The slumping Celtics have a revenge game at Indiana. The Knicks are visiting the Thunder in what could be a shootout. And Deron Williams is returning to Salt Lake City. All good games Saturday night in the NBA. And none nowhere near as good as the heavily hyped first meeting between the Lakers and Clippers. The locals call this the “Hallway Series” as both teams reside down the corridor from each other in the Staples Center. But this is not a rivalry,
ESPN has a solid opener to its doubleheader as the Boston Celtics host the Dallas Mavericks. But the nightcap should be an alley-oop fest and Wednesday’s best game as the Miami Heat, fresh off their loss to Golden State Warriors in which LeBron James disappeared in the fourth quarter (sound familiar?) visit the Los Angeles Clippers. The game features no less than six players from Team USA’s preliminary roster as LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Blake Griffin, Chris Paul and
A new day, a new year. That’s what the Clippers hope as they host undefeated Portland tonight at 9:30 to kick off 2012. The honeymoon is over for the Clippers as they look to right the ship after a 1-2 start to a season filled with extremely high expectations. The buzz created by trading for one of the league’s premier point guards, Chris Paul, quieted Friday when Chicago came into the Staples Center and unleashed Derrick Rose. The Bulls’ own star
The compressed offseason was supposed to be about hookups. On Friday, it was all about breakups. Hours after being chastised by Chauncey Billups, the New York Knicks began targeting his replacement at point guard. Billups met the media in Los Angeles on Friday, less than a week after he was surprisingly released by the Knicks via the amnesty clause. The five-time All-Star is still not over it. From Pedro Moura of ESPNLosAngeles.com: “Billups admitted he “contemplated” retiring after being claimed by the
With their trade talks for Chris Paul in the dead/alive/dead/alive/possibly-pending stage, the Los Angeles Clippers claimed guard Chauncey Billups off waivers today, then matched the Golden State Warriors’ $43.2 million offer sheet for DeAndre Jordan. And what about that threat from Billups to retire if something like this happened? Let’s just say he has $14.2 million reasons to show up in camp — along with a threat from the league office. From David Aldridge of NBA.com: “The NBA sent an e-mail to teams
CHICAGO — One of the most talked about players at Bulls’ Media Day on Sunday wasn’t even on the roster – or at least not yet. Richard Hamilton commanded quite an amount of attention at the Berto Center, as the former All-Star guard awaits a buyout to be finalized with the Detroit Pistons. Once he clears waivers, presumably in the next 48 hours, Hamilton will be free to sign with any team, and multiple reports having him Chicago-bound. Based on the
By Moke Hamilton NEW YORK — Why judge a trade before it’s even officially announced? Oh, that’s right. Silly me. The mandate of the “New York minute” requires that your mind be made up and declarations of “win” or “lose” be made almost instantaneously. Ahem. Pardon my refusal. Tyson Chandler is expected to be announced as the newest member of the New York Knicks, perhaps as early as today. Late Friday night, Marc Berman of the New York Post reported that the Knicks agreed
There is a question mark in that headline because there needs to be one. Things are going to change by the hour today, and who knows what kind of twists and turns the Chris Paul trade fiasco is going to take before the league officially re-opens for business at 2 p.m. EST. In case you missed it, 86 percent of the players who cast ball0ts voted to approve the new labor agreement before commissioner David Stern 86’d the three-team trade that would have