That was Brent Barry’s line before last night’s Cavs/Spurs game, his way of saying Mo Williams needed to step up and lead Cleveland since LeBron was out with a sore ankle. After sticking a big three midway through the fourth quarter to tie it, Mo (17 pts, 8 rebs, 8 asts) was at the line with nine seconds left and the Cavs up one. He made both free throws (between shots, did you see that girl in the crowd who looked exactly like J.J. Hickson?), and although Greg Popovich drew up a beautiful play to get Roger Mason a wide-open three, “No Shot Rog” bricked to complete his 0-for-8 night beyond the arc … Read More »

Two games. If you were in the office pool to get action on the first time Tracy McGrady would start showing signs in New York of why the Rockets never trusted him enough to give him a featured role this season, whoever had “two games” gets the pot. In the second half of last night’s home loss to Milwaukee — the Knicks’ seventh L in a row, by the way — McGrady was noticeably limping around. After the game Mac admitted his knee had taken some punishment and he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to play against the Celtics tonight … On top of the knee issues, McGrady got his first taste of what it’s really like to be a Knick in the 21st century. Read More »

Two weeks ago, I wrote at length about Rashad McCants and teams that should be interested in signing the four-year pro. According to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle, the Rockets have signed McCants to a non-guaranteed contract for training camp. And of all the teams out there, he should have as good a chance as any to make the roster. Read More »

A couple weeks ago in Smack we mentioned that we didn’t even realize Brent Barry was still in the NBA, let alone the subject of trade rumors. But at the time the Grizzlies, Thunder and Clippers were all mentioned as being interested in getting “Bones” from the Rockets. We asked this question: Would Barry even bother with playing for a non-contender, or just retire? Today, word out of Houston is that that’s exactly what Barry is now considering. Read More »

Auto-robotic response upon hearing the news Manu Ginobili is out for the rest of the season: “The Spurs are done, they’re toast, peace out, etc., etc. …” Whether you said it with a huge grin on your face as a Lakers fan, or with an “Oops I crapped my pants” look as a Spurs fan, it was an easy conclusion to jump to. Read More »