With under a minute to go and a win out of reach, a defeated and frustrated Tracy McGrady pulled up with a muscle pull in his thigh, asked to be subbed out, and watched from the bench as his Qingdao Eagles lost 95-84 to the previously winless Jilin Northeast Tigers. [Read more…]
MIAMI – LeBron James. Carmelo Anthony. Miami Heat vs. New York Knicks. The NBA’s next big Thursday Night game is right around the corner. Forget about San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich and his $250,000 act of defiance. That’s sooooo last week. The Knicks are coming to South Beach. And this game has meaning. It will give us another chance to consider how much New York needs Amar’e Stoudemire, and in what role. [Read more…]
It was the one-year anniversary of the eruption of Mount Stern, a moment when he made an unprecedented decision in the immediate aftermath of the settlement that ended the 2011 NBA lockout. Commissioner David Stern squashed a trade that would have sent Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers in a three-team deal with the New Orleans Hornets and the Houston Rockets. [Read more…]
David Stern is disingenuous. How’s that for one of those million-dollar words that the NBA commissioner loves to use when talking to the hoi polloi about basketball? In slapping the San Antonio Spurs with a $250,000 fine for resting their trio of stars in a nationally televised game, Stern said in his customary, quite lawyerly fashion, “The result here is dictated by the totality of the facts in this case.” [Read more…]
Ronnie Brewer hops up from where he’s posted at the scorer’s table about an hour before tip-off against the Phoenix Suns. “I’ll be back,” said Brewer. “Gotta get some shots up.” The shooting guard runs across the court and finds New York’s shooting guru, Dave Hopla, for a pre-game workout. [Read more…]
NEW YORK — “It’s gonna be a minute, guys, my hand is messed up.” That’s what Raymond Felton said as he glanced over toward me after the Knicks’ 106-99 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Sunday. Those weren’t the first words anyone expected to hear from Felton, considered he turned in arguably his best game of the season. [Read more…]
Although I believe there are a number of practices conducted by the NBA where it would be appropriate for David Stern to apologize, depriving Miami Heat fans of the thrill of seeing Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker is not one of them. You want to apologize for unacceptable behavior? Let’s start with that Miami public address announcer – the one who greets every basket like Mel Gibson greets torture in Braveheart. [Read more…]
MIAMI – Those weren’t the San Antonio Spurs that visited AmericanAirlines Arena and lost to the Miami Heat, 105-100, on Thursday. But that doesn’t give you reason to hate. We all know those weren’t the real Spurs, not the team that’s won four titles with its Big Three of forward Tim Duncan and guards Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker. They were all in San Antonio, chillin’, relaxin’. [Read more…]