The U.S. men are about to get their toughest test of the Olympics. And it still won’t be a game. Lithuania plays the record-setting Americans on Saturday, two days after they detonated Nigeria by 83 points. After that one, a mini-controversy has erupted around whether the team purposefully ran up the score on the helpless Olympic debutantes. Nah; we mean, the U.S. just could not miss. Now, they weren’t exactly holding the ball in four corners, but even though we aren’t quiet buying Coach K saying that Nigeria’s coach would have been “humiliated” if the U.S. didn’t play hard the whole way, they did have to put the ball up every 24 seconds. Read More »

There are the Olympic basketball tournaments, and all the sideshows around them. From releases of sneakers to clothes with Dream Team or national team themes, to all the talk about what if the tournament becomes a U-23 showcase, it’s refreshing to actually sit back and watch the games themselves. New videos by Nike, which has contracts with all but one of the men’s players and several of the women, take us directly to the players’ point of view about what it’s like to play on the senior national team. Read More »

Although the phrase “Basketball Never Stops” would have been a cool Nike campaign anytime, it has become a movement during the lockout. Now hear what it means to LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Amar’e Stoudemire, Dirk Nowitzki and Sue Bird, along with Mike Krzyzewski, Questlove and J.Cole. Let us know what it means to you in the comments below.

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Now that you’ve seen the spot, you knew that the next thing to drop would be behind the scenes footage from the shoot. Hear LeBron James and director Lance Acord talk about what went down, and then check out 22 photos from the shoot after the jump.

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To mark what is typically the start of the NBA season, Nike Basketball unveiled its Basketball Never Stops campaign this weekend, debuting the initial spot last night during Sunday Night Football. The first commercial titled “Spotlight,” stars LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Amar’e Stoudemire, Dirk Nowitzki and Sue Bird, along with Mike Krzyzewski, Questlove and J.Cole playing among athletes and fans around the world.

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Despite only entering the league this spring, Maya Moore has already become the proud owner of the WNBA’s best-selling jersey. Why is this a big deal you may ask? This is based on sales from October 2010 through June 2011. Not bad for this April’s No. 1 pick sporting No. 23 for the Minnesota Lynx. And in case you were wondering, Moore supplanted Candace Parker who has held the top ranking since October 2008 and boasts the best-selling jersey in NBA Store history. Read More »

Apparently the Celtics and Heat are in a competition to set the record for having the most players in training camp and under contract. Yesterday the Celtics extended camp invites to Mario West (Hawks), Stephane Lasme (UMass), Chris Johnson (LSU) and Jamar Smith (Southern Indiana), bringing their preliminary roster count to approximately 47. It’s gonna look like ABCD Camp the first few days before Doc Rivers starts making cuts … With every new guy Boston brings in, Luke Harangody has to be getting more nervous. He’s likely going to be the slowest, least-athletic guy in camp, which is bad if you’re 12th in line, but worse if you’re 20th in line. Read More »

The summer league re-runs were fine, but nobody would’ve complained if NBA TV sent some cameras down to Vegas last night and aired the Team USA mini-camp exhibition game. Rudy Gay (27 pts) and Kevin Durant (20 pts, 8 rebs) were the stars of the show, with Brook Lopez (18 pts, 5 rebs) also turning in an impressive performance … There could be three or four spots open for the 2010 World Championship: We can see Boozer and Tayshaun being gently asked to step aside, Jason Kidd calling it an international career, and Kobe even taking a break after another long playoff run and finally getting that pinky fixed. Read More »