Hoops News Blog

Moments before Stephen Curry walked in to meet the media Wednesday afternoon after his predraft workout at the Knicks' training facility, coach Mike D'Antoni told him New York couldn't draft him. "I said, Oh, why?"' Curry said. "He said, 'Because Allan Houston said he doesn't want to be the second-best shooter in Knicks' history."' Still, [...]

No athlete on the planet — well, at least on this side of the putting green from Tiger Woods — closes quite like Kobe Bryant. He's the ice-in-his-veins killer. The Terminator. The one you call to finish the job. Mr. Clutch. He owns the fourth quarter. Most of the time. But in Game 3 of [...]

Lakers coach Phil Jackson delayed watching the entire tape of Game 3, preferring a few hours of sleep over reliving the misery of Tuesday night. When his players finally watched the film Wednesday morning of their 108-104 loss to the Orlando Magic, something immediately jumped out at them. "The final score," guard Derek Fisher said.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar doesn't see much future for Dwight Howard in all those rim-rocking dunks and power moves from the Orlando Magic center. The NBA's career scoring leader would like to see Howard not rely so much on his size and athleticism and make himself a player his team can turn to when it counts.

If there was ever a player who could skip an audition in front of a bunch of North Carolina alums, it's Tyler Hansbrough. Pass a television set in these parts in the past four years and you probably saw Hansbrough — at the foul line. Sporting that signature glare and relentless work ethic, he helped [...]

NBA all-star? Most valuable player? One of the greatest ever? How about coach. Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant has developed such a floor presence during the NBA playoffs that Alonzo Mourning can't figure out what exactly it is Lakers Coach Phil Jackson is doing on the bench. "To tell you the truth, Phil doesn't [...]

A new study shows that 43 percent of the professional positions in the NBA's league offices are held by women, giving the league its highest grade for gender. The report issued Wednesday by the University of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport showed an increase of 2 percent of women from last [...]

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist is set to sign a kidney transplant bill named for former Miami Heat star Alonzo Mourning. Mourning, who is a kidney transplant recipient, planned to be on hand for the signing ceremony Wednesday at a Tallahassee dialysis center. It's a return visit to the capital city for Mourning.

The Sacramento Kings reached an agreement in principle with Paul Westphal late Tuesday night to be their fourth new coach in just over three years. Westphal, a longtime NBA player and coach, went 267-159 during parts of seven seasons leading the Phoenix Suns and Seattle SuperSonics. He replaces interim coach Kenny Natt after the Kings [...]

Missing for two games, Orlando found its Magic touch. Making easy shots and tough ones from everywhere, the Magic won their first game in two visits to the NBA finals as Dwight Howard and Rashard Lewis scored 21 points apiece in a 108-104 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 3 on Tuesday night [...]