We’ve seen it far too often in the NBA. Corporate elites married to their BlackBerrys occupy the best seats in the house, relegating the beer-drinking, obnoxiously chanting fans to the inaudible back corners of the arena. At first it brought tears to my eyes, watching the heart of the NBA, the fans, being pushed away from the action. But now that it’s an undeniable facet of every NBA arena, we have to accept it. Read More »

Upon leaving New York City for All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles, we knew there was a very good possibility that either the Knicks or Nets would pull off a deal, most likely involving Carmelo Anthony. But what transpired last week for both New York teams (yes, the Nets will soon be in Brooklyn) has been nothing short of astounding. Read More »

On the night after another wild NBA trade deadline — before which almost 50 players were traded — Chicago looked like the big winner for not doing a damn thing. Trailing Miami by 11 in the third quarter, the Bulls may have been starting to regret not pulling off a deal for somebody like J.R. Smith or O.J. Mayo. Instead, Derrick Rose brought them storming back and the Bulls handed the Heat another loss to an elite team … Chicago was up three with 1:30 to go in the fourth as Rose (26 points) and LeBron James (29 points, 10 rebounds) matched up head-to-head. Read More »

MADISON SQUARE GARDEN — Carmelo Anthony delivered the blow, full-impact right in the face of his opponent, then broke into a speedy yet awkward backpedal, looking like a man built to play defensive end trying to imitate a cornerback.

And the New York crowd, at their loyal and passionate best, gave him a wild standing ovation. Wait … what?

There were plenty of surreal moments during Carmelo’s first game as a Knick, but for me, that was the standout. Read More »

As one of the anchors for a 90s Knicks team that saw eight straight playoff berths during his tenure – including a visit to the NBA Finals in 1994 – John Starks can definitely relate to the recent success the Knicks are having. Known for his clutch shooting, tenacious defense and a dunk heard ’round the world, Starks (minus the high-top fade) is still involved with the NBA at an executive level, as the Alumni and Fan Development Advisor for the New York Knicks. I got up with Starks at a press conference for Ektio Shoes (footwear designed to prevent ankle injuries) to talk Knicks basketball, covering Michael Jordan and the NBA’s best golfers. Read More »

If Carmelo Anthony keeps playing like this, he might as well keep up the rent payments on his property in Denver, because he won’t be going anywhere until at least Summer 2011. ‘Melo dropped 30 points (17-19 FT), 14 rebounds, 9 assists and 3 steals on the Clippers at Staples Center last night, carrying a Nuggets squad that was without Chauncey, K-Mart and Al Harrington. Denver was up three with five seconds left when ‘Melo stepped to the line and iced the W after Eric Gordon missed a potential game-tying triple … Read More »

With the beginning of every new NBA season, there are a few teams whom we consider to be favorites to win the championship. But as we all know, only one can be crowned NBA champions. And the teams that fall short go home forgotten and pretty much empty-handed.

Some people ask whether it’s worse to make it to the Finals and lose — to come so close to glory and not achieve your goal — or to get eliminated earlier on before the stakes get too high.

If you weren’t under a rock in the ’90s you know that Michael Jordan alone ruined the chances a lot of great players and teams to get a ring. Read More »

“It’s a fun one. That’s all I have to say.”

This is what award-winning filmmaker Dan Klores said right before the screening of his upcoming film, “Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks,” Monday night at the 57 Screening Room in Manhattan. Part of ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary series, the film explores how Reggie Miller proudly built his legend as “The Garden’s Greatest Villain,” in a battle of teams and cultures as big as Sodom and Gomorrah. Read More »

For six weeks leading up to this NBA season, I ranked and filed the League’s go-to guys. Using the rationale that even the most harmonious, balanced team has one if-all-else-fails alpha male that they look to in crunch time, I picked one player per squad for a final list of 30. (A concept that went over a lot of people’s heads; I can’t tell you how many “How is Ray Allen not on the list and Boris Diaw is?” e-mails I got.) Read More »

Are you ready for the dumbest NBA feud since Cheryl Miller and Scot Pollard got into a deathly intense, impromptu pissing contest in the “NBA Gametime” studio a few months ago? This one’s between Shaq and Steve Nash, and it started over Shaq’s reality show that nobody we know is currently watching. As the story goes, sometime last year when they were still teammates, Nash told Shaq about an idea he had for a reality show where he’d take on famous pro athletes in their own sports — a.k.a. the exact same concept of Shaq’s new show. (Which totally sounds like something Nash would do. He might even take a crack at some of those X-Games guys, and could play hockey with no danger of breaking the ice.) Read More »