basketball Page 326 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

There's A 14-Year-Old In Canada With A 39-Inch Vertical Leap
This young man is Jamar Ergas. He is in the eighth grade and can pull off a 360-degree dunk. Ergas will enter the ninth grade at Christian Faith Center Academy in Creedmore, N.C. next year and, barring any rule changes, will play one season of college basketball somewhere around the year 2015....

Last Night's Winner: Goat To Hero In Just Two Missed Free Throws
VCU product Jamal Shuler steps to the free throw line with 6 seconds left, his French team up one. What happens next, c'est incroyable....

The Most Unlikely Basket You'll See All Day, Unless Hasheem Thabeet Gets Garbage Time Minutes
Is this planned? Probably not planned. But if I'm the kid making this inbounds pass, I'm telling everyone this went off exactly the way it was drawn up....

When Large Dunking Man Meets Poorly Made Backboard
NBA castoff Rafael Araujo — formerly Hoffa, now Baby — completely wrecked the backboard at FIBA Americas League play for his Brazilian team. Yes, there's video....

Half-Court Buzzer Beater Not Hard Enough? Kid Does It No-Look, Backwards
This high schooler's too smooth to bother with things like aiming, following the flight of the ball, or celebrating. He's too busy contemplating the groupies he's going to plow through tonight....

Two Balls! Two Balls! Two Balls!
Yeah, it's a slow news day in Seattle. "Holy crap!"...

Video Proof That Traveling Doesn't Exist Anymore
Where, you might ask, do our nation's NBA players get the idea that two steps is just a suggested limit? It starts early. PIVOT FOOT, YOU LITTLE CHEATER, NOT PIVOT FEET....

Please Do Not Suplex The Referee
A Florida high schooler, upset over an iffy T, shows his displeasure with the ref in a very physical way. The game was forfeited, the player was ejected, and he could be facing expulsion. [via The Big Lead]...

Rick Pitino To Coach Puerto Rico, Says Tabloid Paper In Language I Don't Understand
It's being reported that Pitino will take the reins of the Puerto Rican National Team, coaching them at next summer's Olympic qualifying tournament, and likely the 2012 Olympics....

And Here's An 11-Year-Old Dunking
And yes, that's a regulation rim. Adrian Moore is in seventh grade, which means he won't even start college until 2016. Assuming he's not already playing for money somewhere in Europe next year. [Prep Rally, h/t Ryanosaurus Rex]...

Globetrotters Unveil Four-Point Shot; Why Not The NBA?
Okay, LeBron's homecoming has come and gone. Is there any way to get us interested in basketball again? Starting this weekend, Harlem Globetrotter games will have a spot on the court from which any basket is worth four points. We love this....

Select Your Own All-Time Greatest Jewish-American Basketball Team!
Hey, this is funnnn! It spits out customized scouting reports and everything. (My chosen ones, The Stars of David Stern, have "terrible" chemistry thanks to the "notoriously testy" Art Heyman.) Gregg Easterbrook should make one for the entertainment industry. [Tablet/FreeDarko]...

Barack Obama Needs Stitches After Busting Lip During Thanksgiving Basketball Game
The president took 12 stitches after getting hit in the mouth during a friendly game of hoops yesterday. Probably shouldn't have invited Bill Laimbeer. [AP]...

Thunderous Dunk Uses Opponent's Chest As A Springboard
Best we can tell, this is from the third level of the German pro basketball system, and that's University of Dayton grad Marcus Johnson going all Tom Chambers on some poor schmo. All 35 fans were thrilled....

Basketball Foul Is Skull-Stompingly Flagrant
ASU product Mike Batiste is a superstar in Euroleague hoops, but he kind of lost his cool the other night. Worry not: his coach made him go apologize....

Birth Of Basketball For Sale
James Naismith's original typewritten rules of basketball are up for auction. David Stern is frantically scanning them for mention of a hard cap....

Chinese National Basketball Team Karate-Kicks Brazil Off Court In International Friendly
The Chinese men's national basketball team apologized today for its most recent on-court brawl, in a designated "friendly" match against Brazil on Tuesday. Players and coaches blame it on bad calls — all within the first sixty-six seconds of play....

A Meeting With The Godfather: How Youth Basketball's Sausage Gets Made
In the world of grassroots basketball, the sneaker companies are kings, the coaches their vassals, and the players their serfs. However, these links are symbiotic: the companies need the coaches and players for marketing purposes and the coaches and players need the sneaker companies to get exposur...

Stories That Don't Suck: USA Basketball's 12 Angry Men
From time to time, we'll select stories — old and new, sports and otherwise, relevant and merely sublime — that we urge you to read for one reason or another. Today: The 1972 Olympic team, still bitter about losing to the Soviets....

Now <em>Turkey</em> Wants To Take Away Your Right To Check Out Cheerleaders
Fresh off news that dancers at the FIBA world championship had to overdress for USA-Iran, we now get word that their services won't be required during Turkey's games from now on. Man, if I didn't hate Hedo Turkoglu before... [NYT]...