Amarillo Slim at the 1974 World Series of Poker
Dwight Howard has spoken, and it should be noted how polite he was to the paparazzo from TMZ.com who caught up with him in Beverly Hills. To surmise, Howard says he was sorry to see Stan Van Gundy and Otis Smith lose their jobs, he warned that ESPN has an interview in the can is now outdated — ” A lot of stuff has changed since then” — and made a prediction on who will win the NBA championship. He likes the
// Time to pass the torch—hey anyone know where we put it? Ask Rudy Garciduenas, our equipment guy. Oh, right. We laid him off before the lockout, with most of the support staff, all the way up to assistant GM Ronnie Lester. I remember now! We haven’t had our torch since Dallas blew us out of the water a year ago. Forget about passing it to the Thunderkinder. We already gave it to the Mavs, who were even older than we were. You know
In the biggest game of the season for the Boston Celtics, the Big Four took a back seat to the Other One. All of the attention in Boston rightfully goes to Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo. They are the only four players remaining from the team’s last championship in 2008 and comprise perhaps the best quartet in the NBA. They are the reason the Celtics are still in the title hunt when most felt their window of
The Eastern Conference semifinals are interesting. The Western Conference semfinals are not — unless the Lakers make them so tonight. One night after the Clippers were swept out of the second round by the San Antonio Spurs, the Lakers are one game away from losing their series against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Lakers will look to extend their season in Game 5 while the Boston Celtics hope to regain control against the Philadelphia 76ers in the two games slated for Monday
// The Los Angeles Lakers are 7 1/2 point underdogs tonight for Game 5 at Oklahoma City, which means Vegas respects them about as much as they respected the Clippers in the past week — not much. Me? I do not dispense gambling advice, and for all I know this will be an epic crash-and-burn night — especially if Pau Gasol goes soft, Kobe Bryant goes cold or Metta World Peace throws the ball to Steve Blake on the final play. But
If you are a fan of either of the Los Angeles teams, you might have had some trouble sleeping through Saturday night. If you predicted that the Clippers (me) or the Lakers (Sheridan) would move past the second round, you probably wish to have those predictions back, as both teams are now on the verge of being eliminated from of the Western Conference semifinals. Before discussing how each team blew their respective chances, it’s time to acknowledge and pay respects to one cold-blooded lanky
Did the Boston Celtics take the bait? After the Celtics easily handled the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 3, reclaiming home-court advantage and the upper hand in their series with a convincing win, Sixers coach Doug Collins tried to plant a seed of overconfidence in Gang Green. “I think they are looking at that other series a little bit,” Collins said. “I think they see Chris Bosh being out (for Miami). They see a tremendous opportunity for themselves.” Whether Boston did or didn’t, it