The call/non-call/dual-call/what was that call? that ended Monday night’s NFL game in Seattle against Green Bay left everyone, to steal a line from the final decision, in simultaneous confusion. U.S. Senators have called for reviews, President Obama has weighed in and Tim Donaghy‘s cell phone has likely been blowing up all morning for journalists asking for his take on the whole thing. Read More »

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If Duke played all of their games out in Maui, they might end up as the greatest college team ever. Yesterday they added to their all-time perfect record (14-0) there and clinched a spot in the championship game, beating Michigan 82-75. Living and dying by the three is the way of the college game now, and however unpredictable it might be, Duke is the best at it. It came through for them again. Michigan needed a perfect night of basketball, but they certainly didn’t get it during the first half. Tim Hardaway Jr., for all the praise we’ve been giving him, was terrible for most of the night. The Devils shut him out in the first half and built up a double-digit lead that withstood any comebacks the Wolverines countered with in the second frame. Read More »

Two or three minutes into Heat/Celtics, you would’ve bet the college fund that Dwyane Wade was going to crank out a Jordan-esque performance. But by the time it was over, Paul Pierce was the one channeling The G.O.A.T. and turning Dorell Wright into the tatted version of Bryon Russell … The game’s ebb and flow was determined by the superstars. Wade came out like he was gonna hit a double-nickel easy: pretty turnarounds, follow dunks over the backs of 7-footers, carving into the lane for and-ones, and it looked like Miami was on their way to a solid win. Read More »

You needed a picture-in-picture screen and some quick thumbs to keep up with all the down-to-the-wire finishes on Friday’s NBA schedule. We had to attack it newspaper style … PHILADELPHIA–It was a fourth-quarter battle between Chris Bosh and Lou Williams (no, really) that came down to one bad call and one superbad play. Williams’ jumper with one minute left capped a personal 7-0 run and brought the Sixers within one, then Sam Dalembert gave them the lead with a follow dunk in transition. Raps ball, Bosh (29 pts, 9 rebs, 6 asts) squared up on the Dalembeast, shook him going right and got fouled on the floor. Only the refs allowed Bosh to take the contact, brush his teeth, read The Economist, take two steps, clip his toenails and then get his shot off for the longest continuation and-one you’ve seen since Jordan’s prime. Read More »

The Knicks signing Jonathan Bender over the weekend was surprising on a variety of levels. For starters, Bender hasn’t played in the NBA or any professional basketball leagues for that matter, since the 2005-06 season. A persistent knee injury forced the former lottery pick to retire at just 25 years old. Read More »

Ever since Michael Jordan called out Bryon Russell in his Hall of Fame speech over the summer, B-Russ has been challenging the greatest basketball player of all-time to a game of one-on-one. Utah Flash (of the D-League) owner Brandt Anderson has gone through great lengths to promote the possible game and even offered to put up $100,000 to the winner’s preferred charity. This over-hyped, one-on-one talk got even more ridiculous last night when 7,000 anxious Flash fans were duped into thinking MJ was showing up during the Flash/Dakota Wizards game to play Russell. Read More »

There are certain players that you always wonder what could have been. But because of poor decisions, bad luck or both – they never reached their NBA potential. Jay Williams, Eddie Griffin and Michael Ray Richardson are just a few names that come to mind. Probably the biggest example of someone who had a chance to be special but fell well short of his potential is Isaiah “J.R.” Rider. Read More »

Ray Felton‘s objective should be obvious to anyone who’s been paying attention to this summer of free agency: Sometime around January/February, Ray wants to be in the All-Star conversation, setting himself up lovely for a fatter contract in 2010, and as icing on the cake, making everyone wonder just why the hell it took so long for somebody to get him signed in the first place. Felton agreed to the Bobcats’ one-year qualifying offer yesterday ($5.5 million), setting Charlotte up for another run at getting that elusive first-ever playoff berth with Felton and D.J. Augustin at the point, Raja Bell/Gerald Henderson at the two, Gerald Wallace at the three, Boris Diaw at the four, Tyson Chandler in the middle and Alexis Ajinca getting cramps from sitting down for extended periods of time. Read More »

We guess Bryon Russell had to do something save face after getting the business from MJ in his speech on Friday night: