Basketball Page 881 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
True Basketball Crime: Justice for Gary Payton II
It was April 14 at 8:35 Central Time on Tuesday in Memphis, Tennessee when a hardwood crime was reported on the FedExForum floor....
Tyler Herro deserves a better celebrity BFF than Jack Harlow
Casual NBA fans think of Jimmy Butler when they think of the Miami Heat. He can be great, but is more often than not, just really good, and that’s earned him such national TV ads as the Michelob Ultra commercial where he sings Hootie & the Blowfish on an airplane. As much as adolescent me wants to i...
Budding Grizzlies-Warriors rivalry is highlighted by maturation of Ja Morant
The first two games of the Grizzlies-Warriors semifinals series have provided something for every NBA fan, no matter which side you’re on. If you can’t get excited about this series, then you aren’t a hardcore hoops fan....
Don’t let Mike D’Antoni grant superpowers to LaMelo Ball
Mike D’Antoni is to star players what a radioactive accident is to superheroes and supervillains. He gets to a team and grants the best player powers beyond their greatest imagination. What they do with them is their choice. While the best case results have been Icarian flights that flirt with title...
DeAndre Ayton continues to show Phoenix that he’s pretty damn good and deserves a max extension
In professional sports, we often hear players go public with the desire for a new contract instead of just allowing their performance on the court or field to speak for them. But that isn’t how Phoenix Suns center DeAndre Ayton is handling his contract situation with the Suns. All Ayton’s done over ...
Joel Embiid might be a world champion after all
Joel Embiid’s best chance of becoming a champion is unlikely to happen in 2022. A concussion and right orbital bone fracture have cast doubt on his availability for the Sixers’ semifinal series against the Miami Heat. If he’s unable to play, the Sixers are doomed and The Process-era Sixers will repe...
Message to Jazz: Trade Donovan Mitchell to the Knicks... and other fire-sale moves
Before the Utah Jazz even began their first-round playoff series against the Dallas Mavericks, there were significant questions about their chemistry, viability as a winner, and ceiling. It was no secret that their two superstars, Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, don’t care for one another. The ten...
Draymond is winning in the court of public opinion and basking in it
Look who gets to be the good guy. It is hard to get ejected from an NBA playoff game, but Draymond Green figured out how to pull it off on Sunday. He got sent to the showers in the first half for clocking Brandon Clarke during the Golden State Warriors Game 1, 117-116 victory against the Memphis Gri...
The NBA is always best with celebrity fans, but Jack Harlow needs to do better
So Jack Harlow is gunning for the top NBA celebrity fan award. It’s clear with him taking logo threes during the celebrity all star game, recording singles about Tyler Herro, and getting advice from Kawhi Leonard about how to improve his game. Part of the charm of the NBA is the celebrities in court...
History should remember Isaiah Wong as a hero, not a villain
Last week, a worker “allegedly” had intentions of finding another job if his current employer didn’t give him a raise he’d proven he earned. The worker knew his value and “allegedly” felt like he should be paid more after outperforming his deal. You would think that something like this would be appl...
David Griffin is Executive of the Year
Before Feb. 8, New Orleans Pelicans executive Vice President of Basketball Operations David Griffin was getting dragged for the team’s sorry state he oversaw. The Pelicans were 21 and 32, headed toward another disastrous season until that point. At the same time, Zion Williamson avoided the team at ...
There were some outstanding performances in the first round of the NBA Playoffs, and those players deserve some recognition
The playoffs are not about individual accomplishments. This is the time where players make every single sacrifice from points to minutes without complaint — at least they’re supposed to. That’s why there aren’t any playoff awards except for Finals MVP and, of course, the championship....
<em>Winning Time </em>Episode 9 “Acceptable Loss”
Jerry West is out for blood. The real Jerry West, that is, not the Jason Clarke avatar we have seen stalk and storm through the first season of Winning Time. The flesh and bone West, who is a part of the Lakers organization as much as Kobe Bryant or Magic Johnson, is really fucking pissed. Recently...
Sixers fans, gird your loins for Harden time
Before Sixers fans could even breathe a sigh of relief over the possibility of going to a Game 7 despite a 3-0 lead, they’re gasping for air upon hearing the news that Joel Embiid is out indefinitely with a right orbital fracture and a mild concussion. The injury, courtesy of an elbow from Pascal Si...
Trae Young can be a lot of things, but he can’t be the No. 1 scoring option on a title team
You can blame Trae Young for a lot of Atlanta’s first-round exit to Miami. He was 22-for-69 from the floor, shot 17 percent from 3, and had as many turnovers (31) as he did assists (31). He didn’t even listen in on the huddle before the last play of their season, so if you want to destroy him, feel ...
Not sure that’s how NIL is supposed to be used
OK, we have our first villain of the NIL era....
Draymond Green follows up Bill Simmons’ bad take with one of his own
Whenever I see sports media beef, my reaction is to wonder what’s for dinner or daydream about literally anything else. So when I saw that Draymond Green ripped Bill Simmons for Simmons’ saying, “Fuck Jalen Green,” I looked out the window and pondered whether this spring sprinkle in Chicago was goin...
How many wrongs make a Jay Wright?
Doc Rivers sounded more shook than ever on Wednesday defending his history of coaching teams who have flamed out after taking resounding leads in past playoffs series’. His voice typically cracks, but in defending himself from criticism of his numerous shortcomings, he sounded more like a First Take...
Russia-U.S. prisoner exchange offers glimmer of hope for Brittney Griner
It appears Russia’s hardline obsession with punishing drug offenders has its limit after all. On Wednesday morning, Russia released a U.S. citizen and former marine, Trevor Reed, as part of prisoner exchange. In July 2020, Reed was sentenced to nearly nine years in prison following an altercation wi...