New York Knicks Close to Extension with Coach Mike Woodson: A Fan's Take (Yahoo! Contributor Network)
(Wed, 23 May 2012 08:06:00 PDT)
The New York Knicks and Mike Woodson appear very close to wrapping up contract negotiations. I think that this is great news for the team, and not just because it will remove the interim tag from Woodson. Negotiations seem to have come along very nicely in a short span of time and it looks like a deal could get announced as soon as the end of this week.

Irving unanimous pick to NBA All-Rookie team (The Associated Press)
(Tue, 22 May 2012 12:48:19 PDT)
NEW YORK (AP) Rookie of the Year Kyrie Irving of Cleveland is the lone unanimous choice to the NBA's All-Rookie team.

Kobe Bryant and the Lakers face uncertain future after early playoff exit
(Tue, 22 May 2012 03:11:03 PDT)
The Lakers will likely need to make some changes after losing to the Thunder in the second round.

Kobe Bryant blames Pau Gasol for Lakers' Game 4 collapse against Thunder
(Sun, 20 May 2012 01:13:11 PDT)
The Lakers left their latest meltdown against the Thunder bickering and on the brink of elimination.

Lakers' Blake, wife target of attacks on Twitter (The Associated Press)
(Fri, 18 May 2012 19:49:35 PDT)
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) Lakers guard Steve Blake and his wife received multiple online threats after he missed a big shot late in Game 2 of Los Angeles' second-round playoff series with Oklahoma City.

Steve Blake, wife receive death threats via Twitter after Lakers’ Game 2 loss (Ball Don't Lie)
(Fri, 18 May 2012 08:00:45 PDT)
After scoring 19 points and hitting five 3-pointers in a huge Game 7 performance to beat the Denver Nuggets, Steve Blake was lauded for shaking off a 12-for-33 mark in the first six games and coming up big when it counted. But after missing an open corner 3-pointer that would have given the Los Angeles Lakers a one-point lead in the closing seconds of Game 2 — a game that the Lakers led by seven with two minutes left, a game they gave away in a manner befitting Santa Claus , according to their center — some fickle fans changed their tune on the backup point guard and, disgustingly, brought his family into the mix. From Dave McMenamin at ESPN Los Angeles : After the game, both the Twitter feeds of Blake and his wife, Kristen, were inundated with criticism ranging from curse word-laden rants to threats. "I hope your family gets murdered," read one tweet that Kristen Blake re-tweeted along with a single comment: "Wow." [...] Steve Blake responded to the troublesome situation after Lakers practice on Thursday. "It's pretty disappointing that there are a lot of hateful people out there, but you move on," Blake said. "I just don't appreciate it when it's toward my family. You can come at me all you want but when you say things about my wife and my kids, that makes me upset." As horrendous and regrettable as this is, it's nothing new; as long as there have been sporting matches to lose, there have been goats blamed for losing them, and pockets of disgruntled, perspective-lacking fandom whose pursuit of doling that blame out ventures far beyond the pale of reason and decency. (And let's be clear about this: "Lakers fans" aren't to be blamed for death threats and hate speech lobbed uncaringly at the Blakes; "awful, lunatic-fringe idiots" are. Several bad apples don't spoil a gigantic, passionate bunch.) What is relatively new, though, is how social media outlets — primarily Twitter, since more pros actually seem to use and manage Twitter accounts themselves than handle, say, their own Facebook pages or write their own blogs — and the immediate connections they afford fans to the objects of their obsession can factor into this mix.

Thunder-Lakers Preview (The Associated Press)
(Thu, 17 May 2012 18:47:09 PDT)
LOS ANGELES (AP) If the Los Angeles Lakers can just shake the memory of the disastrous final two minutes of Game 2, they'll find plenty of reasons in the first 46 minutes to be encouraged about their chances this weekend against Oklahoma City.

Lakers prepare for back-to-back blitz vs. Thunder (The Associated Press)
(Thu, 17 May 2012 18:46:10 PDT)
LOS ANGELES (AP) If the Los Angeles Lakers can just shake the memory of the disastrous final two minutes of Game 2, they'll find plenty of reasons in the first 46 minutes to be encouraged about their chances this weekend against Oklahoma City.

Nuggets GM: Andre Miller wants to stay in Denver (The Associated Press)
(Thu, 17 May 2012 12:48:12 PDT)
DENVER (AP) The Nuggets' three-pronged plan for the summer is to redo Ty Lawson's deal, sign restricted free agent JaVale McGee and keep veteran point guard Andre Miller in Denver.

NBA players set to lead Brazil's Olympic team (The Associated Press)
(Thu, 17 May 2012 10:50:30 PDT)
SAO PAULO (AP) Brazil's men's basketball team will be led by NBA players Nene, Leandro Barbosa, Tiago Splitter and Anderson Varejao when it returns to the Olympics for the first time in 16 years.

