New York Knicks

NBA Retro Zapruder Of The 1985 NBA Draft Lottery

In the 80's hit movie Stand By Me, there's a scene where the four main characters, teenage boys (including a young Corey Feldman!), are sitting around a campfire and one of them (Gordie) tells a story about a fat kid named Lard Ass participating in a blueberry pie eating contest at the county fair. ... More >>

The Best of Coachella, Weekend One

Ed. Note: Rocks Off proudly presents to our readers coverage of Coachella's first weekend courtesy of our sister papers LA Weekly and OC Weekly. Karen O's Outfit Karen O's wardrobe on Friday night was bad-ass. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs front woman appeared on the main stage in a technicolor cape draped o ... More >>

(UPDATED) The NBA Announces Their 2013 Hall Of Fame Finalists; UH's Guy V. Makes The Cut

(Updated with statement from Guy V. Lewis' family.) Today at the Hilton Americas just steps away from the Toyota Center, the NBA announced their nominees for induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame. The formal announcement of inductees doesn't come until April 8th at the Final Four festivities i ... More >>

Yao Meets J.J.: Who Could Block More Passes?

Houston Texans superstar J.J. Watt posted this picture to his Twitter account a while ago. He added: "Great lunch with @YaoMing today. Have a feeling he could knock down a pass or two..." (It should be noted that @YaoMing -- "I am the real Yao Ming," it says on the account -- didn't bother to post ... More >>

Six Examples of How James Harden Follows in the Tradition of Great Rockets Hair

When the Houston Rockets acquired James Harden in late October, general manager Daryl Morey finally found the superstar that he longed for. Houston would go on to post billboards around the city featuring Harden with the caption, "The Beard Has Landed!" So far, Harden has delivered, as he is one of ... More >>

Rockets 120, Bulls 97: Offensive Juggernaut Routs Another Defensive Powerhouse

Don't look now, but the team no one can see on Houston TV is looking pretty damn good right about now. Winning their fourth game in a row, which included routs over the Knicks and the Grizzlies, the Rockets beat one of the best defensive teams in the league, the Chicago Bulls, by 23, at one point le ... More >>

The Young Ones: Rockets Season Will Be Infused With, Complicated By Youth

Back in the late '90s, when the Rockets had real championship aspirations, the team was consistently one of the oldest in the NBA. They routinely filled the end of the roster with guys like Charles Jones, who Rockets TV play-by-play man Bill Worrell affectionately called "Old Man River." By contrast ... More >>

Comment of the Day: It Was Linevitable

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 or afternoon from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula i ... More >>

Rockets Invent a New Type of Draft Pick Lottery Protection, So That's Something, Right?

The Rockets finished the 2011-12 NBA season with perhaps the top point guard combination in the entire league. Kyle Lowry was a borderline All-Star at midseason and one of the top all-around players at the position, not to mention a massive bargain at $5.75 million per year. When Lowry went down w ... More >>

NBA Commish David Stern Asks Jim Rome "Have You Stopped Beating Your Wife Yet?"

"Have you stopped beating your wife yet?" -- NBA Commissioner David Stern in what I hope was a rhetorical question to Jim Rome, 6/13/12 Since the first NBA Draft Lottery in 1985 gift-wrapped Patrick Ewing to the downtrodden New York Knicks, there have been conspiracy theorists galore that have sur ... More >>

NBA Finals: Series Prediction and a Few Prop Bets

Finally, it's here! If you had allowed David Stern to sit in a room with all 16 playoff teams on the wall by conference, and allow him to pick his dream matchup for the NBA Finals, it's without a doubt the Miami-Oklahoma City matchup we're getting here. LeBron versus Durant, big market versus small ... More >>

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 >>

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 >>

Jeremy Lin vs. Yao Ming: The Breakdown

NBA executives are beaming these days with the Tim Tebow-like mania for the Knicks' Jeremy Lin, a Harvard grad whose family comes from Taiwan. Not only is Lin getting hysteria in the States, but he is reawakening visions of opening the lucrative Chinese and Asian market back to the NBA, dreams whic ... More >>

NBA Purgatory

Neither the best nor the worst, the Rockets remain stuck in professional basketball's great midsection.

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 >>

NBA Players Discuss Starting A New League (Go Ahead And Laugh, It's Okay)

GREAT idea!!​"Obviously we're trying to ... get this lockout resolved. We want to play NBA basketball. But if it doesn't happen what are we gonna do? We can't just sit around and not do anything. So we have to figure out ways to now continue to play basketball at a high level against top compe ... More >>

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 >>

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 >>

NCAA Sweet Sixteen Central

What the hell happened to Leslie Visser?​It's generally accepted that the first two full days of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament provide the greatest two-day watching/gambling/drinking/eating experience annually, for obvious reasons: 1. Whether by illness, approved vacation, or planned s ... More >>

The Nine Most Annoying Types of Sports Radio Callers

Send in the Clones.​Hair Balls likes to listen to sports radio. We aren't exactly sure why, but we do. We've got a bunch of stations to choose from in Houston, which gives us lots of opportunities to hear interviews, analysis and banter, some good, some bad, about all things sports. As syndic ... More >>

Thanksgiving 2010: The Post Where We Get All "Thanky"

Thank you. Thank you very much.​As we prepare to gorge ourselves today on turkey (Cajun fried is the choice here), stuffing, pumpkin bread, and perhaps something green (maaaaybe, but probably not), I want to first thank all of you who stop in and read the stuff on the blog here, not just my st ... More >>

Tracy McGrady And His Tired Legs

Tip: Don't play in "tired legs" mode​"I have been working hard all summer to get ready for the upcoming season an am thankful that I landed in Detroit. I'm doing my workouts with my trainer Ben, and I am now able to finish full workouts that I wasn't able to do for the past two years. I do feel tr ... More >>

The Quotable Tracy McGrady: "It's About Winning."

