It’s a long, hard fall from the top of the heap, and sticking the landing is nearly impossible when your ankle’s being held together by trainers tape. Bo McCalebb was noticeably slowed by a wobbly ankle against Cantu, who dominated former number one in these very rankings, Fenerbahe Ulker, by a score of 82-58. That was good enough to give Cantu the big bump and yank the rug out from under the Turks. For now, at least. [Read more…]
Is the Black Mamba a close friend of Mark Zuckerberg or something? Bryant refuses to join Twitter, but never fails to share an important message with his fans on Facebook, which doesn’t help any of us trying to set him up with a “Tweet of the Night.” We will go ahead and pretend his messages are tweets, though, for the sake of our posts. All the key players on the Lakers already have stated their endorsement of the coaching change that
The Los Angeles Lakers fans and everyone else along the way were absolutely shocked very early on Monday morning, when Mike Bresnahan of Los Angeles Times reported that Mike D’Antoni – not Phil Jackson – would become the next head coach of Kobe Bryant and company. So what exactly happened? It was reported over the weekend that the Zen master and the Lakers met to discuss the coach’s possible return to the team after the firing of Mike Brown. The fact that
Phil Jackson released a statement Monday that said he was awakened at midnight Sunday by a phone call from Los Angeles Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak and told that Mike D’Antoni had been hired as coach. Jackson said he met with Kupchak and Lakers executive Jim Buss for 90 minutes on Saturday, during which no contract issues were discussed. His statement implies that his next contact with the team was Kupchak’s call. From Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times: “Saturday morning,
Remember when we told you this might be more about Jim Buss than Phil Jackson? Turns out that may be a big reason why Mike D’Antoni signed a four-year contract with the Los Angeles Lakers late last night, and why Phil Jackson will remain unemployed/semi-retired. The stunning news broke while most of California and the rest of America was asleep. [Read more…]
After a weekend replete with pandemonium following former Los Angeles Lakers head coach Mike Brown’s ousting, complete with two days of Phil Jackson rumors, crowd chants and speculation, we have a resolution. The LA Lakers have hired Mike D’Antoni, the mastermind of the 7-Seconds or Less offense. All-Star power forward Pau Gasol welcomed D’Antoni to the team on Twitter. [Read more…]
Forwards LeBron James of the Miami Heat and Kenneth Faried of the Denver Nuggets were named NBA Players of the Week on Monday. It was the all-time record 38th Player of the Week award for James, who won for the Eastern Conference. He led the Heat to a 3-1 mark, posting double-doubles in points and rebounds in all four games. He averaged 21.0 points, 11.0 boards and 6.0 assists while shooting 57 percent from the field. It was the first Player of
While all of the focus has been on the soap opera swirl around the Los Angeles Lakers, the NBA’s other similarly storied franchise has its own set of issues. The Boston Celtics also raised expectations by adding some key pieces in the offseason, then promptly stumbled out of the gate. But there were no death stares, insurrections, coach beheadings or panic moves. But there are some problems in Beantown. Let’s allow team leader Kevin Garnett to explain. “You can’t speed chemistry up,” Garnett said.