NEW YORK — LeBron James played the first playoff game of his life at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night.
And for the first time in his life, he heard more than 19,000 fans serenading him with an expletive every time he touched the basketball–
“A–hole, a–hole.”
“No, it’s not the first time, it’s just the first time it’s been in unison like that,” James said with a chuckle Friday at Madison Square Garden. “Everybody at the same time said it.” (more…)
NEW YORK — Like Yankee fans everywhere, LeBron James is feeling Mariano Rivera’s pain.
After dropping a game-high 32 points on the Knicks in Miami’s 87-70 victory in Game 3 Thursday night at Madison Square Garden, James went back to his hotel room and learned with the rest of the sports world that Rivera had been felled by a torn ACL.
“I think it’s unfortunate, honestly,” James said Friday at Heat shootaround at MSG. “We all know the great baseball player he is. Probably the best closer that MLB has ever seen. For him to have a freak accident like that, you can’t explain it. No one can explain it.” (more…)
NEW YORK – Because of the NBA lockout, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James had a few extra months to sit around thinking about their NBA Finals loss to Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks.
“Yeah, well they really made us think about that loss for a long time,” Wade said Tuesday in Brooklyn.
Now that the abbreviated season is set to begin Christmas Day, Wade and the Miami Heat are anxious to make another run at the Finals.
“Obviously, just like every other team we can’t wait to get back to get an opportunity to play in the Finals,” Wade added. “So we did have a little longer to think about losing, but that’s over with.” (more…)
PHILLY — Jason Terry has an answer for LeBron James’ most controversial comment of the NBA Finals.
“Well, my normal little life just got a little bigger, so I thank him for that,” the Dallas Mavericks guard said Wednesday at the Reebok Breakout Challenge at Philadelphia University.
Terry was responding to James’ controversial comment after the Mavericks beat the Miami Heat in six games to win the NBA title. (more…)
AVALON, N.J. — When it comes to the July recruiting period, the Wild West days of Sonny Vaccaro vs. George Raveling are gone.
Long gone.
“You can never say never,” said Gary Charles, the head coach of the New York Panthers and a Vaccaro lieutenant from 1992-2006, when Vaccaro hung up his kicks and retired .
“But I think it’s extremely hard to duplicate what Sonny Vaccaro has done.” (more…)
This ought to do wonders for LeBron’s already tarnished image.
During a game of Knockout at a camp at Richard Stockton College, he dunked on Evan Mahome of Detroit and knocked him down. He then helped Mahome back up.
Afterward, LeBron reportedly said, “He’ll have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life he had before today.”
DeShawn Stevenson busted out the classy, “Hey LeBron, how’s my Dirk taste” T-shirt last night at the hotel after the Dallas Mavericks beat the Miami Heat in Game 6 of the NBA Finals.
The photo was taken by TMZ.com.
The shirt is a takeoff on Shaquille O’Neal telling Kobe Bryant in a video after the two parted ways, ”Tell me how my a– tastes!!”
LeBron and Dwyane Wade appeared to mock Nowitzki by coughing and covering their mouths with their shirts, a reference to Nowitzki playing with a 102-degree temperature in Game 4.
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LeBron James may play for the Heat, but he’s also facing the heat on all sides after another dismal fourth-quarter performance.
Yet his high school coach is sticking up for him.
“If the ball goes in the basket, he would’ve had a tremendous game last night,” Keith Dambrot, James’ coach at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School and now the head coach at Akron, told ESPN’s Mike & Mike Friday morning. “By most people’s standards, 17 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists, that’s a pretty good game.” (more…)
NEW YORK – When LeBron James came to Madison Square Garden last season as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers, he was asked by a swarm of reporters his thoughts about potentially joining the Knicks as a free agent.
When he came to the Garden as a member of the Miami Heat in mid-December, he was pressed about why he made his famous “Decision.”
Now, in his latest trip to the Big Apple, James was grilled about whether the Knicks need Carmelo Anthony to make them a legitimate title contender.
“I believe that at the end of the day he has to do what’s best for himself and his family, and I think everything else takes care of itself,” James said before the Knicks beat the Heat, 93-88, at MSG. (more…)
NEW YORK – Dream Week for the Knicks began with a narrow victory over Carmelo Anthony and the Nuggets and ended with a blowout loss to LeBron James and the Heat.
What it revealed more than anything is that the Knicks need ‘Melo if they are ever to compete in the East with LeBron and Company and a Boston team featuring four future Hall of Famers.
In his first New York appearance since spurning the Knicks to take his talents to South Beach, King James quieted a frenzied Madison Square Garden crowd by taking over in the third quarter en route to a 32-point, 11-rebound, 10-assist performance in a 113-91 victory.
“There are certain buildings in this league that you just thrive on and you’re excited about,” said James, who’s averaged 30.5 points in 12 Garden appearances, second all-time to Michael Jordan’s 31.8 average in 31 Garden tilts. (more…)
“Adam Zagoria sees the story behind the daily happenings.”
~ St. Anthony Coach Bob Hurley
Zagoria covers the New York Knicks and Big East hoops for NBA.com and SNY.tv. He also appears as a Big East Basketball Insider on SNY and 1050 ESPN Radio.
He is an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, SI and Basketball Times.
