Category Archives: NBA

Dikembe Mutombo, NBA Hall of Famer and humanitarian, dies at 58

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  • Former NBA star’s diagnosis was revealed two years ago
  • Center was known for charity work in US and Africa

Basketball Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo, whose towering presence dominated basketball on and off the court, has died from brain cancer at the age of 58.

“Dikembe Mutombo was simply larger than life,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement on Monday. “On the court, he was one of the greatest shot blockers and defensive players in the history of the NBA. Off the floor, he poured his heart and soul into helping others.”

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‘One of a kind’ NBA champion and broadcaster Bill Walton dies at 71

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  • Center won championships with Portland and Boston
  • Walton became a popular broadcaster after playing career

Hall of fame basketball star and two-time NBA champion Bill Walton has died of cancer at the age of 71, the NBA announced on Monday.

“Bill Walton was truly one of a kind,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “As a Hall of Fame player, he redefined the center position. His unique all-around skills made him a dominant force at UCLA and led to an NBA regular-season and Finals MVP, two NBA championships and a spot on the NBA’s 50th and 75th Anniversary Teams.”

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NBA indefinitely suspends Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green

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League announces penalty less than 24 hours after Green hit Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkić and received foul and ejection

Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green was suspended indefinitely by the NBA on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after he hit Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkić in the face and received a Flagrant 2 foul and ejection.

The league announced the penalty handed down by operations chief Joe Dumars and said the suspension begins immediately. It’s already Green’s second suspension this season.

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No charges to be filed in altercation between Britney Spears and NBA player’s guard

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Pop-star had said she was struck by Victor Wembanyama’s security when she tried to approach the basketball player for a photograph

No charges will be filed following a brief investigation of the altercation involving pop star Britney Spears, San Antonio Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama and a member of the basketball player’s security team, Las Vegas police said on Friday.

Spears said she was struck by a security guard as she tried to approach Wembanyama on the way into a restaurant in a Las Vegas casino complex on Wednesday night. Wembanyama said a person – he later was told it was Spears – grabbed him from behind.

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Dennis Rodman plans Russia visit to seek release of Brittney Griner

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  • NBA hall of famer has called himself a ‘basketball ambassador’
  • Griner currently serving nine-year sentence in Russia

NBA hall of famer Dennis Rodman says he has permission to travel to Russia as he attempts to secure the release of fellow basketball star Brittney Griner.

Griner was sentenced to nine years in Russian jail for drug possession earlier this month. Her lawyers have filed an appeal and there are understood to be separate talks underway over a possible prisoner swap. But Rodman told NBC this weekend that he plans to make a trip of his own to negotiate the Olympic champion’s release.

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‘I live in fear’: Vanessa Bryant testifies at trial over Kobe’s crash images

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For three hours, Bryant provided testimony against Los Angeles county for invasion of privacy over photos of her husband’s corpse

Vanessa Bryant testified on Friday that she was only beginning to grieve the loss of her husband, basketball star Kobe Bryant, and their 13-year-old daughter Gianna when she was faced with the fresh horror of learning that sheriff’s deputies and firefighters had shot and shared photos of their bodies at the site of the helicopter crash that killed them.

“I felt like I wanted to run, run down the block and scream,” she said, her tears turning to sobs and her voice quickening. “It was like the feeling of wanting to run down a pier and jump into the water. The problem is I can’t escape. I can’t escape my body.”

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Woman alleges Cavaliers’ Rajon Rondo threatened her with gun in front of children

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  • Woman granted emergency protective order in Kentucky court
  • Cleveland player allegedly became angry over laundry request

A woman has filed for an emergency protective order (EPO) against Cleveland Cavaliers guard Rajon Rondo and alleges he brandished a gun and threatened her life.

The woman alleges Rondo “became enraged” last week and she filed for the order in family court in Louisville, Kentucky. She claimed in the order that Rondo was playing video games with a child when she asked the child to finish separating his laundry so she could wash the family’s clothes.

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Michael Jordan’s Nike Air Ship trainers sell for nearly $1.5m to smash auction record

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  • Game-worn shoes from 1984 snapped up in Sotheby’s luxury sale
  • Previous record of $615,000 also held by a pair of Air Jordans

A pair of trainers worn by NBA superstar Michael Jordan early in his career have sold for nearly $1.5m, setting a record price at auction for game-worn footwear.

The white leather shoes with the red Nike swoosh and soles were worn by the iconic player in the fifth game of his rookie season with the Chicago Bulls, when Nike’s Jordan-affiliated brand was only just taking off as a sensation both on and off the court.

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Kobe Bryant helicopter crash likely caused by pilot disoriented in clouds

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Crash that killed basketball star, his daughter, and seven others launched lawsuits and prompted state and federal legislation

Safety investigators said on Tuesday a pilot flew through clouds last year in an apparent violation of federal standards and likely became disoriented just before the helicopter crashed, killing the basketball star Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven others.

Related: Trump impeachment trial to open with debate on whether it is constitutional – live updates

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NBA joined by MLB teams in boycott to protest police shooting of Jacob Blake

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  • Bucks’ home of Milwaukee is close to site of shooting
  • George Hill says team is ‘tired of killings and injustice’
  • MLB and WNBA teams also boycott in solidarity

On an extraordinary day for the NBA, the Milwaukee Bucks boycotted Game 5 of their playoff series against the Orlando Magic in protest of the police shooting of Jacob Blake, leading the NBA to reschedule all other Wednesday night playoff games.

Milwaukee’s baseball team, the Brewers, also confirmed they would not play their game scheduled for Wednesday evening.

