Two things that will make me angry enough to twist my face into a Kendrick Perkins scowl and start launching Mike Tyson threats: Any Houston sports-related headline that reads, “Houston, we have a problem,” and any Seattle-related story headlined, “Sleepless in Seattle.”
Stop it. The Apollo 13 launch was in 1970, a.k.a. FORTY years ago. The Tom Hanks movie (not Apollo 13, but the other one set in my hometown) came out in 1993, a.k.a. when Ken Griffey Jr. and Shawn Kemp were in their primes. Read More »
For about 15 minutes, the Mavericks looked like they’d been playing with its new roster for months, building a double-digit lead in Oklahoma City while starting two-guard Caron Butler (13 pts, 4-16 FG) wasn’t shy at all about getting involved in the offense right away. Over on the bench Brendan Haywood appeared not miserable for the first time since Chapel Hill, DeShawn Stevenson had a serene “I’m probably not gonna play but that’s OK” vibe about him, and the trade seemed a rousing success. Read More »
With no disrespect to Josh Smith, Pops Mensah-Bonsu could be the NBA’s best shot blocker. While it’s tough to crack the leader board averaging 7.3 minutes per game, Pops has been killing it the past four games – including two blocks in two minutes against the Hawks, and another two against the Rockets (the team that dropped him after four games earlier this season). Now I’m not saying that Mensah-Bonsu is an All-Star, but in his biggest appearance of the year (24 minutes in a preseason game against his current squad), he did log five blocks to go along with 17 points and seven boards. Check out the following two videos – blocks of Joel Anthony & David Andersen – and tell me that he shouldn’t play.
When word broke that Pops Mensah-Bonsu signed a one-year deal with the Rockets this morning, my brother (who’s a senior at George Washington this year) was the first one to tell me how this is finally the chance that Pops needs. But despite bleeding school colors, signing a 6-9, 240-pound forward who has played a total of 34 games in his NBA career is not going to replace Yao Ming. Read More »
Who would have guessed that the first NBA dude to put Blake Griffin on his ass would be skinny JaVale McGee? Blake finished with 19 points, 10 boards and four steals against the Wizards in yesterday’s Vegas Summer League, but one time he came through the lane with the rock and McGee (19 pts, 7 blks) gave the rookie a good, hard, welcome-to-the-NBA foul. Blake stayed on the ground for a second, but he was OK. Then later in the fourth quarter, McGee caught an alley-oop on Blake’s head and screamed on him. (JaVale is still doing the salute thing whenever he dunks, too.) … Rodrigue Beaubois scored 23 for the Mavs in a game against the Thunder that was just ugly. Read More »
Big night in the Vegas Summer League, where the “veterans” outshined the rookies and toyed with some of the scrubs. Anthony Randolph continued his MVP-caliber run, dropping 42 points (13-22 FG, 16-21 FT), four steals and three blocks on the Bulls while looking like a more athletic version of Chris Bosh. Randolph has shown flashes in college and during his rookie year; we know, It’s Just Summer League, but the guy is looking like he’s gonna be a beast in the NBA. Few power forwards in the League have his athleticism and few small forwards have his size, making him an instant matchup problem. Read More »
