basketball Page 26 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Mark Cuban is not who we thought he was going to be
This past week has been the dried-out cherry on top of an expired whipped cream sundae of a 2022-23 season for the Dallas Mavericks. They entered it one game out of the play-in tournament a shade under two months after trading for Kyrie Irving. It would be easy to blame him for Mavericks’ fall, but ...
Redefining what it means to be a unicorn
“Unicorn” is up there with “new normal” and “positionless basketball” as far as terms I would love to see removed from my brain. Any big man with guard skills is dubbed a unicorn, and we’re led to believe the NBA is a mythical universe populated by elves, dragons, and wizards. Well, technically the ...
The Atlanta Hawks have been the definition of mediocrity
The Atlanta Hawks season has been a Sisyphean quest to remain above .500. They came, they saw, and they Even Stevened for most of the season. If you ever wondered what a wedgie between the rim and the hoop personified this season was, it would be the 41-39 Atlanta Hawks. ...
Charles Oakley tells Isiah Thomas: MJ doesn't 'want to be your friend'
Former NBA star Charles Oakley has never been one to bite his tongue. After all, he played in the Association during a time when basketball was much different, and it wasn’t uncommon for teams to have multiple enforcers. In fact, while playing in Chicago with Michael Jordan, some would call Oakley M...
UConn has 5 national titles — but their championship game TV ratings suck
When three different coaches have combined to win five national championships at one men’s college basketball program since 1999, it means they’re one of the sport’s blue bloods. But, you know that question that goes, “If a tree falls in the forest, and there’s no one around to hear It, does it make...
The Isiah Thomas-Michael Jordan beef still going strong decades later
I guess if Michael Jordan gets to remain bitter about events from 40 years ago then everyone else from that time should be granted the same courtesy. In 2021 it was Scottie Pippen — promoting his bourbon and book — who was publicly critical of Jordan. Since the NBA 75 Greatest Team gathered at the 2...
We created a 64-topic bracket only for you to vote for Michael Jordan for 3 weeks
Folks, we spent a lot of time on this Great Debates bracket. Did anyone ask for a bracket of 64 different regularly debated topics? No. Do we at Deadspin get paid to produce content? According to my direct deposit alerts, yes. Of course, no one wants to hear complaints about sports writing, but it’s...
Name a worse duo than Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving
I’ll just start with the question posed in the headline: Name a worse mashup of duos than Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving. For starters, Dennis Rodman and Jean-Claude van Damme in Double Team come to mind. Maybe, but at least they were so bad, so it’s funny. Bleach and vinegar create potentially lethal...
Manny Machado getting run over arguing a pitch-clock K is objectively funny
There was bound to be an adjustment period as MLB entered the pitch clock era, and my question is, did basketball handle the implementation of the shot clock as poorly as this? Manny Machado was the first player to earn a strike via clock violation in spring training, and he became the first player ...
The definitive list of college basketball blue bloods
Another college basketball season has come and gone. The women’s tournament outshined the men’s showcase in March Madness due to ratings and attendance records, not to mention the undeniable star power the sport has. The men’s NCAA Tournament wrapped Monday night with UConn completing the six-game s...
The March Madness final was outdone by a lone Victor Wembanyama highlight
If you’ve been looking for, or are actively seeking, ways to lessen the importance of men’s March Madness, the past few weeks were a veritable shopping spree. You could throw any number of items in the cart while you sprint through the aisles — Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese overshadowing the title g...
The new-look Los Angeles Lakers are peaking at just the right time
What appeared to be a lost Los Angeles Lakers season six weeks ago has sprouted wings in the final home stretch before the postseason. After missing countless weeks mending injuries in 2023, Anthony Davis and LeBron James returned to a lineup terraformed on the go....
UConn is the top men’s basketball program of the last 25 years
Of course there have been both more highly anticipated and better-played NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship games than the one that took place on Monday night. It didn’t take long to realize that Connecticut was going to defeat San Diego State, thereby winning the championship in the most dominating...
The best games of the final week of the 2022-23 NBA regular-season Schedule
It’s the final week of the NBA regular season. Usually I would advise sports fans to get one last glimpse at a young team like the Orlando Magic before their season comes to an end. This season, my viewing recommendation is to wait until next season to watch the youngsters. They likely will have imp...
Five NFL rumors you missed while watching college basketball
OBJ is said to have his sights set on a $15 million payday now, slightly less than the $20 million previously reported. The New York Jets have been linked to Beckham of late, but that won’t happen before the Aaron Rodgers deal is wrapped up. ...
Save your Angel Reese disdain for LSU’s shoulder devil, Kim Mulkey
LSU’s resounding victory over Iowa in Sunday’s National Championship Game energized an angry national convoy of hoop casuals who have an amorphous beef with women’s college basketball. Think folks are mad about the bastardization of college sports in the age of college basketball free agency? LSU’s ...
Like 'thug' and 'woke' — 'classless' is the new way to call Black people the N-word
All season long, Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark dominated women’s college basketball. It was a prayer answered when the basketball gods gave us Iowa and LSU in the national championship game during a record-breaking Final Four. But instead of the focus being on LSU’s hot shooting or Iowa’s second-hal...
U mad? The women's game will glory in your outrage
This NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship game had everything; insane outside shooting, a pink-sequined pantsuit, trash-talk that got personal, a record-setting final score, nanny-state officiating, an Iowan breaking the tournament all-time scoring record, and Billie Jean King....
Girls can talk trash, too
Depending on whatever echo chamber you’ve decided to inhabit on social media, the final of the Women’s college basketball tournament might sound very different than it does to someone else. I’m sure for all the genuine college basketball fans out there, and especially LSU fans, all there is is an ap...
Can college basketball’s AFC Richmond bounce back from their season finale?
Lamont Butler’s dagger as the buzzer sounded in Houston was a coup de grâce to Florida Atlantic’s storybook season. From being picked fifth in the preseason conference tournament to blitzing through their schedule, the Owls served wake-up calls to each and every one of their opponents en route to th...