Team USA had nothing to play for, and it showed. The Americans already had clinched Group C at the FIBA World Cup by winning their first four games. While other countries jockeyed to get into the knockout stage – or avoid certain opponents – Team USA was on cruise control in Friday’s game vs. war-torn Ukraine. The United States was playing for the fifth time in six nights and had a start time four hours earlier than Thursday. The combination of apathy
On Wednesday, we took a look at the biggest winners of the NBA offseason, a baker’s dozen of players, teams, coaches and even an executive who had a spectacular summer. Today, we look at the NBA offseason’s biggest losers, a collection of an unlucky 13 players, teams, coaches and even an owner. Yeah, take a wild guess at that last one. We also felt the need to include one team’s fan base, which truly deserves better than it has gotten over the
Free agency has died down, the FIBA World Cup is in full swing and training camps open in less than a month, which makes it as good a time as any to look back at the NBA offseason and determine who were the biggest winners and losers. We didn’t limit ourselves to a round number. The list includes teams, coaches, players and even an executive. It is in alphabetical order and doesn’t have some secret analytic formula that determines the biggest
You probably know by now that Kevin Durant isn’t playing for Team USA. They could have used him Sunday, when his absence exposed virtually all of the warts of this American squad. On the same day ESPN reported that Nike will match Under Armour’s offer of nearly $300 million to Durant, Team USA showed how much it really missed its true alpha dog in an unconvincing 98-77 win over Turkey, which gave every medal contender a blueprint for beating the Americans. In a
The 2014 Basketball World Cup is finally here. And you need to take it seriously, because everyone else does. Thanks to NBC and the other fall-in-line media outlets, most Americans believe the Olympics is the premier international basketball event. Globally, nothing could be further from the truth. With 24 teams and no automatic bid for the host, the World Cup is twice the size of the Olympics. It doesn’t share the spotlight with track or swimming. And most of the players will
Dick Bavetta’s first game as an NBA referee was a Celtics-Knicks game at Madison Square Garden was Dec. 2, 1975. The first game I covered as a writer with Dick Bavetta as an NBA referee also was a Celtics-Knicks game, almost 14 years later. The once-mighty Celtics were fighting to make the playoffs. Larry Bird had missed most of the season with a back injury. His replacement was Kevin Gamble, a second-year player already on his second team. Early on, there was
Kevin Durant and the small-market Oklahoma City Thunder are the darlings of ABC, according to the NBA national TV schedule. Durant and the Thunder will appear on ABC six times this season, more than any other team. The games are against six different opponents, with three at home and three on the road. Among the NBA’s multiple TV partners, ABC is the only network available in every American home with a TV. It is the home of the NBA Finals but not the
The record $2 billion sale of the Los Angeles Clippers was completed Tuesday, with new owner Steve Ballmer saying he will be “hardcore.” The NBA announced the completion of the sale following disgraced former owner Donald Sterling’s failed attempt in a California court to block the the authority of his estranged wife Shelly Sterling to sell the team on behalf of the Sterling Family Trust. Sterling still has legal recourse, and given his history will probably use it. However, he cannot reclaim the