If you’re a fan of Penny Hardaway, it’s impossible not to consider what could have been. Penny was All-NBA First Team twice by the time he was 25. Who knows what heights he could have reached if only his body had held up?
That said, there’s no point to focusing on what didn’t happen at the expense of celebrating what actually did. Penny’s all too brief period atop the basketball world brought him a well-deserved enduring legacy, and his eternally cool Nike signature line and 1 Cent logo continues to resonate with sneakerheads of all ages. Read More »
You know you had game when no one since has been able to replicate it. He was a 6-7 point who could post you, spin off you, hit you with the step-back, float a sick hook shot on you, stroke the trey and drop a dime. He balled against Mike & Scottie. He was the Next Jordan. He had a mini-me. And he won. That’s what separated him from a lot of other cats. Dude won games, had the sneaker game on lock (and somehow still does), and left an undeniable imprint on the NBA, despite only being truly healthy for about four years.
At some point in the fourth quarter of Boston’s 91-83 win in Orlando – it might’ve been after another one of his threes or perhaps when he had a behind-the-back assist to Brandon Bass or even when he hit a technical free throw – we sat back and realized, “Damn, Boston is really going to win this thing,” and they did it because Paul Pierce turned back the clock with one of the most incredible comebacks we’ve ever seen. Early in the fourth quarter, Pierce had banged two straight threes and then hit a pull-up in the lane and suddenly it was a four-point game. Read More »
In the words of one of our more eloquent Twitter followers: “What the f— am I supposed to watch after the Super Bowl?” The season hasn’t exactly been canceled yet, but with the players rejecting the latest proposal from the owners and threatening to take them to court, the ugliness might’ve just started. David Stern promised that the next time the two sides do negotiate – whenever that’ll be – the owners will be discussing 47 percent BRI and no more, and yet the players still hit the owners with a backhanded slap. So now Stern is calling it a “nuclear winter,” the players are saying it’s a good move and everyone is all wrapped up in self-destruction. Read More »
We wouldn’t exactly call it airing dirty laundry, but Shaquille O’Neal is definitely getting a few things off his chest now that he’s retired. We aren’t hearing anything new. It’s just that O’Neal is making no mistake about anything: he had some serious problems with Kobe, he left Pat Riley on really bad terms, and that he’s not into Dwight Howard‘s whole Superman routine and thinks Orlando’s big man needs to be his own man. In Shaq’s new book (Shaq Uncut: My Story), Superman takes a couple shots at Superman 2.0, telling Howard to “be his own man.” Shaq and Howard have never really gotten along, so this news comes without any surprise. Shaq has always been someone who spoke his mind, and in his new book, he holds nothing back. Read More »
We were soooo close. Imagine if the proper etiquette when you went out to eat or hit up happy hour was to tip two percent. That would feel like nothing. Well in what was considered to be the biggest day thus far of the lockout – the first one where a good percentage of those involved legitimately believed a deal could get done – the guys ended where they started: with nothing. The talks broke down on the dreaded BRI when neither the players nor the owners would move off their stances. The players wanted 52 percent; The owners were at 50. Of course, it’s pretty stupid to compare tipping $6 with a CBA for the NBA but still in the context – with millionaires fighting billionaires, you get our drift. You are two percent away. You want to know how easy it is to fix that? Each side give up a point. Read More »
Nothing ever stabs as deep as a career cut short. In particularly with Grant Hill, Penny Hardaway and Tracy McGrady, three similarly-sized players who were meant to redefine the point guard, shooting guard and small forward positions, it feels like someone brought the edge of a sword into out guts and twisted. They were all so young, and with so much potential. But between knees, backs and ankles, all three suffered through injury-riddled primes. Looking at the glass half-full, we still have a few years, and memories of when T-Mac, Penny & Grant were some of the most exciting players the NBA had ever seen. Read More »
After reminiscing on Latrell Sprewell in the late ’90s, we figured we’d take it back again. Some of the young cats out there might know Glen Rice just as that dude who got with Sarah Palin, but back in the day he gave nearly everyone the biz. Besides MJ (who wasn’t a fan of him growing up?), Rice was my favorite player and Charlotte my favorite team. Even though this game comes from the year before he ended up in the Beehive, respect is due. Rice dropped 56 (on 20-27 from the field) on Penny & Shaq‘s domes, and did it all while leading a pedestrian Heat team to a 123-117 win. If you must know, O’Neal had 38 & 16 and Penny gave Miami 28 & 18 in this one as well.
It was 2003 and I was 14 years old spending a weekend at my grandma’s place. Let’s admit it – while we all love seeing our grandparents, their houses are never the most exciting places to hang out for prolonged periods. That is, unless you enjoy watching TV shows that make James Lipton‘s Inside the Actor’s Studio completely enthralling. So as an excuse to leave, my uncle used my desire to watch a meaningless Game 1 between the Suns and Spurs first round matchup to get out of the house. Read More »
Penny has reached the big 4-0. Amazing. Before he became a casualty to injury, he was a beast. During the Bulls’ historic 72-win season, one of the losses came in Orlando, to a team that was missing Shaquille O’Neal…probably because they had another 24-year-old stud who dropped 36 points.
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