basketball – Page 7

NBA: Game 6 Clock Error Cost Celtics One Second On Final Possession

The NBA has acknowledged a clock error in the closing seconds of Friday’s playoff game that would have given the Celtics an extra second on their final possession.

John Wall Kills Celtics With Perfectly Placed Dagger

Down two, five seconds left, season in the balance, the charred end of a night when his team hit 20-percent of its three-point attempts, a postseason in which home teams facing elimination were 0-10, the best defender on the East’s top seed staring him in the face, ladies and gentlemen, I give you Johnathan Hildred…

James Harden Comes To Houston To Watch Rockets Take On Spurs

Kawhi Leonard didn’t play for the Spurs tonight, and it ultimately didn’t matter too much. Jonathon Simmons started in his stead and rose to the occasion, scoring 18, while LaMarcus Aldridge led the team with 34 and San Antonio cruised to an easy 114-75 win along with a Western Conference Finals berth.

NBA Team Asks Kansas's Frank Mason III How He Wants To Die

The NBA draft combine has brought us such meaningful insight into players’ basketball skills as whether they slow down or speed up at a red light and if they know how many pennies are in a million dollars. Here’s a new one: how do you want to die?

Oh Right, They're The Wizards

What’s that, you say? After two consecutive dominant performances at home, the Wizards showed up flat and dazed-looking for a hugely important road game and got their asses kicked through the roofs of their mouths? Why in that case, it must have been literally any time the Wizards have played an important road game…

Why Aren't Women's Basketball Fans Following Their Players To The Pros?

We got next. That was the WNBA’s promotional slogan during its first official season of play, two decades ago in 1997. In essence, players were asking the NBA to step aside and let them have a turn on the hardwood to showcase their basketball acumen. No one knew how long the league would last.

What Happens To Kyle Lowry Now?

Kyle Lowry was on the bench with a sprained ankle yesterday while his team got punted out of the playoffs by LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers for a second consecutive season. Lowry knew the Raptors’ season was over after they lost Game 3 on Friday night, and he was feeling existential afterwards.

John Wall Is Too Much

In his “Coach’s Corner” bit after the first quarter of last night’s Game 4 between the Celtics and the Wizards, Boston coach Brad Stevens explained to TNT’s David Aldridge how his team had shrugged off an early Washington run to end the period leading 24-20. “Even when it was 8-0 them,” he said, “we were playing way…

Deputy Fired After Unlawfully Pulling Over Former Atlanta Hawk Mike Scott

On July 30, 2015, former Atlanta Hawks forward Mike Scott was pulled over by a deputy from the Banks County Sheriff’s office. The officer, deputy Brent Register, found 1.2 ounces of weed and 10.9 grams of MDMA in the car and arrested Scott and his brother, Antonn. Last week, the case against the Scotts was thrown out…

The Cavaliers Killed The Raptors

For the second year in a row, the Cavaliers have handily disposed of the Raptors in the playoffs; this year, handily is an understatement there.

Kristaps Porzingis Claims He Was Hacked After Tweeting, Deleting "LA Clippers"

A rep for Kristaps Porzingis is saying that the Knicks forward’s Twitter account was hacked yesterday, the reason for a since-deleted post reading “LA Clippers” with three smiley faces.

Kelly Oubre Suspended For Game 4 After Flagrant Foul On Kelly Olynyk

The NBA will reportedly be suspending Kelly Oubre for one game after he shoved Kelly Olynyk during Thursday’s Game 3 between the Wizards and Celtics.

If Kelly Oubre Jr. Is Suspended, It Will Be Because He Was Honest

First of all, as a basketball euphemism, physical play is bullshit. Everything that happens on a basketball court is physical play. A bounce-pass is a physical play. When broadcast crews and halftime pundits and bloggers say that one team is playing more physical than the other, particularly in the playoffs, what they…

LeBron James Explains What He Was Thinking When He Made Serge Ibaka Look Like A Stupid Helpless Baby

So far the story of the second-round series between the Cavs and the Raptors is the degree to which the Cavs are completely unbothered by their opponents. Here’s the series summed up, in one image:

The Wizards Got Out To A Huge Lead And, For Once, Kept It

The Wizards dominated in the first quarter of tonight’s Game 3, going on a 20-0 run and heading to the second with a 39-17 lead over the Celtics. But you’ve heard that one before, and it hasn’t ended well for Washington lately. Tonight was different.

