I hope someone can explain to me what has happened to make the Miami Heat fantastic ever since Dwyane Wade got injured. Last night they won without Wade, Alonzo Mourning, and Jason Kapono. Shaquille ONeal only played 21 minutes because of foul trouble. Im guessing the 11-3 record since the injury has a lot to do with a motivated Shaquille O'Neal. I realize he was injured at times. But if the team is this good now, how unmotivated was O'Neal before?
Attorney Jem Martin, a veteran of domestic abuse cases, tells the Sacramento Bee that Ron Artest is very unlikely to face any time behind bars as a result of the misdemeanor charges announced yesterday: "Technically Artest's maximum exposure is three years in county jail -- but that will never happen. In a situation like this, in Sacramento County anyway, the very worst case would be some community service."
David Aldridge was asked by SportsMediaGuide if he writes "as a black sportswriter, or as a sportswriter who happens to be black" His good answer: "As a person. I write as a human being that has a particular point of view. The fact that I'm black obviously tends to influence my worldview based on my life experience -- same way with any columnist. You're influenced by wherever you grew up and the schools you attended and the friends you had -- I'm no different. I don't think Bob Ryan writes as an Irish-American -- he writes as Bob Ryan."
Oh my word, this is pretty embarrassing. I have personally met most of the people who run SLAM as well as the publisher and editor of Dime. Now they are having something of a tiff, it appears, kicked off by this Ryan Jones story on the SLAM website (which, I should point out, didn't even include the word "Dime" but was instead a blatant attack on GQ). Dime's response? Let's settle this on the court. Let me tell you that no one involved, upon casual visual inspection, has what you'd call an NBA body (although I have heard that the Dime editor is, in fact, pretty good). Please, if this happens, someone videotape it and let us all see. It could end with both magazines losing serious credibility--because the rule is us keyboard jockeys are supposed to play basketball, but not take ourselves all that seriously as basketball players.
Basketball purgatory: Tom Ziller of Sactown Royalty has looked at the schedule, and thinks there's a fair chance the Kings won't win another game this season, and even that kind of disaster likely won't get his team a great draft pick: "The lowest they could probably get is the 3rd-worst record. It's more likely they win at least 25% of the remaining games, and that would get them into the middle of the Crap Pack which currently ranges from 3rd worst Milwaukee (25-42) and 8th worst Portland (27-40). (And Milwaukee will be without Andrew Bogut and Charlie Villanueva for the final stretch, so they could enter the Boston-Memphis zone.) It's sad to actually look at the standings for any length of time. Our team is worse than the Warriors (ugh), the Pacers (huh?), and even the Knicks! Gross, ugly, heartwrenching, painful."
David Moore writes in the Dallas Morning News: "Consumer advocate Ralph Nader sent a letter to LeBron James and copied it to media around the country Wednesday imploring the Cleveland Cavaliers star to pressure Nike to improve working conditions for those employed in the shoe company's factories around the world. An interesting aside: Nader and his group, League of Fans, listed examples in the letter of athletes who lend their influence or voice to social justice issues. The Mavericks' Josh Howard was one of eight athletes mentioned who, 'all raised their voices against the war and occupation of Iraq.' Howard spoke out on the issue while he was in college and received hate mail, telling him an athlete should know his place. 'I said some things in college that all came true,' Howard said. 'I don't mind speaking out.'" You can read Nader's letter to LeBron James online.
I feel for guys like Antoine Wright. In what other profession can you be among the 400 best in the world at what you do, and almost never get to do what you do? Tack on that the reality that you are only going to be good at it for a decade or so, and the years are wasting away. Young NBA benchwarmers have every right to be just a little cranky.
Doc Rivers pulls the starters, and magically Boston's lead disappears, and they end up losing. Coach Doc Rivers (who touched off a winning streak recently reportedly by telling his team not to worry about Boston's draft pick) swears the Celtics are not tanking.
Steve Kerr suggests that perhaps the Nuggets have turned the corner on defense, which would make them a good team, because the offense is solid: "The Nuggets may steal the ball, but they also give it right back to their opponents. They commit 16 turnovers per game, which gives opponents a chance to run right back at them. They give up more fast-break points than anyone in the NBA. They have also given up way too much penetration, which has resulted in 45 points in the paint allowed per game (29th in the NBA). Essentially, the Nuggets have spent most of the season simply trying to outscore opponents. That's why they've beaten plenty of bad teams, but not very many good ones. But during the current five-game winning streak, the Nuggets have been much more solid at the defensive end. They've figured out that when they give effort defensively and take care of the ball, they are very tough to beat. Despite shooting only 40 percent, they beat the Nets on Tuesday by taking care of the ball, not giving up many easy hoops and holding New Jersey to 40-percent shooting of its own. The 94-90 win marked the first time all season that Denver won a game when scoring fewer than 100 points."
People are struggling to find an NBA player to compare Yi Jianlian to. First it was Kevin Garnett. Then it was Amare Stoudemire. Now Globetrotter suggests Jonathan Bender or Mark Blount might be more appropriate.
Yesterday's discussion of the ten best basketball commercials of all time is not done, and has moved here.
Comments that include profanity, or personal attacks, or antisocial behavior such as "spamming" or "trolling," or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. We will take steps to block users who violate any of our terms of use. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
