Nov 19th 2008 3:35AM by Matt Watson (author feed)
Filed under: Bulls, Magic, Raptors, Trail Blazers, Warriors, NBA Last Night

Chris Bosh and Dwight Howard may be tight off the court, but that didn’t stop Bosh from trying to do very bad things to Howard once the ball tipped last night. Playing all but three minutes, Bosh tallied a preposterous 40 points and 18 boards on 12-19 shooting from the field, chipping in four assists, two steals and a block for good measure.

Of course, Howard got the last laugh — the Magic won 103-90 — but it’s not everyday that an opposing big man makes Superman (18 points, nine boards) look like a mere mortal.

Just in case you figured Anthony Morrow was a flash in the pan, the undrafted rookie followed his 37-point explosion on Saturday with 25 more points last night against the Blazers. He’s been on fire from beyond the three-point line, connecting on four more three-pointers and combining to hit 8-for-10 in the last two games.Continue Reading

Nov 14th 2008 6:15PM by Elie Seckbach (author feed)
Filed under: Jazz, Lakers, Trail Blazers, NBA Videos, Interviews

The MMA is one of fastest growing sports in the world and these days even NBA players are getting into it. In this video we ask players like Luke Walton, Channing Frye, Sasha Vujacic and Jarron Collins which fighters they enjoy watching, and we also find an NBA player who is actually working out with an MMA star to sharpen his basketball skills. When you hear which NBA player that is you will be caught off guard.

Check out the full video after the jump, and find out which NBA player would be a surprisingly tough tussle on the hardwood.Continue Reading

Nov 14th 2008 12:55PM by Tom Ziller (author feed)
Filed under: Clippers, Mavericks, Pistons, Trail Blazers, WarriorsAn account of the hours-long Chauncey Billups and Rip Hamilton goodbye chat.

Which teams will surprise us by not falling back to the Earth (or being revived)?

How Baron Davis and Robert Rowell screwed up two franchises.

Do NBA players/owners downsize on the eccentricity during a financial crisis?

Things Mark Cuban hates, in order: 1) To lose. 2) To lose. 3) The English language.

A look at how one bad basketball moment can affect you for decades.

Nov 12th 2008 11:25PM by Tom Ziller (author feed)
Filed under: Heat, Trail BlazersAs we previewed earlier, Greg Oden played his second NBA game tonight in a successful return from a sprained foot injury suffered in the long-awaited season opener in Los Angeles. Contrary to expectations from the more cynical corners of the globe, no appendages flew off of Oden and no stretchers were required. He played, he did not wince, and hey! the Blazers won.

But Oden wasn’t exactly a star on the court. He played only 16 minutes off the bench, and tallied only three points, two blocks and two rebounds. He came in with three minutes left in the first quarter … and looked gassed two minutes of play later. Oden had a fitness curve the foot injury as a big guy in his rookie NBA season. Spending two weeks in various states of recovery obviously doesn’t help.

One of those other Blazer rookies played a major role in Portland’s victory over Miami, though. Rudy Fernandez went absolutely nuts in his 29 minutes off the bench, dumping in a team-high 25 points on 11 FGAs. This isn’t a fluke. Fernandez has hit double figures in seven of the team’s eight games, and has hurdled the 20-point mark twice now. With Miami closing (on the back of Dwyane Wade, who is BACK) late, Fernandez — shot clock winding down — drove to the foul line, spun away and hit a nasty turnaround/fadeaway/floater thing. The arc of the shot defies physics, making the make a perfect cap for Rudy’s perplexing adventure.

Oden finds himself with a long way to go in terms of both his NBA career and the 2009 Rookie of the Year award. But Rudy (only 23 years old and cheap through 2011-12) is well on his way on both accounts.

Nov 12th 2008 11:05PM by Brett Edwards (author feed)
Filed under: Suns, Trail BlazersSuns’ head coach Terry Porter is finally getting his Trail Blazers jersey retired, but he won’t be the only one honored with a ceremony involving Portland’s number 30 in December. That’s because the team has also decided to retire the jersey of Bobby Gross, who played for the Blazers’ 1977 championship team, and just happened to also wear the number 30.

On December 16, Porter will get his jersey raised to the rafters during a ceremony on a Suns’ night off when the Blazers face the Kings. Then, two nights later — against Porter’s Suns — the Blazers will again raise the number 30, this time to honor Gross. Before the Suns’ game against the Rockets, Porter was asked how he felt about sharing the honor with Gross. It was very clear that he thought it was strange, but laughed it off and refused to give any inflammatory quotes, just smiling and saying “no comment, ” then chuckling some more before saying, “Me and Bobby Gross.” Since Porter was too classy to say how silly the dual jersey retirement is, I’ll go ahead and do it for him.

Terry Porter played 10 seasons in Portland, is the franchise’s all-time assist leader with 5,319, and its second all-time leading scorer with 11,330 career points. Bobby Gross, on the other hand, played for the team seven seasons, and averaged nine points and less than five boards per game. Gross did raise his game considerably during the team’s one championship season, averaging 17.3 points for the series when the team beat the Sixers in the ‘77 NBA Finals.

Look, maybe Bobby Gross deserves to have his jersey retired, and maybe he doesn’t. But it’s just odd for the team to wait 30 years to do it, and then to do it two days from retiring Porter’s jersey of the same number. Gross will be the seventh member of that championship team to get his number retired. Funny, I thought that’s what banners were for.

Nov 12th 2008 7:15PM by Tom Ziller (author feed)
Filed under: Heat, Trail Blazers, NBA InjuriesGreg Oden’s previous national TV debuts haven’t exactly gone as planned. Last season, the NBA opened up the season with Portland vs. San Antonio, the new against the old. Oden missed it due to microfracture surgery. The Blazers and Lakers we’re a part of the league’s featured season opening double-header this season … and Oden lasted less than a half before spraining his foot, an injury that knocked him out for two weeks.

