Lakers Win Game 7 Over Nuggets: The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Denver Nuggets, 96-87, in game 7 of their playoff series Saturday. Leading the Lakers, Pao Gasol had 23 points, 17 rebounds, six assists and four blocked shots. Metta World Peace returned from suspension to score 15. L.A. has not lost a game 7 at home since the 1969 NBA Finals, when they were beaten by the heavy underdog Boston Celtics.

posted by rcade to basketball at 09:07 AM - 2 comments

AP: LeBron James Wins 3rd MVP in 4 Seasons: LeBron James will be announced Saturday as the NBA's MVP, an unnamed league source told AP. This would be the third time he's hoisted the Maurice in four seasons. Only four players have more: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (6), Michael Jordan and Bill Russell (5) and Wilt Chamberlain (4).

posted by rcade to basketball at 09:59 PM - 2 comments

'I Touched the Ball Before It Went Out, Coach': Remember when the Bears were going to win the high school basketball championship over the Eagles, but our star player Alex blew it with his honesty? A video from the the Foundation for a Better Life.

posted by rcade to basketball at 12:22 PM - 8 comments

Amare Stoudamire out after postgame injury: After last night's Game 2 in Miami, New York Knicks forward Amare Stoudamire punches a fire extinguisher case, lacerating his left hand badly enough to require stitches. The Knicks lost to the Heat, 104-94 and are down 2-0 heading back to New York for Game 3 Thursday night.

posted by NerfballPro to basketball at 11:45 AM - 5 comments

Brooklyn Nets Unveil New Logo: After leaving New Jersey behind and getting a "good riddance" from the jilted governor, the Brooklyn Nets have unveiled a simple black-and-white color scheme and new logos designed by music mogul and minority Nets owner Jay Z. He previewed the logo at a recent concert.

posted by rcade to basketball at 02:12 PM - 11 comments

Derrick Rose tears left ACL in game one of the playoffs: is out for the remainder of the season.

posted by Ufez Jones to basketball at 06:45 PM - 8 comments

Is the Positionless Player the Future of the NBA?: Paul Flannery on Avery Bradley's ascent.

posted by yerfatma to basketball at 11:17 AM - 3 comments

World Peace Ejected for Vicious Elbow: As he celebrated a fast break dunk, Los Angeles Lakers forward Metta World Peace inexplicably threw a vicious elbow into the head of Oklahoma City Thunder guard James Harden Sunday. Harden left the game with a possible concussion and the former Ron Artest was immediately ejected and likely will be suspended. "This was about as cheap as a cheap shot gets," said Ken Berger of CBS Sports. World Peace is the reigning holder of the NBA's citizenship award.

posted by rcade to basketball at 08:02 PM - 18 comments

Cuban: NBA 'Stupid' to Let Stars in Olympics: "If you look up stupid in the dictionary, you see a picture of the USA Dream Team playing for free for corporate America so the U.S. Olympic Committee can make millions of dollars. If you come up with something that you own, that you give it to me for free so I can make billions of dollars, I want it. And it has nothing to do with patriotism. It's all about money. You don't see the Olympic Committee saying, 'Oh we made so much money. Let's give it to people.'" -- Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban

posted by rcade to basketball at 09:33 AM - 19 comments

Larry Brown officially hired as SMU men's basketball coach.: One year before moving to the Big East, the Mustangs have hired the Hall-of-Famer for an undisclosed salary. This is Brown's first college coaching gig since he lead the 1988 Kansas Jayhawks to a national title.

posted by Ufez Jones to basketball at 02:12 PM - 7 comments

Pat Summit steps down as head coach at Tennesse: she will take on the position of Head Coach Emeritus while dealing with early onset dementia.

posted by yerfatma to basketball at 01:57 PM - 11 comments

NBA May Add Sponsor Logos to Jerseys: NBA owners were presented last week with sample uniforms that had sponsor logos on them, a sign that the idea's under serious consideration. "If we add sponsor logos to jerseys, we recognize that some of our fans will think we've lost our minds," said NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver. "But the NBA is a global business and logos on jerseys are well established in other sports and commonplace outside the U.S. Our goal isn't to be the first major league to do it, but in the same way that virtually all arenas and stadiums now have naming rights deals, we recognize it's only a matter of time."

