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If you missed the NBA slam dunk contest on Saturday night, you not only missed Blake Griffin dunking over a silver Kia and some other confusing but exciting shenanigans — you also missed Kenny Smith, Griffin's "coach" for the evening, delivering a nearly three-minute long speech about obstacles and the power of belief. David Roher at Harvard Sports Analysis transcribed the speech and posted a "word cloud" of the address last night. Smith used the word "believe" six separate times, and talked about obstacles that we all need to get over — like, for example, a brand new car standing in the way of a cash prize and a big endorsement deal! More »
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After scoring 37 points on 14-for-26 shooting in last night's All-Star Game, Kobe sat through a lot of post-game interviews. He seemed a little tired — irritable, even. Maybe it is from being around all the young folk, after all. More »
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Thanks to reader Chris, who noticed Love's love bite during a pre-game interview. Perhaps that Kevin Love fragrance really works. More »
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The introduction of "Ass Cam" poses the question of whether "you've ever wondered what goes on behind your back." From there, you can decide whether the two asscamtrepreneurs accurately predicted that they "look dumb :D" More »
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This is Regressing, a numbers-minded column by our clever friends at the Harvard Sports Analysis Collective. Today: The NBA's H-O-R-S-E competition was doomed to fail. More »
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La La Vazquez, the shrinking violet who whipped Mavericks fans into a racist frenzy, is making an honest man of Carmelo Anthony. More »
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Your weekly gambling column, featuring smart plays, oddball propositions, all your tales of woe — plus, betting advice from a 13-year-old boy! Send your stories to tips@deadspin.com. Subject: Bad beats. More »
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The early All-Star balloting numbers are in, and it looks like another year of the usual suspects: Kobe, LeBron, D-Wade, T-Mac...*record scratch* More »
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Among things you may have missed during NBA All-Star Weekend: Rapper Kid Cudi being tasered by police in an altercation over athletic shoes. Ha. More »
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Chris Bosh is out — Mo Williams is in. Cleveland can now sleep at night. [TSN] More »
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Kevin Durant, O.J. Mayo, and Joe Johnson will be the three competitors in the NBA H-O-R-S-E contest on Saturday. Try to contain yourself. [USA Today] More »
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I'm not sure if this is real or just idle (but completely believable) speculation, but USA Today is reporting that the game of All-Star H-O-R-S-E will actually be G-E-I-C-O, to the delight of the sponsor. More »
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You know, this is not as shocking as I originally thought. It turns out that NBA players will be shooting a game of H-O-R-S-E during All-Star festivities and not...you know...that other stuff. More »
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Matt from Hardwood Paroxysm headed to New Orleans for the All-Star madness last weekend. Well, actually, he was there for the Celebrity Game and the D-League All-Star Games. Today: The D-League All-Star Game. More »
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Matt from Hardwood Paroxysm headed to New Orleans for the All-Star madness last weekend. Well, actually, he was there for the Celebrity Game and the D-League All-Star Games. Over the next two days, we'll be telling his tales. Today: The Celebrity Game. More »
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The NBA Closer is written by Matt McHale, who spent most of the weekend wearing Superman pajamas and recreating Dwight Howard's award-winning dunks on a Nerf hoop. When he's not wearing blue tights with little red undies on the outside, he can be found practicing his dunk face at Basketbawful. Enjoy! More »
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If you missed the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game last night, it's probably because you have a life. Here's a quick recap: More »
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As we mentioned in the developmental league post yesterday, we never really enjoy the NBA All-Star Game, and we're pretty sure you don't either. Not that it particularly matters; it's not for us, it's for them, the players. It's in New Orleans this year, so everyone gets to go absolutely batshit crazy, and they get to look socially conscious for it. Best of everything! More »
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Yeah, yeah, so the NBA All-Star Game is this weekend. Yawn. There's not much more dull these days than the 3-point contest and the slam dunk competition, and the game itself ... no thanks. But worry not, basketball fans: There's an antidote in the very same city: It's the Development League All-Star Weekend! More »
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Time for your Pacman Jones update ... and it's a fun one. Everybody's favorite bouncer biter is in even more trouble today, as the search warrant for him has been made public. All kinds of doozies in here: More »
