NEW YORK — The Miami Heat’s LeBron James and the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Kevin Durant have been named the Kia NBA Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Month for games played in February. James captured his second consecutive Player of the Month award, leading Miami to an 11-2 record in February. James led the conference in scoring (24.6 ppg) and posted double-figure point totals in all 13 of Miami’s games. He finished in the top 10 in the East in assists
Adrian Wojnarowski: Atlanta had talks with Minnesota during draft on Josh Smith for No. 2 pick, but Hawks haven’t been aggressive in trying to trade Smith. Twitter Rajon Rondo might be leaving, too, with the Lakers and Utah seen as possible destinations. New York Daily News Adrian Wojnarowski: Atlanta did express an interest to Boston about Ray Allen or Kevin Garnett, but purely exploratory conversations, sources said. Twitter Gasol did acknowledge to ESPN.com that he has received a level of clarification about his status from Lakers general manager Mitch
The Rockets have struggled offensively out of the gates after the All-Star break. Facing the Nuggets at home may just be the cure they needed, because Denver is the worst defensive road team in the league. The Houston Rockets (21-15) look to regain their offensive form against the Denver Nuggets (19-17) as both teams fight for playoff positioning in the Western Conference in Friday’s game of the night. The odds favor Houston (the line is 3.5) as they sit 15-4 at home this
Dwight Howard has asked the Orlando Magic for a lot, hasn’t he? Over the past couple of years, Howard has asked management to try to acquire a handful of players, including Monta Ellis and Deron Williams. During the preseason, he asked for a trade. Then he asked that any trade be limited to a handful of teams – the New Jersey Nets, Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks — that his agent was given permission to talk to. Now, Howard apparently again is
// csprtContainer(); // ]]> Kevin Durant isn’t exactly taking over the league, but he certainly would be if he were playing in a larger market. For now, we’ll have to appreciate the performances like the one he put on Thursday night at Orlando in the same arena where he was named the MVP of the All-Star game last Sunday. He enters the weekend trailing Kobe Bryant (28.5 ppg) by a half-point for the league lead in scoring, but Durant is hitting at
NEW YORK – Since the Knicks’ 120-103 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night, many in the pro basketball world have been talking about the emergence of the supporting cast. The Knicks are 10-3 in their last 13 games and are 18-18 overall. What everyone has said—and rightfully so—is that the play of Jeremy Lin and the second unit has propelled the club through what should have been a very rough stretch. What nobody has said—until now and until me—is that
The folks from Li Ning took care of me over the All-Star weekend, inviting me to their midnight-to-sunrise party (I was too old and too jet-lagged to attend) and their annual media basketball game, where I avoided a trillion in the box score by grabbing two rebounds and shooting 0-for-1 in limited minutes. Li Ning is now moving into the U.S. retail market by selling their shoes online rather than in sporting goods stores, and they have offered up a pair
Even if you only tangentially follow the NBA, you probably know that today is the 50th anniversary of Wilt Chamberlain scoring 100 points in a game. On March 2, 1962, playing for the Philadelphia Warriors, Chamberlain scored 100 points in a 169-147 victory over the New York Knicks before slightly more than 4,000 fans in Hershey, Pa. Many consider it the greatest single-event achievement in sports history. Others diminish its impact, saying Chamberlain was a behemoth who should have been as dominant