Kobe Bryant's late mistakes doom Lakers in their Game 2 loss to Thunder
(Thu, 17 May 2012 02:54:59 PDT)
Kobe Bryant helped give away what appeared to be a near-certain victory for the Lakers.

Nuggets' Harrington undergoes knee surgery
(Wed, 16 May 2012 15:53:16 PDT)
Denver Nuggets forward Al Harrington, who battled through the first round of the NBA playoffs despite an injury, underwent successful right knee surgery on Wednesday, the team announced.

Nuggets forward Harrington has knee surgery
(Wed, 16 May 2012 15:07:07 PDT)
(Reuters) - Denver Nuggets forward Al Harrington had knee surgery on Wednesday and is expected to be fit for training camp in October, the National Basketball Association team said.

Harrington undergoes surgery on right knee (The Associated Press)
(Wed, 16 May 2012 14:43:10 PDT)
DENVER (AP) Denver Nuggets forward Al Harrington underwent surgery to fix a torn meniscus in his right knee on Wednesday.

NBA roundup: Bulls' Rose may miss 2 months of next season (The SportsXchange)
(Tue, 15 May 2012 15:40:41 PDT)
Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose could miss the two months of next season while recovering from knee surgery.

JaVale McGee is getting closer to playing for the Philippines (Ball Don't Lie)
(Tue, 15 May 2012 15:10:04 PDT)
One of the top stories of the playoffs so far, beyond that many games have been unwatchable, is that Denver Nuggets center JaVale McGee  played like a capable and effective pro . There's a chance that, for as many silly plays as he's made over the years, he could become one of the best centers in the league, even if he does nothing more than block shots, rebound and catch the ball around the basket for easy dunks and alley-oops. Now that the Nuggets' season is over, JaVale has a chance to work on his game this summer. As far as we know, he won't be doing so as part of Team USA, either with the senior team or the select squad that practices and scrimmages with them before the London Olympics. In fact, McGee might play for another nation in international competition in the future. Oddly enough, he might end up playing for the Philippines. McGee has been trying to become a naturalized citizen of the island country for some time now, but it's been a long process. Now, however, there's legislation in the Filipino government to get it done.  From Francis Respisio for local station News5 (via  PBT ):

Chris Paul is the L.A. Clippers' savior -- but there have been others in the NBA (RealClearSports.com)
(Tue, 15 May 2012 13:48:50 PDT)
Chris Paul joins a list of players who turned struggling franchises around.

Cavaliers' Irving selected NBA's top rookie (The Associated Press)
(Tue, 15 May 2012 12:39:51 PDT)
INDEPENDENCE, Ohio (AP) Once Kyrie Irving finished cracking jokes, thanking Cleveland's fans, his teammates and coaches, he looked down from the podium at the person who promised this would happen.

Danilo Gallinari can’t sleep, wants to prove he’s not a loser (Ball Don't Lie)
(Tue, 15 May 2012 09:50:42 PDT)
It's something of an understatement to say that Danilo Gallinari did not come up big for the Denver Nuggets in their Game 7 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday night, a defeat that sent George Karl's upstart squad home for the summer after the opening round of the NBA playoffs for the second straight season. The 23-year-old forward missed eight of his nine field-goal attempts in the deciding game, scoring just three points in nearly 26 minutes of play and turning the ball over four times. It was a bad scene. More damning, Karl yanked Gallinari at the 7:07 mark of the third quarter, parking him on the bench for all but a 1:58 stretch midway through the fourth ... during which he coughed it up to Metta World Peace with four minutes left and the Nuggets down five, earning himself a trip right back to the bench. In the biggest game of the year, Denver's coach didn't feel like he could trust a player the team just signed to a four-year, $42 million extension . Less than ideal. As Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post put it, "Gallo was a zero," and 36 hours after Game 7, he was still pretty torn up about it. The hurt left an emotional scar. You could feel his humiliation from here to his native Italy. "I had a bad night. It's my nature, and I was given this by my parents, to live for those big moments. I want big games to prove to myself that I'm a winner and not a loser," Gallinari told me Monday [...] "I didn't have just the world watching that game, but also my friends, my family and everybody in my home country knew I was coming out to have a big game. And I didn't." Feeling like you let people down is the worst. The particular strain Gallo is referencing — basically, "the Adam Banks in 'The Mighty Ducks' strain" — is well known to anyone who's ever tried really hard to be excellent when your parent was finally able to get off work and come to your game, but failed. It's a bummer, and it can even stick with you when your head hits the pillow, as Kiszla writes:

Cavaliers' Irving wins ROY Award (The SportsXchange)
(Tue, 15 May 2012 08:40:06 PDT)
LeBron who?

Kobe Bryant's concession of athletic superiority to Thunder ominous sign for Lakers
(Tue, 15 May 2012 02:20:59 PDT)
All the rest in the world couldn't have prevented the beating Oklahoma City gave L.A.

Expect few changes to roster in offseason (The SportsXchange)
(Tue, 15 May 2012 01:50:10 PDT)
The Nuggets might have fewer changes than any NBA team this offseason.