209 posts tagged with nba.
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"A fusion of music and sports like never before"
38,387
LeBron James is 36 points from becoming the leading scorer in NBA history. He may beat Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's record while playing for the Los Angeles Lakers against the Milwaukee Bucks -- the two NBA teams Abdul-Jabbar played for. If you want to be at courtside, be prepared to shell out five or six figures. The Washington Post looks at How the NBA scoring record evolved from Wilt to Kareem to LeBron (gift article), and The Athletic looks at James's longevity as measured by the nine father-son duos he's played against (archive.today link).
Bill Russell (1934-2022): basketball legend, civil rights activist
Bill Russell, winningest champion in American pro sports history, first Black head coach in the NBA, outspoken advocate for racial justice, has died. (Washington Post obituary)... The family's announcement from his twitter; His friend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's tribute (substack)... 1987 NYT article by his daughter Karen Russell about the racism they faced in Boston when he was bringing 11 NBA titles to the city. [more inside]
Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai is the face of NBA's uneasy China relations
"Joe Tsai, The billionaire owner of the Brooklyn Nets, made his fortune in China. His company, Alibaba, began in a Hangzhou apartment and has since been described as 'Amazon on steroids.' [more inside]
The Limits Of Dave Chappelle And Kyrie Irving’s Free-Thinking
The Limits Of Dave Chappelle And Kyrie Irving’s Free-Thinking (Defector, alternate link from archive.org) [more inside]
The Unexpected Cost of "First"
Welcome to the NBA
Former NBA players Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles host the Knuckleheads podcast, a series of freewheeling discussions with current and former NBA and WNBA players. Their first question is always the same: "When you first got to the league, who was the first person to bust your ass?" The answers are funny, enlightening, surprising and (almost) always humble; players often remember the exact number of points their buster scored in years- or decades-old games. They offer a unique window into what it's like to make the transition to the upper echelons of professional sports, when someone who has spent their life as the best player in the gym suddenly realizes that they still have a lot to learn. Here's Gary Payton with the paradigmatic "welcome to the NBA" moment, but there's much more inside. [more inside]
Look at Curry Man
Stephen Curry, point guard for the Golden State Warriors, along with his wife Ayesha, have helped serve 16,000,000 meals to Oakland kids this year. In November he bought a new food truck for Homies Empowerment, after theirs was stolen and trashed. In early April, he worked with the Bruce Lee Foundation to raise money to show solidarity with the Asian community. He's also found time to set the record for the most 3 point buckets in any 11 game stretch in NBA history for players 33 and older. [more inside]
Naismith International Park
ESPN NBA Analyst Kirk Goldsberry (previously on MetaFilter) has created a wonderful topographic map of an NBA court (direct image link) that highlights some of the most iconic figures and moments in basketball history. [more inside]
On the Bubble
The pandemic has transformed playing, watching, and covering big sports. Sam Anderson on What I Learned Inside the N.B.A. Bubble (NYT) and Barney Ronay on Is it too late to halt football’s final descent into a dystopian digital circus?
Our focus today cannot be on basketball
In response to the police shooting of Jacob Blake, and the Kenosha Police Department giving armed white supremacists free rein in the city, the Milwaukee Bucks as a team refused to take the floor for game 5 of their first round playoff series against the Orlando Magic. The Magic, left the floor, too, refusing to accept a win by forfeit. The NBA quickly announced all three games scheduled would be postponed. [more inside]
Remembering Central Avenue, L.A.’s jazz oasis
You want me to come outside? That's a hurricane! I can't do that.
As the National Basketball Association looks to resume its season inside a protective "bubble" in Orlando, FL, the Philadelphia 76ers' rookie Matisse Thybulle has been doing YouTube videos that he records and edits and publishes. The 3rd installment of "Welcome To The Bubble", where he gets his ankles taped for practice, discovers Florida weather, and battles teammates while trying to solve a rubix cube went up today.
