Subject:

National Basketball Association

  • Blogs

    June 13, 2012

    Know Your Local Media: The Chron's Eric Berger on Hurricanes, Climate Change and Evacuating Katy

    Full disclosure: In 2000, I was working on a grassroots campaign supporting the arena referendum that passed and resulted in the building of Toyota Center. At the time, the Houston Chronicle's Eric Berger was covering the campaign, a less contentious follow-up to the loss suffered a year earlier tha ... More >>

  • Music

    June 7, 2012

    Santigold Goes Hard

    Dance-pop provocateurSantigold is the polar opposite of the starlets she once co-wrote songs with.

  • Blogs

    June 7, 2012

    Five Ways the Rockets Season And The MLB Draft Are Alike

    I'll be the first to admit that while I like the game of baseball and generally keep up with it and the Astros during the season, I'm not an avid fan. I'm certainly not enough of a fan or baseball nerd to understand what the 40-round major league draft means or who is being drafted or even where the ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 7, 2012

    NBA Playoffs: "Good Job, Good Effort" Kid Has Been Located

    Well, that didn't take long. On the heels of the Boston Celtics' 94-90 win over the Miami Heat on Tuesday night, there were two stars usurping the spotlight after the game. One was Boston forward Kevin Garnett, whose 26 points and 11 rebounds led the Celtics to the huge upset. The other wasn't a pl ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 6, 2012

    Celtics-Heat Postgame Fun-Fest: Crazy KG, D-Wade's Hipster-ish Fake Glasses, and "Good Job, Good Effort!" Kid (w/ VIDEO)

    I love NBA basketball, but I'll be the first to admit that I am oftentimes more compelled by what goes on after the games -- in the press conferences, in the locker room, on the set of TNT -- than I am in the games themselves. I'm the guy who is rooting against LeBron not because I hate him, but be ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 1, 2012

    NBA Draft: Recent Stinkhole History To Enlighten Rocket Fans

    Prior to Wednesday night's game between the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics, the 27th annual NBA Draft Lottery took place, or as Rocket fans like to call it "a tradition like no other." For those Rocket fans, their 0.5 percent chance of coming away with the top pick gave the draft lottery a decide ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 1, 2012

    Houston Rockets 2012: Tales from the Stinkhole, Volume 2 ("At Least We're Not Charlotte")

    The plight of the Rocket fan has been well documented in this space. One playoff series win in the last 15 years. Both of the other Texas franchises winning NBA titles within the last five years. Three straight finishes in the highest spot outside of the playoffs (the proverbial "stinkhole"). No luc ... More >>

  • Blogs

    May 30, 2012

    Spurs Fans And Thunder Fans Brawl In The Stands (w/ VIDEO)

    Well, the Conference Finals are in full swing in the NBA, and you know the old saying -- the Conference Finals don't really start until the two fan bases have a drunken brawl over something really, really stupid. (It used to be the series didn't start until the road team won a game. That's a very 20 ... More >>

  • Blogs

    May 25, 2012

    Hammered Miami Heat Fan Strips To Bra & Panties To Celebrate A Win (VIDEO Analysis)

    I realize that, unless you're a member of LeBron James' or Dwyane Wade's immediate family, it's awfully tough to find a reason to root for the Miami Heat. While they're not the lightning rod for vitriol that they were coming off of LeBron's "Decision" in the summer of 2010, the Heat are still quit ... More >>

  • Blogs

    May 14, 2012

    NBA Formalwear: Chase Budinger's NBA Socks Worn Under His Suit At Tilman Fertitta's Charity Event

    On the evening of May 2, John Granato and I had the opportunity to broadcast a "very special edition" of our show on 1560 The Game live from local restaurant and casino mogul Tilman Fertitta's palatial (Understatement Adjective of the Year, by the way) estate in River Oaks. It was the annual "Gath ... More >>

  • Blogs

    May 11, 2012

    Five Things for the Rockets to Consider This Offseason

    Another offseason is upon us in Houston. While other teams battle it out in the playoffs, Houston Rockets fans are left to wait until next year...again. With three straight lottery seasons and only one second round appearance since 1997, it's no wonder fans are fatigued and want to see things shaken ... More >>

  • Blogs

    May 4, 2012

    Jerry "The King" Lawler Piledrives Clipper Fan: Old School WWE Wrestlers for Each NBA Playoff Series (w/ VIDEO)

    People laugh dismissively when I say it, but the more they can incorporate WWE performers and the general WWE "way" of entertainment, the more enjoyable other genres of sports will become. No, I'm not talking about the predetermined outcomes of matches (The NBA has already incorporated that aspect o ... More >>

  • News

    May 3, 2012

    Rockets Mascot Gets in the Ring

    The man behind Clutch takes up the fight game on the side.

