On Friday, May 8 the Oklahoma City Thunder will conduct pre-draft workouts with the following players hoping to be selected in the 2009 NBA Draft: Jerel McNeal (guard, Marquette), Jack McClinton (guard, Miami), Daniel Hackett (guard, USC), Paul Delaney (guard, UAB), Jermaine Taylor (guard, UCF), Garrett Temple (guard, LSU), Terrell Harris (guard, Oklahoma State), Courtney Fells (guard/forward, NC State), Josh Carter (guard/forward, Texas A&M), Joe Ingles (forward, Melbourne Dragons), Aaron Jackson (guard, Duquesne) and AJ Abrams (guard, Texas).
Category: NBA News Blog
NBA news blog
Rafer Alston, Derek Fisher suspended one game each; Kobe Bryant given a flagrant foul
Rafer Alston of the Orlando Magic and Derek Fisher of the Los Angeles Lakers have each been suspended one game without pay for their roles in separate incidents last night, NBA Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations Stu Jackson announced today.
Alston has been suspended for swinging and making contact with the head of Eddie House of the Boston Celtics with 48.6 seconds remaining in the third period of the Magic’s 112-94 loss to the Celtics in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals last night at TD Banknorth Garden.
Fisher has been suspended for striking Houston’s Luis Scola with his shoulder and head with 13.2 seconds remaining in the third period of the Lakers’ 111-98 win last night over the visiting Houston Rockets in Game 2 of the Western Conference Semifinals at STAPLES Center. Fisher received a Flagrant Foul Penalty Two and was ejected from the game at the time of the play.
Jackson also announced that the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant has been assessed a Flagrant Foul Penalty One for elbowing Houston’s Ron Artest in the chest area with 6:57 remaining in the fourth period of last night’s game.
Alston will serve his suspension on Friday when the Magic hosts the Celtics at Amway Arena. Fisher also will serve his suspension on Friday when the Lakers visit the Rockets at Toyota Center.
Read fan reaction and discuss your own opinion in the InsideHoops NBA forum.
Ron Artest ejected after elbows with Kobe Bryant
The Houston Rockets are visting the Los Angeles Lakers for Game 2 of their second round series. Late in the third quarter, Luis Scola and a few Lakers got into it, and Derek Fisher was ejected after slamming into Scola with 13 seconds left.
In the fourth quarter, Kobe Bryant was trying to box Ron Artest out. Artest had his left hand resting on the back of Bryant’s neck, though it didn’t look like anything dirty. As the jostling continued, it was Artest’s upper arm doing it. As Bryant went up for the rebound, Kobe’s right elbow went up into Artest’s neck area. Not sure if it actually hit his neck or not, but it was definitely a high elbow.
A foul was called on Artest, and a furious Ron went right over to jaw in Kobe’s face.
Artest was moved away by referee Joe Crawford, but after a few more seconds of yelling and waving his elbow to show what he was mad about, Artest was ejected.
If any foul should have been called on Artest, it should have been for what I described above. Instead, Bryant elbowed Artest, and that’s when the foul was called on Ron.
As for the ejection, I don’t think Artest needed to be thrown out. A technical foul would have been enough.
Derek Fisher elbows Luis Scola, is ejected
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The Houston Rockets are visting the Los Angeles Lakers for Game 2 of their second round series. And things got touchy late in the third quarter, with hostility exchanged between Rockets forward Luis Scola and several Lakers.
With 13.2 seconds left in the third, Derek Fisher set a screen against Scola, but in the process of doing so, slammed into Scola and elbowing him hard.
Referees watched the replay and gave Fisher a flagrant-2 foul, which results in an ejection.
Fisher clearly deserved to be tossed. And don’t be surprised if he’s suspended for Game 3.
Rafer Alston pimp-slaps Eddie House
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Wednesday night in Boston, the Celtics hosted the Orlando Magic in Game 2 of their second round series.
