Is the Black Mamba a close friend of Mark Zuckerberg or something? Bryant refuses to join Twitter, but never fails to share an important message with his fans on Facebook, which doesn’t help any of us trying to set him up with a “Tweet of the Night.” We will go ahead and pretend his messages are tweets, though, for the sake of our posts. All the key players on the Lakers already have stated their endorsement of the coaching change that
The Los Angeles Lakers fans and everyone else along the way were absolutely shocked very early on Monday morning, when Mike Bresnahan of Los Angeles Times reported that Mike D’Antoni – not Phil Jackson – would become the next head coach of Kobe Bryant and company. So what exactly happened? It was reported over the weekend that the Zen master and the Lakers met to discuss the coach’s possible return to the team after the firing of Mike Brown. The fact that
Phil Jackson released a statement Monday that said he was awakened at midnight Sunday by a phone call from Los Angeles Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak and told that Mike D’Antoni had been hired as coach. Jackson said he met with Kupchak and Lakers executive Jim Buss for 90 minutes on Saturday, during which no contract issues were discussed. His statement implies that his next contact with the team was Kupchak’s call. From Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times: “Saturday morning,
After a weekend replete with pandemonium following former Los Angeles Lakers head coach Mike Brown’s ousting, complete with two days of Phil Jackson rumors, crowd chants and speculation, we have a resolution. The LA Lakers have hired Mike D’Antoni, the mastermind of the 7-Seconds or Less offense. All-Star power forward Pau Gasol welcomed D’Antoni to the team on Twitter. [Read more…]
By now, you have to have heard: Everyone involved with the Lakers seems to want Phil Jackson and the Triangle offense back. Here at Sheridan Hoops, we’ve got wall-to-wall coverage of this saga: the original piece on Brown’s firing, and the reaction from NBA players, plus one one podcast asking if this is more about Jackson or Jim Buss, and another podcast with some strong statements from Jackson’s friend, Roland Lazenby, that he fully expects the quest for ring No. 12 to
There was a scary knee-on-knee collision between LeBron James and Josh Smith just before halftime, but both were able to return. LBJ was tantalizingly close to a triple-double (21 PTS, 11 REB, 9 AST) as the Heat won a close one in Atlanta. Dwyane Wade (illness) didn’t play, but Chris Bosh picked up the slack, leading all scorers with 24, and Ray Allen (17) had another solid night. Jeff Teague was impressive in defeat with 20 points and 11 assists,
On Friday, after a poor 1-4 start to the 2012-13 season, the Los Angeles Lakers decided to fire head coach Mike Brown. Many NBA players and pundits from the east coast to the west are weighing in on the end of Brown’s tenure in LA, but the opinion that matters most is that of five-time NBA Champion shooting guard Kobe Bryant. Kobe doesn’t express his opinions on Twitter, but took time to post his reaction on Facebook. He had some nice things to
It’s getting hard to keep up with all the injuries and illnesses. Every NBA team has to deal with them, but let’s consider just one, the Cleveland Cavaliers. Their star Kyrie Irving played (quite well) through a bout of food poisoning on Wednesday. Anderson Varejao has a sore knee, though we expect both in the lineup this evening. Rookie Dion Waiters has a deep thigh bruise, while fellow freshman Tyler Zeller, who has a fractured face, is being fitted for