  • Blogs

    May 1, 2012

    Rap Round Table: Who's Going to Win the NBA Finals?

    Some rappers happen to be thoughtful, intelligent people. Each week, Rocks Off will have some of them here discussing issues relevant to their culture. This Week's Panel: Bun B, Slim Thug, hasHBrown, Chane, Yung Truth, Preemo, Chuckway, Mac, Nosaprise, D-Risha Not Invited: Amar'e Stoudemire's brai ... More >>

  • Blogs

    April 19, 2012

    Tough Week: Rockets Go from Sixth Seed to Out of the Playoffs

    Remember all the warm, fuzzy feelings last week when the Rockets came home from a 4-0 road trip, knocking on the door of a good seeding in the Western Conference playoffs? It appeared this scrappy, tough team was going to defy odds and make the playoffs with no stars and their entire starting backco ... More >>

  • Blogs

    April 11, 2012

    Rockets Sweep Road Trip, Bear Down on the Playoffs

    Photo by Groovehouse This Rockets team, it just sneaks up on you. It's loaded with second- and third-tier players, most of whom would be backups (albeit rotation players) on good teams. They struggle with interior defense and have an unproven coach who was once a hated rival. They lost their entire ... More >>

  • Blogs

    April 5, 2012

    Last Night: Maná At Toyota Center

    Maná Toyota Center April 4, 2012 The last time Maná visited Houston, they sold out Toyota Center two nights in a row. The world's premier rock en español band is on the second leg of the Drama Y Luz tour, in support of their latest album of the same name. The group from the land of tequila y ma ... More >>

  • Blogs

    March 26, 2012

    Picking Rockets Team of the 2000s Not an Easy Task

    Throughout the course of this frustrating season, the Houston Rockets have been allowing fans to pick their choices for the starting team of the decade beginning with the 1970s and continuing with the '80s, '90s and 2000s. They had all but one of their starting five for the 2000s on had for their wi ... More >>

  • Blogs

    March 16, 2012

    Five Questions Answered About the Rest of the Rockets' Season

    A buddy of mine texted me when news came of the Rockets trade of Johnny Flynn -- the guard with a name like a `40s-era movie star -- and Hasheem Thabeet to Portland for Marcus Camby and a draft pick. "This team was one Marcus Camby from being a championship contender." I responded, "Six years ago." ... More >>

  • Blogs

    March 16, 2012

    Houston Rockets 2009 Draft Lottery Posse -- Final Scorecard

    I've mentioned this in previous posts, but one of the most amazing and envy-inducing pictures I've ever seen is a picture on Rockets general manager Daryl Morey's Mobile Uploads page on his Facebook account. It's a shot of a blackjack hand, split three times (for four hands total), with a blackjack ... More >>

  • Blogs

    March 9, 2012

    Comparing the Rockets Starting Lineup to the Best in the West

    The Rockets are mired in a five-game losing streak and slumping their way towards the NBA trade deadline next week. They lost two overtime heartbreakers to the Clippers and the Celtics and dropped an uninspired road loss the the abysmal Toronto Raptors. The Rockets aren't exactly free-falling, but t ... More >>

  • News

    March 8, 2012

    Bet on the Rockets

    What will the second half bring?

  • Blogs

    March 7, 2012

    Comcast SportsNet Houston To Bring Today Show-Like Studio to Downtown

    If you've ever wanted to be seen on TV waving furiously and holding a sign outside a studio window like on the Today show, today is big for you. Mayor Annise Parker and a bunch of business types announced that Comcast SportsNet Houston, which is going to be the TV home for the Astros, Rockets and s ... More >>

  • Blogs

    March 1, 2012

    Say What You Will About the Rockets, At Least They Aren't The Clippers

    We all learned yesterday that the Rockets have fallen to the bottom of the heap when it comes to local television ratings, worse than all but three woeful NBA franchises despite having a winning record now halfway through this lockout-shortened season. In fact, their ratings dropped a whopping 40 p ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 28, 2012

    Houston Rockets Second-Half Preview in Gambling-Speak

    The Rockets kick off the second half of the 2011-2012 season tonight. I'm not sure how many of you care about this. The acres of empty seats at Toyota Center lead me to believe that fewer of you care than Kevin McHale, Daryl Morey and Leslie Alexander would have hoped for. Television ratings indicat ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 22, 2012

