The Portland Trail Blazers visit Staples Center on Monday to play the Los Angeles Lakers, a matchup of teams whose personnel issues became quite public over the weekend. The Lakers (18-13) are coming off Sunday’s loss at Phoenix in which they were torn to shreds by the brilliance of point guard Steve Nash, while Derek Fisher and Steve Blake combined for two points in 47 minutes. The most recent trade talk involves Pau Gasol, and superstar Kobe Bryant would like to see
Gibson: Freeland Could Join Blazers; Andy Rautins Update
BARCELONA — Joel Freeland could be a Portland Trailblazer next year after all. Reports surfaced last week that the 25-year-old British power forward and Trail Blazers draftee (30th overall in 2006) had signed an extension with Unicaja Malaga of Spain, lending serious doubt to his NBA future. After a 75-65 loss to Banca Civica Sevilla in the Copa del Rey, Joel Freeland said those reports were untrue. “We’ve always been talking since day one but there’s no agreement at this point,” said Freeland. When
Notes from around the NBA
According to a source, the NBA is hoping to add Lin to its All-Star lineup by having him participate in the Haier Shooting Stars competition during All-Star Saturday night. The competition features one current NBA player, one current WNBA player and one TNT on-air talent and legend on each team. Lin would be the obvious choice, especially since he has become an overnight sensation. He is 5-0 as a starter and the Knicks have won six straight games since Lin became
Tonight’s best game: Oklahoma City at Portland
The Oklahoma City Thunder may have revenge on their minds. On Jan. 3, the Thunder took their only home loss of the season, a 103-93 setback to the Portland Trail Blazers. On Monday night, the Thunder visit the Trail Blazers in the NBA’s best game. There are just four teams with one home loss: Chicago (9-1), Oklahoma City (9-1), Portland (11-1) and San Antonio (13-1), which handled Oklahoma City in a 107-96 victory Saturday night. That was the opener of a five-game road
Tonight’s best game: Memphis at Portland
The Memphis Grizzlies have found their rhythm at the right time and take a seven-game winning streak into Portland to face the Trail Blazers in Tuesday’s best NBA game. Saddled with expectations after a strong playoff run a year ago, the Grizzlies stumbled to a 2-3 start, then lost low-post monster Zach Randolph for eight weeks to a torn MCL. But Memphis has not panicked and now leads the Southwest Division with a 10-6 mark. The Grizzlies are coming off a 91-90
Exclusive: LaMarcus Aldridge likely addition to Team USA
The common belief is that USA Basketball will announce a preliminary 18-man roster for the 2012 Olympics later this month. But that belief is flawed. It is more likely the number will be 19, and it will include LaMarcus Aldridge. SheridanHoops.com learned Tuesday that Aldridge is on the verge of being added to the national team roster that will be submitted to FIBA later in January. The Portland Trail Blazers forward has gained the attention of Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski with his
Sheridan: D’Antoni on the hot seat in New York
If Mike D’Antoni’s New York Knicks do not defeat the winless Washington Wizards tonight … Well, as Moke Hamilton pointed out in his Friday column about the Knicks, there is no telling what Jim Dolan might do. But there certainly is a growing vulture culture surrounding the fourth-best team in the Eastern Conference’s worst division following the Knicks’ brutal home loses to the Raptors and Bobcats, and D’Antoni does not enjoy the comfort level he once had when Donnie Walsh was the
Kings pull off stunning comeback; Portland best in West
And the best team in the Western Conference is … Ah, you don’t want to read about the Portland Trail Blazers, do you? You’d rather fawn over the Miami Heat for their 3 1/2-hour, triple-overtime victory in Atlanta, or dump on the Dallas Mavericks and those who said two weeks ago that they were the best team in the NBA. Perhaps you’d prefer to postulate over where Dwight Howard will end up (just a thought, but if I’m Rich DeVos, and I’m 85