What the hell is going on with the Wizards? Earlier this week they got Antawn Jamison back, got a mostly healthy roster, took out the arch-enemy Cavs on national TV to snap a six-game losing streak, and looked like they were back on track toward contending in the East like so many people had predicted. Then the Wiz turn around and got almost 20-pieced in Oklahoma City, and last night they got smoked in San Antonio … It was a bad mix of the Spurs at their best and the Wizards at their worst. Tim Duncan and his cronies dominated the glass (59-44), Gilbert Arenas and his guys forgot about ball movement (12 assists total), Tony Parker was killing on the pick-and-roll (17 pts, 8 asts), and of course Washington had somebody get injured when Mike Miller hurt his calf in the first quarter and reportedly could be out for up to a month … Read More »

Every day, more signs are popping up to tell us we’re getting closer and closer to the actual NBA season. Over the last week or so, we’ve watched guys going through the motions in practice (the “Real Training Camp” cameras never lie); Shaq throwing his old teams under the bus to hype up his new team; a valuable Kings player getting hurt; Vince Carter’s critics blasting him for shooting (and missing) too many jumpers; Gerald Wallace dunking on cats; some decent preseason games; a couple of fights and suspensions; and further proof that the Warriors are officially the Oakland Raiders of the NBA. Last night was another milestone, with the first nationally televised game of the year: Suns/Warriors on TNT. Read More »

After an up-and-down couple of weeks that saw them perform up to their potential and down to some lesser competition, Team Spain is right where they’re supposed to be at the FIBA European Championships: playing for the gold medal. In yesterday’s semifinal, Pau Gasol scored 18 points and Rudy Fernandez added 14 and three steals to lead Spain in a blowout win over Greece, while Ricky Rubio continued his underwhelming (at least stats-wise) tourney with a 5-point, 3-assist effort. Spain will face Serbia in the final, the team that upset them on the first day of the tournament. In Serbia’s semifinal, Milos Teodosic dropped 32 points (6 threes), and Nenad Krstic had 18 points to lead them past Slovenia … Read More »

NBA training camp is still a few weeks away, so Saturday was all about college football. Some basketball-related notes from the day’s action: Greg Paulus lost his first game as Syracuse’s starting QB, racking up 167 yards on 19-of-31 attempts with one touchdown against Minnesota, but he threw a crucial pick in overtime (’Cuse was also 1-for-12 in converting third downs); Javier Arenas (Gilbert’s cousin) had a handful of kick/punt returns in fifth-ranked Alabama’s win over No. 7 Virginia Tech, but didn’t break any for a long gain … With Ramon Sessions spoken for, the only two point guards anybody is looking out for in free agency are Allen Iverson and Ray Felton, and the former’s eventual destination likely has a big impact on the latter’s next move. Read More »