Well that was ugly. On a night where the big stories were supposed to be Lamar Odom‘s return to Staples and Kobe‘s shot at a fifth-consecutive 40-point game, neither side could hit a shot and couldn’t get out of each other’s way. So it came down to a guy who’s shooting 33 percent and averaging 4.3 points a night. Derek Fisher (13 points) hit the game-winning three with three seconds left, and the Lakers won one of the ugliest games we’ve seen in a long time when Vince Carter‘s last-ditch look was off. Read More »
The timing on this couldn’t be any better. Doesn’t it seem like just yesterday the Redeem Team put the clamps on the world, and brought back the Gold Medal in a classic final game against Spain? Well with the turn of the calendar to 2012, the Olympics feel like they’re right around the corner. Crazy, right? Reports have told us all along that the preliminary roster this summer would be 18 deep. From there, they would take 12 players – most of whom are already locks – to this summer’s Olympics to defend the gold medal. But now Chris Sheridan is reporting that they’re planning to make room for one more player during tryouts: Portland’s LaMarcus Aldridge. Read More »
USA Basketball released the names of the 27 NBA players who are candidates to play in this summer’s World Championships and the 2012 Olympics in London. Nine players return from the Olympic squad that took gold in Beijing – Kobe, LeBron, Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul, Chris Bosh, Dwight Howard, Carlos Boozer, Deron Williams, and Carmelo Anthony.
The rest of the roster looks like this: Read More »
One of my favorite sites, The700Level.com, points out that on this day back in 1992, in the midst of a demoralizing 38-7 (the Dream Team had reeled off 31 unanswered points at the time) destruction of the Angolan National Team, Charles Barkley decided to crack one of their players with an elbow after rampaging to an easy transition bucket. The incident happens at 3:17 of the video, but it’s worth wathing the whole thing to watch young(er) MJ, Magic, Larry Legend and Co. doing their thing…
Sir Charles’ reasoning for the ‘bow from The700Level: Read More »
The USA men’s basketball team’s well-documented shortcomings in 2002, 2004 and 2006 created a stone-cold sober climate before the Beijing Games in 2008. Players and coaches approached their commitment to winning gold with a sense of gravity largely absent from the years marred by defeat. However, amid all of the seriousness of Team USA’s run through Beijing, there were moments away from the media spotlight in which these 14 guys loosened up and became a team.
The roster is rounding out. Apparently Jerry Colangelo liked what he saw out of Dwyane Wade when he went to see him in Chicago last week because Wade is IN.
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