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Kobe Bryant suffers broken nose in 2012 NBA All-Star game

Kobe Bryant

Competitive.

Kobe Bryant added another milestone to his career Sunday as he passed Michael Jordan to become the all-time-leading NBA All-Star game scorer.

But did it come at a price?

Bryant skipped a postgame media session after his 27-point performance, and was taken for further evaluation after he said he was “experiencing headaches.” The Lakers announced later that Bryant had suffered a nasal fracture and would be reevaluated Monday after he returned to Los Angeles by an ear, nose and throat specialist.

It’s believed Bryant was injured with 8 minutes 48 seconds to play in the third quarter when he received a hard foul from Dwyane Wade. Bryant sank the first free throw then went to the bench to have a trainer look at his bloody nose. He returned and made the second free throw.

About four minutes later he beat Jordan’s mark of 262 points on a breakaway slam off a pass from Kevin Durant. Bryant, who also played more than eight minutes in the fourth quarter, had 271 career points by game’s end.

— Reported by John Cherwa of the Los Angeles Times

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Kevin Durant says winning All-Star MVP was a childhood dream

Kevin Durant

Makes it rain

Kevin Durant cringes a little whenever he hears his name next to words like elite or superstar.

But after winning his first All-Star MVP award with a scoring display that ranked among the best in the game’s history, even Durant might have to acknowledge his own NBA stardom.

The Oklahoma City Thunder forward scored 36 points and grabbed seven rebounds Sunday night to help the West hold off a late charge from the East in a 152-149 victory.

“It’s just exciting to be named (an) All-Star, but to step it up another level and become MVP, it’s only something as a kid you dream about,” Durant said. “Coming from where I come from, I didn’t think I would be here. Everything is just a blessing to me.”

His performance was a small piece of All-Star redemption for Durant after he came up just short against Minnesota’s Kevin Love in Saturday night’s 3-point Shootout.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Lockout-shortened NBA schedule taking a toll on players

Among the 24 players selected to play in Sunday night’s All-Star Game at the Amway Center, 11 were sidelined with injuries at some point during the first half of the season.

Atlanta Hawks guard Joe Johnson was unable to play Sunday night because of tendinitis in his left knee, replaced by Boston’s Rajon Rondo, who missed eight games earlier this season with a wrist injury.

“Basically, every week there’s four games and that’s a lot of wear and tear, but at the same time you have to be smart with your eating habits and put in the right fluids,’’ Anthony said.

Injuries are not only disrupting the plans of contending teams, but it has impacted rebuilding franchises like the Hornets.

— Reported by John Reid of the New Orleans Times Picayune

Billy Hunter happy at season’s midpoint

At the halfway point of an already whirlwind season,union leader Billy Hunter is pleased overall while still reserving judgment about the game in the aftermath of the prolonged lockout.

“Obviously the TV ratings are up. The attendance is up. Merchandising is up. So all the signs are positive,that’s what I’m getting from [commissioner] David [Stern],’’Hunter said yesterday. “The early report is that things are positive.’’

After a summer and fall spent haggling mostly over revenue sharing,Hunter said the union is waiting to see the first official revenue figures from the league.

Hunter said he’s not at all surprised that the league has rebounded so swiftly after a contentious summer.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Ben & Jerry’s apologizes for Jeremy Lin-related fortune cookies

Along with points and assists, New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin is piling up something less desirable lately —apologies to him for racially questionable references.

The first American-born NBA player of Taiwanese descent received another apology this weekend,this time from the famous Ben & Jerry’s ice cream company,which is known for coming up with funky names for its flavors.

Its Cambridge,Mass.,store attempted to honour the Harvard alum’s increasing notoriety with a “Taste the Lin-Sanity” frozen yogurt flavor in Harvard Square. But it included fortune cookies in the flavor before changing the fortune cookies to waffle cones and later issuing an apology.

— Reported by Reuters

Warriors co-owner hopes Sacramento keeps Kings

Golden State Warriors co-owner Joe Lacob walked over to chat, and when his perspective on his neighbor’s arena situation, offered strong support for keeping the Kings in Sacramento. “We want the team in Sac because that market supported that team (very nicely) in the past,” he said, “and should be able to do so again in the future. For us, having them there is a rivalry. We don’t see it as competition even though both teams are in Northern California. I really hope it works out.”

