Thanks to Mike Cranston, an AP Sports Writer covering the Charlotte Bobcats, we have this gem from Twitter:

If the #Bobcats are about to trade Flip Murray, they haven’t told him yet. Still on practice floor now helping with Special Olympics clinic Read More »

Just minutes after writing that Hakim Warrick‘s arrival in Chicago means Tyrus Thomas is on his way out, CBSSports.com’s Ken Berger is reporting that the Bobcats are close to landing Thomas in a deal that would send expiring contracts and a future No. 1 pick to Chicago. While no names have surfaced, this is what we can deduce. Read More »

In his three-year career at Duke, Gerald Henderson Jr. had gotten plenty of shine during big games. Last night at Madison Square Garden was not one of them. The Bobcats’ lottery pick (12th overall) in last June’s draft, has played sparingly so far in his rookie season. The zero minutes he logged last night against the Knicks marked Henderson’s fourth straight DNP-CD (did not play – coach’s decision). Read More »

Steering clear of a competition with the Texas/Alabama national championship game, the NBA had just one game on the schedule last night, with the Bobcats visiting the Knicks at MSG. Not exactly the bright lights of a LeBron or Kobe appearance, not I’d Rather Watch ‘Man vs. Wild’ either. In fact, it’s not crazy at all to suggest both of these teams could wind up in the playoffs in 2010 … The Bobcats were up 10 late in the third, but NY put together a quick 15-0 run that bled into the fourth, highlighted by a couple of Nate Robinson threes, plus one play where he crossed up D.J. Augustin and took off from the dotted line, catching a dunk that would’ve been nasty if he was 6-foot-3; but was downright disrespectful considering he’s the size of a jockey … Read More »

I’d presume every man who grew up with a father figure in his life had a significant chunk of his sports experiences shaped by that father figure. I played football because my Dad played, I wanted to wear #22 because he wore it, and today I still always root for Black coaches and Black quarterbacks thanks to my Dad’s influence.

Another thing I picked up from my Dad: The need for constant variety in sports. Pops hates it when the same teams contend for championships every year. “Mix it up” is one of his favorite phrases, so he likes it when Cincinnati and TCU threaten to crash the BCS bowl party, or the Orlando Magic upset the norm to make the NBA Finals over the boring old Celtics. Read More »

Just like the great champions of individual sports — Manny Pacquiao, Roger Federer, Ric Flair — NBA title contenders make statements by avenging their losses. Last night, you had the Lakers and Cavs up against teams they’d suffered somewhat embarrassing losses to earlier this season, with mixed results that may tell us something about who will be left standing with the Larry O’Brien come June 2010 … Back in October, the Mavericks went into Staples and handed L.A. a decisive loss. This time the Lakers administered an all-out demolition, 131-96, especially impressive considering Ron Artest didn’t suit up, Pau Gasol left in the first quarter with a hamstring injury, and Kobe was on chill mode for most of the second half. Read More »

You saw it coming almost right away. Three minutes into Heat/Blazers, Greg Oden picked up his second foul — a questionable call where he got tangled up with Jermaine O’Neal and both seemed equally at fault — and had to sit down. So with LaMarcus Aldridge (knee) already sidelined, that meant J.O. and Michael Beasley could go to work against Joel Przybilla and Dante Cunningham (plus a Juwan Howard extended cameo). And that meant when Portland’s D wasn’t giving up points to the bigs, they were leaving shooters open all over the arc. Throw in the fact that Portland started off cold offensively, and they were in an uphill battle right off the bat … Read More »

Heading down the stretch of Celtics/Knicks, Paul Pierce and Al Harrington were all set to battle it out for the right to hit the game-winner. Harrington was picking apart Boston’s D from all angles, while Pierce capitalized on New York’s defensive strategy that apparently involved leaving him wide open around the arc. After Harrington’s free throws tied it with 4.7 seconds left in the fourth, you expected Doc Rivers to have some brilliant play drawn up; he’s usually good for that. Instead, Rajon Rondo (14 pts, 9 rebs, 10 asts, 4 stls) took the inbounds, dribbled in place like he had all the time in the world, and jacked up a contested jumper at the last second. Not their best work … Read More »

Beast of the Night: Dirk Nowitzki not only hit the game-winner in Milwaukee last night, he also finished with 32 points, 1 three, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 1 block while shooting 48 percent (12-25) from the field, 88 percent (7-8) from the line and didn’t have any turnovers. He’s the hottest fantasy commodity to come out of Germany since Heidi Klum. Read More »

As this edition of Smack is being written, ESPN’s 24-hour marathon of college hoops is underway. Writing about basketball in the middle of the night while live basketball is showing on TV with no end in sight for hours? This is the life … Are the Hawks really this good? When we ranked Atlanta 5th yesterday on Dime’s weekly NBA Hit List — maybe the highest we’d ever had them ranked, at least in the last 2-3 years — the response was surprisingly strong that Joe Johnson and Josh Smith and crew should have been in the top three, maybe even holding the No. 1 spot. True, the Hawks had won four straight going into Monday’s schedule, but they’ve always been one of those Zab Judah/Asafa Powell-type teams: Read More »