    Counting Greg Oden's Blessings

    Greg Oden, in between microsurgeries.​"I'm sure he's saying, 'Why Me?' Sometimes in life, things like that happen, and you wonder why it's happening to you. Some of these injuries have occurred, not only on the floor but off the floor. There's really not an explanation for why, or sometimes ho ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 17, 2012

    Video Proof That Chase Budinger Can Dunk With Flair

    Maybe I'm in the minority on this one, but I'll put it out there -- I enjoy the Saturday festivities at the NBA All-Star weekend even more than the game on Sunday night. The slam dunk contest, the three-point shooting contest, the "whatever-they're-calling-the-game-with-rookies-and-sophomores-this- ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 10, 2012

    Houston Rockets: Their Bench Is the Hottest Team in the Western Conference

    In my season preview for the Houston Rockets, I cited the current portion of the season as the "make or break stretch" for the team -- a six-game road trip against a bunch of pretty-good-but-not-great teams followed by a six-game homestand against mostly good teams. And once the season started, and ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 8, 2012

    Linsanity: Little-Known Jeremy Lin Helping Knicks Hurt the Rockets

    Daryl Morey's incessant shuffling of second-rate players over the past few seasons, constantly tweaking and tinkering looking for "assets," came to an almost comical head last week when a player the Rockets cut in the offseason to make room for Jonny Flynn, who they acquired from Minnesota, came to ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 7, 2012

    One Man's NBA All-Star Reserve Selections

    Go ahead and chalk up the NBA All-Star Game taking place in a few weeks (Sunday, February 26, to be exact) in Orlando's Amway Center as the next "feels weird" moment of the NBA season. It feels like the season just tipped off a few weeks ago and yet here we are, about 20 games in, deciding who the b ... More >>

  • Blogs

    January 27, 2012

    Looking Ahead: Rockets Hold Off on Re-Upping Lee, 2009 Rookies

    The Houston Rockets announced this week that they would not exercise their option to extend the contracts of guard Courtney Lee and the four rookies from the 2009 draft, center Hasheem Thabeet, forward Jordan Hill, guard Johnny Flynn and guard Terrence Williams. The Rockets had the option available ... More >>

  • Blogs

    January 25, 2012

    Shhhhh, Don't Tell Anyone, but the Rockets Are Playing Really Well

    While everyone was cheering on the Texans and fretting about whether or not Jim Crane would go completely nuts and change the Astros to the Craniums, a funny thing was happening at Toyota Center. The Rockets were winning. They have won their last seven games and are 8-2 in the last ten. During this ... More >>

  • Blogs

    January 12, 2012

    Houston Rockets 1993 vs. Houston Rockets 2012, the Hard Truth

    It's been a tough start for the hapless Rockets. With early injury problems, a trade that didn't happen in the lockout-shortened offseason and a new, unproven coach, it's no wonder the first few weeks of the season have been somewhere between "OH GOD NO!" and "Just shoot me." This, of course, makes ... More >>

  • Blogs

    December 30, 2011

    Rape, Scandal, Greed and Cockfighting -- The 2011 Sports Year In Review

    2011: Penn State's horrible year​You know how, in the series 24, the way a season unfolds? How just when you think there has been some sort of resolution to the bad guys being bottled up, right then and there a new (often worse) layer is introduced, and ultimately in like Hour 22 Jack Bauer wi ... More >>

  • Blogs

    December 22, 2011

    NBA Season Win Totals and My Rockets Prediction

    Bet the over on wins​Last add on my post from yesterday about Kris Kardashian Humphries re-signing with the Nets: For those of you who think I was a little too hard on Big Humph (and by my count, there were exactly none of you who felt that way), just know that according to results of a rece ... More >>

  • Blogs

    December 21, 2011

    Kris Kardashian Humphries Re-signs with the Nets

    So happy together.​It's Wednesday, December 21, and from a daylight standpoint, it's the shortest day of the calendar year and equally short on newsworthy events around the sports world (unless you count former Philadelphia newspaper columnist and part-time Jabba the Hutt stand-in Bill Conlin ... More >>

  • Blogs

    December 9, 2011

    Pau Gasol Thoughts, My Texans Prediction and Other Weekend Best Bets

    Pau Gasol: The closest he'll get to Rocket red.​On November 23, the Texans signed quarterback Kellen Clemens to take over third-string duties. On December 4, the Texans signed Jake Delhomme and two days later they cut Clemens. I never thought there would be a less satisfying era for a Houston ... More >>