posted by rcade to basketball at 11:02 PM - 9 comments

Zach Tomaselli: I Made Up Accusations Against Bernie Fine: Zach Tomaselli, 23, a convicted child molester who claimed he was sexually abused as a 13-year-old by Syracuse assistant coach Bernie Fine, now says he made it all up. "I never met Bernie Fine or went to an autograph session. ... It has become a burden of a lie and I am sick of it. Bobby Davis told me what to tell detectives and it pretty much took off from there." Davis, 39, was a former Syracuse ball boy whose claims of being molested as a minor by Fine cannot be prosecuted due to the statute of limitations. Federal prosecutors used Tomaselli's statements as the basis to search Fine's home in November. When asked if he accused Fine to get leniency in his own criminal case, Tomaselli said, " I can't talk about my case, but you can guess the answer."

posted by rcade to basketball at 11:17 AM - 9 comments

Top High School Player Chooses Kentucky: Nerlens Noel, a center who is the No. 1-ranked high school basketball player by Scout.Com, has announced his choice of college by having it shaved into his head. Noel, who has written several columns for ESPNHS.Com, appears to have been swayed by the one-and-done championship UK won with this year's freshmen. "I'd definitely say it makes me think about Kentucky more," he wrote after the title game.

posted by rcade to basketball at 03:04 PM - 2 comments

Mavericks Cut Ties with Lamar Odom: The Dallas Mavericks have made Lamar Odom inactive for the rest of the season, cutting their ties to the veteran forward after his spectacularly dismal year. Odom was acquired from the Los Angeles Lakers before the season for a 2012 first round pick and the $8.9 million trade exception the Mavericks received in Tyson Chandler's sign-and-trade deal with the New York Knicks.

posted by Ufez Jones to basketball at 11:34 AM - 7 comments

Baylor Lady Bears First to Go 40-0 in Winning Second National Title: Brittney Griner and Baylor dominated Notre Dame in the NCAA women's basketball championship on Tuesday night, winning 80-61, and capping a 40-0 season.

posted by scully to basketball at 10:28 AM - 1 comment

Kentucky Makes It Eight: The Kentucky Wildcats capped off one of the most dominating NCAA tournament runs ever with a 67-59 win over the Kansas Jayhawks in the men's college basketball championship Monday. Kentucky dominated the first half and led by as much as 18 in the game, but Kansas closed it to 65-59. This is the eighth championship in Kentucky's history and the first for coach John Calipari.

posted by rcade to basketball at 12:06 AM - 10 comments

Kentucky Will Face Kansas: The favored Kentucky Wildcats will meet the Kansas Jayhawks Monday in college basketball's national championship. The two winningest programs in college basketball history last played in November. Kentucky won 75-65 and opens as a 6.5 point favorite for the title. These repeat champs last won in 2008 (Kansas) and 1998 (Kentucky).

posted by rcade to basketball at 12:01 PM - 9 comments

Knicks Starting Point Guard Suffers Linjury: New York Knicks point guard, Jeremy Lin, will be out approximately six weeks with a small chronic meniscal tear in his left knee, missing the rest of the regular season.

posted by scully to basketball at 07:16 PM - 4 comments

Jason Smith Clobbers Blake Griffin: The New Orleans Hornets' Jason Smith was ejected for a brutal hip check on the Los Angeles Clippers' Blake Griffin Thursday night during a breakaway. Smith hit Griffin so hard the NFL should investigate the Hornets for a bounty program, then egged on the crowd as New Orleans fans gave him a standing ovation on his way to the locker room. The Hornets went on to win 97-90.

posted by rcade to basketball at 10:15 AM - 17 comments

Derek Fisher No-Show After Lakers Trade: Veteran guard Derek Fisher has not reported to Houston after being traded by the Los Angeles Lakers to the Rockets on Thursday with a first-round pick for forward Jordan Hill. Fisher's longtime backcourt mate Kobe Bryant was shocked by the trade and didn't seem happy that GM Mitch Kupchak did not speak to him about the deal. The Lakers also dealt forwards Luke Walton and Jason Kapono to the Cleveland Cavaliers and added guard Ramon Sessions and forward Christian Eyenga. ProBasketballTalk claims the Rockets will buy out Fisher's contract.

posted by rcade to basketball at 03:16 PM - 12 comments

'Where's Your Green Card?' Chanted at NCAA Tourney: Members of the Southern Miss band chanted "where's your green card?" while Kansas State point guard Angel Rodriguez shot free throws during a second-round NCAA basketball tournament game Thursday. Rodriguez, a native of Puerto Rico, had 13 points and 3 assists in his team's 70-64 victory.

