NBA Basketball » News

Michael Jordan: “I Could Have Scored 100 Points”

General — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 12:09:32 +0000

In the build up to the new NBA 2K game for the first time in a long time will feature Michael Jordan as a playable character – his Airness himself has been busy at work promoting the game through interview with different outlets. In an interview with USA Today, Michael Jordan claimed that he could have scored 100 points in today’s game where fouls are called much more often and the advantage is given to wing players.

Michael Jordan: “I Could Have Scored 100 Points”

Michael Jordan Kobe Bryant

When the topic comes to Kobe Bryant, MJ takes the opposing approach and makes the least daring claim heard yet in the Kobe discussion. When asked how Kobe Bryant will be rated among the all time greats, Air Jordan says that Kobe is one of the ‘top 10 guards’ in the league’s history.

Probably not the most bold statement of his life, but it might be a source of motivation for Kobe Bryant who clearly looks up to MJ and such an endorsement of his boyhood idol must not do wonders to flatter him.

Allen Iverson Heading To Besiktas, Turkey

General — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 09:59:05 +0000

Allen Iverson, once a global icon and the successor to Michael Jordan in many ways, will play his basketball next year with Besiktas Cola Turka of Turkey. The prolific scorer’s NBA career took a nose dive ever since he left the team that had selected him number 1 overall, the Philadelphia 76ers. His tenure in Denver Nuggets was not a complete disaster but being alongside another heavy ball demanding superstar, the Nuggets really could take off and he was as a result traded to the Detroit Pistons where the horror began.

Allen Iverson Heading To Besiktas, Turkey

Playing time was an issue for AI in Detroit, and despite Rip Hamilton taking a backseat and coming off the bench, Iverson ended up closing the season early after being eventually relegated to the bench. After having quit on his team, last season he tried to make a return to basketball but few seemed to be willing to take the chance.

Allen Iverson Besiktas

The Memphis Grizzlies did to lure some media and fan attention, but once again Iverson’s minutes proved to be the problem rather than the answer. Eventually Iverson made a return to Philadephia but despite heavy minutes, his production was far from impressive and family problems eventually led him to quit the team.

This year Allen Iverson’s agent has expressed shock at not one single team being interested for his services. Just when everyone thought Iverson would be playing in China, a 2 million dollar per year offer came from the Istanbul team who had some problems negotiating how much Iverson could be fined with an agreement reached at 1% per event.

Now it looks as though Allen Iverson will be looking to revitalize his career in Turkey, which could be the last stop in his storied career.

New Orleans Sign DJ Mbenga

General — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 10:09:39 +0000

Two time NBA champion and former Los Angeles Laker DJ Mbenga has been signed on to the New Orleans roster in an attempt to bolster their front line. The Belgian/Congo native played limited minutes during his two seasons with the Lakers. His main duty for the Hornets will be backing up Emeka Okafor and be another body that can be thrown in the game to clog up the paint.

New Orleans Sign DJ Mbenga

DJ Mbenga New Orleans

Besides New Orleans, the Phoenix Suns and Portland Trail Blazers were also interested in the 29 year olds services but NO were first to strike.

With Chris Paul on the verge of leaving the club that drafted, management has tried to make some moves to try to make a contender out of this year’s lineup, but no one is sure whether they actually got better from last year where they missed the playoffs by a land slide.

NBA January 31 2010 Game Recaps

General — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 12:40:08 +0000

Here is a recap of NBA games from 01/31 2010:

Denver Nuggets vs San Antonio Spurs

The Denver Nuggets comfortably defeated the Spurs on their home floor 103-89 despite playing without their All-Star Carmelo Anthony. San Antonio were playing without Tony Parker and struggled to contain Chauncey Billups. The game was closer than the indicated score with the Nuggets pulling away towards the end.

