFans.net) |  |