* Bill Plaschke writes that the Lakers are seriously missing Andrew Bynum already. “Watching the Lakers play without Bynum was like sitting in a room after the removal of a Christmas tree. The place is no different than it was a couple of months ago. But it felt completely empty.”
* During the TNT pre-game show, Charles Barkley told Kenny and Ernie that if the Suns were to succeed, they would need Amare Stoudemire to be the team’s leader and enforcer. And it was Amare who set the stage for their showdown with the Lakers: “To me, this is the biggest game of the year so far,” said Stoudemire. “It’s big for them, it’s big for us. . . . It’s time to answer some questions.” The Suns won 106-98 and he backed it up too; during one five-minute stretch, he flushed three monster dunks and finished with 16 points, 7 boards and 3 blocks.
* Kobe didn’t quite agree about the hype: “I don’t think it’s that big of a deal,” Bryant said. “I think for us it was just one of those games where we came off a nice stint and the energy was a little low.”
* Amare also revised his earlier comments about Kobe’s 48-point, 44-shot performance in Monday’s win over Seattle. After Wednesday’s practice he said: “That’s unbelievable, taking 44 shots. Are you serious? If I ever took 44 shots, you can put me down for 70 (points).” Yesterday, he changed the estimate. “Make that 80 points,” he said with a smile. “If I’m shooting that much, I’m on, so I’m going to hit 30 (field goals). So with the free throws, I could be good for 80.”
* There is no truth to reports that Suns GM Steve Kerr and Mike D’Antoni were feuding over personnel and basketball-philosophy decisions, writes Paul Coro. “I read a thing about (Kerr wanting) less 3s and more defense,” said D’Antoni. “You’re talking about a guy who was all 3s and no defense. I’ve never heard him utter those words. There’s no validity to it.”
* The Bulls’ 07 second-round draft pick and current D-League rookie JamesOn Curry was arrested yesterday for urinating in public.
* Linas Kleiza dropped 41 points in a win for the Nuggets against George Karl’s favorite competition. “I told the team there’s no team I enjoy coaching against more than Utah,” said Karl. Kleiza had his coach’s back as the incredible and improbable hero. He hit for 27 points in the first half alone, doing a ton of damage leaking out on the fast break with Marcus Camby controlling the glass. “By the time the shot goes up, he’s gone,” said Deron Williams.
* After beating the Spurs last night 90-88, Mike Brown imagined what was going through Gregg Popovich’s head. “I’m thinking Pop’s unhappy, because he really doesn’t like to lose. But I think he’s happy, too.” Why? “Because he has everything right where he wants it.” Geez, that casts Pop in a Mr. Burns-esque diabolic light, doesn’t it?
* LeBron simply couldn’t be guarded down the stretch, even by Bruce Bowen. He orchestrated the Cavs win with drive-and-dishes when he didn’t put the ball in the basket himself. “They let pound-for-pound teams go at it tonight and that was fun to be a part of,'’ James said. ‘’It’s a big win for us.'’
* LeBron’s Air Zoom V will also come out in a special pinstripe, No-23 New York Yankees version. “In March, Nike will be releasing a special version of James’ Air Zoom V shoe in New York that’s dedicated to his love of the Yankees,” writes Brian Windhorst. “On the underside of the tongue is James’ name inserted into a popular Yankee Stadium cheer: ‘’Le-Bron Ja-mes, Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!'’
* Sam Cassell’s name has been thrown around recently in trade talks with the Celtics, the Mavericks and even the Suns. Mike Dunleavy tried to shed some light on the situation, but ended up giving this generally vague summation: “You have conversations with all kinds of guys and there are interests in players and you can figure out which guys teams have interest in,” he said. “Where there is smoke there is usually a fire. People floating different things out there usually have an interest. That’s the way a lot of deals happen. People start throwing things against the wall and hoping it sticks.”
* Isiah Thomas praised Jamal Crawford for being the Knicks’ much needed leader during their three-game winning spurt. “Steph is definitely capable of doing all of those things,” Thomas said. “Jamal is doing those things for us now.”
* If you’re looking for a guy who really hates people who break the speed limit, look no further.
January 18th, 2008 at 8:21 am
penske1 says:
Wow, STAT sounds kind of ignorant/arrogant there. Let’s see what he can do without 2 other all-stars and a 6th man of the year on his team. Exactly.
January 18th, 2008 at 8:48 am
BETCATS says:
hey hey hey go to SLAM Online everyday
January 18th, 2008 at 9:02 am
GEE ...give Kobe his Nutella job back! says:
LOL PLEASE PLEASE GIVE STAT THE BALL THAT MUCH! I would just love to see if he could pull it off lol. 1. That would be fun to watch and 2. I think he could get close to 70 and possibly more. Of course it does depend a lot on what team he is playing against. For that matter Yao or Dwight probably could do the same thing. A healthy Shaq getting the ball that much..wait he can’t hit free throws so he could get bout 50 - 60 lol.