LA Lakers vs Boston Celtics

In a rematch of the 2008 NBA Finals, both the Lakers and Celtics failed to play up to their full capacity. The Lakers got off to a strong start and possessed a double digit lead. In the second quarter, Rajon Rondo stepped up and turned the game around taking a 5 point lead into the locker room at half time. The game came down to the final minute that saw it’s share of controversial calls. The Lakers deserved to get the ball during one possession when Perkins grabbed an offensive rebound that went off a camera at the back of the rim. Then with 30 seconds left in the game Paul Pierce drove to the basket and pushed off Ron Artest, which earned the Lakers the ball. Kobe Bryant made a tough shot over Ray Allen, and Allen couldn’t respond on the other hand with an open 3 point attempt as the buzzer sounded. LA 90 Boston 89.

LA Clippers vs Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cleveland Cavaliers destroyed the LA Clippers 114-89 despite a relatively quiet game from LeBron James and a strong showing from Baron Davis.

Orlando Magic vs Detroit Pistons

The Orlando Magic defeated the Detroit Pistons 91-86 which saw the game go down to the final possessions. Ben Gordon had a chance to tie the game with a 3 pointer, but never managed to get the shot off.

Other scores:

Philadelphia 83 vs 79 New Jersey Nets

Indiana Pacers 102 vs 117 Toronto Raptors

Phoenix Suns 115 vs 111 Houston Rockets

New York Knicks 91 vs 112 Minnesota Timberwolves

Golden State Warriors 104 vs 112 Oklahoma City Thunder

Stephon Marbury Going to China

General — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:22:10 +0000

Stephon Marbury has become somewhat of a character in recent years with his outlandish statements, silly quarrels, atrocious play, and crazy character. People were disappointed to learn earlier this year that the 32 year old free agent wasn’t returning to the NBA. However, news has broken out that instead Marbury will play for the Shanxi Zongyu of the Chinese Basketball Association. The Zongyu are the same team that signed Bonzi Wells sometime ago and are hoping that Marbury will provide the much needed spark to get their season back in order being 3rd from the bottom, and attendance at a all time low.

The Chinese Basketball Association did recently introduce a salary cap however, that limits the number of foreign players per team to two, and their salaries to very humble figures. Having said that, Marbury is not in this for basketball glory or for a big salary. Stephon Marbury, also nicknamed Starbury, is along with Ben Wallace promoting his Starbury brand which produces ultra cheap shoes that see a retail price of 15$.

Stephon the Entrepreneur is no slouch either – he even stood toe to toe with LeBron James recently when the King himself mocked fun at Marbury’s cheap line of basketball shoes saying that he and Nike would never have a shoe that cheap, due to ‘having higher standards’. Stephon Marbury responded by sayings: “I rather own, than be owned”.

So it will be interesting to see how Stephon the basketball player and Stephon the businessman cope in the Middle Kingdom. This makes him the most famous foreign player to have ever played in the CBA – and many will be keeping a close eye on him and how he performs on and off the court. We hope all goes well for Stephon Marbury in China.

Blake Griffin out for the Rest of the Season

General — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 17:13:27 +0000

Blake Griffin, the number 1 pick in the 2009 draft suffered an injury during the 2009 preseason and was expected to be out until December. However, it was recently announced that he will miss the remainder of the season as well. This will mean that he will not have played any minutes in the NBA this season, qualifying him to be a rookie again next season.

Blake Griffin injury

One of the major talking points for this Blake Griffin injury is whether it was a Clippers curse or a #1 draft pick curse. We know already that the Clippers have had a lot of bad luck in the past with their high draft picks. Their was Shaun Livingston who was a highly coveted guard with great expectations, but ever since being drafted by the LA Clippers, he has not managed to stay healthy. Also you will remember, the 1996 #1 pick of the Clippers: Michael Olowakandi. He was a huge disappointment that never even got close to the expectations set by him from the Clippers organization.

Then at the same time you have the newly developing #1 pick curse. Greg Oden was selected number 1 overall in the 2007 draft, but has troubled staying healthy. He has just shutdown for the season as well, and it begs the question: why is it that number 1 picks seem to suffer so much. Is it the pressure? Is it the fact that usual #1 picks are usually big men who are agile (a special combination).

It’s uncertain the exact cause of Blake Griffin’s injury, but it would be wise to take his time for a comeback so as to not have a repeat injury like Greg Oden did.