Blame Canada....or PEDs​Well, apparently I've pissed off Canada.In a post that was largely meant to illustrate the cavalcade of clown that is Les Miles and make a salient point or two about the Houston Texans, the biggest reaction to yesterday's "5 Winners, 5 Losers" came from north of the border, ... More >>

Is Chris Brown Officially Unshunned?

Some rappers happen to be thoughtful, intelligent people. Every Monday that isn't a national holiday, Rocks Off will have some of them hear discussing issues relevant to their culture. Photo illustration by John Seaborn Gray​This Week's Panel: Yung Redd, Fat Tony, Thurogood Wordsmith, Kyle Hu ... More >>

Brian Tuohy's The Fix Is In: Nothing In Sports Is As It Seems

OTOH, maybe the fix isn't in​As hard as it might be to believe, every Super Bowl since 1996 has been fixed. No, not fixed by gamblers or players trying to throw the game. But instead fixed by the NFL. Sure it sounds a bit far-fetched, but that's the allegation made by Brian Tuohy in his book, The ... More >>

Game Time: Trevor Ariza Trade -- Instant Analysis

Good trade for the Rockets​I was not writing for HoustonPress.com when the Trevor Ariza signing went down last year so you'll have to take my word for it -- I was very skeptical and surprised by the signing at the time. (Note: There are megabytes and megabytes of sound from me on the internal arc ... More >>

Game Time: Tracy McGrady Has Unfinished Business (And Water Is Wet)

T-Mac is growling​"I have unfinished business...." -- Tracy McGrady, via Twitter on SaturdayYeah, I got that doozy on my Tweetdeck on Saturday and had to laugh. I wondered if maybe the Twitter universe had started up one of its viral bandwagon topics, where people start hurling their contribution ... More >>

Game Time: LeBron-athon -- Five Backstabbings That Will Get You Ready For Tonight

Anakin Skywalker: Thanks for nothing, kid​In anticipation of LeBron James' decision as to where he will ply his trade for the next few years, shares of MSG stock rose 6 percent yesterday for a period of time before settling back to where they were earlier in the day. The reason for the brief bump ... More >>

Don't Believe the Hype

Houston's Most Overrated Attractions

Game Time: 24 -- Was CTU Actually Run By Isiah Thomas? We'll Never Know

We're running out of time...to trade for Stephon Marbury​One of my favorite parts of the work day occurs around 10:00 a.m.every day, when Lance Zierlein is finished with his show. At that point, I'm five hours away from my show starting, so Lance and I will typically begin haphazardly discussing ... More >>

Why Wait On Prospects? Morey Opts For Star As Rockets Acquire K-Mart

​Daryl Morey, as always, had us all fooled.We assumed the Rockets' general manager had little on the table for the dead carcass of Tracy McGrady, save the Bulls' and Knicks' offers centered around future draft picks that could later be used as assets to trade for a star. The offers weren't bad ... More >>

Game Time: For Sale -- NBA Two Guard, 30 Y/O, Excellent Condition, Trades Accepted

​First, I want to thank everyone for their reaction, positive or otherwise, to my post yesterday which chronicled the high points of the era of Tracy McGrady's Expiring Contract I seem to learn something with every new post that I generate here on Hair Balls, and yesterday I learned that there are ... More >>

Top Ten WTF Sports Moments of 2008

It's end of year time, which means it's time for stupid lists. And if there's anything you guys have learned about me, it's that I like stupid lists. So I present this year's Top Ten WTF Moments in Sports for 2008. 10. The Cleveland Browns suspended tight end Kellen Winslow, Jr. for conduct det ... More >>

Whole Offense, Hole Defense: The Houston Rockets Preview

New Year's Resolutions

The New Bad Boys? No Way

Where Do We Go from Here?

New Strings

Moral Minority gets a fresh start

Hustle Time

Damon Jones has traveled from UH to all around the NBA chasing stardom and a sound bite

One More Time

Houston's Image Problems, Part LCXVII

As Good As He Gets

Jade Scorpion showcases Woody Allen at his satirical best

Just for Laughs

Spike Lee's gloriously unpolished concert film focuses on the yuks -- to our great amusement

Letters

From the February 24, 2000 issue

Allen's Landing

Woody's clever Celebrity charts the descending pain of fame

,,, And Don't Talk to Barkley

Pinched for fat. Put in their place. The Rockets Power Dancers don't care, just as long as they're given a chance to make their moves.

Press Picks

Hoop Dreams of Glory

A basketball documentary delves deep into the dangerous lure of the game

A Taste of the Hellhole

Justice plans to "reinvest" in the community with a sampler of local bands