— Reported by Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee Blog
http://blogs.sacbee.com/sports/kings/archives/2012/02/warrriors-owner.html

Progress in upcoming sale of Hornets

In his annual state of the league address Saturday night, NBA Commissioner David Stern declined to confirm or identify if the group led by Los Angeles area businessman Raj Bhathal has emerged as a top candidate to purchase the New Orleans Hornets.

But Stern did say they are in discussions with one group and they have another group in sort of second place that is waiting to see how discussions go forth with group one.

Asked if the second group was from Seattle, which is pushing to get back to the NBA after losing the SuperSonics in 2008 when the franchise relocated to Oklahoma City, Stern said, “No.”

Sources confirm that Bhathal, who founded one of the country’s leading swimwear manufacturing companies, is the frontrunner. The group includes Larry J. Benson, brother of Saints owner, Tom Benson and former NBA coach Mike Dunleavy.

The second group is headed by former Hornets minority owner Gary Chouest, the billionaire owner of Edison Chouest Offshore who was forced to sell his 35 percent stake in the team in December 2010 when the league purchased the team from former majority owner George Shinn.

— Reported by John Reid of the New Orleans Times Picayune

Bobcats focused on long-term success

Charlotte Bobcats president of basketball operations Rod Higgins promises no “hard right turns” in reaction to his team having the worst record in the NBA at the All-Star break.

By that, Higgins means no trades that could make them cosmetically better the last 30 games of the season without having long-term value. The Bobcats could have up to $21 million in space under the salary cap next summer, and Higgins says they won’t botch that with something short-sighted between now and the March 15 trade deadline.

“Panic doesn’t exist for us,” Higgins said Wednesday. “Once we made those trades (exchanging veterans Gerald Wallace and Stephen Jackson for packages that included draft picks), we have to see it through, the path we’ve taken: Get assets, create (cap) flexibility.

“The season is going in a direction that maybe some of us didn’t envision. A disappointment, you might say. But with that being said, you cannot make that hard right and forget about what you’ve already done.”

— Reported by Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer

A few greats missing from 2012 All-Star game

When the 61st annual all-star game is played on Sunday, it’ll have a very unfamiliar feel about it.

For the East, no Kevin Garnett.

Out West, no Tim Duncan.

The future Hall of Famers were not voted in by the fans or the coaches, ending more than a decade in which the two were mainstays during all-star weekend.

If ever there was an indication of how the torch of NBA greats has been passed, this weekend only strengthens that position.

Paul Pierce, Dirk Nowitzki and Kobe Bryant are the only all-stars this weekend having been selected to 10 or more all-star games.

— Reported by A. Sherrod Blakely of CSN New England (Blog)

Dirk Nowitzki discusses this NBA season’s crowded schedule

Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowtizki is a member of the 2012 Western conference All-Star team. The NBA champion spoke with reporters in Orlando at NBA All-Star weekend about this season’s crowded schedule:

Question: With all the injuries in the NBA this year, how much do you attribute to the fact that there’s so many games coming so fast?

Dirk Nowitzki: Yeah, we knew that coming in that the schedule was a monster. It was everyone’s fault. It was the players’ fault, it was the NBA’s fault. We knew this was coming for two years and we didn’t do anything about it, so now we have to deal with this shortened season and just play a lot of games. We’ve got nine games in 12 games coming out of the break, which is a ridiculous number of games. But we’ve just got to deal with it and go from there. We’ve just got to fight through it. We knew coming in it was going to be bad, but you’ve just got to deal with it.

Question: Will we see more teams do what the Spurs did the other day and sit Parker and Duncan?

Nowitzki: We have obviously an older team, and we have a tough stretch coming up. We have games back to back to back, so I doubt J Kidd or some of those guys are going to play all nine games in 12 days. I don’t know if it’s going to happen. But we’ve got to fight through it, hopefully get some of our bodies back. I don’t know how Roddy is doing, hopefully get him back soon. I don’t know how long D-West is going to be out, but we’re going to need every healthy body and get through this tough stretch.