NBA sources told FOX 26 Sports the Houston Rockets and the City of Houston landed the NBA All-Star Game in 2013. The game will be played at Toyota Center on Feb. 17, 2013. NBA All-Star week will be Feb. 15-17. The Rockets and Toyota Center also hosted the game in 2006.
Click2Houston reports:
The entire NBA All-Star Weekend will be in the Bayou City from February 15-17, 2013. Hilton Americas Marketing Director Janice O’Neill-Cox spoke with Local 2 Sports Wednesday afternoon, saying, “We played a key role in working with the league to make sure availability was in place. It’s a big boost for our city to land the game, and we’re excited about it.”
InsideHoops.com editor says: I don’t get why Houston is getting the game again. They just had it in 2006. Meanwhile, other teams haven’t hosted it in a long time. Also, Madison Square Garden renovations will be mostly complete in time. And the new Brooklyn Nets arena will exist by mid 2012. Unusual call to send the big weekend back to Houston so soon.
Patrick Ewing joined “The Mike Lupica Show” on Tuesday and talked about his old teammates, his coaching career and a possible return to the Big Apple.
“I can’t speak bad about my teammates. I think my teammates were great guys, they were great teammates, I had fun playing with them. When I look at (Amare) Stoudemire and Carmelo (Anthony), I’ve said it before, I never played with that kind of caliber,” Ewing said.
“It is what it is. Like I said before, I love my teammates, we did the best that we could for the city of New York, but it just wasn’t in the cards for us,” Ewing told Lupica…
Could we see Patrick back in the Garden … on the Knicks’ bench? “I hope that one day I get to come back home because I do live in this area, I still consider this my area, I still consider myself a Knick. Hopefully one day I’ll be brought back here,” Ewing said.
Nate Robinson was at Seahawks practice Saturday morning.
Considering Robinson’s athletic pedigree, that statement requires a further clarification: Robinson was not in the Seahawks’ practice.
The Rainier Beach alum was in sweatpants and a gray top, watching the workouts. There are no plans for Robinson to have a tryout with the Seahawks, but this is the latest in a continuing flirtation with the sport.
Robinson, 27, initially went to Washington on a football scholarship and was a freshman cornerback under Rick Neuheisel in 2002.
Troubled ex-New Jersey Nets player Rafer Alston fouled out at a strip joint — bashing another man on the head with a beer bottle during a booze-fueled brawl, a new lawsuit charges.
The former NBA athlete, 35, who’s originally from Jamaica, Queens, attacked fellow Perfection Gentleman’s Club patron Erick Franceschini, 32, of Milford, Conn., during a knock-down-drag-out free-for-all in July 2010, according to papers recently filed in Queens Supreme Court.
Alston smashed Franceschini with the bottle during a dispute that began in the Woodside, Queens, club and spilled out on the street, said Franceschini’s lawyer, John Rapawy.
Alston was not involved in the fight in the bar, Rapawy said, but the lawyer claimed the hoopster attacked Franceschini in the street.
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Monday night in New York City, a special thing happened at Harlem’s famed Rucker Park basketball court. A lanky, unguardable king of hoops by the name of Kevin Durant stepped onto the court. It was Durant’s debut game in the Rucker streetball world. And he made an impression on fans that will last a lifetime. Racking up 38 points through the first quarter quarters, Durant went insane in the fourth and finished with 66 points.
According to Joseph Staszewski of the New York Post, “The Oklahoma City Thunder All-Star shook off a slow start and poured in an astounding 66 points to lead DC Power to a 99-93 win over the Sean Bell All-Stars in front of a standing-room only crowd at the Entertainers Basketball Classic on Monday night at streetball’s most famous park. Durant, who led the NBA in scoring last season, connected on 9-of-11 3-pointers, including five straight from well beyond NBA range, early in the fourth quarter. The 6-foot-9 forward was mobbed on the court by fans standing along the sidelines after a fifth straight trey.”
According to Adry Torres of ESPN Deportes, “He opened up the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer and followed that by making one of two free throws. The NBA All-Star then added two points on a layup before lighting up the opposition with a barrage of four 3-pointers while doubled and even triple-teamed. The last bomb made the crowd react by spilling onto the court, mobbing Durant. DC Power’s point guard Randy (White Chocolate) Gill has known Durant since the scoring wiz was 15-years-old. He said he took a step back and let Durant do his thing. “It’s an honor and pleasure playing with the greatest player in the world, Kevin Durant. He’s young and hungry and it makes your job real easy playing with a guy like that,” Gill said after the game. “Most of the time just give him the ball and get out of the way. Go spot up and then when they’re doubling, triple teaming him, you know he’s even scoring on that. He’s an explosive scorer, a great shooter and the greatest player in the world,” he added.”