posted by rcade to basketball at 10:02 AM - 13 comments

NBA Store Puts Dwight Howard Nets Jersey On Sale: At the NBA's trade deadline, Dwight Howard has reportedly decided to opt out of his contract early and test free agency after the season, a move that puts the Orlando Magic at risk of losing another dominant big man and getting nothing in return unless they deal him now. On Tuesday, the NBA Store briefly posted for sale a Dwight Howard New Jersey Nets T-shirt. "The player's number is subject to change," the description states, "and will not ship until the official number is issued." Confusingly, the website RealGM reported that Howard told them last night he was not going to opt out and would stay with the Magic through next season. Kelly Dwyer of Yahoo thinks Howard is trying to prevent a trade because he "doesn't want to cost the Nets assets that he'd prefer to play alongside."

posted by rcade to basketball at 08:06 AM - 18 comments

Mike D'Antoni Resigns: you may turn on your electronic devices, the bandwagon has come to a complete stop.

posted by yerfatma to basketball at 02:52 PM - 18 comments

Charles Pierce's 5 March Madness Predictions: "There are so many things you can count on every year that the tournament has lost almost all of its renegade charm. It's a product now. As such, it is required to be safe and reliable, the way we want all our products to be. You make peace with that, or you find another event to love. I choose to stick with this one." -- Charles Pierce previews the NCAA basketball tournament.

posted by rcade to basketball at 01:29 PM - 1 comment

5 Years of NBA Shots Visualized: A Michigan State professor has mapped five years of NBA shots, producing a visualization of points-per-attempt from every spot on the court. "My eventual goal is to establish a spatially informed baseline and to map every shooter in the league against an average shooter," writes Kirk Goldsberry. On his website he identifies the worst scoring spot in the NBA, which is "on the left side of the court about 13 feet from the basket at an angle of about 45 degrees."

posted by rcade to basketball at 01:06 PM - 3 comments

Knicks Continue Slide Since Carmelo Anthony's Return: The New York Knicks lost 106-94 to the Philadelphia 76ers Sunday, their fifth straight loss and seventh in nine games since Carmelo Anthony returned from injury. Anthony scored 22 and Jeremy Lin scored 14, but he was 5-for-18 from the field and had six turnovers. "The furor surrounding why this isn't an elite team in the league has once again reached a fever pitch," writes Matt Moore of ProBasketballTalk.

posted by rcade to basketball at 05:55 PM - 6 comments

The LeBron Who Wasn't: In July 2001, Lenny Cooke was arguably the most-hyped high school player in basketball, a 6-foot-6 guard from Brooklyn who fellow prep star Carmelo Anthony compared to Magic Johnson. Cooke came to the ABCD summer basketball camp as the event's reigning MVP with a documentary filmmaker in tow expecting to tell the story of the next NBA phenom. Then he played a younger kid from Akron named LeBron James and it all changed. One year later, Cooke submitted for the NBA Draft and wasn't picked. "I waited, I waited, I waited," he said. "Like on Christmas Day, you think you're getting this toy, and then Christmas comes, it's not under the tree. It breaks you down emotionally. I broke down, realized I got bad advice. But you wonder, why not? Why didn't my name get called?"

posted by rcade to basketball at 10:28 AM - 12 comments

Clippers Clip Clipper Darrell: "It is with great sadness that I must report to all those in NBA NATION that I have been told by Clipper management they no longer want me to be Clipper Darrell," writes Clipper Darrell on the Official Site of Clipper Darrell, "a name that was given to me by the media because of my unwavering support and team spirit. I am devastated!" The team claims they just wanted him to consult them before making public appearances and engaging in unauthorized commercial activity around the name, which uses their trademark, but he refused. "He is not actually a fan of the Clippers, but a fan of what he can make off of the Clippers," the team said in a statement. "We are no longer interested in that kind of association with him, and that is why we accepted his offer to remove our team name from his stage name."

posted by rcade to basketball at 12:28 PM - 2 comments

'These Kids Are Stealing Money by Being on Scholarship': In a post-game press conference after a Lamar University loss Wednesday, head coach Pat Knight went on an eight-minute rant about seniors who've been problems on- and off-the-court. "We have an infestation of guys that are hard to coach," said Knight, the son of Bobby Knight. "I've never been around a group as a whole like that. ... When I played, if you acted like the way some of these guys did ... you got shoved in a locker with a forearm up against your neck. And told that's not how we do things here at Indiana. And that's what we need." Lamar won its next game 72-49. "I'm so proud of these seniors," Pat Knight said.

