Michael Jordan seeks to restore Charlotte Bobcats’ image
By Mark Price, The Charlotte Observer, Feb. 18, 2012
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Charlotte Bobcats owner Michael Jordan admits his team has an image problem, and he’s not referring to their 4-26 record.
It’s something worse, in his opinion. Somehow, after eight seasons as a franchise, the Bobcats still are not considered a part of the fabric of the community.
This is partly the team’s own doing, he said, due to some regrettable moves, including a 2008 decision by former owner Robert Johnson to lay off the entire community relations staff. They were the ones responsible for coordinating team donations, community service projects and other acts of kindness. READ….
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From the Pulpit and in the Pew, the Knicks’ Lin Is a Welcome Inspiration
By TIM STELLOH and NOAH ROSENBERG, February 12, 2012, New York Times
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Jeremy Lin’s sudden emergence as an N.B.A. star has thrilled fans at Madison Square Garden and on the road, generated a torrent of comments on social media around the world and made Knicks fans out of a lot of people who did not follow basketball a week ago. By Sunday, the story of Lin, a committed Christian, had worked its way into church services — notably those in New York with large numbers of Asian-American congregants.
The children of Asian immigrants, like Lin, account for a sizable part of the explosion of theologically conservative churches — catering largely to young, college-educated professionals — in New York City. Many attend what might be labeled second-generation Asian-American churches that have spun off from congregations with worship services in Chinese or Korean. READ….
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For Caron Butler, playing for the Clippers is no hard time
by T.J.Simers, February 7, 2012, Los Angeles Times
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From Orlando, Fla. – Day 1 of getting to better know the Clippers and I’m telling Caron Butler he better not stink against the Magic because I will be writing about him.
It’s really a stupid statement and Butler is kind enough to not say so as he heads off to the morning shootaround.
Come on, what am I going to do to the guy?
He’s already been in Juvenile Court 15 times on drug and weapons charges by the time he’s 15. He served nearly a year in prison, and one by one he pays for the burial of the four friends who he used to hang with in the neighborhood park.
So I’m going to go all serious on someone nicknamed “Tuff Juice,” who has already proved himself a winner getting here even if he never makes another basket?
If not for an ankle monitor keeping him grounded on his front porch after his release from prison, he probably joins a friend who wants to go to the park. His friend goes without him and two hours later he’s shot dead. READ…
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Love suspended for ‘driving’ foot into Scola’s face
February 6, 2012, by Jonathan Feigen, Houston Chronicle
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Rockets forward Luis Scola was still, two days after Timberwolves forward Kevin Love stepped on his face, more interested in the two free throws than the two games Love will have to sit out as a penalty.
The NBA struck back on Monday, hitting Love with a two-game suspension for “driving his foot into the upper body and face” of Rockets forward Luis Scola in Minneapolis on Saturday.
Scolasaid on Saturday that it did not matter to him if Love would be suspended and seemed as disinterested on Monday after the penalty had been announced.
“That’s what it was, two games,” Scola said. “I really don’t care much. We’re not going to play them these two games. It doesn’t matter to us. I saw a replay in the locker room. I haven’t seen it since then. It’s over. That’s it. I wish they would have called a foul so I would have had two free throws or they would have done the suspension there so we could have some advantages in the game. Now the game is over, I really don’t care.” READ….
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Clippers Give N.B.A. a Jolt That Just Might Endure
By MARK HEISLER, February 4, 2012, New York Times
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LOS ANGELES — It was another electric night in Staples Center, which meant the young, exciting Clippers were playing, not the Lakers, the former kings of all they surveyed locally. Everything is upside down, and not just here.
The Knicks were supposedly getting Chris Paul, the new Clippers linchpin. Paul even joked about forming “our own big three” with Amar’e Stoudemire in his toast at Carmelo Anthony’s 2010 wedding and was hailed as another savior in waiting when his New Orleans Hornets played in Madison Square Garden last spring. When the Knicks fell out of the running, the Lakers were supposedly getting Paul. Instead, he became a Clipper in a whirlwind of events that changed everything. READ…
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Looking beyond the Clippers’ surge
By Kevin Arnovitz, ESPNLosAngeles.com, February 1, 2012
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NBA coaches — even in defeat — are often complimentary of opponents, but it wasn’t lost on anyone when Scott Brooks called the Los Angeles Clippers, “the best team we’ve faced all season.”
