Hooped Up

The Lakers didn’t win Game 5 Thursday night, they put it in the hands of the gods and let them sort it out.

Tantalizing the Suns, the gods let Phoenix come from 18 points down in the last 16 minutes to tie it, getting off three three-pointers on its last possession before Jason Richardson banked the last one in from the top of the circle.

Then the gods walked Ron Artest, who had just thrown up one of the dumbest shots in Lakers history, which is saying something, under Kobe Bryant’s airball to make the winning shot as time ran out in an improbable — OK, lucky —103-101 victory at Staples Center.
LA Times


Golden State, buoyed by its market more than its on-court success, may break the current record for an NBA sale price, set at $401 million for the Suns in 2004. Spurring the Warriors’ value is a number of factors — almost none of which are related to how the team has played over the past 15 years. Instead, the value has everything to do with the team’s Bay Area market, ticket sales and a below-market television deal that is set to expire in 2015. TheWarriors “play in one of the top markets in the NBA,” says Robert Tuchman, executive vice president of Premiere Global Sports, a New York sports-marketing company. “I think that [sale] number will be between four and five hundred million, but you never know what happens if there’s a bidding war.”
The Wall Street Journal

Under one circumstance, it has been reported that LeBron James could choose a coach, and, now, a report in New York suggests he could play a role in theKnicks’ next GM hire. James could have major input in that decision if he is here, but former Warriors GM Chris Mullin, who is tight with [Knicks team president Donnie] Walsh from their Indiana days, seems a natural fit and long has been considered a candidate to be Walsh’s heir apparent. Allan Houston, assistant to the president who will be a key recruiter this July (he’s longtime friends with James’ advisor, William Wesley), could be nearing a promotion. When Walsh hired Houston, he admitted he was grooming him to be a general manager.
New York Post