Zeke just needs to turn the team over to Crawford period.
Ut oh closer and closer to Sam going to Boston …Ut ohhhhhh!
January 18th, 2008 at 11:01 am
Myrie says:
This is a tight section. But instead of “Hoop Links” shouldn’t it be called something more reflected to quotes?…I’m just saying/suggesting.
Who is policing this site?…how does this BETCATS character get on and keep referencing that crap mag? The “In Your Face” bball mag. HA! They fell off when their whole staff quit.
D’Antoni’s line on Steve Kerr is sooo true! Comical. One of the 5 best things to see in the NBA is Mike D’Antoni getting hot/mad and turning period-blood red.
DIME: Don’t ever quote anything from Bill Plaschke ever again.
JamesOn Curry is a fool if that pissing in public story is true. Next time Jameson, go to a callbox on the corner (phonebooth w/out the door) and relieve yourself there. Or, just go into an alley with your cellphone to your ear. That way, if anyone sees you, you can just play it off as if your on the phone. But is just downright foolish to piss in public and be seen by a police officer. Maybe John Amechi was spying on him….
January 18th, 2008 at 11:25 am
Taliban says:
Myrie what’s wrong with my boy Bill Plaschke?
January 18th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
GEE ...give Kobe his Nutella job back! says:
LOL DIME I don’t think it’s that he hates people who break the speed limit…then again perhaps he does.
I think it’s his calling to so many of our beloved sports figures and entertainers who have lost their lives or careers because of speeding and traffic involved things.
Dude did have a point though. There are many things that are harder than others to avoid. Car Jacking, getting bottles busted upside ya head, getting stabbed and rolling ankles and breaking bones. Still many a great sports person would stilll be possibly entertaining us had they controlled how they drove.
I feel this dude enjoys LeBron and see so much talent in him that he would hate to hear something bad from him speeding when all he has to do is slow down.
The writer did go off though lol.
January 18th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Myrie says:
Taliban–
To answer your question: Bill Plaschke; YOUR BOY; sucks.
Nuff said.
January 18th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Taliban says:
Haha ok, I thought maybe there was a particular reason you didn’t like him. I thought that quote was pretty fitting about how the Lakers are doing without Bynum though.
January 18th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Mike says:
Los Angeles, CA * Kwame Brown, beloved sport figure, has passed away. Discovered this morning by lead janitor Hector Valenzuela, Brown was found tangled within a web of utility rope where a pile of bricks, obviously placed as booby trap of sorts and likely leftovers from his layup drill earlier, fell from approximately 10 feet directly onto his fragile cranium. The coup de grace, it seems like, was a series of vicious snake bites to the gonadrian section by the deadly black mamba. It left a mark that looked eerily like the number 24.
There are no suspects at this time. LA county sheriffs have ruled this a freak accident and no further investigation will be made to unravel this fatality.
Emotions of Browns clumsy demise are mixed. Kobe Bryant, star guard of The Los Angeles Lakers had this to say: “Kwame’s presence in the inside will be sorely missed. This morning, at practice, we had to use a card-board cut out of Muggsy Bogues as our center. Though he did have more rebounds, blocks and steals in the middle than Kwame usually does, it took him a while to figure out the triangle and didn’t have the same fluidity on his shots. This is a huge loss to the organization.”
Phil Jackson, on the other hand, likes the void. “This morning’s practice was very productive. Usually, we have to break for a couple minutes for Kwame to catch his wind and you’ve seen his hands…Muggsy’s cutout has more stamina and surprisingly, better speed. Though he’s (Muggsy cut-out) gettting shoved constantly by muscular athletes, he only falls over about a quarter of the time that Kwame does (see pic below).”
On a positive note, all of Kwame’s clothes have been donated to a local woman’s shelter “Pink Roses for Independent Women”. Since Kwame’s entire wardrobe consists of pinks, rouges and lots of majenta, these fabrics can all be rewoven into smaller skirts and dresses. Casandra Sanders, the shelter’s spokesperson told us that Kwame had “a gorgeous sense of style, simply fabulous!”
Brown is survived by 3 lobsters (Tito, Tyrone and Titus) who taught him all his ball-handling skills.
January 20th, 2008 at 2:16 am
ML says:
James On Curry is a dumb ass. How did he caught taking a piss. I piss in the Rose Parade nothing happen to me.
January 20th, 2008 at 2:16 am
ML says:
James On Curry is a dumb ass. How did he caught taking a piss. I pissed in the Rose Parade nothing happen to me.
January 20th, 2008 at 2:16 am
ML says:
James On Curry is a dumb ass. How did he caught taking a piss. I pissed in the Rose Parade nothing happen to me.