ARLINGTON, Texas – NBA champion Dirk Nowitzki of Germany at a one-legged jump shot than throwing a baseball. He got to do both Friday.
When the Dallas Mavericks basketball star went out to throw out the first pitch in a Rangers jersey just before Texas played the New York Mets, Nowitzki carried a basketball. Just before getting to the mound, with the crowd cheering wildly, Nowitzki fell back with one of his patented jumpers and sent the ball in the direction of home plate.
NEW YORK—(UPDATE2) The NBA fined Kobe Bryant $100,000 on Wednesday for using an anti-gay slur after he was slapped with a technical foul in the Lakers 102-93 victory over San Antonio on Tuesday.
MIAMI – The Miami Heat earned sole possession of second place in the NBA Eastern Conference by cruising past Boston 100-77 in a battle between two teams hoping to go on long runs in the post-season.
MANILA—Varsity heavyweights kick off the action even as two Philippine youth teams also test their mettle in the FilOil-Flying V Hanes Preseason Premier Cup starting this Saturday.
HOUSTON—Former Chicago Bulls flamboyant forward Dennis Rodman and European star Arvydas Sabonis head the 2011 class for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
MANILA---La Salle showed last season how a young squad can transform into an instant contender.
And the Green Archers, according to coach Dindo Pumaren, have more to show this year with their young guns still in top form and the recruits expected to make a quick impact.
MANILA---B-MEG Derby Ace exploited Marcus Douthit’s injury and snapped the unbeaten run of Smart Gilas Pilipinas with a 98-90 overtime win last night in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.
MANILA---Gary David exploded for 35 points and new import Martin Zeno completed a decisive three-point play as Powerade hacked out a come-from-behind 99-91 victory over slumping San Miguel Beer last night in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Cuneta Astrodome.
MANILA—Smart Gilas Pilipinas leaned on a strong start that snowballed the rest of the way into a dominating 109-68 victory over San Miguel Beer yesterday in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the FilOil Flying V Arena.
MANILA—Air21 and San Miguel has brought in new imports to reinforce their overhauled line up which showed a few kinks that are needed to be ironed as seen in their respective games last week.
OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma - – Pau Gasol scored 18 points and 11 rebounds and Andrew Bynum had 16 points and 10 rebounds as Los Angeles edged Oklahoma City 90-87 in a matchup of first-place teams on Sunday.
MANILA---The PBA Commissioner’s Cup, a conference so swift that squads cannot even afford to blink, gets underway today, marking the league’s return to a three-conference format.
MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippine Basketball Association has removed three referees from the 12-man pool assigned to work the Philippine Cup playoffs for various reasons involving different games.
Commissioner Chito Salud issued this clarification on Tuesday to correct a Philippine Daily Inquirer report that the three referees who worked Sunday’s game between Derby Ace and Talk ‘N Text were suspended for calls that affected the outcome of the game.
According to Salud, Referees Dennis Barbacena, Ronald Mauricio and Ariel Bermeo are no longer part of the officiating pool for committing “serious lapses in judgment” in different games they handled during the playoffs.
Only Bermeo worked Game 4.
“Let’s just get the facts straight because it’s grossly unfair to the referees (concerned), the teams and the fans,” Salud said over the phone, stressing that the latest move to take officials out of the pool would not be the last.
The Inquirer report, which quoted a PBA insider, said that Peter Balao, Armando Guevarra and Bermeo were suspended after Salud reviewed the tapes of Game 4.
Salud said that Mauricio, Barbacena and Bermeo “were not found guilty of making game-altering calls, but instead were evaluated for sub-par performance in terms of knowledge of the rules and lack of judicious discretion.”
Unlike most gifts, whoever wants this one will have to work very hard for it.
Alaska and Barangay Ginebra slug it out in a KO game at the Cuneta Astrodome today with the winner getting a most welcome Christmas Day present—advancing to the Final Four of the season-opening PBA Philippine Cup.
