Orlando Magic

Chandler Parsons' Curious Case Of (Ahem) "Food Poisoning"

Twice an hour during my afternoon radio show, longtime Houston reporter extraordinaire David Dalati comes on and gives an update on things going on around the world of sports -- basically, standard sports-flash type stuff with some interview nuggets from David's tireless efforts of the day mixed in. ... More >>

Last Night: Sprint All-Star Jam Session Concert With Ludacris And Ke$ha

Sprint Pre-Game Concert feat. B.O.b, Ludacris, and Ke$ha All-Star Jam Session at George R. Brown Convention Center February 17th, 2013 Sunday afternoon, as I was counting down the minutes until I had to leave an amazing All-Star day party, where I was making friends with a beautiful girl, drinking ... More >>

For Valentine's: The Five Best Recent Rockets Bromances

Over the years, the NBA went from a league where practically every player hated each other, to a league where they Tweet to tell how much they miss one another. Since NBA All-Star Weekend is coming to Houston, some former and present Houston Rockets may get to rekindle the flame of the bromance the ... More >>

Next Five Games Will Test Young Rockets Starting Tonight Against the Lakers

With a serious tragedy behind them and injured players starting to return to the line up, the Rockets dive into a string of games against contenders and Texas rivals this week that will add yet another test to the young team's season. First up is the LA Lakers, in town tonight at Toyota Center. Des ... More >>

6 Thoughts On Tracy McGrady's Exporting Himself To China For The 2012-13 Season

No one wants to spend their twilight years alone. It's often said that when the years are winding down, people want to be around their loved ones, around people who appreciate them and would do anything for them. If that is indeed true, then Tracy McGrady's signing a one-year contract with Qingdao ... More >>

Remembering the ABA: 5 Things That Would Never Happen in the NBA

Thirty-six years ago this week, avant-garde basketball went away when the American Basketball Association merged with the National Basketball Association. The old ABA (1967-1976) helped revolutionize the game through the invention of the three-point shot and the drafting of underclassmen. At one t ... More >>

NBA Draft Preview Via Prop Bets

I know some people are not all that fond of mock drafts. Me, I like mock drafts. In the same vein of enjoying takeout because I hate to cook, I like reading mock drafts, I just don't like constructing them myself. But somehow, some way I need to share some of my thoughts with you on this Thursday's ... 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 All-Star Jam Session

Houston Rockets vs Orlando Magic

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

NBA Purgatory

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

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 >>

Behold, The Ridiculous LeBron James Tattoo (and 5 Other Ridiculous Tattoos Of Celeb Faces)

Who would ever regret this?​I've never understood the whole "tattoo" thing. From the time I was a kid when a tattoo (or set of tattoos) pretty much meant you were either a) a social outcast, b) in some sort of fratenrity, or c) in the service), the concept of drilling yourself with a painful ... 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 >>

ESPN's Doris Burke's Difficult Week (w/ VIDEO)

Doris Burke and a moment of Zen​Of all of the on-air personalities who put their fingerprints on a sporting event -- studio host, play by play, color analyst, sideline reporter -- I've always thought that the sideline reporter has the hardest job out of all of them. It starts with the inhe ... More >>

NBA Lottery -- Where Houston Rockets Point Guards Go to Die

I see disaster in your future.​"So you're saying there's a chance..." -- Lloyd Christmas Yes. 1.82 percent, to be exact. Those are the odds that the ping pong balls will fall the Houston Rockets' way tonight at the annual NBA Draft Lottery and they wind up with a top three pick. After finis ... 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 >>

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 >>

Houston's Top Ten Sports Moments: Another View

The bosses came out their Top 10 Greatest Houston Sports Moments today, so I thought I would share mine.1. September 25, 1986: The magic number for the Houston Astros to clinch the NL West is one game. The Astros are playing a midweek day game against the San Francisco Giants, the team that just ... More >>

Game Time: LeBron James: The Decision -- You Suck, ESPN

LeBron is Cleveland's new "Cuyahoga River on fire"​"It's been a real humbling experience to be in this position." -- LeBron James on his self-requested, one hour made-for-LeBron TV special on ESPNIf you lived in Houston at the time, you remember September 13, 2008. That was the morning after Hurr ... More >>

Game Time: NBA Free Agency -- Watch Me Compare Daryl Morey to Bobby Baccala

Like Baccala, Morey's got an unpopped cherry​Okay, let me get this out of the way... Daryl Morey knows what he's doing. In Daryl we trust! In Morey we trust! Daryl Morey is the NBA GM version of William Wallace with an undergrad degree from the Jedi academy and a PhD in ninja skills! I love Da ... More >>

Game Time: NBA Free Agency -- So Is Dwyane Wade Gonna Hold It For You While You Pee Too, LeBron?

