Hooped Up

Denver Nuggets coach George Karl has informed league officials that he plans to start Dirk Nowitzki for the West in place of the injured Kobe Bryant in Sunday’s All-Star Game, sources told ESPN.com.

Sources close to the situation confirmed that Karl — who is not scheduled to arrive in Dallas until Friday with the Nuggets playing host Thursday night to the Spurs — will move Nowitzki from the hometown Mavericks into the starting lineup even though he’s obviously not a guard.

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Much like every single album that has come out in the last 10 years, the 2010 all-star reserves list has been leaked and Yahoo! Sports has obtained the list to be reveled Thursday night in their NBA logo sports mug.

The Eastern Conference reserves include Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo from the Boston Celtics, Toronto’s Chris Bosh, Charlotte’s Gerald Wallace, Chicago’s Derrick Rose and Atlanta’s Joe Johnson and Al Horford.

The Western Conference reserves include Utah’s Deron Williams, New Orleans’ Chris Paul, Los Angeles Pau Gasol, Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant, Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki , Zach Randolph from Memphis and Brandon Roy from the Portland Trail Blazers.

David Lee, Carlos Boozer, Marc Gasol, Josh Smith, Chris Kaman, Monta Ellis and Chauncey Bilups will all have to wait for next season.

H/N Yahoo! Sports

First off I feel it’s my civic duty to say, gross! Now that I got that off my chest / keyboard. The Mavericks could be without the services of Dirk Nowitzki, after he lacerated his elbow colliding with Carl Landry’s mouth, leaving pieces of Landry’s broken teeth lodged into his arm. Like I said, gross!

This all when down in the 2nd quarter of the Rockets vs. Mavs game and according to the Houston Chronicle, it took 30 minutes to remove shards of Landry’s teeth from Nowitzki’s elbow. Both players ended up in the ER and did not return to the game. Houston won 116-108 in OT.

Nowitzki and Landry are listed as day-to-day and I just threw up in my mouth a little bit right now.

Monday Night Football was pretty much dead to everyone last night because much like Dylon, the NBA has been spitting hot fire! Since Brandon Jennings dropped 55, even a Bucks game is must see TV and their match up against the visiting Mavs last night didn’t disappoint.

Even though Dirk Nowitzki sunk the Bucks in overtime at the buzzer, with a fall-away 18 footer on the softest rim EVAH!

Playing against Milwaukee is no longer a cake walk, get used to it.

Another van glorious season of NBA basketball is about to begin and Hooped Up does a quick and dirty preview of all 30 clubs.

The Mavericks reloaded this offseason hoping their championship window hasn’t closed and that’s why they got Shawn Marion. I would love to be as optimistic (or rich) as Mark Cuban is about this squad, but then I’d be living in 2006. Read More »

A new season is fast approaching and you need you know, nay — you demand to know! Who’s the best at each position in the league on a nightly basis in the ‘09-10 NBA season. So with your mind and excel sheet ablaze trying to figure out that riddle to no end. I’ve decided to take one for the team, by putting together a  list of the Top 5 players in the league by position heading into the ‘09-10 NBA season.

Up next, the power forward spot. Read More »

Dirk Nowitzki has a signature shoe that will make you say Wunderbar!

Featuring a predominately black leather upper with minimal varsity maize accents in the form of the swoosh border, perforations in the toe area and the visible Air sole unit. In addition, the mid-foot area and sole are done up in white with the latter area containing hints of sky blue. This colorway is one point and in living color!

Lets hope Nowitzki can rock these bad boys without the league cracking down on their freshness.

More pics of the Air Max Spot Up, after the jump.

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The former fiancée of pro basketball star Dirk Nowitzki was sentenced this morning to five years in prison for violating probation in a 12-year-old forgery and theft case.

Cristal A. Taylor, 38, a St. Louis-area native, appeared this morning in circuit court in St. Charles. She admitted that she failed to check in with her probation officer and that she was arrested twice in Texas in 2000 for misdemeanors.

Taylor had planned to marry the Dallas Mavericks player and has said she is pregnant with his child. She was arrested at his home on May 6 and accused of failing to pay for $10,000 in cosmetic dental work in Texas in 2006.

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Dirk Nowitzki wants custody of his unborn child like now!

Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki wants sole custody of his ex-girlfriend’s unborn baby, now a Jefferson County inmate, if it’s proven he is the father, according to a petition filed last week in a Dallas County courthouse. The inmate, Crystal Taylor, was arrested May 6 at Nowitzki’s Dallas home on a warrant out of Jefferson County for on a theft of services charge. She was served at the jail Monday with a petition to adjudicate parentage. Nowitzki’s name does not appear on the court documents.

This is a good play by Nowitzki because I’ve heard that raising a child from prison with all of the shivs, toilet wine and fights in the yard around can be kinda rough.

Give Dirk his baby lady.

Via Beaumont Enterprise

Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki was not the first professional athlete to have a tumultuous and bizarre relationship with Cristal Taylor. Former NFL quarterback Tony Banks on Wednesday told The Dallas Morning News that Taylor is the same woman who tried to turn his life and career upside down in 1997. When their brief relationship fizzled, Banks said, Taylor began making harassing phone calls to him, his agent and even his St. Louis Rams head coach, Dick Vermeil. Alarmed that Taylor was “trying to run my name through the mud,” Banks notified team security, which learned Taylor had a criminal history and had used multiple identities.

Dallas Morning News