One of the minor effects of Magic Johnson’s revelation that he was HIV positive was that a new term was added to sports writing and we all had to learn how to spell it. Human Immunodeficiency Virus. Beginning with Johnson’s announcement that he was retiring on November 7, 1991, I wrote that term many more times than I would have preferred. HIV wasn’t supposed to be part of the sports section. It belonged somewhere else. Ultimately, however, the intrusion of HIV into basketball
The Bulls and the Knicks have something in common: They’ve both won a lot of games when the stars of their teams were out with injuries. The difference? Chicago kept winning when Derrick Rose came back while New York unraveled when Carmelo Anthony returned. The New York Knicks (18-23) look to find answers to snap a five-game losing streak against the league-best Chicago Bulls (34-9) in Monday night’s best game. The teams met back on February 2 — two games before the beginning
Of all the players in the NCAA tournament, heck, every school in the entire country, no one has asked me to do more homework and send in reports than on Iona’s Scott Machado. I’m not going to get into whether Iona should have been selected in the tournament. That’s not my world. I’ve seen this team dismantle opponents at times with a style that can be very fun to watch. It’s an up and down pace that centers around the decision making of Machado, who led the
BARCELONA — Between the NBA and the Euroleague lies an ocean. Over here, we may have some of the best NBA trade deadline assets that you might hear about by Thursday afternoon. More and more, teams are pushing their shopping carts across the Atlantic in hopes of stumbling upon a Gary Neal or Gustavo Ayon. Other teams did their legwork early, drafting and stowing Europeans whom they hoped would mature into NBA caliber players. Some of them have. Here are
In a nationally-televised game, sophomore Evan Turner scored 24 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to help the 76ers beat New York. Lou Williams poured in 28 in as many minutes. Can a bench player be a keeper in a 12-team league? Carmelo Anthony led the Knicks with 22 and Tyson Chandler returned, but Amare Stoudemire was quiet and Jeremy Lin off-target. The Garden crowd did not sound happy. Elsewhere MIL @ TOR: An ankle injury to Jose Calderon made Jerryd Bayless (16 & 6) the starting
Unless you caught the second-game of the day-night doubleheader at the Staples Center, you might not be aware that a second masked man is playing there, a masked man named Chris Paul whose Los Angeles Clippers just dropped into second place in the Pacific Division. Yes, Paul, Blake Griffin and Lob City are no longer perched atop Tinseltown. First place in the division is now back in the hands of Kobe Bryant, the guy who called the game-clinching play in the huddle Sunday
The Knicks have now lost five straight, falling to 18-23. Metta World Peace is the Lakers worst shooter, shooting a paltry 35% on the season. Kyle Lowry has been hospitalized with abdominal distress and fever since last week. According to the Associated Press, Kyrie Irving was saddened after hearing of Ricky Rubio’s injury, saying “It’s tragic. He was my nemesis — me vs. him at times. I’m used to seeing his stats every single night, seeing how many points and assists he had.” Dwight Howard
Orlando Magic Chief Executive Officer Alex Martins indicated Sunday that the team has not decided whether it will trade Dwight Howard before the NBA trade deadline on Thursday afternoon.The Magic face one of the most momentous personnel decisions in franchise history: Do they trade the best center in the sport before the deadline to ensure they receive assets in return or do they hold onto Howard and accept the risk that he could sign a free-agent contract with another team