Basketball Page 889 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
It’s always easy to blame the refs, but this time they’re truly awful
Complaining about officiating after a loss is one of the more annoying things that a sports fan can do. Coming from a coach or player who has just suffered a tough loss that they feel was unfairly called, the complaint may be easier to stomach, but it still doesn’t really sit right. It comes across ...
Devin Booker is having a spectacular season for Phoenix but where’s the MVP love?
We often hear about consistency in sports, yet it feels like it’s rarely rewarded without the proper narrative or flair behind it. That’s the case for Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker. All Booker does is step on the court and average 26 points per game like clockwork for the best team in the NBA. He’...
Be patient, but more importantly, not cheap, Chicago
If Zach LaVine and Demar DeRozan thought backup was coming in the form of Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso, or Patrick Williams, they might want to try buddy-copping their way out of the jam Chicago is in now. Fake argue like Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, or mix karate with charisma like Chris Tucker and J...
Kevin Durant says Dirk Nowitzki is the best shooting big of all time, but it's actually Kevin Durant
I’m not surprised that Kevin Durant has a great deal of respect for Dirk Nowitzki’s game. Prior to Dirk becoming one of the best players in the league, all the basketball players who were bigger than most of the other basketball players were scoffed at for not playing with their back to the basket. ...
Has it really been a bad year for Julius Randle or was last season just an outlier?
This can’t be the season Knicks forward Julius Randle envisioned coming off a career year where he averaged 24 points per game, led his team to the playoffs, was named Most Improved Player, and became a first time All-NBA selection. The Knicks are in 11th place in the East now, with no real chance a...
Kyrie Irving outlasted the NBA and Eric Adams in a game of chicken — but nobody won
James Harden should have waited....
How Sweet it is
From 68 teams to the final 16. More than 50 teams with their eyes on a national championship are handing in jerseys instead of preparing for more games. The first six days of NCAA Tournament action left three double-digit seeds, including maybe the biggest Cinderella in Tournament history, which you...
LeBron is gunning for the scoring title because the Lakers are irrelevant
The Lakers are the hottest kind of garbage right now. The kind of refuse you smell on Bourbon Street the day after Mardi Gras. They’re 10 games below .500, sitting in ninth place, and fighting for a final chance to disappoint their home crowd in the first of possibly two play-in games. Russel Westbr...
Social athlete-fan interactions keep getting worse
Player fan relationships moved into an entirely new realm over a decade ago when social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter began to pop up. Not long after came Instagram and later TikTok. These platforms have become staples in our lives, not just in the United States but around the ...
Ratings prove that Duke is good for business and the NCAA Tournament
When it comes to March Madness, Duke is a necessary evil. No wonder they’re (Blue) Devils. ...
Fictional Hooper Bracket: Hickory Region - Round 2
An overweight out-of-work actor who didn’t make a bucket on screen, a cartoon grade school kid, and Urkel all prevailed in the Hickory Region, meaning the 11, 13, and 14 seeds came up Milhouse in an upset-riddled round. Now, Urkel and Recess’ Vince LaSalle face off to go to the Sweet 16....
Fictional Hooper Bracket: Western U. Region - Round 2
The Western University Region is strictly for hoopers, and the matchups reflected that. Love & Basketball’s Monica Wright McCall and White Men Can’t Jump’s Sidney Dean adore the game, and people clearly rewarded them for it. The talent and force of Grandmama and Ty Crane were too much for Deacon Mos...
A tribute to the omnipresent NBA stars who never played a minute
Let’s pour one out for the lost souls of the 2021-22 NBA season. This season was a void on their resumes for a select few stars. An entire missed season can be an opportunity to step back, reevaluate and return for a bounce-back campaign. Or they can smack into the 2023 season like porcelain against...
This Kyrie situation is starting to feel like the Mayor of New York is trying to beat him in a game of one-on-one
I know this is March Madness and NFL Free Agency season, but the NBA Playoffs start in less than 30 days. That last, and most entertaining, mile of the NBA season, but maximum entertainment value is only achieved if all of the stars are playing. That appears to still be in jeopardy with Kyrie Irving...
The man, the myth, the… mustache?
Doug Edert has quickly risen to fame in the past week, going from the sixth man for a small Catholic school’s basketball team in Jersey City, playing in an arena the size of a suburban high school gym, to the face of the 2022 NCAA Championship....
Hornets sign Isaiah Thomas for the rest of the season
These last few years have been tough for Charlotte Hornets guard Isaiah Thomas. He’s been on nothing but 10-day contracts recently, and after consecutive 10-day deals in Charlotte, the Hornets have decided to keep Thomas on for the remainder of the year....
Record-breaking performances by women in March Madness
With the official March Madness sticker finally slapped onto the women’s NCAA basketball tourney, this year’s field has truly embraced the name of the game. As fiscal, concrete, and abstract changes have been implemented into the women’s tournament this year in an attempt to make it more equitable w...
Mavs again find themselves embroiled in sexual misconduct allegations
It would be nice if sports leagues were proactive on issues with workplace culture and harassment. Instead of waiting around for formal charges to be filed, public outrage to grow so loud that it can’t be ignored, or a Baxter Holmes bombshell, commissioners should follow up on every rumor of sexual ...
Fictional Hooper Bracket: The Rucker Region - Round 2
The only havoc in the first round of the Rucker Regional was a 5-12 upset, which has become almost commonplace in March Madnesses everywhere. We’ll see how things tighten up heading into the Silver Screen 16 with matchups like Kyrie Irving alter ego Uncle Drew getting his first real test of the tour...
Fictional Hooper Bracket: Venice Beach Regional - Round 2
The first round of the Venice Beach Regional went mostly according to the seedings, with an easily predicted upset (12-seed Buggs beating the 5-seed Pound in a Space Jam rematch), and one I didn’t see coming (13-seed Clarence Withers toppling 4-seed Quincy McCall). At the top of the bracket, Billy H...