The man only had one lockout-shortened season on the Lakers bench and we’re merely five games into 2012-13, so why is everyone freaking out? Not only did he install a new offense during camp; he had to do it with an offseason’s worth of fresh bodies. So after a loss in their fifth game, a single question divided most of the Basketball God Fearing world: should CSKA Moscow fire Ettore Messina? Not the former Laker coach you were expecting? I’m sure this
ATLANTA — Sometimes you can be close and still smoke your cigar. Take LeBron James’ Friday night against the Hawks, for example. Tonight marked the twentieth time in James’ career that he finished either an assist or a rebound shy of a triple-double. But with 13.7 second left, nine assists to his credit and his Miami Heat up 91-89, LeBron rose up for a jumper that hit nothing but white nylon on its way down. Another triple-double would have to wait. That’s
ATLANTA — James Harden is warming up to this whole ‘foundational player’ thing. The Rockets’ new $80 million man spoiled Atlanta’s home opener by dropping a career-high 45 points on the Hawks in Houston’s 109-102 win on Friday night. Not a bad encore to his 37-point Rocket debut on Halloween. Working those mammoth stat lines into wins should be even more encouraging to Kevin McHale, Daryl Morey and everyone else (outside of Oklahoma City) who had a hand in making Harden so
Olympiacos had gone 210 days without losing a Euroleague game. After picking up their first loss of the season in week two, the Reds’ next unbeaten streak lasted just six days. And the defending champions haven’t just been losing; they’ve been getting waxed. This week, it was Zalgiris Kaunas doing the waxing, 79-61. In the team’s first loss it was Jordan Farmar—who we’ll get to in a minute—and Anadolu Efes putting the hurt on Olympiacos 98-72. During that loss to Efes, the Reds
Two weeks deep, the Euroleague is sliced into thirds: there are the eight teams that haven’t lost a game, the eight teams that haven’t won a game, and the eight teams that have split the pair. The two teams atop last week’s heap—Real Madrid and Olympiacos—couldn’t handle the pressure that came with the ranking and stumbled on the road. Next in line at No. 3 was Fenerbahce Ulker, who gracefully eluded the Sheridan Hoops curse and beat Union Olimpija on the road. But
Romain Sato has always been known as a lockdown defender. That phrase took on a much grimmer meaning when the Fenerbahce Ulker swingman spent Thursday night in a Slovenian prison. It all started when Sato, the 31-year-old shooting guard out of the Central African Republic, was detained at the Slovenian border as his Turkish team was flying in for their Friday Euroleague contest against Union Olimpija. Slovenian police told Reuters that the biographical page on Sato’s passport was fake, and that those claims were
Last season in Europe, Besiktas was making headlines for their courtship, acquisition and eventual enshrinement of Deron Williams, Zalgiris was up to their ears in Ty Lawson complaints, Alba Berlin was kicking around Nowitzki talk and Union Olimpija was riding Danny Green to an ice cold start of a season that would finish even colder with a 1-9 record. Subtract all the lockout hoopla, add a year and what do you have? Four of the Euroleague’s unlikeliest group leaders. Thanks to 1-0
Rajon Rondo thinks the 2013 Boston Celtics can be better than the 2008 championship version. And last week, Fenerbahce Ulker beat the 2013 Boston Celtics by six. “They have a really good basketball team,” Paul Pierce said after the game had wrapped up in Istanbul, Turkey. “My hat’s off to them. They really played a good game.” Hold onto your hat, Paul. At least until mid-May. While any win–certainly any win against a storied club like the Boston Celtics—is better than any loss,