Was it the hair? Perhaps not, but that didn’t exactly hurt. Was it the game? No one could ever quite figure out what to do with him, not even Pat Riley, but that probably wasn’t it either. Was it the style? The physical play, the swagger, the “can’t stop, won’t stop” play on the court? Maybe. Read More »

Is there a better national team frontcourt than Spain? The Gasol brothers and Serge Ibaka: completely different and yet they complement each other perfectly. They have defense, length, athleticism, touch, shooting and toughness. Ibaka actually is saying he can be an All-Star either next year or the year after. We believe him. Everyone is riding the James Harden train right now and deservedly so. The Beard was balling in the playoffs and looks like he could be the second coming of a Paul Pierce-type player. But Ibaka is OKC’s third-most important player. Read More »

Upon leaving New York City for All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles, we knew there was a very good possibility that either the Knicks or Nets would pull off a deal, most likely involving Carmelo Anthony. But what transpired last week for both New York teams (yes, the Nets will soon be in Brooklyn) has been nothing short of astounding. Read More »

Classic.

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I came to John Strickland’s wake in a black hoodie and shorts, like I was going to play a game, fresh from a workout — just the way John would have wanted. He had an NBA ball right next to him as he laid peacefully at Benta’s Funeral home in Harlem, while the NYC streetball community congregated outside to recall the life of one of the playground’s finest post players.

Strick, a.k.a. “The Franchise,” who passed away last week at 38 years old, would show up to most of his games in a sweaty t-shirt, shorts and drawstring bag with his sneakers in it, looking real kid-like. Read More »

Usually you can watch NBA TV’s “Real Training Camp” and convince yourself that any team is good. With the New York Knicks, not so much. While Amar’e Stoudemire and Co. showed some promise during yesterday’s televised practice, there were some definite red flags — like when the team went through a fast-paced transition drill and nobody made a layup for like 5 minutes until Pat Ewing Jr. decided to start dunking everything he could get his hands on … Amar’e looked good. Granted, everything was three-quarters speed tops, but one time Amar’e went from the arc to the rack and threw down something like a backhanded half-windmill dunk casually … Read More »

Around the time it became clear Chris Bosh was not going to spend his entire career in Toronto, two seemingly natural destinations for CB4 were Dallas and Houston. Bosh would be looking for a franchise with more exposure, he’s a Texas native, and both of those teams could use a big man — especially Houston, since Yao Ming‘s legs are as sturdy as a LEGO skyscraper. But after the Rockets took on Kevin Martin and Jared Jeffries‘ salaries in the T-Mac trade (about $18 million combined for next season), it seemed Houston was out of the race for any big-time free agents. Not so fast, though. Read More »

Orlando’s goals were relatively humble going into last night’s Eastern Conference Finals Game 4: (1) Don’t get blown out of the water in the first quarter, (2) Get something resembling an average performance from your $118 million third option, and (3) Win or go golfing. By pulling off the hat trick, the Magic avoided elimination while winning the first overtime game of these 2010 playoffs … Jameer Nelson was the difference in this one. Read More »

“It’s a fun one. That’s all I have to say.”

This is what award-winning filmmaker Dan Klores said right before the screening of his upcoming film, “Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks,” Monday night at the 57 Screening Room in Manhattan. Part of ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary series, the film explores how Reggie Miller proudly built his legend as “The Garden’s Greatest Villain,” in a battle of teams and cultures as big as Sodom and Gomorrah. Read More »

As predictable as the mainstream media/gossip page hype was concerning the now-infamous Jordan Crawford-on-LeBron dunk tape (“OMG!! Lebron got dunked on by an AMATEUR!!”), even more predictable was the fact that when the dunk was finally revealed to the public, it would be supremely anticlimactic. If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out HERE … Long non-story short, it was a two-hander that Crawford caught while cutting through the lane while LeBron came over from the right side just a little too late. Nothing you haven’t seen LeBron do to 50 random guys around the League, but of course it got blown up 10-fold because of the LePruder Film controversy. Read More »