Kelly Oubre Ejected After Charging, Shoving Kelly Olynyk

Things got chippy early in the second quarter for the Celtics and Wizards, after Kelly Oubre was the victim of a hard screen by Kelly Olynyk. Oubre wasn’t especially pleased, and he showed it by charging Olynyk and shoving him to the ground:

Basketball players say allowing headgear empowers the sport

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) Basketball enthusiasts around the world say a decision to allow players to wear headgear that complies with their religious beliefs will encourage more people to play the sport.

Headgear approved for use by world basketball body

HONG KONG (AP) Basketball’s international governing body has approved a new rule that will allow players to wear headgear that complies with their religious faith.

Reports: Brandon Roy Shot Outside His Grandmother's House Near Los Angeles

Multiple outlets are reporting that former Blazers star Brandon Roy was shot in California over the weekend.

Some Basketball Stuff Bradley Beal Did Last Night

The Boston Celtics won a game in which they trailed for pretty much all but a few moments of regulation, to take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Washington Wizards. Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas was unstoppable in the fourth quarter and overtime, scoring 29 of his 53…

Let This Be The End Of The Clippers

The Los Angeles Clippers got eliminated on their home court by the Utah Jazz yesterday, in Game 7. The Jazz were the lower-seeded team, so nominally this qualifies as an upset—though of course it wasn’t really, in the dual sense that, A) even before the Clippers lost Blake Griffin to a season-ending toe injury in Game…

So Much For Dwight Howard's Homecoming Season

The Atlanta Hawks had their exit interviews on Saturday, and wouldn’t you know, Dwight Howard spent his pouting.

The Wizards Absolutely Dominated In The First Quarter

The Wizards are not here to fuck around. They opened Game 1 of their second-round series against the Celtics with a ridiculous 16-0 run, starting things off with 7-of-10 shooting while outrebounding Boston 9-0. That was due in large part to Marcin Gortat, who scored nine and looked better than he did in any part of…

Robin Lopez Gives Interview With His Extremely Chill, Fluffy Dog

The Bulls were eliminated from the playoffs last night, which meant exit interviews today. These are understandably but almost invariably boring, rehashed collections of clichéd athlete-speak. Unless you bring along your delightfully relaxed giant fluffer of a dog, Muppet, as Robin Lopez did this afternoon:

LaVar Ball Sucks, But That Doesn't Mean He's Wrong

LaVar Ball—the supremely annoying father of upcoming lottery pick Lonzo Ball, and two younger basketball teens—is in the headlines yet again. Darren Rovell reports that Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour—the three companies that combined control 99 percent of the basketball shoe market—have all declined to sign a shoe…

Raptors Advance As Bucks Blow Fourth-Quarter Comeback

Midway through the fourth quarter last night, it looked as if the Bucks might pull off a nifty comeback and force a Game 7 after being down by double digits for much of the second half. They did not.

Does Isaiah Thomas Carry The Ball? A Fred Hoiberg Debate

After a Game 4 loss, Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg accused refs of ignoring Isaiah Thomas’s carrying. “He had a hell of a game tonight. But when you’re allowed to discontinue your dribble on every possession, he is impossible to guard. He’s impossible to guard when you’re able to put your hand underneath the ball and take…

What In The Damn Hell Were The Hawks Doing?

With a little less than a minute left in last night’s Game 5 between Washington and Atlanta, John Wall dribbled into some open space behind a Marcin Gortat screen and calmly sank a 21-foot jumpshot, giving the Wizards a four-point lead with 47 seconds left to play.

Dwyane Wade's Playoff Defense Is Awe-Inspiring

The Boston Celtics regained control of their first-round series against the Bulls last night, winning 108-97 and taking a 3-2 series lead. Who is to blame for the Bulls losing their grip? Not Dwyane Wade, who scored 26 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, dished eight assists, and played some inspired defense in the loss.

It Was Always Going To End This Way For Russell Westbrook

I wouldn’t blame anyone for wanting to swear off basketball forever after watching the fourth quarter of Game 5 between the Rockets and Thunder, which was defined by ill-advised foul calls and ill-advised shots, most of them coming from the Thunder’s star player, Russell Westbrook.