posted by rcade to basketball at 11:56 AM - 12 comments

Nakase says goal is to coach in the NBA: Natalie Nakase, a third-generation Japanese American and head coach of the Saitama Broncos in Japan's JB-League, is the first female head coach in the male league's history. Nakase, at 5'3", was a point guard during her playing days at UCLA. While she is enjoys the challenges of coaching in the JB-League, Nakase says her ultimate goal is to coach in the NBA.

posted by billinnagoya to basketball at 01:42 AM - 1 comment

The Girl Who Played Basketball in a Coma: After falling into a coma caused by meningitis, a Kansas teen who played basketball would occasionally shoot baskets -- while she was still otherwise non-responsive. After her sister formed a makeshift hoop with her arms, Maggie Meier cradled a beach ball and shot it with perfect form. "I have never seen anything like it," said Meier's neurologist, Dr. William Graf. "The act of shooting a basketball must have been ingrained as one of Maggie's basic instincts -- her basketball shooting motion came back to her even before she was able to stand up or walk again."

posted by rcade to basketball at 09:02 PM - 1 comment

Analytics and Luck: Or how Sam Presti built a contender in Oklahoma.

posted by apoch to basketball at 09:56 AM - 3 comments

Barkley: 'I Cannot Believe How Bad the NBA is Right Now': "As an NBA fan I want to apologize to the fans. I cannot believe how bad the NBA is right now. I'm a fan first and foremost; watching the NBA right now, I'm embarrassed about the product we're putting out there right now. It's no fun for me to watch these games. I feel bad for the fans. ... They have all these built in excuses about it's the lockout. Let me tell you something: If these teams played once a week, they would still suck. You watch one of these teams, and if they rested for a week they would still suck." -- Charles Barkley earlier this month on ESPN 1000 in Chicago

posted by rcade to basketball at 03:19 PM - 30 comments

Jeremy Lin, Get Your Nuts Out of My Face: Back in August, YouTube celebrity Kevin Wu got a basketball lesson from significantly less famous Golden State Warriors guard Jeremy Lin. Wu then gave Lin a YouTube lesson.

posted by rcade to basketball at 08:46 AM - 1 comment

Alabama Fan, Real Man of Genius: Hey, Alabama fan with seats behind the backboard, how do you feel about the Florida Gators victory over the Crimson Tide Tuesday night?

posted by rcade to basketball at 03:14 PM - 5 comments

The Best Ivy League Players of All-Time: just one more reason to miss Bob Ryan when he retires (from The Globe anyway) later this year.

posted by yerfatma to basketball at 09:33 AM - 2 comments

Jeremy Lin Drops 38 on Lakers: New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin scored 38 points and dished seven assists in a 92-85 victory Friday over the Los Angeles Lakers. Lin, an undrafted 23-year-old out of Harvard cut by two other teams earlier this season, has become an overnight sensation after scoring 25, 28, 23 and now 38 points in his first four starts with the team. "It is not often that a guy is going to play four games, the best you are going to see, and nobody knows who he is," said flabbergasted and flummoxed New York coach Mike D'Antoni.

posted by rcade to basketball at 01:25 PM - 9 comments

High school team gets technical for wearing pink cancer uniforms: If they thought there was a problem, it should have been addressed before the game,” Burke head coach Luke Lueders said. “To have that happen at halftime caught us all off-guard.”

posted by preacher81 to basketball at 02:06 PM - 4 comments

Jerry West: Teams shouldn't give in: According to former Los Angeles Lakers general manager Jerry West, teams needn't worry so much about a superstar demanding to be traded.

West, being careful not to mention players by name, alluded to situations like the one the Orlando Magic currently faces with Dwight Howard, saying there's no reason teams should give into those demands.

Asked what he would do as a lead executive in a situation where a superstar has made it known he wants out, the ex-Laker executive said it was fairly clear-cut.

"I honestly think I'd call their bluff," West said in an interview on 710 ESPN's Mason and Ireland show Thursday, not mentioning Howard specifically. "I really would, because I don't think any agent or player is going to leave $30 million on the table. ... I just don't believe that's going to happen."

posted by preacher81 to basketball at 11:46 AM - 10 comments