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Buck Harvey of the San Antonio Express-News: Coaches torture themselves over success, and Gregg Popovich has been lately. He's been wondering out loud among his staff that, well, wouldn't it be better to lose a game? "That's why," one of his assistan...

Football has a ton of trick plays. Fake punts, double reverses, running backs lobbing passes. I love all that stuff. There isn't too much of it in the NBA. Maybe the occasional oh-no-we're-not-really-calling-timeout-now basket attack. Or, pretty much...

Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post: "They play soccer on Thursdays, Denver's melting pot of footballers from Brazil, Argentina, Peru. It's a hodgepodge of muscular men, lithe ladies and one 6-foot-11 dude who somehow seems to fit in like he is 5-foo...

Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune: "Call me a cynic -- and David Kahn has, more than once -- but you can probably handicap this Timberwolves' coaching search simply by using one criteria: $$$ If they're willing to pay $4-5 million a year, the pick clea...

Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel: "Dwight Howard faces a one-game suspension -- his second of the season -- after picking up his 18th technical foul in the Magic's 111-102 overtime victory Wednesday night against the Charlotte Bobcats, a game un...

Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald: "Doc Rivers thought he had waltzed around using the 'S' word during a very damning halftime talk. But no translation was needed for the subdued players sitting in front of him. After watching Ray Allen fall head-firs...

Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE/Getty Images Len Bias as the second overall pick in the 1986 NBA draft. His death changed Colombian history. Jeff and Michael Zimbalist's "The Two Escobars" -- an ESPN 30 for 30 documentary that first aired June 21, 2010 -...

Brandon Jennings lived in Italy, and had a pair of soccer cleats custom made for him as a gift from his shoe company. Those two facts tell us nothing real about his soccer skills, but nevertheless I entered the Sara D. Roosevelt Park, just south of ...

Neil Paine of Basketball-Reference is looking into teams that are better in the playoffs than they were in the regular season: "The 2010 Celtics are the second-most improved playoff team ever, having tacked on +7.8 points of estimated efficiency diff...

Mark Heisler of the Los Angeles Times: "Thanks, Big Laker in the Sky. 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 t...

Allen Iverson's wife files for divorce. That's a family under some stress, for sure. A little bad blood between Paul Pierce and Stephen Jackson. These kinds of comparisons can make you go crazy, but how about Evan Turner being part Brandon Roy an...

By Henry Abbott Ron Artest is ready for his close-up. And he's barely clothed. The lengths people will go to for attention. John Krolik of Cavs the Blog, parsing some new 82games.com numbers: "It's still early, but LeBron's jump shot has been r...

By Henry Abbott Turkey is home to some of the world's best professional basketball. Two days ago, for instance, rivals Galatasaray and Fenerbahce squared off, and the court was littered with past and future NBA players. The Bulls have high hopes f...

Michael Wallace of The Miami Herald: "Players and coaches said Alonzo Mourning already is having an impact in his new role as Miami's vice president of player programs. Mourning watched Thursday's practice with other members of the Heat&...

LeBron James, would you rather win five titles in other cities, or one title in Cleveland? Ask Ohio's Ron Harper, who never got the one in Cleveland, and would kill for it. Who's pumped up for training camp to start? Blazer assistant Monty W...

Huge thanks to Kevin Arnovitz for some great blogging while I was away. And without further ado: UPDATE: Allen Iverson tweets that he's close to a deal with some team or another. (See last bullet.) The Charlotte Bobcats are, reportedly, mov...