basketball Page 196 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Nikola Jokic's Doughy Shoulders Can Carry The Load
Sometimes it’s hard to imagine soft-bodied, sweet-passing Nuggets center Nikola Jokic as the kind of blue-chip superstar who can carry a team all by himself. Part of this is due to that aforementioned body, which manages to be both gangly and plump, and totally out of place during an era in which th...
Mason Plumlee Did What Now?
The Nuggets have that glow these days. Competent role-players are oozing out of the woodwork. Dumb shots are falling. Mason Plumlee is dusting Harrison Barnes with a slick behind-the-back dribble and a lefty scoop layup to beat the buzzer and put a goofy exclamation point on a 74-point first half, w...
Jarrett Allen Summons Hysterical Strength To Stuff LeBron James
They say that in times of intense stress, human beings can manage to perform impossible, superhuman feats of “hysterical strength.” I can’t think of a more terrifying situation than seeing LeBron James barreling directly at you with eyes on a monster slam, but for young Brooklyn Nets big man Jarrett...
Zion Williamson Bonked His Forehead On The Damn Backboard
We are used to Zion Williamson’s rare combination of dump truck size and comic book athleticism putting the opposition in grave danger, but this is maybe the first sign that young Zion can truly fuck himself up if he isn’t real careful out there:...
Spencer Dinwiddie Is A Refreshing Change Of Pace From The Standard Brandbot Athlete<em></em>
Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie—who after a patchy early career just inked a three-year, $34 million extension with Brooklyn, and seems to be a generally hilarious dude—has a refreshing worldview on the brands. Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic wrote about the population of NBA players who navigate the le...
It's No Fun To Get Stuck Between Superstars<em></em>
This excerpt from Sam Anderson’s new book Boom Town, a book on the rapid rise of Oklahoma City and its NBA franchise, joins the team at home for Game 46 of the 2012-13 season, and considers the least-heralded member of what looked at the time like a rising dynasty....
Devin Booker Joins Rich Tradition Of Humiliating Enes Kanter
Way back in January of last season, Devin Booker was ejected from a game after gently shoving Enes Kanter in the Suns’ 107-85 loss to the Knicks. Kanter, being as exhaustingly online as he is, made an insipid meme depicting Booker holding a large “L” right after the game....
James Harden Did A New Thing To Infuriate Everyone
James Harden is one of the very best basketball players in the world and the NBA would be worse off without his handles and shooting and creative abilities. He’s also an annoying pile of crap!...
Taj Gibson's Loose Shoe Temporarily Becomes Important Defensive Weapon
Taj Gibson lost his shoe on a post move early in the first quarter of tonight’s Kings-Timberwolves game. His shoeless layup went down, which is cool enough, but play did not stop, and so Gibson was forced to hoof it down to the defensive end in a sock, holding his shoe in his right hand....
Kerfuffle Erupts Between Thunder And Bitter, Tightly-Wound Bulls
The sad, demoralized Bulls are having their asses handed to them in Oklahoma City tonight. Perhaps the familiarity of another grim drubbing was more than they could bear—in the third quarter, down 21 points, they picked several fights all at once:...
Dave Joerger Wildly Overshoots The Mark While Clarifying Excessively Pro-Luka Dončić Comments
The good young Kings beat the good young Mavericks on Sunday, in Luka Dončić’s first career regular season game against the team that unexpectedly passed on drafting him with the second overall pick back in June. Dončić had 28 points on 15 shots and was excellent; Marvin Bagley III, whom the Kings s...
Don't Get Too Hopeful About James Dolan Selling The Knicks
There’s a whole lot to chew on (and possibly also retch up) in ESPN reporter Ian O’Connor’s substantial profile of James Dolan up today. Over the course of a two-hour interview, Dolan faced good, tough questions and responded at surprising length. He also displayed his trademark sensitivity and tho...
Nothing Means Anything, But John Wall Was Great Last Night
John Wall is still pretty good. It’s okay to have forgotten....
Please Enjoy This Nikola Jokic-Ass Layup
The Nuggets’ 95-86 win over the Raptors on Sunday night wasn’t the prettiest imaginable matchup between each conference’s No. 1 team. It looked a lot more like the league’s No. 4 and No. 7 defense dragging each other through the muck while coping with a rash of injuries and putrid shooting, which ha...
South Carolina Commit Zia Cooke Had An Incredibly Nasty 43-Point Game
Zia Cooke, a South Carolina commit and ESPN’s seventh-ranked prospect from the 2019 class, put on a show Saturday, dropping a career-high 43 points in the fifth game of her senior season. The highlight reel from the game featured pretty much everything you’d want from a high school mixtape: step-ba...
Who The Hell Was Supposed To Catch This Pass?
Rodions Kurucs, an intriguing prospect out of Latvia, earned his second career start for the Brooklyn Nets today. At one point in the third quarter, the 20-year-old rookie grabbed a board and headed up the fast break. Kurucs tore down the floor until he spotted a teammate wide-open in the left corne...
Paul George Is In His Zone
Russell Westbrook needed 22 minutes to get on the board. It didn’t matter, because the Thunder have that other guy, too. Carrying the scoring load for Oklahoma City once again was Paul George, who went off for 33 points, seven rebounds, and six assists, with no turnovers. Behind another wild Decembe...
LeBron And Lonzo Post A Rare Double Triple-Double
LeBron James posted 24 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists, his second triple-double of the season, and then sat out the whole fourth quarter as the Lakers lashed the Hornets Saturday. As LeBron headed off the court to rest his bones, he took Lonzo Ball aside and told him to look up: the 21-year-old...
Suns And Wizards Get Their Shit Together Long Enough To Complete Trevor Ariza Trade
Well that didn’t take long....
This Lengthy Markelle Fultz Update Is A Real Bummer<em></em>
Markelle Fultz hasn’t played for the Sixers for almost a month, as he recovers from something called thoracic outlet syndrome and attempts to rebuild his broken confidence and broken jump shot. Teams are reportedly calling the Sixers with lowball offers, and now that he’s spending his second season ...