But Oden’s back! And hmm, how convenient … the Blazers are scheduled for a nationally televised game. Portland is 4-3 against a seriously daunting schedule without Oden, and faces a two-faced Miami squad tonight.

I feel all this injury noise will be forgotten some day. Henry Abbott might have put it best: these Oden injuries are not related. Microfracture has got nothing to do with the broken wrist suffered at Ohio State, nor the foot sprain suffered two weeks ago. These isn’t some recurring malady. It’s a series of unfortunate events. The smart money, you’d think, is on the series ending at some point.

You can’t blame Blazers fans for either cowering into the bomb shelter or planning for life without a full-time Oden, though. For all the luck and excitement Portland has had over the past three years, this isn’t a psychological roller coaster you’d wish on a billy goat. We with different allegiances can look at tonight’s coolly — hey, it’s just another game for the Blazers; Greg’s going to get a bucket and a couple blocks and the world will exist another day. But I see why it’s something larger for the men, women and children of Portland.

The game will tip off at 8PM EST on ESPN.

Nov 12th 2008 6:36PM by Matt Moore (author feed)
Filed under: 76ers, Celtics, Hawks, Heat, Hornets, Lakers, Raptors, Rockets, Suns, Trail Blazers, Eastern, Western
1. If This Doesn’t Stop Them, It’s Possible Nothing Will: The Lakers have been unstoppable. Unbeatable. Indestructible. And while they haven’t played a back-to-back yet, and they’ve played the Clippers twice, they were supposed to get challenged by Houston, only to beat them into oblivion. So the Hornets game is intriguing, but really, the Lakers are in another stratosphere right now. Another level. Another dimension. Another conceptual realm filled with butterflies and unicorns for Pau Gasol to ride on. Yet, if there’s any team that’s not afraid of the Big Bad Bynum and Black Mamba, it’s got to be New Orleans, which has already proven it can hang with the big boys. Tonight the Lakers defense, which has been using the strong-side overload faces a weapon that matches up perfectly against it in Chris Paul. Paul can find the open perimeter shooter, and from there, it’s up to Peja Stojackovic and James Posey to knock ‘em down. But in reality, the Lakers offense may be a bigger problem. Ranked third in efficiency, the Lakers are using a balanced attack from about seven different players to absolutely barrage their opponents. If the Hornets are going to have a chance they have almost no margin of error for turnovers and have to be able to challenge shots without picking up fouls, which no one’s been able to do against the Lakers yet. Epic showdown tonight.
Continue Reading

Nov 7th 2008 6:47PM by Tom Ziller (author feed)
Filed under: Trail Blazers, NBA Gossip, NBA RumorsMr. Edwards noted a reported trade request from Portland back-up Sergio Rodriguez in the Essentials, but there’s been a bit of movement since then. The Portland media crew caught up with Rodriguez at practice; Ben Golliver from Blazer’s Edge offers a thorough account. On the basic locus of consternation, though:How do you see your future playing out?

I don’t know. I’ll continue being professional. I told everybody here I love here and I keep working and I think I improve in the two years I’ve been here. I continue with the team and hoping the team and wishing the team win every game. And help the team. […]

Would you ask for a trade?

I mean, I am frustrated because I don’t feel I can figure out the rotation on the team.Sergio stops short of asking to be freed according to Golliver, but it’s clear Rodriguez is confused and thinks he deserves consistent play. Honestly, I’m not clear as to why Portland has kept Rodriguez to this point; is his spotty play helping his trade value? Is the team looking to unload Steve Blake soon? I mean, in addition to Rodriguez, Blake and Jerryd Bayless, the team has Petteri Koponen simmering in Europe. The Blazers are also always stuck in rumors about acquiring a top-line PG.

Kevin Pritchard hasn’t been one to resign himself to making a move — he’s the most proactive exec in the game. Golliver notes that Pritchard and Rodriguez spoke Sergio explained his mood to the media. If Sergio said the same things to K.P., we might see a trade sooner than later. Or … we might not. Who knows?

Nov 7th 2008 3:45PM by Brett Edwards (author feed)
Filed under: Bulls, Clippers, Knicks, Magic, Pistons, Trail BlazersAlas, Stephon Marbury will not be allowed by the Knicks to practice with kids from his old High School. The NBA: Where inactive inactive.Joe Dumars consoles Rip Hamilton after dealing Chauncey Billups out of town.If you can read Spanish, then you can read about Sergio Rodriguez’s agent requesting a trade for him. (via HoopsHype)Bulls’ new coach Vinnie Del Negro, already clashing with a couple of his players.
Brian Cook: bad basketball player, worse teammate.
Baron Davis, following in Damon Jones’ footsteps.

Nov 7th 2008 8:36AM by Tom Ziller (author feed)
Filed under: Rockets, Trail Blazers, NBA Last NightHoly heck. We had your prototypical April barnburner in Portland last night … (p)re-enacted in the first week of November. You may think this clip ends after the first minute with Brandon Roy’s killer jumper to put the Blazers up two with 1.9 seconds left in overtime. But Yao Ming has something to say about it. And Roy has one more thing, too. Just watch.

The highlight comes a bit out of context, too: Roy and Yao had rather bad shooting nights leading up to this exchange. Still, once Roy potentially lost the game by fouling Yao there, you had to know he’d redeem himself, yeah? For his part (via Blazers Edge), Roy has perspective.
When questioned by a foreign reporter, Brandon said that he voted for Obama and that “Obama winning the election is bigger than any shot I could make.”
After Wednesday’s absurd night at the NBA theater and this wild finish … is it safe to say the league has been inspired by the political events of the week?