nba Page 499 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Forget The PAT: Let’s Destroy The Touchback
Before we get to the Funbag, a big thank-you to noted punter of balls Chris Kluwe, who filled in here last week and did far too capable a job. And now… your letters:...
The Nets Are Very Old, But Their Defense Is Next Level
The average age of the Brooklyn Nets preferred starting lineup right now is 32.4. Joe Johnson, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Deron Williams have seemingly been in our collective consciousness for decades. Even Shaun Livingston, the fifth member of that quintet, is best known for a gruesome knee in...
Tony Allen Is The Defensive Stopper You Can Root For
There's a certain stigma that often hounds players who are labeled as defensive stoppers in the NBA, a belief that no small part of their success is derived from the fact that they are simply willing to play like assholes. This was true of Bruce Bowen, who was never all that feisty but wasn't shy a...
The "Final Minute" Of Grizzlies-Thunder Lasted 43 Minutes
Last night's Memphis-Oklahoma City game went overtime thanks to some Thunder heroics. Really overtime. From the start of the final minute of regulation until the final horn, 43 minutes and 14 seconds passed by—as did most of the first quarter of the following Warriors-Clippers game. Over the last mi...
Matt Cooke And The Myth Of Reform
Colorado's two-way defenseman Tyson Barrie, who's been one of this series's best players, will miss the next four-to-six weeks with an MCL injury after this knee-on-knee hit from Matt Cooke. Cooke will miss some time too—he's got an in-person hearing scheduled with the league, which means his suspen...
It's Been That Kind Of Night For The Warriors
Hilton Armstrong just didn't have enough left in the tank to finish the dunk and the Clippers grabbed the rebound and Hedo Turkoglu took all of four seconds before burying a three pointer. ...
Durant, Perkins Heroics Force Overtime In Oklahoma City
This play, and everything about it, is absolutely nuts....
A Shawn Kemp Dunk Reel Set To Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
These two minutes and 13 seconds capture the zeitgeist of the 90s better than perhaps any other random peek into that era. For a ten-year period, people stopped following rules and started throwing shit together and stuff like this was just...normal, everyday stuff. That's what NBA Inside Stuff did...
Raptors Blame ESPN For Shot-Clock Malfunction [Update]
The shot clocks blew out in the third quarter of Saturday's Game 1 in Toronto, which led to pure absurdity: the Raptors' PA guy counting down the shot clock while looking at a stopwatch held by an NBA official next to him. When it expired, he would literally say "Horn!", and it was the funniest damn...
Is Chris Paul Somehow Underrated?
There's a neat narrative in the NBA today (which we help perpetuate) that LeBron James and Kevin Durant are the best players in the league by a mile, each season a clash between two great legacies in the making. But how true is this, really?...
Paul Pierce Is Still The Truth When He Needs To Be
I went to the Barclays Center last month and watched the Brooklyn Nets kick the crap out of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Paul Pierce played 19 minutes in that game, going 5-of-6 from three-point range and scoring all of his 22 points in the first half, which he spent leisurely jogging between the arcs, ...
It's So Hard To Escape The Blazers
It's a question that we've asked before, and after falling to the Blazers in overtime last night, it's one that the Rockets are probably asking themselves a lot this morning: How the hell do you beat the Blazers?...
Knicks Fire Mike Woodson
As expected, the Knicks have fired Mike Woodson and his entire coaching staff after a fairly disastrous season that ended without a postseason bid. Woodson was 116-89 in two-plus seasons with the Knicks, including playoffs, but this is Phil Jackson's team now. Jackson said in a statement:...
In Place Of Ailing Dad, Craig Sager's Son Interviews Gregg Popovich
With NBA sideline reporter Craig Sager getting treatment for leukemia, his son Craig Sager, Jr. took on the task of interviewing the usually taciturn Gregg Popovich during today's Mavs-Spurs game. But this time, Pop took it easy. He even said more than 15 words!...
Russell Westbrook And Kevin Durant Are Awesome
This is a beautiful thing. In the first quarter of Grizzlies-Thunder, Russell Westbrook grabbed a rebound and, in the same motion, effortlessly flicked a pass three-quarters of the court that just so happened to land right in front of a streaking Kevin Durant for a fast break dunk that had no busin...
Goodbye, Evan Turner
What makes this a nice play is that Evan Turner thought Jeff Teague was going baseline, but Teague knew better and pulled up for the three, leaving Turner out to dry. What puts it over the top is that Turner and Roy Hibbert are in total synchronization. ...
Blake Griffin Fouls Out, Dumps Water All Over Warriors Fan
Blake Griffin fouled out with 48 seconds left in the game, and the score tied 105-105. It was kind of a ticky-tacky foul and Griffin was reacting to the video replay. He lifted his arms in exasperation and dumped the water he was holding all over the guy in a Warriors shirt behind him. Then he threw...
Harrison Barnes Blocks Shot, Hits Three, Swaggers
Harrison Barnes had a great series late in the fourth quarter of a hotly contested Game 1 between the Warriors and Clippers. In a span of 20 seconds, he blocked a Chris Paul layup and then hit the three-point shot on the ensuing possession....
Jeff Van Gundy Is Sick Of These Charlatan Paddleboat Salesmen
Mike Breen and Jeff Van Gundy are calling the Golden State-L.A. Clippers game today and coming back from a break late in the third quarter, Van Gundy, rightly, decided to sound off on paddleboats. ...
Sniper Got 'Em
Mike Fratello gave this chick to Ian Eagle during the Nets-Raptors game and some cold-hearted sniper took the poor guy right out....