“So while NBA owners/players struggle to divide billions, the league’s No.1 scorer is dropping 66 for free in the park,” said InsideHoops.com on Twitter.
We’ll add to this on Tuesday, so reload this page, but for now, here are the available videos:
Kevin Durant Rucker Park video clips:
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When Tom Gores (Detroit Pistons) came aboard in early June, he said part of his job isn’t to agree with whatever Joe Dumars wanted, but “to challenge Joe, and hopefully that will make the outcome better.” And though Dumars never publicly indicated whom he preferred to succeed John Kuester as coach, several people around the league believe he preferred former Hawks coach Mike Woodson to Frank. But Frank blew Gores and his people away during the interview process.
Yet a source insisted this weekend that Dumars concurred with Gores that Frank was the right choice for the job.
(For his part, Woodson has moved on, interviewing for the Minnesota Timberwolves’ vacancy. And a source indicates he’ll be in New York early this week to talk with the Knicks about becoming their defensive coordinator, a job that management has mandated coach Mike D’Antoni, entering the final year of his contract, accept for next season.)
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Chinese basketball stalwart Stephon Marbury told The Post yesterday he does not think either Carmelo Anthony or Amar’e Stoudemire could cut it in China because they may not have the right mindset for the grittiness of the country’s basketball scene…
Citing the tough travel and rigorous training methods, Marbury said he doesn’t see the stars going to China, where the Coney Islander has spent the past two seasons.
“I don’t think those guys will want to go through it,” said Marbury, who is training in Los Angeles. “China is not for everybody — a whole ‘nother world. I don’t think they’re going to go there, not the big-time guys. Maybe they’d come for a little bit, but if the season is cancelled for the year, I don’t think they’d want to stay. They’ll want to go home.
“I don’t think Carmelo Anthony is going to run like they want to run in practice,” Marbury added. “They want to run you to death. The first time I got there, they ran in practice for two straight hours. I said, ‘Is that what we have to do every practice?’ “
We all hope that the NBA lockout ends in August or September, or perhaps sometime in early October, so that no regular season games are lost.
No one really expects a mass exodus of top NBA talent in the near future. But if the entire regular season is to be lost? That’s another story.
The AP reports:
Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony say they will consider offers to play professional basketball in China if there is no resolution to the NBA lockout.
Both players are on a promotional tour of China while monitoring news from home about the NBA’s labor impasse.
With Kobe Bryant reportedly negotiating a deal to play in Turkey, New Orleans Hornets’ Paul and New York Knicks forward Anthony said they were also considering overseas moves.
Asked by SNTV where they would go, Anthony replied “China.” Paul said “Same, no question.”
The answers may have been designed to compliment their hosts, but Anthony added “it’s a lot of history here, the fans are great; why not, why not try it out?”
Again, it’s smart for players to simply declare that they will keep all their options open, rather than ruling stuff out. So if an NBA star is asked if China interests him as a basketball destination, the obvious answer is to say yes. But this stuff will become more believable in the coming months.
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So far, just under one month into the NBA lockout, the only big star to sign overseas has been Deron Williams — and he’ll return to the New Jersey Nets when the lockout ends.
Other than that, the handful of players that have headed overseas were on the NBA fringe anyway.
And now, another bench guy will cross the ocean.
Marc Berman of the New York Post (blog) reports:
Ailing Amar’e Stoudemire can tease about playing in Europe. Knicks rookie Jerome Jordan is simply going to do it without the posturing.
The center agreed in principle Tuesday to play in Slovenia for the Krka club with an “out clause,’’ his agent Todd Ramasar told The Post.
Ramasar said final terms should be worked out Wednesday.
The out clause will allow 7-foot Jordan the option to leave Slovenia when the NBA lockout ends to join the Knicks, who are desperate for size and have the Tulsa product penciled in on the roster.
The Knicks acquired Jordan’s rights for $1 million after the Bucks took him with the 45th pick of the 2009 NBA Draft. Jordan played in Serbia last season.
“This will give him an opportunity to train, give him an opportunity to play and be in game shape when the lockout is over,’’ Ramasar told The Post. “He wants to prepare himself as much as possible. He doesn’t want to sit on the bench his rookie year.’’
Jordan should have a future in the NBA as a backup center, when he returns.
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The NBA Rookie Transition Program, scheduled for August 9-11, has been postponed. The program, which provides first-year players with the skills and information necessary for a successful transition to the NBA, is run jointly by the NBA and the Players Association.
“Without a new collective bargaining agreement between the league and the players’ union, we will be unable to hold RTP as originally scheduled,” NBA Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver said. “This is an important educational program for our incoming players, and it will be rescheduled once the parties agree on a CBA.”