You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. -Wayne Gretzky, Michael Scott
Ready or Not, Here Comes the NBA [The Ringer] “On one side is law enforcement, some with badges covered and weapons raised—the face of a system of oppression. On the other is the looming threat of the coronavirus, which has now killed more than 100,000 Americans. Our present moment is trapped in that tension. All the while, the NBA’s board of governors is planning a trip to Disney World. Topics of the day include a play-in tournament for the eighth seed, resort assignments, and whether players and coaches will be allowed to golf. [...] On Thursday, the league approved a plan for 22 teams to resume the season in Orlando on July 31, and picking up with eight regular-season games before the commencement of a full-fledged playoff.” [more inside]
Who owns your tattoo?
NBA 2K Beats Copyright Case Over LeBron's Tattoos (Law360 paywall): A Manhattan federal judge ruled Thursday that Take-Two Interactive couldn't be sued for copyright infringement over tattoos on LeBron James and others in the NBA 2K video games, saying tattoo artists gave the players automatic licenses when they inked their bodies: "The undisputed factual record clearly supports the reasonable inference that the tattooists necessarily granted the Players nonexclusive licenses to use the Tattoos as part of their likenesses." Related: Who Owns Your Tattoo? Tattoo Artists Answer (Youtube) [more inside]
The good and the bad. We have given each other all that we have.
An NBA star plans to turn his contract into digital tokens and sell them
David Stern 1942-2020
David Stern, likely the most important sports businessman of all time, who turned the NBA into an international household name, has died. People, we've lost today a legend! [more inside]
Wizards' Rui Hachimura is the NBA rookie with the biggest following
“One of my jobs is to represent Japan. People want to see me right now. I’m everywhere right now in Japan on TV, newspapers. I am doing it for my country and the little kids watching me.” Rui Hachimura takes pride in representing Japan as a mixed-race Japanese basketball player, the son of a West African father and Japanese mother. [more inside]
The Dodgers declined requests to participate in the survey.
Good luck getting a family of four into a professional sport for $100 — not in good seats, but any seats.
Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times on a typical Southern California family being priced out of attending live games of virtually all major professional sports leagues.
“sports owners and global autocrats aren’t such strange bedfellows”
The raging controversy over the NBA, China, and the Hong Kong protests, explained [Vox] “On Friday, Daryl Morey, the general manager of the Houston Rockets, tweeted something a bit outside his lane as a sports guy but fundamentally banal in the context of American public opinion: “fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong.” [...] But Morey turns out to have stepped onto a much bigger landmine — Chinese politics, just as the National Basketball Association grows more thirsty to get into the Chinese market. Morey got himself denounced by the Chinese consulate in Houston and by the owner of his team. His tweet was deleted, the Chinese Basketball Association announced that it is suspending all cooperation with the Rockets, Morey was made to apologize, and the NBA put out a statement [2nd follow-up statement] characterizing his tweet as “regrettable” and clarifying that his support for Hong Kong protesters “does not represent the Rockets or the NBA.” The Rockets are reportedly considering firing Morey in an effort to appease the Chinese. Meanwhile, the NBA’s eagerness to squash a backlash in China is prompting its own backlash in American politics.” [more inside]
Basketball is basketball. You know what I’m saying?
Masks On. Washington Wizards All Star Guard Bradley Beal writes a Players Tribune piece about the WNBA Finals. [more inside]
Welcome...To The Fumble Dimension
Many of you may recall internet sports statistical bard Jon Bois' adventures in taking sports games and seeing how far he could twist the knobs until everything breaks, such as Breaking Madden, or murdering a virtual NBA with horrible players.
Well, he's back at it with compatriot Kofie Yeboah, in a new series for SBNation. (SLYT) [more inside]
I love streaming. I often run into trouts.
NBA legend, bicycling enthusiast and longtime Deadhead Bill Walton announces a recent White Sox game, and we learn the record for the most strikeouts in a single inning (spoiler alert: it's three), and that rainbow is a flavor.
Dorktown - The Comic Book
Internet sports statistical bard Jon Bois and partner Alex Rubenstein have showcased a number of statistical oddities on the SBNation show Dorktown. But for the tale of the 2014 Spurs-Mavericks series in the first round of the NBA finals, the two have gone to a new format - a digital comic book. (SLDorktown)
"I don't smoke, I don't drink, I don't womanize. I Raptorize."