Gilbert Arenas: Prison or Jail Next?

General — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 19:15:13 +0000

Washington Wizards all-star guard Gilbert Arenas pleaded guilty on Friday to carrying a gun without a license in the District of Columbia, a felony conviction that could see him face jail time. The prosecutors in the case have agreed not to seek a sentence longer than the lower end of sentencing guidelines, which calls for six months to two years of prison time. It is possible that he could be on probation, serve community service, or serve prison time of up to 5 years under Washington’s laws.

gilbert arenas jail

To make matters worse for Arenas, he hasn’t received a lot of support from those that at one point in his career were deeply relying on him. The Wizards organization has let it be known that they were extremely disappointed with Arenas’ actions and they have taken all advertising related to their team which included Arenas, including a giant billboard of Gilbert Arenas at the entrance of the stadium.

Adidas were also quick to terminate their contract with Gilbert Arenas, ending their partnership as soon as Arenas pleaded guilty of gun possession.

David Stern had already suspended the Arizona native indefinitely without pay after the pregame huddle in Philadelphia where he mimicked shooting a gun with his fingers.

gilbert arenas prison

It will be interesting to see what kind of sentence awaits Agent Zero, and the judge in the case has said that a decision will be reached near 8 weeks with a March 26 decision being estimated, but the lawyers of Gilbert Arenas requested a decision as soon as possible.

Charles Barkley Hosts SNL

General — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 17:44:39 +0000

Charles Barkley SNL

Charles Barkley to host Saturday Night Live tonight along with Alicia Keys. In the promo the two stars along with comedian Andy Samberg joke about gambling and it appears that it will be an entertainment show if NBC let Charles be Charles. However, there have been some very sensitive topics in the news lately, so it will be fascinating to see whether Charles Barkley will have the courage to make light of such sensitive topics. If he does, let’s hope that he keeps it in good taste because as we saw in Gilbert’s situation, the media doesn’t respond well to making light of serious situations. In fact, the media right now is straight killing any sports figure that does anything wrong.

Potential topics that Sir Charles can joke about on SNL that could get him in trouble:

-Gilbert Arenas (enough said here, I think this will be totally avoided)

-His DUI (not likely, as he had to go to prison for this and was publicly scrutinized for not taking it seriously enough at the time)

-Tiger Woods (this is most likely to come up at some point)

-Gambling in the NBA (most likely to come up)

Actually knowning Charles, he will probably poke fun at all the cases mentioned above and will manage to make us laugh depsite not always staying politically correct. After all, this is the man that once famously said “I’m not a role model”.

Gilbert Arenas’ Gun

General — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 16:55:42 +0000

Gilbert Arenas, once the posterchild of the NBA, has just been suspended indefinitely from the NBA due to ‘not being fit to take court in the NBA’. Commisioner David Stern had previously not suspended the All-Star guard after finding out about the gun possession ordeal due to wanting to wait for criminal investigations to clear.

However Gilbert Arenas has been acting irresponsibly since the news broke out that he laid 4 unloaded guns in the locker room of teammate Javaris Critentton after a verbal exchange stemming from a disagreement in a gambling card game. He has been on tweeting tilt, making numerous tweets that made light of his very serious situation. Also in interviews witht he media he kept making jokes and saying that he didn’t feel he had done anything really wrong and joked that David Stern was ‘mean’.

Gilbert Arenas Guns

However the breaking point occured when Gilbert Arenas, during a pregame huddle against the Philadelphia 76ers started gun slinging with his fingers ‘shooting’ his teammates. The picture displayed above was so controversial that the NBA tried to have it removed. The Wizards even went as far as fining 4 of its player 10,000$ for seemingly enjoying Gilbert’s antics.

How long Gilbert Arenas will be suspended for the guns brought into an NBA facility and his subsequent irresponsible actions is unclear, some say in the vicinity of 30 games, while others say he is done at least for the remainder of the season. Whatever the length of Gilbert Arenas’ suspension, one thing is for sure: he’s finally learned his lesson.