Category Archives: Basketball

NBA indefinitely suspends Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

Bob Knight, tempestuous Hall of Fame basketball coach, dies aged 83

Posted on by

Bob Knight, the brilliant and combustible coach who won three NCAA titles at Indiana and for years was the scowling face of college basketball, has died. He was 83.

Knight’s family made the announcement on social media on Wednesday night.

Continue reading...

South Sudan headed to Paris Olympics as best African team at Fiba World Cup

Posted on by
  • South Sudan clinch berth at Paris Summer Olympics
  • World’s youngest state is automatic qualifier from Africa
  • Bright Stars beat Angola to finish 3-2 at Fiba World Cup

It was a chant that Luol Deng waited years to lead. He stood along the side of the South Sudan locker room after their run in the World Cup was over, cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled the same thing, over and over.

“Where we goin’?” he shouted.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

Man dies after fans brawl at Vermont middle-school basketball game

Posted on by
  • State troopers called after fight reported between spectators
  • 60-year-old man dies after seeking medical attention

A man died after a brawl broke out among spectators at a middle school basketball game in northern Vermont, local police have said.

Vermont state troopers were called to the Alburgh Community Education Center just before 7pm on Tuesday after a report of a large fight involving spectators during a seventh- and eighth-grade boys basketball game between Alburgh and St Albans.

Continue reading...

Virginia basketball coach fired for impersonating 13-year-old in game

Posted on by
  • 22-year-old assistant coach stepped in when player absent
  • Two other coaches have been fired from school’s program

A 22-year-old Virginia basketball coach has been fired after being accused of attempting to pass herself off as one of her 13-year-old players during a game.

According to Norfolk’s WAVY TV 10, when one of the members of the Churchland junior varsity girls basketball team in Portsmouth was out of town earlier this month, Arlisha Boykins stepped in and impersonated the absent player in their game against Nansemond River.

Continue reading...

IK-2 Mordovia: the harsh, notorious penal colony holding Brittney Griner

Posted on by

First-hand accounts from Russian prison where US basketball star has been sent paint a grim picture

The US basketball star Brittney Griner will endure harsh conditions inside the remote Mordovian penal colony to which she has been sent this week to serve her nine-year prison sentence, human rights experts and former prisoners of the colony have said.

“Prisons in Mordovia are notoriously terrible, even by Russian standards. The prisons there are known for the harsh regimes and human rights violations,” said Olga Zeveleva, a sociologist at the University of Helsinki who specialises in Russian prison conditions as part of the Gulag Echoes project. “It is a place any prisoner wants to avoid,” Zeveleva said.

Continue reading...

Brittney Griner ‘does not expect miracles’ at appeal over Russia sentence

Posted on by
  • Basketball star serving nine-year jail term on drug charges
  • US involved in discussions to free Olympic champion

US basketball star Brittney Griner “does not expect miracles” at her appeal hearing on on Tuesday against a nine-year Russian jail term on drug charges, her lawyers said in a statement.

The Olympic champion was arrested in February at a Moscow airport with vape cartridges containing cannabis oil. She was sentenced in August to nine years in a penal colony on charges of possessing and smuggling drugs.

Continue reading...

Brittney Griner sends message from Russian prison on birthday: ‘Thanks for fighting to get me home’

Posted on by

Basketball player, who was arrested at Moscow airport after authorities found vape canisters, thanks supporters

Brittney Griner thanked her supporters from a Russian prison where the detained basketball athlete spent her 32nd birthday on Tuesday.

In a statement released by her lawyers and reported by CNN, Griner said: “Thank you everyone for fighting so hard to get me home. All the support and love are definitely helping me.”

Continue reading...

Putin aide says release of Brittney Griner is not a priority for Russia

Posted on by
  • Olympic champion serving nine-year sentence on drug charge
  • Biden administration says it wants to bring player home

The difficulties involved in freeing Brittney Griner from her imprisonment in Russia were brought into stark relief this weekend when a senior aide to Vladimir Putin said the issue is not a priority for the Russian president.

In August, the basketball star was given a nine-year prison sentence for bringing a small amount of cannabis oil into Russia. The 31-year-old said she uses the drug to treat pain and has lodged an appeal against her sentence.

Continue reading...

Dennis Rodman plans Russia visit to seek release of Brittney Griner

Posted on by
  • 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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.”

Continue reading...

Liz Cambage’s WNBA future unknown after split with LA Sparks

Posted on by
  • Australian centre and her club agree to ‘contract divorce’
  • 30-year-old is yet to announce her future plans

Liz Cambage’s basketball career is in limbo after the polarising Australian star agreed a “contract divorce” with her WNBA team Los Angeles Sparks as they fight to secure a playoff spot.

“It is with support that we share Liz Cambage’s decision to terminate her contract with the organisation,” Sparks managing partner Eric Holoman said in a statement.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by
  • 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.

Continue reading...

Russia wants to use Brittney Griner as ‘negotiating chip’, says Democrat

Posted on by

Tim Kaine believes basketball star’s detention is to make her ‘part of this chess game’

A senior Democratic senator has said he believes Russia wants to use the WNBA star Brittney Griner, who has been held in Moscow for more than a month on accusations she smuggled drugs into the country, as a “negotiating chip” regarding the war in Ukraine.

“I think there’s no doubt that her detention, and then this continuation of the imprisonment, is all to try to make her a hostage and a part of this chess game,” Tim Kaine, of Virginia, told Full Court Press in an interview scheduled to air in full on Sunday.

Continue reading...

Women’s basketball superstar Brittney Griner detained in Russia

Posted on by
  • Brittney Griner detained at airport near Moscow on drug charges
  • American could face five to 10 years in prison under Russian law
  • Seven-time WNBA All-Star also plays for UMMC Ekaterinburg

Brittney Griner, one of America’s most decorated women’s basketball players, has reportedly been detained by Russian Federal Customs Service authorities after the discovery of vape cartridges that contained hashish oil in her luggage at an airport near Moscow.

The Customs Service confirmed “the detainee is a professional basketball player” who played in the Women’s National Basketball Association and won two Olympic gold medals with the United States in a statement issued on Saturday, but did not release the player’s name.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by
  • 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.

Continue reading...

‘We lost everything’: Afghan wheelchair basketball team captain speaks out

Posted on by

Nilofar Bayat begins rebuilding her life in Spain after days of fear for her life under Taliban rule

When the Taliban entered Kabul, Nilofar Bayat, the captain of Afghanistan’s female national wheelchair basketball team, knew she had to get out.

“There were so many videos of me playing basketball. I had been active in calling for women’s rights and the rights of women with disabilities,” she said. “If the Taliban found out all of this about me, I knew they would kill me.”

Continue reading...

Tokyo 2020 Olympics: cycling, boxing and more on final day – live!

Posted on by

Men’s keirin - Kenny (GBR) rode a superb race to nick the semi on the line. Glaetzer (AUS) defended his place well throughout to come second. Both progress into the final. Carlin (GBR) misses out in fourth.

Men’s keirin - Semi-final time for the men’s keirin. Up first we have Glaetzer (AUS), Carlin (GBR), and Kenny (GBR) gunning for a spot in the top three in a field of six.

Continue reading...