At some point during the fourth quarter, as the Hawks were getting all they could handle from the Rockets and seemed on the verge of their first home loss of the season, Dominique Wilkins said the same thing you’re gonna hear from a bunch of opposing team announcers about the Rockets this year: “This is a GOOD basketball team!” in a surprised tone … In what might have been the most entertaining finish of the year, Houston went up by seven midway through the fourth when Aaron Brooks dusted Joe Johnson on a crossover/hesitation along the baseline for a layup. Read More »
You know what you’re going to get when the Cavs and Wizards play on national TV: Plenty of talk about LeBron’s “rivalry” with DeShawn Stevenson, LeBron’s rivalry with the Wizards, Mike Miller wearing LeBron’s shoes, maybe Washington’s injury problems … And then there was the story line for last night’s game that nobody wanted to talk about: The gossip-page reports saying Shaq got caught messing around with Gilbert Arenas‘ girl. Anyone think there’s a slight chance that’s really why Shaq sat out? Say what you want about being a professional and focusing on the game, but that’s grounds for any grown man to get punched in the face at any random moment. Read More »
This is just great. In a game against the Grizzlies last night, Carl Landry rejected Rudy Gay’s weak dunk attempt. After blocking the shot, Landry turned to former teammate Dikembe Mutombo, who was in the crowd, and honored him by wagging his finger. As you all know, that was Mt. Mutombo’s signature move after he got a big block. The best part of this video was watching Mutombo’s reaction.
This is just ridiculous! Both Travis Outlaw and Rudy Gay are two of the best leapers in the L; too bad this time Gay got the business end of Outlaw’s fully extended tomahawk in the second quarter of the Blazers 93-79 win over the Grizzles. Got to love Mike Rice though: “Listen to this fans!”
There is one trade that can work, one fan base that would accept Iverson with (somewhat) open arms, one team that could slide him right into the starting lineup AND win some games in the process, one place where Iverson can work to rebuild his reputation and maybe even have a future beyond this season. Read More »
If you’re purely interested in the best interest of Allen Iverson, you’re glad the Grizzlies had one of their business-as-usual losses against the Clippers last night. Having gone 0-3 since A.I. joined the lineup earlier in the week, for Memphis to win after Iverson had left the team for undisclosed personal reasons — even if it was against the Clips — would have brought up all the same criticisms of Iverson you saw in Detroit and at various points throughout his runs in Philly and Denver. Mainly, that A.I.’s team is better without him, and that certain young stars (i.e. O.J. Mayo in this case) are better off when he’s not in the picture … Instead, the Grizzlies did what they typically do with or without Iverson, putting up a lot of points while giving up even more. Read More »
It’s like the schedule makers did all they could to allow LeBron to run the show Friday night. For this season’s lone trip to MSG, ‘Bron had the national TV stage while his chief rival for attention, Kobe Bryant, was stuck playing the Grizzlies in what would surely be as low-key a Lakers game as can be. Or not. Dumping 41 points (19-30 FG) on Memphis, Kobe solidified his spot as the League’s leading scorer and likely put himself in front of the early MVP race in the eyes of a lot of voters, and he surpassed the 24,000-point mark for his career; becoming the youngest to ever hit that milestone … Read More »
Allen Iverson made last night’s Grizzlies/Kings game worth checking out from the beginning, but Kevin Martin made it worth staying until the end. What was originally billed as A.I.’s big debut turned into K-Mart’s showcase, it may have been the best game of the season so far, and it was a hell of a timely ad for NBA League Pass as the free preview week wraps up … Checking in to a nice ovation from the Sacramento crowd, Iverson looked like he was just testing out his hamstring in his initial rotation, a scoreless five-minute stretch of the first quarter. Read More »