As the Toronto Raptors make it to the NBA finals this year, there's one clear breakout star -- the entire city has rallied around the team's biggest courtside fan. Of course, I mean Nav Bhatia. The turbaned, 60-something SIkh who has been to every single Raptors home game, never been late and never left early. [more inside]
The Taking of the Sixers
The Philadelphia 76'ers were eliminated from the NBA playoffs recently, but no matter what your fandom, or none, something great came of it. This photo, one should take one's time with it.
A glimpse into the OTHER side of a true renaissance man; Greg Popovich
Michelin restaurants and fabulous wines: Inside the secret team dinners that have built the Spurs' dynasty [more inside]
Privileged
Kyle Korver of the Utah Jazz in the Player's Tribune: What I’m realizing is, no matter how passionately I commit to being an ally, and no matter how unwavering my support is for NBA and WNBA players of color….. I’m still in this conversation from the privileged perspective of opting in to it. Which of course means that on the flip side, I could just as easily opt out of it. Every day, I’m given that choice — I’m granted that privilege — based on the color of my skin.
Long Form Linsanity
Born to Run The Numbers (previously) presents another issue of their multi-year series on a mid-tier starting point guard who is frequently down but never out: Jeremy Lin. Part One (2015); Part Two (2016); Part Three (2017); Part Four (2018). More previously:
Jeremy Lin, Jeremy Lin, Jeremy Lin
Before we go any further: no, Mark Jackson didn’t murder anybody.
If you were an enormous fan of Mark Jackson circa 1990, and you wanted to buy his trading card on eBay in the last few months, you were out of luck. How Two Murderers Were Spotted on an Old Mark Jackson Trading Card.
Two taps to the head
What the hell happened to Darius Miles? I know dudes like me aren’t supposed to talk about depression, but I’ll talk about it. If a real motherfucker like me can struggle with it, then anybody can struggle with it.
“This is the stuff childhood dreams are made of.”
You can now buy a pair of Nintendo-themed Air Jordans for $1250 [Moneyish] [Pepsi Nintendo Blue] “Only ten pairs of the Jordan “NES” IVs will be made, but at $1,250 each, they aren’t cheap (FreakerSneaks is selling an “NBA Jam”-themed pair of kicks at a similar price.) That said, though the shoes weren’t made with the imprimatur of Nintendo, FreakerSneaks knows there’s a market of now wealthy Gen Xers who grew up playing NES that will be willing to shell out.” [more inside]
👑 😇 🏀
The King in the City of Angels Under cover of darkness and all by himself, Magic Johnson arrived at LeBron James’ Brentwood house at 9:01 p.m. on Saturday. He knew — he just knew — that if he could look James in the eye and talk to him, they’d connect. They had too much in common for that not to happen. [more inside]
This Is Going Well
It's time for another episode of Dorktown, and in this episode, SB Nation editor/national treasure Jon Bois and compatriot/fellow stats dork Alex Rubenstein discuss the Houston Rockets' love for the trey, how it got them to the heights of the NBA...and how it broke their heart in Game 7 of the conference finals. (SLYT) [more inside]
Post Process
Bryan Colangelo, the president of the Philly 76ers, may have been running numerous anonymous Twitter accounts in which he ridiculed his own players and other NBA figures (including his predecessor, the lightning rod Sam Hinkie) and hillariously acted as his own biggest fan. If true, this would be a very, very bad look. The team is conducting an investigation.
"where it’s O.K. to be closed-minded"
Just call me “Standing Around Mamba” (站曼巴)
Nick Kapur, a professor of East Asian history, explains the Chinese nicknames for some of the most prominent players left in the NBA playoffs. King of the Crabs, Steph Skyfucker, Soup God, Dregs of the Earth, and more different riffs on Kobe Bryant calling himself Black Mamba than you thought possible await.
Pitting Shaq Against His Mortal Enemy
To kick off a brand new series for sports dorks called, appropriately, Dorktown, SB Nation editor and fan favorite Jon Bois and friends ask a simple question - what would happen if Shaquille O'Neal missed every free throw? (SLYT) [more inside]
"SHAWN, WHERE’S THE TAPE?! SHOW THE WORLD THE TAPE, SHAWN."
