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Nov. 21, 1996: On this day 16 years ago, Bill Fitch gained a dubious distinction -- when the Los Angeles Clippers lost 105-94 to the Dallas Mavericks, he became the first coach in NBA history to lose 1,000 games. That's not to mock Mr. Fitch -- it...

Nov. 13, 1979: We defer to Tom Friend's "Outside the Lines" piece to recap the event of this day 33 years ago -- when Darryl "Chocolate Thunder" Dawkins broke his first backboard: The closest witness, Bill Robinzine (God rest his soul), had to hav...

Nov. 9, 1983: He's on his way out, set to retire on Feb. 1, 2014, exactly 30 years after he took over as NBA commissioner. But today we look back to a time when he was just about to be on his way in -- this day 29 years ago, when David Stern was ...

You don't need us to tell you: There's just something about that James Harden beard. It has a well-followed Twitter account. It adorned an Oklahoma City building. And as we highlighted during the Thunder's deep 2012 playoff run, it inspired a numb...

Nov. 2, 1946: On this day 66 years ago, Arnold "Red" Auerbach made his coaching debut in a league that would later help form the NBA (the Basketball Association of America), guiding his Washington Capitols to a 50-33 win over the host Detroit Falcons...

Oct. 31, 1950: On this day 62 years ago, a 22-year-old man from Alexandria, Va., suited up for the Washington Capitols and made a breakthrough: Earl Lloyd became the first black player in NBA history. The Boston Celtics' Chuck Cooper (the first bl...

Oct. 6, 1993: On this day 19 years ago, the shocking news was confirmed by the man himself: Michael Jordan, age 30, was retiring from the game he seemed to tame -- most recently with three consecutive NBA championships. Oh, but it's no spoiler to ...

Basketball and art. For Mike McGrath, there's just something about those two mixing. "The game of basketball provides so many corollaries to art," McGrath wrote to Playbook recently. "There's the grace, finesse and fluidity so inherent in the game...

Before leaving Georgia the state for Georgia the country to play international basketball, Atlanta Hawks veteran Zaza Pachulia had some business to take care of. Literally. You see, if Pachulia's first business is basketball -- and it clearly is, ...

Sept. 17, 2002: Ten years ago today, former Georgetown Hoyas and New York Knicks star Patrick Ewing announced his retirement from the NBA as a player, leaving behind a career filled with points (more than 27,500), playoff wins (he played in two NBA F...

NBA rookies. In official uniform. We'll see it lots once the season tips off, but we saw it first this week at the annual Panini America photo shoot. Here are the best shots from the 2012-13 class, featuring a brow, some Heels, and a whole lot mor...

Aug. 18, 1992: Twenty years. That's how long it's been since Larry Bird told the world he was leaving basketball (as a player) behind after more than 1,000 NBA games, 25,000 points, 10,000 rebounds, three championships and one freshly won Olympic gol...

July 31, 2007: On a day that typically sees scores of Major League Baseball trades, a big one in the NBA took place five years ago: Kevin Garnett from the Minnesota Timberwolves to the Boston Celtics, in exchange for Al Jefferson and several other pl...

No stranger to the world of fiction -- or superheroes, no matter how infamous -- Shaquille O'Neal is venturing into the world of comic books. This week O'Neal debuted his two franchises, "Clean Ops" and "Hoopfighters" -- first with the above vide...

The Kobe Bryant vs. Michael Jordan thing sparked up again this week, but this time it was more about their squads -- today's Team USA vs. the 1992 Dream Team -- than a head-to-head comparison between the NBA legends. But a decade and more ago, Kob...

Who will win the ESPYS? We've got your predictions right here.