Redstate Sports

Posted at 4:30am on Feb. 7, 2008 Shaq Attack is Back in the West!

By Neil Stevens

If you thought the Lakers acquiring Pau Gasol for Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenden, Marc Gasol's draft rights, and two picks was big, well, so did the Suns.

They were so impressed that they picked up the most dominant center ever, Shaquille O'Neal, for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks.

Shaq's well past his prime now, and I've always been a fan of Marion, so I don't think too highly of this trade from the Suns' perspective. Is Shaq going to match up better defensively against the Lakers' new front line? He's certainly not going to be able to run the floor like Marion and Amaré Stoudemire. And that still leaves the problem of guarding Lamar Odom.

I just don't get it. So let's make this a basketball open thread. Yes, even college.

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Posted at 2:54am on Jan. 11, 2008 The Western Conference Heats Up

By Neil Stevens

After losses by the Phoenix Suns and San Antonio Spurs tonight, the Western Conference of the NBA just heated up:

Read on for standings and explanation

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Posted at 2:20pm on Sep. 30, 2007 Shawn Marion for Lamar Odom?

By Neil Stevens

No, it's not too early for basketball, thank you very much. Even if I were a football fan, there is no football in LA, and besides, all those NL festivities today just don't apply to the the boys in blue.

So let's look at the rumored trade possibility of the disgruntled Shawn Marion for the inconsistent Lamar Odom. Is it possible? Is it smart? Should it happen?

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Posted at 12:44am on Mar. 6, 2007 Ron Artest kicked off Kings

By Jeff Emanuel

It was the domestic violence that got him in the end.

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Posted at 11:47pm on Dec. 16, 2006 Thugs.

By Jeff Emanuel

All ten players in the game were ejected from the Nuggets-Knicks contest Saturday night after a massive brawl sparked by a tackle from behind on a breakaway layup with 1:40 to go and the Nuggets up 20.

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Posted at 12:22am on Dec. 16, 2006 Open thread

By Jeff Emanuel

I stayed up way too late last night doing something I never do on principle: watching NBA basketball.

I can admit that it was an accident (I was waiting for SportsCenter); however, the double-overtime contest between the Lakers and Rockets last night in LA was well worth the watching.

Down 21 in the first half, Kobe Bryant took over the game (raising his scoring total to 53 in the second overtime), outplaying the Rockets despite a great performance by Yao Ming, who had 35 points, 15 rebounds, and a career-high 8 blocked shots.

The Lakers finally ran away with the game in the 2nd overtime, taking it 112-101.

Open Thread.

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Posted at 6:52pm on Dec. 11, 2006 NBA to Return to Old Ball

By Neil Stevens

For 35 years, longer than the lives of most current NBA players, longer than Commissioner David Stern's signature has been on the ball, the association used the same Spalding leather balls. This season though, that practice ended. Following up from a trial run in the last All-Star game, the leather ball was replaced by a new 'microfiber' synthetic ball.

Read on . . .

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Posted at 1:46am on Dec. 1, 2006 24 goes for 52 in win

By Jeff Emanuel

Lakers star Kobe Bryant scored 52 poins last night, including 30 in the third quarter, to lead LA to a 132-102 win over the Utah Jazz.

I'd say more, but this is Neil Stevens territory.

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Posted at 1:36pm on Nov. 1, 2006 The Lakers rise again?

By Neil Stevens

Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom powered the Kobe-less Lakers to a win last night over the Suns, coming back from a 19 point first quarter deficit to win solidly in their season opener. The Lakers have seen this before, but it had to feel good for Kobe to watch as his team ended their three game losing streak against Phoenix.

What do I mean by being there before? Take a look at these highlight performances from the Lakers' three post-Shaq opening nights:

Read on...

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Posted at 11:38am on Aug. 11, 2006 Okay. Enough Soccer.

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

Let us instead turn to a game that helped put my hometown on the map . . . and to the player who wove himself into the fabric of Chicago as have few others:

Alabama point guard Ronald Steele got a tutorial - on and off the court - from Michael Jordan.

Steele found himself guarding the former Chicago Bulls star during a camp that Jordan founded in Santa Barbara, Calif.

"I guarded him one play," Steele told The Birmingham news in a phone interview from California. "I did everything I could and he still scored on me.

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Posted at 10:09am on Aug. 8, 2006 Nuggets' Anthony injures knee in tuneup for Worlds

By Jeff Emanuel

Denver Nuggets star forward Carmelo Anthony hyperextended his right knee chasing a loose ball in last night's World Basketball Championships warmup against Brazil. He did not return to the game.

Anthony, a three year veteran, recently signed a five year, $80 million contract extension with the Nuggets.

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