  • Blogs

    December 7, 2011

    Rockets Announce 2011-2012 Schedule -- 6 Things You Need to Know

    Kevin Martin: Not a big national-TV draw.​My excitement for the upcoming NBA season was moderately brimming before yesterday (due in large part to a $50 prop bet I placed a couple months ago on the season starting on or before Christmas -- CHA-CHING!), but two things happened yesterday. First ... More >>

  • Blogs

    September 29, 2011

    NBA Lockout Could End or Season Could Be Canceled This Weekend

    David Stern has it.​The continuing NBA lockout may be coming to a head this weekend as talks between representatives for the players and owners resume on Friday. Training camps around the league have been canceled as have some preseason games, and if talks were to break off this weekend with n ... More >>

  • Blogs

    September 26, 2011

    NBA Training Camps Canceled -- Five Things Players Can Do During This Time Off

    Eat enough and NBA players could look like this!​The NBA officially canceled all training camps and portions of the preseason due to the continuing lockout imposed by owners. While there have been a few rumblings over the past week or so that there might be some cause for optimism with behind ... More >>

  • Blogs

    July 20, 2011

    10 Observations About The Rockets 2011-12 Schedule

    Clutch pulls in late for the earlier home start times​I have to admit, when I saw the headline that the NBA would be announcing its 2011-12 season schedule, I chuckled out of confusion a little bit. I mean, do you really want to remind your hardcore customers (and trust me, those who care abo ... More >>

  • Blogs

    July 18, 2011

    Women's World Cup: Five Other Seeming "Game-Winning" Scores That Weren't

    The USA's run in the Women's World Cup seemed to be finishing in grand style when Abby Wambach put in an extra-time header to give the team a 2-1 lead. It didn't last, and Japan won in overtime. Wambach's late goal joins a storied list of scores that seemingly iced a game or a series, only to be o ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 24, 2011

    2011 NBA Draft -- 4 Winners, 4 Losers

    Tough night for Dick Vitale​My fingers are still recovering from the lengthy (eight printed pages!) live blog I did last night here on Hair Balls, but the day after the draft necessitates some post-draft analysis. I've now had a day to sleep on it, and without further ado, a few post-draft tho ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 23, 2011

    NBA Draft Rewind -- 1986, The Worst Draft Ever

    Plus the shorts sucked​As much as those who construct teams in sports would like to think that they have a formula and a blueprint that they can go execute with any team in any market and be successful, the fact of the matter is that even for the best personnel men in the best-run organization ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 23, 2011

    2011 NBA Draft -- The Live Blog

    Keep coming back for the latest​The overwhelming consensus on the 2011 NBA Draft is that it's, by and large, a pretty underwhelming group of players, and it may quite possibly be completely devoid of future All-Stars. So why am I so excited about tonight's festivities? Because of all the thin ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 20, 2011

    2011 NBA Draft -- A Reminder of the Rockets' Purgatory

    NBA Draft: Do Rocket fans have anything to look forward to?​In the second season of The Sopranos, after getting shot in the abdomen and nearly dying, Christopher has dreams while in a coma about going to a place where people die every day the same painful way they died on earth. Convinced that ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 15, 2011

    Comment of the Day: Why Yao Ming Didn't Meet Expectations

    ​We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula involv ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 13, 2011

    We Live In A World Where Dallas Has Won An NBA Title: Five Things to Consider

    Old school Mavs​Way, way back in the day, when we lived in Dallas -- more or less against our will -- we were Dallas Maverick fans. The Dallas Morning News' offices were a block or two from Reunion Arena, and Mark Aguirre and Roy Tarpley were there to he enjoyed. The Mavs never made it over ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 13, 2011

    Mavericks Celebrate In South Beach Bar: The Photos, Including Dirk Nowitzki Guzzling an $80K Bottle of Champagne

    worldredeye.com​The webiste worldredeye.com has a page full of pictures up of the Dallas Mavericks, the whitest NBA champs since Larry Bird's Celtics, getting down last night and early this morning at Dallas South Beach nightclub LIV. We can only assume such a hip name as LIV is an homage to ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 3, 2011

    NBA Finals Game 2 -- Anatomy of a Meltdown

    On the "Play-by-play" Web page for Game 2 of the NBA Finals, it simply reads "Dwyane Wade makes 24-foot three point jumper (Mario Chalmers assists)," one simple play out of a few hundred plays during the course of an NBA basketball game. But if you were watching the game, you knew that Dwyane Wade' ... More >>

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