In one sequence, Celtics guard Eddie House hit a deep jumper from the right corner, and seconds later, Magic point guard Rafer Alston slapped House in the back of the head as Eddie was running back down the floor.
After the game, Alston said that House had utilized an elbow, and that’s what made Alston react the way he did.
I have not seen a clear replay that showed ill-manner use of an elbow, but I will say that Alston should be fined, but probably not suspended.
If it was more of a hard hit with more direct force then I’d say a suspension for one game would be in order. But, it wasn’t.
Dave Bing wins Detroit Mayor race
The AP reports: Basketball legend Dave Bing was elected Tuesday as Detroit’s mayor through the end of the year, sweeping the incumbent from office in the city with myriad problems. “The real work starts now,” Bing said to loud cheers during his victory speech. “What we will bring … is efficiency, transparency, honesty and integrity back to the mayor’s office,” he said. With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Bing had 52.3 percent of the vote, or 49,054 votes, to 47.7 percent, or 44,770 votes, for Cockrel. Both are Democrats.
Sasha Pavlovic has broken nose
The Cleveland Plain Dealer (Mary Schmitt Boyer) reports: Cleveland Cavaliers guard Sasha Pavlovic, who had seven points and three rebounds in his first extended minutes in this post-season, suffered a broken nose in Tuesday night’s 99-72 victory over the Atlanta Hawks in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals at The Q.
The Plain Dealer report says he’ll keep playing, with a protective mask.
Spurs vs Thunder in preseason
The Oklahoma City Thunder announced today that they will host the San Antonio Spurs in an exhibition game at Austin, Texas, on October 20th at 7:30 PM.
The game, which will be played at the Frank Erwin Center, marks the first time Thunder forward Kevin Durant will play a game on the campus of the University of Texas since February 28, 2007. Durant spent one season with the Longhorns, earning consensus Player of the Year honors, before being drafted in the first round of the 2007 NBA Draft (second overall) by the Oklahoma City Franchise.
The University of Texas retired Durant’s #35 jersey this past February in a special halftime ceremony during its contest with Texas A&M.
LeBron James wins MVP
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LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers is the winner of the Maurice Podoloff Trophy as the 2008-09 NBA Most Valuable Player, the NBA announced today.
James totaled 1,172 points including 109 first place votes, from a panel of 121 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. Players were awarded 10 points for each first-place vote, seven points for each second-place vote, five for third, three for fourth and one for each fifth-place vote received.
Rounding out the top five in voting for this season’s award are the Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant (698 points), Miami’s Dwyane Wade (680), Orlando’s Dwight Howard (328) and New Orleans’ Chris Paul (192).
James, the first Cavalier to win the award, led Cleveland in scoring (28.4 ppg, second in the NBA), rebounds (7.6 rpg), assists (7.2 apg, fourth), and steals (1.7 spg, eighth). Since the 1973-74 season when steals became an official stat, James is the fourth player to lead his team in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals, while also leading his team to 50-plus wins (Larry Bird 1985-86; Grant Hill, 1996-97; Kevin Garnett, 2002-03). The 6-8 forward helped Cleveland to an NBA- and franchise-best 66-16 season, a 21-game improvement over last season (45-37), marking the 12th time an NBA team has reached 66 wins in a season.
More info and the voting results on our NBA MVP page.
Kobe Bryant was sick Sunday
The Los Angeles Daily News (Elliott Teaford) reports: Kobe Bryant called in sick Sunday morning. He skipped the Lakers’ final practice before they begin their second-round playoff series against the Houston Rockets because he has a sore throat. The Lakers couldn’t say for certain whether he would play tonight in Game 1 at Staples Center. “If it is at all possible, I would expect him to be here,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. “You certainly don’t want it to happen (Bryant coming down with an illness). You’re certainly unhappy about it happening. We’ll deal with what it is. “That’s what goes on in life. You just have to accept it.”