Gametime is 5 p.m. with the winner marching on to play rock-solid San Miguel in a best-of-five semifinal series.
“At least we now have a Saturday (today) game. We now have a 50/50 chance of winning it,” Ginebra coach Jong Uichico told reporters Wednesday nightafter surviving their first knockout game with the on-and-off Aces.
A 94-76 Game 2 victory pounded out with a small lineup for most of the game has suddenly swung the pendulum in favor of the Gin Kings, who could still be without Eric Menk and will be relying heavily on their overloaded guard rotation.
Two-time MVP Willie Miller, Ronald Tubid, Mark Caguioa and Mike Cortez took turns in hurting the Aces Wednesday night, while Rudy Hatfield personified Ginebra’s grim determination to bang it up underneath with 16 points and 14 boards.
In fact, Hatfield missed a triple-double by just three feeds as he energized Ginebra no end with great hustle plays on both ends of the floor.
Miller also woke up from a Game 1 slumber and hit two triples at the height of Ginebra’s third-quarter breakaway. He finished with 16 points and was great in quarterbacking the offense in the absence of Jay-Jay Helterbrand.
Alaska was held to just 27 second-half points, 13 in the final period as the Aces slipped back into the woeful form that characterized a bleak part of their elimination round campaign that saw them lose four straight games at one point.
Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard gained a new supporting cast Saturday with hopes two major trades will lift the NBA club alongside Miami and Boston as an Eastern Conference title contender.
The Magic, 16-9 but losers in five of their past six games, added Turkish forward Hedo Turkoglu and playmaker Jason Richardson from the Phoenix Suns and controversial long-distance shooter Gilbert Arenas from the Washington Wizards.
"We needed a little bit more punch," Magic president Otis Smith said. "All those guys coming in have an ability to move the ball. After looking at our team through 25 games, we were missing a little something. I thought change was needed."
Orlando traded Rashard Lewis to the Wizards for Arenas, best known for being banished for 50 games last season for bringing guns into the Wizards locker room and faking an injury to avoid playing in a pre-season game last October.
"We have a tendency not to forgive people in this country," Smith said. "We have a tendency to hold onto things a little bit longer, particularly if they play professional sports."
Arenas has struggled with knee injuries and the suspension that have kept him to only 47 games over the past three seasons, but he has averaged 17.3 points and 5.6 assists a game this season.
Arenas scored a season-high 31 against Orlando three weeks ago.
Orlando's major reshaping came by obtaining Richardson, Turkoglu and Earl Clark from the Suns in exchange for US veteran Vince Carter, French guard Mickael Pietrus, Polish center Marcin Gortat and a first-round pick in the 2011 NBS Draft plus three million dollars.
The Magic, trying to entice fans to their new 18,500-seat arena, have fallen from first to fourth in the Eastern Conference, with the Miami Heat, 20-8, and Boston Celtics, 21-4, surging on double-digit winning streaks in December.
Turkoglu has averaged 12.1 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.9 assists a game in 10 NBA seasons and played a key role in helping Orlando make the 2009 NBA Finals but was traded to Toronto last year in a move that proved to be a blunder.
"I don't think it's admitting a mistake," Smith said of reacquiring Turkoglu. "I don't regret breaking up the finals team. I think it was the right decision at the time."
The Wizards gladly ditched Arenas, enabling the team to make this year's top draft choice, John Wall, their focus and escaping their former star's pricey contract.
"We're totally in a rebuild," Wizards coach Flip Saunders said. "We've said that. We were in a situation where we had three of our top players play pretty much the same position in John and Gilbert and Kirk (Hinrich)."
The Suns, 12-13, added height and defensive skill to try to compete with the reigning NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers and NBA win leaders San Antonio and Dallas in the Western Conference.
"Carter and Pietrus give us a great defensive presence on the perimeter and they should be extremely dynamic offensively," Suns president Lon Babby said. "And Gortat is really someone that we've had our eye on."
Losing Gortat leaves the Magic without a true backup for big man Howard.
"We think it was worth the gamble," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said.
