Basketball Page 839 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

If Giannis wins his third MVP this year we can put the best player on the planet debate to rest
Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo can join some elite company, should he take home his third NBA MVP award at the end of the regular season. If he can edge out Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokić, we can finally lay the best player in the world debate to rest. We can’t continue to deny Antetoko...

Evan Mobley has been great all season, but he’s been outplayed by Scottie Barnes for Rookie of the Year
The NBA Rookie of the Year vote has gotten even more complicated. Yesterday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Evan Mobley sprained his left ankle and is out for the next three games. This comes at an especially difficult time for the Cleveland Cavaliers, who have lost four of their last five ...

Eric Church cancels concert to watch UNC-Duke
Sorry to all the Eric Church fans out there, but I’ve just got to respect the man’s commitment to the game. The country singer canceled a sold-out concert in San Antonio this Saturday so that he could watch North Carolina face Duke in a Final Four game that, if all goes well, is sure to go down in h...

James Harden has the most to prove of any star player this postseason
The NBA postseason is nearly upon us, and each year you can pick out a few players that have something to prove. Giannis Antetokounmpo did it last season (no matter how many breaks they got along the way), leading Milwaukee to the title, and LeBron James the year before when he led the Lakers to the...

ESPN’s latest MVP straw poll...explain yourself
This year’s NBA MVP Award has several contenders: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Ja Morant, Devin Booker, Luka Dončić, etc. However, most fans and analysts would agree that the award is really a two-horse race between Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid and the reigning MVP, Denver’s Nikola Jokić. It’s been that way...

Big Shot Bob saves the day after another disappointing Lakers loss and Russell Westbrook
However you feel about that era of Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs, the world is a better place because Robert Horry played for them in the 2000s. His performance in Game 5 of the 2005 NBA Finals against the Detroit Pistons gave us something to remember from that dry white toast of a seven-...

Giannis outshines Embiid in latest installment of the best rivalry in the NBA
Joel Embiid learned a valuable lesson in Tuesday night’s loss to the Milwaukee Bucks in the waning seconds. When you come at the king, you best not miss. Or at least go up for game-tying shots more aggressively when the king of weakside blocks is prowling....

Paul George looks like he hasn’t missed a beat
The Clippers appear to be operating like a team that’s extremely aware of its mortality. Paul George returned from injury Tuesday to help lead LA to a comeback win over the Utah Jazz, scoring 34 points in 31 minutes. If his right elbow — which could’ve been repaired via surgery but he opted to play ...

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s take on the Will Smith/Chris Rock situation is an outdated view of progress
Sometimes, even the NBA’s all-time leading scorer misses an easy one....

Three teams that could be next in line to improve drastically in a short amount of time like the Memphis Grizzlies
In the NBA, teams with stars and veteran leadership usually make waves in the postseason and win championships. It’s rare to see a team of young inexperienced players going deep in the postseason, no matter how talented they are. Of course, there are outliers to everything....

Duke-North Carolina at the Final Four is already one for the ages
It’s already an instant classic and the ball won’t be tipped for four more days. The greatest rivalry in college basketball, one of the fiercest in all of sports, heads to the Final Four. Duke squaring off with North Carolina is a momentous, must-watch occasion when it takes place under routine circ...

UConn turns the page, and turns to Paige
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — There was no good answer for the NCAA when it came to seeding Connecticut for March Madness....

Kyrie Irving’s full-time status doesn’t guarantee Brooklyn anything
After months of back and forth, protests, and outright refusing to get vaccinated, Kyrie Irving got his wish and was able to return as a full-time player in Brooklyn on Sunday. Irving scored just 16 points in his home debut, a Nets loss 119-110 to the Charlotte Hornets. All that build-up and noise a...

Fictional Hooper Bracket: The Elite Eight
Welcome to the Elite Eight of the Fictional Hoopers Tournament. All the fat and sinew (Sandy Lyle and Steve Urkel) have been trimmed, and the characters left are all from powerhouse pictures. No one has been able to knock off either of White Men Can’t Jump’s main characters (celebrated last night at...

Like Lakers’ season, LeBron James’ numbers are empty in MVP race
Never before has a player done so much, but it meant so little. Enter LeBron James....

Bluebloods only: No Cinderellas allowed
CHICAGO — Bill Self survived… himself....

The Ja Morant/Allen Iverson comparisons are actually kind of legit
Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant is having a sensational season. Morant has led his team to the second-best record in the NBA and they’ve eclipsed 50 wins for the first time since the 2014-15 campaign. And Memphis still has the chance to set a franchise record for regular season wins (56) with seve...

Photo Essay: N.C. State and UConn punch tickets to Elite Eight
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — N.C. State, the top seed in the Bridgeport Regional, advanced to its first Elite Eight in 24 years on Saturday, Raina Perez’s steal and fast break layup in the closing seconds put the Wolfpack ahead to stay in their 66-63 triumph over No. 4 Notre Dame which led most of the way. D...

LeBron’s entire year has been a Razzie
On Oscar weekend, Space Jam: A New Legacy is being honored with a surprising distinction that has LeBron James stans flying their flags at half-mast. This isn’t a LeBron hate space, but we’ve got to keep it 100. I used to joke that LeBron would have been the perfect casting choice for Magic Johnson ...
