basketball Page 64 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Early returns for NBA stars… returning
While it’s too early to define the theme of this NBA season, the first week-plus has showcased stars returning from serious injuries. Damian Lillard, Zion Williamson, Jamal Murray, and Kawhi Leonard all saw their first action after lengthy absences, and the reviews have been all over the place....
Did you know Manhattan College canned its coach less than two weeks before the start of the season?
The Manhattan Jaspers start the 2022 college basketball season in a dozen days. Sounds like a great time to fire your head coach. And that’s exactly what happened in The Bronx (yes, Manhattan College is in The Bronx, get over it), as Steve Masiello was dismissed from the program just short of starti...
Will have some more of this, thank you
Tuesday night was Klay Thompson’s 651st regular-season game as a Golden State Warrior. When you add the 145 playoff games, Thompson’s been a part of 796 games in his career, and he’d never been ejected from one — until Tuesday night in Phoenix. ...
Early NBA season superlatives: Let’s hope this version of the Knicks lasts longer than ‘Bing bong!’
It’s hard to get a vibe on the NBA after one week of games. The Wizards started last 10-3, and New York fans were excitedly yelling “Bing bong!” before both came to depressing finishes. Klay Thompson didn’t return until midseason, and it looks like it may take Jamal Murray and Kawhi Leonard some tim...
Ten players that teams in the 'Lose-O-Rama for Wembanyama' should ship
After the matchup between Victor Wembanyama’s Metropolitans and Scoot Henderson’s G League Ignite teams earlier this month, where the projected No. 1 and No. 2 picks faced off in must-see-TV, half the NBA should have shifted into full-on tank mode. Why meddle in mediocrity if you’re the Orlando Magi...
Is Ben Simmons the most overrated player in NBA history?
Ben Simmons fouled out again Monday night. He’s fouled out of two of his first three games as a member of the Brooklyn Nets and has nearly as many fouls as points. So far, Simmons has posted 17 points, 14 fouls, 18 rebounds, and 21 assists in three games. This is the guy who was once touted as the “...
Stop praising NFL coaches for adopting college football tactics
The NFL finally trying college offenses and mobile QBs after snubbing its nose at them for decades is like praising your child for going diaper-free at 25 years old. Not only was it long overdue, but the negligence is concerning. All of these NFL writers love to tout the innovation from this new gen...
Brittney Griner loses appeal, nine-year sentence upheld by Russian court
Today, a Russian court upheld the nine-year sentence for WNBA player Brittney Griner. Nine years for a small amount of cannabis oil in her luggage. ...
Wouldn’t you love to hear what executives for the Panthers and Jazz are honestly thinking right now?
Professional sports are like many other industries. The goals of management and the employees are not always aligned....
This is what it's all about
It’s not usually supposed to work like this in baseball. The quirk, some would say the beauty, of the game is that the big at-bats can fall to anyone. They don’t always fall to a team’s star player, and in fact, they rarely do. Opponents spell out a strategy most of the time to make sure they don’t....
The NBA’s tanking problem is more perception than reality, and a relegation system won’t fix that
During NBA Commish Adam Silver’s apology tour session with beleaguered Phoenix Suns employees this weekend, he was confronted with another concern. In addition to apologizing for suspended team Governor Robert Sarver and his decades of misconduct, Silver was also besieged by a flood of questions abo...
It’s impossible to be completely miserable (or happy) during the sports equinox
There are 17 gazillion things happening in sports right now, and as much as I’d like to update you on all the happenings of the opening weeks of the NBA and NHL, the World Series-deciding MLB rounds, College Football Playoff-ramification slates, and every NFL, EPL, MMA, boxing match, game, contest, ...
Chris Paul has another NBA rule change to get used to
At the beginning of the 2021-22 NBA season, the rule changes were irksome to players used to getting touch fouls by lunging into unsuspecting defenders to draw contact and a whistle. Trae Young, Damian Lillard, and James Harden were just a few stars to sound off about the changes, but as the season ...
If you were to watch the NLCS instead of just complaining about it, you might like it
There’s no denying that the ALCS is a bigger draw than the NLCS this year. The Yankees always garner eyeballs, New York and Houston have a recent, contentious history, and there is no fence straddling when it comes to the Astros’ cheating scandal. Either they should have a postseason ban like a coll...
The NBA has a load management problem that Commissioner Adam Silver has done nothing about
The battle of La La land renews Thursday night when the Clippers take on the Lakers for the first time this season. This has recently been a critical matchup in the NBA, especially in Los Angeles. But reports have already surfaced that Clippers star Kawhi Leonard, who’s returning from an ACL tear th...
I hope Evan Mobley is as true as he is in my dreams
While often depicted, lamented, and sanctified as liberating, hope can also be a virus. It can rot rationality from the inside. It can lead to danger, injury, and death. As Ellis Boyd Redding, best known by his friends and fellow convicts at Shawshank State Prison as Red, once said… “Hope is a dange...
It’s time for sports media personalities like Stephen A. Smith to jump off the Brooklyn Nets train
The NBA world finally got its first look at the Brooklyn Nets’ new big three, and most are already disgusted with the return they’ve yielded. It was only the first game of the season, but if lack of motivation (LOM) were a stock, this team would rise in a bullish market. Brooklyn came out on its ope...
Athletes-turned-broadcasters have too many conflicts of interest to be fully trusted
J.J. Redick is Exhibit A why you can’t trust most former athletes to tell you the truth....
LeBron James has something in common with Tom Brady this season
While talking to the media following the Lakers’ 123-109 loss to the defending champion Warriors, LeBron James was measured. When asked about the Lakers’ shooting problems, he spoke matter-of-factly, about how the 3-pointer is not a team strength....
Every NBA team’s Super Fan
With the NBA season about to kick off, let’s do a Super Fan roll-call!...