Brooks’ Oklahoma City Thunder squad came into Staples Center as the West’s sole superpower. In a conference loaded with a lot of good teams still appraising their assets, the Thunder know they’re a group that’s been constructed with great care. They’re young but have accrued a ton of experience — both the gallant loss to the Lakers in the first round of the 2010 postseason and last season’s run to the conference finals. There’s a professional air that travels with them, as if they were an offshoot of the Spurs. In a league in which so many teams are in flux, Oklahoma City is going to be very, very good for a long time. READ…
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Celebrated Trade, Celebrated No More
By HOWARD BECK, January 19, 2012, New York Times
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The imagery will be irresistible, the temptation for sweeping judgments overpowering. Conclusions will be drawn and proclamations made, all of it justifiable, albeit possibly premature.
The Denver Nuggets are coming to Madison Square Garden on Saturday, bringing with them a fluid, egalitarian offense, a gleaming win-loss record and a vivid reminder of the trade that irrevocably altered the Knicks’ destiny.
Judgment will be in the eyes of the beholder, although those eyes may be stinging with rage.
The Nuggets are 28-12 since the day they sent their star, Carmelo Anthony, to New York for a package of young players and draft picks. The Knicks are 20-22 since Anthony arrived. READ…
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Wolves find pain relief at minus-166 degrees
by Joan Niesen, January 27, 2012, Fox Sports
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MINNEAPOLIS — With eight healthy players, all aching from too many minutes and too few days off, the Minnesota Timberwolves resorted to what looked like a space-age solution Tuesday night in Dallas.
Giant metal tanks and puffs of chemical steam, gloves and socks and hazard labels — this was supposed to be the cure?
Several Timberwolves tweeted pictures of teammates undergoing a treatment called cryotherapy, in which they spent three minutes standing in what appears to be a misty metal vat. The treatment, performed at CryoUSA inside of Texas Sports Medicine, is one of the newest crazes in pain management among athletes and has similar effects to that of an ice bath. READ….
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Clippers rise to the occasion in big win over Heat
by BILL PLASCHKE, January 12, 2012, Los Angeles Times
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Lob City became Mob City.
The Clippers hugged, their fans bounced, the rafters roared, the entire Staples Center danced as one late Wednesday in a coming-out party for the city’s hottest new star.
Lordy, what a show.
In what could mark their first official step toward their promise of greatness, the Clippers grunted and ground and eventually soared atop their expectations in a 95-89 victory over a Miami Heat team that is considered the NBA’s best.
“Very intense,” said Blake Griffin afterward with a very relieved, very sweaty grin.
Intense and immense, the game featured an extended Heat lead until the Clippers fought back late and withstood repeated attacks from the great LeBron James and Dwyane Wade to force an extra period.
At which point, the Clippers potential reached reality in one giant alley-oop of an overtime, the white-shirted, wild-eyed home team holding the Heat to one-for-10 shooting while finishing them with an array of jumpers, layups, and DeAndre Jordan’s clinching dunk. READ…
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Tired? Welcome to the real world, NBA players
By John Canzano, The Oregonian , January 8, 2012
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The Trail Blazers were so flat and in such a haze in the first quarter on Sunday night against the Cleveland Cavaliers that I figured it might be worth sending Leah Mocsy down from her seat in Section 305 to set the team straight.
I know. I know, the Blazers are fatigued. Their legs are tired. Their bones are weary. They’re playing a brutal schedule. Well, cry Mocsy a river, fellas, because she’s up six times a night with 4-month-old Vivian, who won’t yet sleep straight through, and also, she has a 6-year-old son, Owen.
“Tired?” she said on Sunday. “What’s that?”
Portland played a lively second half and beat Cleveland 98-78 on Sunday. Mocsy took the 4-month-old to her first Blazers game, where the mom watched a sluggish, tired start, and mostly shrugged. READ…
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