Steve Francis: I Got a Story to Tell: I damn near cried when I got taken by the Grizzlies at No. 2. I was not about to go up to freezing-ass Canada, so far away from my family, when they were about to move the franchise anyway. I’m sorry but … actually, I’m really not even sorry. Everybody sees the business of basketball now. That team was gone. The only thing I’m sorry about is that I went up there and gave probably the rudest press conference in NBA history before they traded me. [slPlayersTribune] [Previously]
'Let’s hear it again!’
Sport is a mechanism of control in America
"Sport is a mechanism of control in America" [Jaylen] Brown admits that, when he was 14, “It wounds you. But when I got older and went to the University of California [Berkeley] I learnt about a more subtle racism and how it filters across our education system through tracking, hidden curriculums, social stratification and things I had no idea of before. I was really emotional – because one of the most subtle but aggressive ways racism exists is through our education system.”
He takes shots other people haven't even tried before
“Pistol” Pete Maravich vs. George “Iceman” Gervin —
H-O-R-S-E
I think it is our national sin.
Gregg Popovich is head coach of the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs. At a time when black athletes and even black sports reporters are being targeted by Trump, Popovich has spent much of the past year stepping outside of his normally reserved role to use his white privilege in ways perhaps no white man in sports ever has.
Lord , Carry Him Now 🙏🏾
Celtics’ Gordon Hayward Suffers Gruesome Ankle Fracture in Opener [WARNING: Graphic Video of Injury of Fractured Ankle] [YouTube] “Less than six minutes into his first game as a member of the Boston Celtics on Tuesday, Gordon Hayward badly fractured his left ankle on a failed alley-oop attempt. The injury is a crushing blow to the Celtics in their quest for Eastern Conference superiority. Hayward, a forward who signed a four-year, $128 million contract with the Celtics in July, was to pair with Al Horford and Kyrie Irving in a new Big Three for a team that has been on the rise for the last several seasons. On the play, Hayward was leaping toward the basket to receive a pass from Irving when he became entangled with LeBron James and Jae Crowder of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Hayward landed on his left foot, which twisted in gruesome fashion under him as he crumbled to the floor.” [via: The New York Times]
there once was a man from New York
Bill Cassidy still is a liar / Tom Price is a luxury flier / And Kim Jong-un’s aim / He says, is to tame / The POTUS, a dotard, with fire.
“My earlier invite’s withdrawn!” / Insisted the president, Don. / “Steph wouldn’t have come; / He told you, u bum,” / Observed a 3rd-party, LeBron [more inside]
“My earlier invite’s withdrawn!” / Insisted the president, Don. / “Steph wouldn’t have come; / He told you, u bum,” / Observed a 3rd-party, LeBron [more inside]
Fantasy Football, Reality Basketball
Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the National Anthem as a protest against injustice inspired imitation across the United States. Those protests were matched by vehement opposition from fans and equivocation and denial by the NFL, where, to little surprise, Kaepernick remains unsigned.
The NBA, however, has taken a decidedly different approach to the issue: “None of us operates in a vacuum. Critical issues that affect our society also impact you directly,” the letter reads. “Fortunately, you are not only the world's greatest basketball players — you have real power to make a difference in the world, and we want you know that the Players Association and the League are always available to help you figure out the most meaningful way to make that difference." [more inside]
"He says he coded the Bulls to always throw a brick at the last second"
The Oral History of NBA Jam. Sports Illustrated gathers the original developers for a look back at NBA Jam, a 1993 arcade title from Midway Games. [more inside]
The most powerful woman, and one of the most powerful people, in sports.
... nothing mattered more to Jeanie Buss than the family business — than her father’s legacy. [...]
She is the controlling owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, as her late father wished. Four months ago, she fired her brother and also the team’s 17-year general manager on the same day, and installed trusted friend Earvin “Magic” Johnson as president of basketball operations. Then she prevailed in an ugly court battle with her two older brothers that confirmed she will run the Lakers for the rest of her life. ~ From roller hockey to the Lakers: How Jeanie Buss became the most powerful woman in sports By Tania Ganguli, LA Times
Dion! You’re banned from the skating party until you start acting right.
Dion Waiters: The NBA Is Lucky I’m Home Doing Damn Articles: Y'all seen Casino, right?
You know, the one with Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci in Vegas? Anyway — that one.
If you want to know what it’s like to meet Pat Riley, you need to watch that movie. [slPlayersTribune]