DALLAS – The grand experiment begins today with the first day of training camp. Call Mark Cuban, Donnie Nelson and Rick Carlisle crazy, but they believe they have found an alternative recipe for championship success. 1. Take a superstar who may be starting to decline but still is near the top of his game. 2. Add a one-time prolific offensive player who has discovered the joy of defense. 3. Toss in a point guard from Indiana, a shooting guard from Memphis, a center from
Moments after the Los Angeles Lakers were ejected from the 2012 playoffs by the Oklahoma City Thunder, Kobe Bryant talked calmly with reporters. No doubt the competitive anger within Bryant was hissing and steaming, but he was suppressing it because he was confident history would repeat itself. “I’m sure we’ll figure it out,” he said of the Lakers’ second consecutive ouster in the second round of the playoffs. “We always have and I’m sure we will again.” Yes, the Lakers always figure it out. What is
Although the current Olympic team won’t cause quite the eruption of the Dream Team in 1992, fans in Barcelona will be quite enthusiastic when Team USA plays exhibition games Sunday against Argentina and Tuesday against Spain. The difference in focus and expectations from 1992, however, are profound. International fans were mesmerized by the Dream Team and couldn’t get enough of their American basketball idols. But never in their wildest dreams did anyone from another country think their team would beat the
For David Stern, the Olympic experience has come full circle. The NBA commissioner has often found himself depicted as an international bully, and nothing could be further from the truth – at least as it applies to past Olympics. The oddity of such a charge is that it occurs only in this country, which leads us to one of the great mysteries of American sports journalism: How is it that so many journalists throughout the world know exactly what happened, yet accomplished
Perhaps the most amazing part of the NBA’s documentary of the Dream Team that aired Wednesday night was that Isiah Thomas has now become a sympathetic figure. Thomas actually released a statement after the show aired and addressed not making the Dream Team in 1992. Now I have to say my first reaction was pretty straightforward: A statement in 2012 about not making a team in 1992? Are we still talking about this? Beyond that, I kind of felt sorry for the guy. The fact
SAN ANTONIO – Even after victories, Gregg Popovich has a low tolerance for questions he considers pointless or silly. The query could be an innocent one, but something simplistic like “Can you talk about your 20-game winning streak” might result in Popovich answering, “No.” So when he was asked Tuesday night how many times had his offenses – which include those of four championship teams – been better than the current one, the possibility of a curt answer such as “How should
SAN ANTONIO — In the jumble of head-scratching, mystifying plays that have turned Gregg Popovich’s white hair a lighter shade of pale, Manu’s Ginobili’s most famous one doesn’t stick out. In his formative years, Ginobili provided Popovich with many teaching moments, but the outcome of the discussions was sometimes more maddening than the flamboyant approach Ginobili found so inviting. “He would make passes that were unnecessary in certain situations and he could do it in a more efficient manner,” Popovich said. “I