basketball Page 326 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Sadly, You're Not Allowed To Alley-Oop A Player
Keep an eye on Nos. 8 and 9 in the red. Well played, gentlemen. But you can’t legally do that. Good thing the refs didn’t know the rules....
That'll Do, Eastern Conference. That'll Do.
A depressing realization dawned on me as I struggled to stay awake through last night’s Game 5s in Atlanta and Toronto: These teams are shitty. Make a squad of the 10 best players from these four teams—the Hawks, Celtics, Pacers, and Raptors—and any of the West’s top three teams would put it down in...
High School Basketball Star Says He Didn't Know He Was 29 Years Old
Last week it was revealed that Jonathan Nicola, a 6-foot-9 junior tearing it up for Catholic Central High School in Windsor, Ontario, was not indeed a 17-year-old kid dunking on a bunch of fellow teens, but instead a 29-year-old man dunking on a bunch of unsuspecting teens. Nicola told authorities i...
The Playoffs Are Shaping Up Nicely For The Cavs, Huh?
The Cavaliers finished off their sweep of the Pistons Sunday night, but almost as important as beating the Pistons 4-0 was how they did it. LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love are all healthy, and for the first time in two years actually look like a cohesive unit. Irving is relieving James of...
Report: Candace Parker Left Off United States Olympic Basketball Team
Candace Parker is one of the best players in the WNBA, a two-time MVP who does cool dunks and has made the All-WNBA first or second team in every season she’s been healthy. She has also won two gold medals with the United States Olympic team, but according to a report from ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, s...
Stephen Curry Sprains MCL, Will Miss At Least Two Weeks
Warriors point guard Stephen Curry underwent an MRI on his right knee this morning, and it revealed a Grade 1 MCL sprain. According to the team, Curry will be re-evaluated in two weeks:...
Jeff Teague Saved The Hawks, Only To Murder Them
In their overtime loss to the Celtics last night, just about every member of the Atlanta Hawks besides Paul Millsap played like dogshit. One of the chief offenders was point guard Jeff Teague, who shot a dismal 4-18, and had just five assists to three turnovers. He missed almost every shot as the ga...
Isaiah Thomas's Sons Are The Best, Cutest Hype Men
One of the best things about the NBA playoffs—curmudgeonly reporters be damned—is that players start bringing their kids to press conferences. After Isaiah Thomas scored 28 points to lead the Celtics to a Game 4 victory the Hawks, he introduced sons James and Jaiden to the world. They immediately ma...
Draymond Green Blasts Reporter Who Asks Bizarre Question About Houston Floods
This is a very strange moment from Draymond Green’s postgame press conference following yesterday’s 121-94 victory over the Rockets. The reporter seems to be asking Green about similarities between this series—where the Rockets won Game 3 as Houston was still dealing with a major flood, but got blow...
Report: Lakers Finally Fire Byron Scott
The Los Angeles Lakers have fired head coach Byron Scott, reports Adrian Wojnarowski. If you live anywhere near Southern California, that sound you hear is millions of Lakers fans shouting hosannahs into the air. ...
Let's Remember Pearl Washington, A Godfather Of The Crossover Dribble
This week Dwayne Alonzo “Pearl” Washington, a sensational guard at Syracuse and an 8.6 ppg three-year NBA pro died at the age of 52, of brain cancer. He was not even the most famous Pearl in NBA history, having inherited his smooth nickname by emulating his boyhood hero, Earl “The Pearl” Monroe. (Co...
Report: Wizards Hire Scott Brooks As Head Coach
The next head coach of the Washington Wizards will be former Oklahoma City Thunder coach Scott Brooks, according to Adrian Wojnarowski. He reports that the deal is for five years and $35 million, and David Aldridge reports that all five years are guaranteed....
Adam Silver Says NBA Will Move All-Star Game If North Carolina Doesn't Change Anti-LGBT Laws
North Carolina is set to host the 2017 NBA All-Star game, but in a meeting with reporters today, commissioner Adam Silver said that the game will have to be moved if recently enacted anti-LGBT laws are not changed....
Stanley Johnson Thinks He's In LeBron's Head. Okay, Stan.
LeBron James spent large portions of Game 2 punking the Detroit Pistons. He dunked all over Reggie Bullock and let everyone know how awesome it felt, he stink-faced Marcus Morris for daring to leave him open, and he gave rookie Stanley Johnson a meaningful bump during a timeout:...
Report: High School Basketball Star Actually A 29-Year-Old Man
The Catholic Central High School boys basketball team, located in Windsor, Ontario, has a pretty good player in Jonathan Nicola. The 6-foot-9 center is so good that his coach put together the workout video above, because, as he told the Windsor Star last year, Nicola had a shot at going pro. That dr...
Nearly Perfect: For One Night, Rex Chapman Was King
Michael Jordan made me hate basketball. That’s not supposed to be the effect of one of the greatest players of all time, not if he plays for your team or you’re a connoisseur of the sport. But for me, a young sports fan in South Florida who sort of understood basketball, I looked at Michael Jordan’s...
Charlie Villanueva Gets In Nice Underhanded Burn
There was a funny little moment before Dallas’ dramatic Game 2 victory over Oklahoma City, when Mavericks reserve Charlie Villanueva interrupted the pre-game dance routine of Russell Westbrook and Cameron Payne. After the last-second loss, Kevin Durant called Villanueva’s move “fake shit,” and Russe...
Nearly Perfect: Charles Barkley Was The Patron Saint Of Moral Victories
I’m a sucker for those moments when athletes lose themselves a little bit. When Jose Bautista gets mad at baseball and then throws a bat into baseball’s face; when Rajon Rondo realizes it’s him against the world and still asks LeBron James to come get some; when Baron Davis decides that the only app...
Nearly Perfect: The Chicago Bulls Were Frauds
Children don’t pick their heroes, they gravitate to them. This youthful ignorance is blissful insofar as it frees one to feel that magnetic pull without questioning why it exists in the first place. The Jordan-era Chicago Bulls thus became the team of my childhood without any real reason beyond the...
Nearly Perfect: The Indiana Pacers Were A Vanished Ideal
The Indiana Pacers were a pretty, pretty basketball team. Do people know that now? It all came back at once, watching the bleary video of them facing the Bulls on Boxing Day of 1995. The in-game graphics reminded viewers that the Pacers had won the Central Division the year before—Michael Jordan’s b...