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So here's a fun end-of-day game from The 700 Level: See how many "celebrities" you can spot in the stands of the NBA All-Star Game over the weekend. No bonus points, sadly, for recently conceived fetuses, just the night before, being mainlined Red Bull through umbilical cords. More »
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You know, it almost seems natural: When there's a triple shooting in Las Vegas at a strip joint called Minxx Gentleman's Club, you tend to just assume Pac Man Jones was involved. (Or Stephen Jackson. Maybe Olin Kruetz.) Jones says, though, that rumors saying that he had something to do with it are false and that the police just wanted to talk to him as a witness. More »
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You might remember this quote, last week, from Las Vegas mayor Oscar B. Goodman: More »
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The All-Star game tips tonight around 8:30, give a take a few minutes, depending on what Danny Gans (who the hell is Danny Gans?) feels like doing to the national anthem. More »
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I called Nate Robinson "annoying" earlier, but I may have been hasty in my judgment. From the Las Vegas Review Journal, via The FanHouse, comes this report of a dunk that Nate had planned for last night's contest. More »
]]> http://deadspin.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=237708&view=rss&microfeed=true There aren't many good reasons not to like Shaq. This was Shaq having fun at the All-Star practice yesterday, forcing LeBron and Dwight Howard to have fun along with him. I realize that Shaq is not everyone's cup of tea, but when he retires, who's going to do stuff like this? It seems like Shaq is making a concerted effort to pass the torch to Dwight Howard this weekend. More »
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Dick Bavetta was all business. Charles Barkley's legendary confidence seemed shaken. But in the end, it was the younger Barkley who left with the victory... as well as a severely bruised tailbone after an ill-advised backpedal to the finish line. Video is below. More »
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Despite the fact that the NBA won't let Dwight Howard dunk on a 12-foot rim, it still shapes up as a pretty promising All-Star Saturday night. At least three of the dunkers pretend to care about the event (screw you, Tyrus Thomas), Gilbert Arenas will lie, cheat, and steal in order to win the three-point contest, Damon Jones will do anything to make himself famous, and at some point tonight ... Dick Bavetta and Charles Barkley are having a foot race. More »
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For random encounters with drunk athletes and/or celebrities, this could be the most promising weekend of all-time. Enrico Campitelli of The 700 Level is in one of the bloggers in Vegas this weekend, and last night, he ran into Bill Walton. Hammered, and all by his lonesome. More »
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AJ Daulerio's Cultural Oddsmaker runs every Friday. Email him to let him know what you think. More »
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You know, we're starting to think that basketball just isn't gonna be the most important part of the weekend in Las Vegas. More »
]]> http://deadspin.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=236542&view=rss&microfeed=true You know, when you're trying to promote an All-Star game in Las Vegas, what better way to do than a commercial of Jeremy Piven looking up Vince Carter's shorts? More »
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We are just a wee few days away from the NBA All-Star Weekend in Las Vegas, or, as we like to call it, "Caligula." The city of Las Vegas is all geared up, and while there's still plenty of talk about whether or not this means there will ultimately be a team in Vegas, we prefer to stick to the point: The NBA All-Star Game is in Vegas, and the whole shebang starts in just a few more days. What could possibly go wrong? More »
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Our friends at Bodog.com have the West listed as 4-point favorites for tonight's NBA All-Star Game, which makes sense. The West has won three of the last four All-Star games (though the East won last year). And the players from the hometown team seem to always want to give it a little bit more than everyone else. Houston has two guys in the West line-up (even though one of them appears to be clinically depressed), and I expect the guards to feed the ball to both Tracy McGrady and to Yao Ming all night long. More »
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"Hey Kevin, let me tell you somethin'. There are subliminal messages, and there are real messages. Like if I hit somebody in the head with a hammer, that's a real message. When I offer you Altoids..." More »
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We can't even have an All-Star Saturday Night without officiating controversy anymore. Last night in the Sprite Rising Stars Slam Dunk Contest, 5'9" Nate Robinson took down Andre Iguodala, but not without one of the biggest and most important officiating controversies of our time. Or, maybe not. More »
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A quick preview of tonight's All-Star fesivities, one of the most underrated events of the sporting calendar... More »
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It has been four days since NBA commissioner David Stern announced that Las Vegas would host the 2007 NBA All-Star Game. And players haven't taken long to start marking their territory: More »
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