A Vogue cover, but no ring​Nothing worth chasing in life comes easy, so to say that by pooling their collective talents together to try and chase an NBA title in Miami that LeBron James, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade are taking the "easy way out" isn't entirely fair.Actually, to be fair, with a ring ... More >>

Game Time: Celtics, Feel Better -- Five Officiating Decisions That Were WAY Worse Than Kendrick Perkins' Second Technical

Sorry about that fifth down.....​It's funny, because I'm from New England, people automatically assume that I am a fan of all the Boston teams. To wit, last night as the Celtics were imploding in Orlando, my iPhone was blowing up with text messages asking if I was starting to get worried about th ... More >>

The H-Town Countdown: We Interrupt This Countdown to Bring You Some Basketball/Rap Metaphors

Roughly 84,000 rap albums have been released in Houston since 1989. We're counting down the 25 best of all time every Thursday. Got a problem with the list? Shove it. Just kidding. Friendship. Email it to sheaserrano@gmail.com.​You know how at the end of each American Idol season they drag the fin ... More >>

The Top Ten Rockets Moments Of The Decade, For Better Or Worse

Photo by Daniel Kramer​For the Rockets, the decade of the 2000s began with Hall of Fame legend Hakeem Olajuwon starting at center. It finished with 6-foot-6 Chuck Hayes, the shortest listed starting center in NBA history.It started with promising rookie sensation and No. 2 pick Steve Francis at po ... More >>

Game Time: The Cable Guy

​For most of his tenure in Oakland, Tom Cable has been your run-of-the-mill, overmatched, "dead man walking" NFL head coach. When he was hired last season in the wake of Lane Kiffin's firing, the things that jumped out at me about Cable were:-- His only head coaching experience consisted of four ... More >>

Where Does Sunday's Rockets Victory Rank? It'll Have To Top These To Make The Top Five

Where does yesterday's deceptively close 99-87 shellacking of the Lakers rank in the annals of great Rockets victories? It's too soon to tell. If they build on that win by taking this series and then slip into their fifth NBA finals, minus not just Yao but also his geriatric Congolese understudy, no ... More >>

Rockets-Magic: Landry makes triumphant return

Photo courtesy of Jeff BalkeIt was just over three weeks ago that Carl Landry was running for his life, attempting to dodge bullets from assailants who sideswiped his car, punctured his left calf and chased him until he hid between a house and a fence, waiting for emergency help while blood gu ... More >>

Rockets-Magic: Landry Makes Triumphant Return

Photo courtesy of Jeff BalkeIt was just over three weeks ago that Carl Landry was running for his life, attempting to dodge bullets from assailants who sideswiped his car, punctured his left calf and chased him until he hid between a house and a fence, waiting for emergency help while blood gu ... More >>

Rockets Fast Break: Adelman Stresses Consistency at Point

To Rockets coach Rick Adelman, consistency trumps contrast. When fans initially heard the Rafer Alston trade Thursday afternoon, much of the immediate reaction was negative. In addition to questioning the team going forward without an experienced starting point guard, many wondered why the team w ... More >>

The Five Best Trades in the History of Houston Sports

Rockets-Bulls: Introducing the Next... Bruce Bowen?

John Royal’s Friends’ Top Twenty Sports Moments of 2007, Part Two

Jason Friedman's NBA Predictions: Mavs Beat the Jazz, the Suns, the Rockets and the Pistons, Take the Championship in '08

Baller's Ball

Where to party this All-Star Weekend

When Steve Met Tracy

The Rockets' past and future face off at the Clutch City Classic

Best Place for a Pickup Game

Baller's Ball

Ex-Rocket Steve Francis returns for the Summer Fiesta Slam Fest

Peace -- For Now

A caravan to Cuba isn't hassled. Yet.

Arts Grant

A basketball icon brings classics of African-American art to TSU

Do You Believe in Magic?

Hundreds of Houstonians do. For them, Magic: The Gathering isn't just a card game, it's a way of life. And at times, it can be a lucrative one.

Alison Cook looks back at 1996: Year of the Rat

The Insider

The Chips Are Down