NBA Rumors 11-11-10

Yao Ming – Hurt again.  Yao was hurt in the game last night against the Wizards and the diagnosis was a strained tendon in his leg.  It’s not the same area that Yao broke previously, so that big sigh that you heard was coming directly from Houston.  Yao will probably be cleared to play within the next week or so, but I doubt he’ll play any meaningful basketball for at least a month. 

Eric Dampier – The Rockets chose not to sign Dampier at the last moment and now it looks like the teams are lining up for his services.  Put the Heat, the Suns, the Bulls, and the Raptors on the list of possible suitors.  I don’t even think Dampier thought he’d be in such high demand. 

The Miami Heat – A blueprint already?  It seems as though if you’re physical against the Heat bigs, you will win.  This was shown this week as the Hornets and the Jazz destroyed the collection of bigs that is Joel Anthony, Chris Bosh, Udonis Haslem, and anyone else you want to throw in there.  The Heat lost a game where LBJ had a triple double and Wade dropped 39, and there’s something wrong with that.  There are rumors that Pat Riley may send Bosh away by the trade dealine if they can’t find a way to stop someone, soon. 

Joakim Noah – A little too sweet?  Noah doesn’t like Kevin Garnett.  (Who cares?)  "Kevin Garnett will not -- will not -- get a Christmas gift from me," Noah said Wednesday on "The Waddle & Silvy Show" on ESPN 1000. "I don't like him.  He's a very mean guy," Noah added. "Where's the love? None at all. Ugly, too."  Noah added during the radio interview: "... he was very mean to me my rookie year. And he's only mean to the young guys and the [European players], for some reason. I don't know why, but that's who he doesn't like. He's not nice. I talk a lot of trash out there, but c'mon, be a little sensitive. Be sweet."  Is this how you talk trash in French? 

Steve Nash – With Nash getting up there in years and the Suns being a pretender, the word on the street is that the Suns may be open to trading Nash.  And where do you think the rumored destination is,……….New York Knicks.  This would essentially reunite Nash with his old coach and his old pick and roll partner.  This could be a short term fix (Nash has 2 years and $22M left on his deal), but the Knicks would probably have to move someone on their team and I’m not sure the Suns want Raymond Felton in return. 

Peja Stojakovic – Many remember Stojakovic playing next to Webber, raining threes on the Lakers.  As of late, he’s been a bench warmer with an unsure back getting paid $14M this year.  Hornets GM, Dell Demps, is trying his best to move Stojakovic and is looking at acquiring Andre Iguodala from the Sixers.  The Sixers may want more than an expiring deal, but you can’t turn down $14M in cap relief.  We’ll see what happens. 

Derrick Rose – Battling injuries as usual, but this time it’s something that he never thought he’d get, turf toe.  Rose said he’s monitoring the situation with trainers, but he wasn’t even sure what it was.  For those that don’t know, check out a medical definition.

Jerry West – AKA the Logo will be honored by the Lakers during the All-Star weekend in February by adding his statue to the existing ones outside of Staples Center.  West was the All-time leading scorer for the Lakers until one Kobe Bean Bryant passed him last year.  Congrats to West for the honor. 

Yao Out

The Lakers got a great Mother's Day gift. Yao Ming has a hairline fracture in his foot and will miss the rest of the playoffs. The Lakers and the Nuggets should be meeting in the Western Conference Finals in a few days.

NBA Recap 10-31-08

Only 3 games on the schedule last night, and all three were good.

Cleveland @ Charlotte - Yes, I will even admit that this game was good, although it was a blow out. The Cavs dominated the Bobcats from the tip and ran out to an early 17 point lead. LeBron James led the Cavs with a 22 pts, 9 rebs, 9 asts performance and he was sitting on the bench in the 4th. Daniel Gibson, the mini Hibachi, was on FIRE last night. getting 25 points in 31 minutes and he missed 4 free throws. The Bobcats looked horriawful. Between Okafor and May they had 9 points and 15 rebs. You're just not going to win many games with those types of numbers. Adam Morrison made a somewhat good impression off the bench going 4-9 for 9 points.

Houston @ Dallas - Who knew that it would take two games before Ron Artest was in the middle of something? The game was close most of the night and when Josh Howard fouled Yao Ming a little to hard, Ron Ron took exception. I think America was waiting to see if he was going to knock Howard out, but Ron came over and tried to calm things down between Howard and Yao. He received a technical foul for his work. (The only thing he did wrong was grab Howard's arm first, before trying to move the two away from each other). This probably incensed Artest a little because we all know he's playing for a new contract and doesn't need any black eyes. So Artest did what we knew he could do, he played ball and ended the game with 29 pts and 7 rebs and hit timely shots down the stretch to guarantee a Rockets win. Yao chipped in with 30 pts and 13 rebs, while Tracy McGrady had a sub par game with 16 pts, 5 rebs, and 7 asts. For Dallas Nowitzki (36 pts, 7 rebs) and Howard (28 pts, 11 rebs, 4 asts) both had great games but it wasn't enough.

New Orleans @ Phoenix - This is why you pay money for James Posey. Posey came in to seal the deal (along with Rasual Butler) on the Phoenix Suns. Posey (13 pts) and Butler (6 pts) hit some very clutch shots to go along with Chris Paul's almost triple double (21 pts, 8 rebs, 10 asts). After playing well a night earlier, I think we learned that the Suns are going to have to limit the Big Sensei's minutes in back to back games. The Suns just seemed to run out of gas on the offensive side of the ball, although Steve Nash (24 pts, 9 asts, 4 rebs) looked like he could possibly play another quarter.