For a franchise that supposedly doesn’t have any money, the Grizzlies went all-out for their home opener. After introducing the Pistons to the theme from Beverly Hills Cop (cute), the Jumbotron showed a dramatic over-the-top video where Allen Iverson and Rudy Gay talked about “Grizz Nation” and defending homecourt. Then the DJ put on a Michael Myers/Halloween-inspired track, and the Jabbawockeez appeared at midcourt to dance. THEN they brought out Three Six Mafia, wearing Memphis jerseys and performing “Stay Fly” to bleed into the player intros, complete with smoke machines and everything else. Read More »
Kobe and Captain Jack’s rivalry is nothing compared to what has apparently been brewing since the early 90s between two of the greatest point guards of all time. Isiah Thomas and Magic Johnson were so close during their playing days they famously exchanged a kiss before tipoff of the 1988 NBA Finals. I’m sure when Zeke heard Magic and the “Hick from French Lick” were co-authoring a book, he expected to take some shots from Larry Bird (he did fire him in Indiana), but he was blindsided by Magic. Read More »
In 25 years as league commissioner, David Sternhas seen his fair share of great players from Michael Jordan to Larry Bird to Kobe Bryant. So who’s his favorite all-time player? Stern recently told Rick Harrow from The $ports Take (Versus) in an episode that runs on Oct. 27, that he’s quite the fan of the King. Read More »
One sequence defined last night’s Lakers/Nuggets national TV preseason game: In the second half, after Kobe Bryant had already come out of the locker room with That Look in his eye, he pulled off his new favorite move on Kenyon Martin; getting him in the air with a pump fake and spinning a quick 360 to his left, dropping a jumper as K-Mart harmlessly floated back to Earth. Then on the Nuggets’ ensuing possession, Kobe jumped a passing lane and finished with a breakway one-hander, slapping on the bottom-teeth snarl as an exclamation point … Read More »
Today the Associated Press posted this video of Chris Paulmaking an amazing trick shot. CP3 throws the ball off a beam on the ceiling, which bounces off the floor to bank in. The shot is very reminiscent of the old Larry Bird and Michael Jordan McDonald’s commercials. With shots like this, let’s hope that the NBA invites Paul to compete in the H-O-R-S-E comptetiton at next year’s All-Star Weekend in Dallas.
At first glance, the Indiana Pacers have all the characteristics of a bad franchise. They missed the playoffs last year. They were ranked 28th overall in attendance in 2008-‘09. They appear on national TV a whopping three times this season (two of those are NBA TV). And the average basketball fan probably couldn’t name more than three players on their roster.
But the funny the about it is, they aren’t that bad. Read More »
REGGIE MILLER (by Austin Burton)
For a long time, Reggie Miller was my favorite basketball player (even above hometown heroes Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp) for the same reason I admired Mike Tyson growing up: Because he wasn’t supposed to be where he was as a prime-time player, an underdog who rose to the top.
You might have forgotten since he’s filled out in his post-playing, TV-talking career, but Reggie was a beanpole. He weighed 185 in his prime, and didn’t make up for it with athleticism and grace like fellow skinny dudes T-Mac or George Gervin. His jumper looked funny, he wasn’t a great ball-handler, and the common joke was that his sister was a better ballplayer. Read More »
For every idiot/moron/stupid/crazy/you-should-be-fired/you-should-die (seriously) insult I took after writing that Michael Jordan is overrated, the only time I ever felt dumb was later that same night I wrote the column, when NBA TV aired a Lakers/Clippers game from 1979.
While the re-run was meant to showcase Magic Johnson in his first NBA game, the star of the show was the one guy who I somehow failed to mention when listing players who could challenge Jordan for the Greatest of All-Time crown: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Read More »
“Babe Ruth is the greatest baseball player that ever lived. I mean, people say he was less than a god, but more than a man. You know, like Hercules or something!”
– Benny Rodriguez, The Sandlot
In this game, Hercules goes by the name Michael Jordan. Except for those who are old enough to have seen Wilt or Russell or Oscar play in their primes, there is little argument that MJ is the greatest basketball player that ever lived. How little? Mike is the only player who you can refer to simply as “G.O.A.T.” and everybody knows exactly who you’re talking about. And yet, over time I’ve come to learn one almost unbelievable truth: Read More »