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Pilot in Kobe Bryant crash thought he was climbing rather than descending

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  • Documents say Ara Zobayan was trying to climb out of clouds
  • Crash killed NBA legend, his daughter and seven others

The pilot of the helicopter that crashed in thick fog, killing Kobe Bryant and seven other passengers, reported he was climbing when he was actually descending, federal investigators said in documents released on Wednesday.

Ara Zobayan radioed to air traffic controllers that he was climbing to 4,000 feet to get above clouds when, in fact, the helicopter was plunging toward a hillside where it crashed northwest of Los Angeles. The report by the National Transportation Safety Board said Zobayan may have “misperceived” the pitch of the aircraft, which can happen when a pilot becomes disoriented in low visibility. Experts said shortly after the crash that the path of the flight indicated Zobayan had lost his bearing.

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‘Lie, lie, lie’: Former Jordan teammate gives withering assessment of The Last Dance

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  • Horace Grant says labels show ‘a so-called documentary’
  • Former NBA champion says Jordan often crossed the line

It appears that The Last Dance backlash has arrived. ESPN aired the final episode of the wildly popular Michael Jordan documentary on Sunday but one of the NBA superstar’s former teammates has already taken issue with the show.

Horace Grant, who won three titles alongside Jordan with the Chicago Bulls, said the documentary was edited to make Jordan look better. Some critics have pointed out that the fact that The Last Dance was co-produced by one of Jordan’s companies was glossed over.

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Autopsy finds pilot in Kobe Bryant crash had no drugs or alcohol in system

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  • Coroner: all nine on board sustained immediate fatal injuries
  • Bryant crashed in thick fog north of Los Angeles in January

The pilot flying NBA legend Kobe Bryant and seven others, including his daughter, to a youth basketball tournament did not have alcohol or drugs in his system, and all nine sustained immediately fatal injuries when their helicopter crashed into a hillside outside Los Angeles in January, according to autopsy reports released late on Friday.

The reports by the Los Angeles county coroner’s office provide a clinical but unvarnished look at the brutality of the crash.

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Vanessa Bryant wishes ‘nightmare’ of Kobe and Gianna’s deaths would end

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The former NBA star’s wife is struggling to deal with loss of both her husband and daughter

Vanessa Bryant has said in an Instagram post that she was both grieving and angry over the loss of her husband, NBA star Kobe Bryant, and 13-year-old Gianna in a helicopter crash last month.

Vanessa Bryant, 37, has made few public appearances since the crash that killed her husband, daughter and seven others and said in the social media post that she had been “reluctant” to put her feelings into words.

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Kobe Bryant: NBA legend dies in helicopter crash at age of 41

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Kobe Bryant, one of the greatest basketball players of all time, has died in a helicopter crash. He was 41.

Bryant was on board the helicopter along with four others when it crashed at 10am local time near Calabasas, 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, in foggy weather. The crash ignited brushfires, making it hard for rescue crews to get close to the site. There were no reported survivors, and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, is also believed to have died in the crash. Bryant had lived in the area for most of his life and often used helicopters to beat Los Angeles’ heavy traffic.

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Kobe Bryant: NBA legend dies in helicopter crash aged 41

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The NBA, and much of America, was in shock on Sunday after Kobe Bryant, one of the greatest basketball players in history, died in a helicopter crash. He was 41.

Bryant was on board the helicopter with eight others, including his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, when it crashed at 10am local time near Calabasas, 30 miles north-west of downtown Los Angeles, in foggy weather. The crash ignited brushfires, making it hard for rescue crews to get close to the site. There were no survivors. Bryant, who lived in the area for most of his life often used helicopters to beat Los Angeles’ heavy traffic, and on Sunday he was taking Gianna to play in a basketball game at his academy outside the city.

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The Guardian view on China and basketball: power games | Editorial

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A boycott sparked by comments on Hong Kong’s protests has highlighted how China is exporting its controls on speech by economic means

Sport is a serious business. Ping-pong diplomacy sped US detente with China; Richard Nixon followed the path of American table tennis players. Now some joke that basketball could yet spell the end for bilateral relations, as Beijing seeks to punish the NBA over comments on the protests in Hong Kong and US politicians hit back at the league’s attempts to appease.

China’s use of economic power for political purposes has rarely been quite so visible. It began when the general manager of the Houston Rockets sent a tweet including the words “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong” – where authorities are cracking down harder than ever on the four-month anti-government movement and violence is growing. The team’s Chinese sponsors and partners cut ties. Matters soon spiralled.

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Police say two shot as 1.5m pack Toronto streets for Raptors’ title parade

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  • Police say two people sustained non-life-threatening injuries
  • Raptors became first non-US team to win NBA title last week
  • Police lift fans seeking safety as overcrowding becomes problem

Toronto police say two people were shot as Toronto Raptors fans packed the city’s downtown to watch the team’s NBA title parade. Police said two people had sustained serious but non-life threatening injuries in the incident. They added that two people had been taken into custody, and the parade was resumed after a short delay.

I’m on the roof of city hall and something is happening. People are running including what looks to be cops and security pic.twitter.com/FEbhw88OqI

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US senator asks Canada to protect Erdoğan critic Kanter during NBA finals

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  • Trail Blazers player is an opponent of Turkish president
  • Blazers could travel to play Toronto Raptors in finals

The NBA playoffs have been swept up in diplomatic drama, with US senator Ron Wyden expressing concern for the safety of Portland Trail Blazers player Enes Kanter if his team play the Toronto Raptors in the NBA finals.

Kanter is a fierce critic of Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, calling him the “Hitler of our Century”. The Turkish authorities in turn have accused Kanter of having links with an armed group behind a failed coup in the country in 2016. Last year, Kanter missed a trip to London with his then team the New York Knicks, saying he feared he could be “killed by Turkish spies”.

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