Lakers confident as postseason begins: The Lakers begin their series against Minnesota on Sunday. This article from hoopshype.com (which offers a lot of pretty decent NBA material by lesser-known writers) searches for weaknesses, but indicates that Kobe, Shaq, Horry and the gang pretty much expect to Four-Peat.

posted by Bob Jones to basketball at 01:35 AM - 1 comment

Drinks with the Don:: Some competing NBA team scout saw Mavericks coach Don Nelson in the same room with Yugoslav center Darko Milicic and turned him in. As a result, he's been suspended for the first two games of the season for illegal contact. "I'm not talkin' about it," Nelson says in this preseason interview with The Sports Page, a Dallas weekly. "Wait’ll I get a couple Dewar’s scotches in me at night some time, and I’ll probably tell ya, but not now."

posted by Bob Jones to basketball at 11:50 AM - 2 comments

Where is Wang Zhizhi?: The Sports Page, a Dallas weekly, places the issue of Wang Zhizhi's absence from the Mavericks in a political context. The article suggests that if Wang gets too hung up on American-style "personal freedom," China will prevent Yao Ming from reporting to the Houston Rockets. Think the NBA's getting nervous?

posted by Bob Jones to basketball at 06:40 PM - 1 comment