// Did you get what you wanted? If you are a long-suffering Clippers or Knicks fan, you sure did. If you are a Mavericks fan, you sorta did (a banner), sorta didn’t (a shellacking). If you are a member of the tribes known as Lakers Nation and Celtics Nation, no you did not! Today dawned with a post-Christmas hangover in a lot of places where folks had been accustomed to having their wishes fulfilled and their dreams come true. The Lakers were up six
Wednesday night’s NBA highlights
By now you’ve probably heard that Kobe Bryant sat out last night’s game against the hallway rivals, the Clippers, because of a torn ligament in his right wrist. And surely y’all remember that cheap shot that Andrew Bynum delivered to J.J. Berea in last year’s playoff sweep, which resulted in a five-game suspension that Bynum will begin serving on Christmas Day. So the big guy is out until the new year, the Mamba is out until nobody knows when, and as Mark
Heisler Column: Taking LA’s other team seriously—the Lakers, we mean
LOS ANGELES — Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses… I know, it’s the inscription on the Statue of Liberty. They’re also thinking of inscribing it on the statue of Blake Griffin and Chris Paul going up outside Staples Center to welcome Laker fans fleeing the oppression of paying $2,700 to sit courtside for geriatric basketball. Wait a moment, am I sleeping? It was all just a dream! It looked so real! They had an exhibition game and the Clips, with five
Chris Paul to Lakers or Clippers? 50-50
The news of the afternoon was that the Magic have ceased all Dwight Howard trade talks. We shall see how long that lasts. As I said on the radio in Orlando this morning, the winds are constantly changing on that particular trade front. Earlier today, a four-team trade seemed possible. I also went on the radio this afternoon on Fox Sports Radio WIST-Am in New Orleans just as it was being announced that Chris Paul was being excused from media day, and host
Heisler Column: David Stern as Charlton Heston
OK, what was that all about? With the conductor striking up the band but no parade in sight, last week in the NBA was like “Planet of the Apes,” with the one of the lost astronauts escaping from the ruling species and gaining his freedom, only to find he’s on post-nuclear-holocaust Earth! Not that David Stern vetoing the trade sending Chris Paul to the Lakers was as dramatic as Charlton Heston ranting, “You maniacs. You blew it all up. Damn you all
Billups claimed by Clippers, plus other NBA news
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
Hubbard column: Stern gives players a reason to stop smiling
When he visits NBA arenas during the season, David Stern often makes a grand entry into each team’s locker room before the game to mingle with the fellows, perhaps giving them a brief but very inspiring pep talk and showing them the king has his common-man side. Usually, the commissioner is welcomed with smiles and handshakes and appreciation. When you have a leader who helped the average salary balloon north of $5 million, it’s only proper to be respectful. Plus it’s
Clippers are the CP3 flavor of the day
So it looks like Chris Paul night be headed to Los Angeles, Donald Sterling and David Stern permitting. The Los Angeles Clippers emerged early today as the leading contender to acquire CP3 in a trade, and if the reports out there are accurate, they are trying to get him without surrendering either of their two best players, Blake Griffin and Eric Gordon. It would be a deal that by anyone’s measure would be inferior to what the Hornets would have gotten from