Yeah, that guy we all saw last year wearing No. 6 for Miami in the NBA Finals? That guy wasn’t LeBron James. He was someone else, an impostor, a fake, a poser. LeBron says the real LeBron is back. Should we believe him? James says for the first time since he got to Miami, he’s back to the real him. More alive and ready to go. That’s good to know; We aren’t sure how anyone could deal with the amount of venom he had to take in last year. But still, the whispers about clutch failures, disappointments and lack of heart will only grow louder with each misstep. It’s a full-on disease for him now, and the only way to cure it is to win a championship and do it in a fashion that’ll have people forget about James’ past playoff struggles. Read More »
With the NBA season right around the corner, I caught up with three former players-turned-anaylsts from NBA TV today to preview the upcoming season. Chris Webber, Steve Smith and Greg Anthony broke down questions for an hour on everything from Kwame Brown‘s signing to the effect the lockout will have on young egos. While they disagreed on a number of things, they all seemed to be convinced that Boston’s old vets will actually be helped by the lockout. Read More »
The reactions to the lockout news of the past week have run the gauntlet. No one is happy, and for me, I’m really, really nervous. It’s not that we’re currently in a lockout. It doesn’t burn me up inside that we should have basketball and yet we don’t. I don’t walk around complaining all day, or spit venom at the people I think responsible. I’m more just nervous because players are more aware of what they’re owed than ever before. The owners are still treating them like novices, and it’s becoming increasingly clear the players’ understanding of the business is growing. That could mean a very long standoff. Read More »
We have all witnessed history. On many, many levels. We wake up this morning with UConn as champions of college basketball; the Huskies the last team standing at the end of an absolutely incredible postseason rampage that included winning five Big East Tournament games in five days and then reeling off the six Ws needed to win the NCAA Tournament. That type of run would have been considered unreal for a top-ranked team – the fact that it was put together by a UConn squad that wasn’t even ranked until Week 4 of the season and then entered the Big East Tourney as a No. 9 seed is just absurd. History will remember this Connecticut squad as one of the most unlikely championship teams in college basketball history … Kemba Walker should donate his kicks (Air Jordan 6-17-23) to Springfield. He’s been wearing these ever since the start of the Big East Tournament and hasn’t lost since. After the Big East tourney, he told us he was ready to go get six more Ws … To the game … Read More »
This weekend, I watched HBO’s documentary on UNLV and was reminded of how ill they were. Their style, their talent, their attitude – it didn’t matter if the NCAA hated them and everything they stood for. The Rebels repped for Las Vegas and were one of the best college teams ever (their 1991 team was even better and yet somehow didn’t win it all). Larry Johnson, Stacey Augmon, Greg Anthony and Anderson Hunt embarrassed Duke. Watch and be amazed, but pray tonight’s game is closer than this one was.
At the age of 12 years old, I saw UNLV absolutely dismantle the Duke Blue Devils in the 1990 national championship game. It was a blowout I would never forget, as was the upset Duke pulled on UNLV the following March in the 1991 national semifinal. Runnin’ Rebels Of UNLV, which debuted this past Saturday evening on HBO, reminds us how Coach Jerry Tarkanian and a university and town never known for basketball, became both a national power and target of the NCAA between the early 1970s until 1992. Read More »
As the official sports drink of the NCAA Tournament, Powerade teamed up with CBS yesterday to offer a last-minute cram session to help all the frantic bracketeers make sense of March Madness. A panel of bracket experts – led by college basketball analyst Greg Anthony – held one-on-one bracket consultations for visitors, while Powerade unveiled its “ION4-Point Performance Ranking System,” a customized ranking system using four key elements essential to teams’ success in the tournament. But if you’re looking for a quick fix, here are the top four bracket tips that Anthony preaches: Read More »
For those that were around to watch them at the time, there was nothing quite like Jerry Tarkanian and the UNLV men’s basketball team. Now thanks to HBO Sports, you can live (or relive) the experience 20 years later. Debuting in 2011 on the eve of March Madness, Runnin’ Rebels Of UNLV revisits the period from 1973 to 1992, when the squad embodied the brash, swaggering spirit of Las Vegas and the notion that winning (and winning big) was all that mattered. 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 »
After Mike Dunleavy was relieved of his coaching duties last night, there is already speculation about who will replace him permanently. Dunleavy will stay on as GM because of the $5.5 million he is owed next season, and Clippers fans are praying that he makes better decisions choosing a coach than he did while pacing the sideline himself. Kim Hughes will most likely serve as interim coach for the remainder of the season, but with a good foundation of veterans and young talent, expect the Clippers to attract the attention of big-name coaches currently out of work, along with a good selection of assistant coaches and college coaches looking to make the jump. Read More »
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