So Shaq had some fun over the weekend; he took a couple shots at his former teammate, Kobe Bryant, while freestyling at a New York Night Club.

“Kobe, you couldn’t do it without me.

Kobe, tell me how my ass tastes.

I’m a horse, Kobe ratted me out, that’s why I’m getting divorced.”

Also I just found this out from reading Basketbawful, the whole Shaq Kobe feud has it’s own Wikipedia page.

The NBA has demanded former referee Tim Donaghy pay $1.4 million dollars in restitution following the betting scandal that was uncovered last year. The amount constitutes the salary which he earned reffing on all games that he made bets on or provided information to other gamblers, and NBA expenses used to investigate the scandal.

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In any other year putting a cupcake with a lit candle on top of the rim, then blowing it out before dunking would have gotten an easy 50. Then taking your shoes off before doing a through the legs throwdown with only socks on would have gotten you the dunk contest title. In any other year, Gerald Green would have gone home with another dunk contest title.

Not this year however, as Dwight Howard took the contest to a whole new level, with a mix of creativity and and out of this world hops. He started off by hitting the ball off of the back of the backboard before windmilling it while his head was still out of bounds. He followed that up with an epic Superman throwdown, both of his first round dunks got a perfect score of 50. On his third dunk he threw the ball off of the backboard with his left hand before throwing it down with his right, then he finished it all off by grabbing a basketball laying on a small hoop attached to the backboard and throwing down a windmill.

After it was all said and done all five judges agreed that Dwight Howard was the clear winner, and the fans agreed giving the 6-11 center from Orlando the nod with 78% of the votes.

Fortunately for them, Manu Ginobili who short great all night long (10-15 from the field, 4-6 from three point range, and 7-8 from the free throw line) missed the game tying shots in the final seconds, and the Cavs came away with a win. LeBron James led the Cavs scoring 27 points on 9-24 shooting and was helped out by Zydrunas Ilgauskas who had a strong performance with 17 points.

Photo: The Bathurst, N.B. crash victims are seen in these undated handout photos. Left to right, top to bottom, Nicholas Kelly, Cody Branch, Nickolas Quinn, Javier Aceveolo, Daniel Haines, Justin Cormier, Nathan Cleland. (Elhatton Funeral Home / THE CANADIAN PRESS) / Source

BATHURST, New Brunswick — A van carrying a Canadian high school boys’ basketball team collided with a truck Saturday, killing seven students on their way home from a game and the wife of the driver.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Derek Strong said the seven players, aged between 15 and 18, were pronounced dead at the crash site after their van crossed the center line and hit the tractor-trailer shortly after midnight.

The accident occurred on Highway 11 as the team was returning home to Bathurst from Moncton in Canada’s far eastern New Brunswick province, Strong said. Road conditions were said to be slippery.

Source

Video

Press Release

On February 1st-2nd of 2008, SNY, the television home of the New York Mets and Jets, will extend its reach into the high school sports arena by producing and televising the inaugural ‘SNY Invitational’ – an annual tournament that will become the supreme high school basketball tournament in the region. Sanctioned by the Public School Athletic League (PSAL), the 2008 ‘SNY Invitational’ will feature the following four boys’ varsity basketball teams from the New York City landscape: The Abraham Lincoln Railsplitters, Benjamin N. Cardozo Judges, John F. Kennedy Knights and the Frederick Douglass Lions. One of the represented teams – Abraham Lincoln High School – boasts NYC basketball phenom Lance Stephenson, dubbed “the king of high school basketball in New York City”.

Featured on-air talent for the ‘SNY Invitational’ include Gary Cohen, the renowned New York Mets and Seton Hall basketball play-by-play announcer, analyst and former L.A. Lakers guard John Celestand as well as roving reporter Kevin Burkhardt – the talented and popular field reporter on SNY’s Mets telecasts. The games will be produced by Gregg Picker, who also produces all of the Mets telecasts on SNY, and directed by Bill Webb, the current director for Mets games on SNY and World Series’ and MLB All-Star games on FOX.

The ‘SNY invitational’ will also showcase prominent entertainment acts including professional dance teams, live national anthem, drum lines, MCs and more – all of which will be announced at a later date. In addition, spectators can expect to meet numerous celebrities including former New York Mets pitcher Ron Darling and Mister Cee – a radio personality and current SNY contributor to Daily News Live.

Tickets will be available for purchase soon and as an added bonus every SNY Invitational ticket is good for a future NJ Nets ticket. For ticket information call 212-228-5558

For more information, visit www.snyinvitational.com

Schedule

FRIDAY, FEB. 1, 2008

Game 1: 6:00 pm ET
Lincoln High School vs. Cardozo High School

Game 2: 8:00 pm ET
Kennedy High School vs. Fredrick Douglass Academy

SATURDAY, FEB. 2, 2008

Game 3: 6:00 pm ET
3rd/ 4th- place Playoff

Game 4: 8:00 pm ET
Final

The reason for this “redo” was because a foul given to Udonis Haslem with around 4 minutes left in the game was mistakenly assigned to Shaquille O’Neal, who later picked up his fifth foul with 51.9 seconds left but was considered fouled out because of the mistake. The Atlanta organization was also fined $50,000 for what David Stern called being “grossly negligent”.

Official Press Release

The NBA today granted a game protest filed by the Miami Heat after its 117-111 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on December 19 at Philips Arena, which will result in the replay of the final 51.9 seconds of the game’s overtime period with the Hawks leading 114-111. The replay will occur immediately prior to the next scheduled game between the two teams — on March 8, 2008, also at Philips Arena.

The Heat protested the game because, with 51.9 seconds remaining in overtime, the Hawks’ scoring table personnel incorrectly disqualified the Heat’s Shaquille O’Neal – asserting that a foul committed by O’Neal was his sixth foul of the game, when in fact it was only his fifth. The error occurred because the Hawks’ Official Scorer mistakenly attributed to O’Neal a foul at 3:24 remaining in the fourth period that was actually called against the Heat’s Udonis Haslem.

NBA Commissioner David Stern found that the Hawks were grossly negligent in committing this scoring error, since they failed to follow league-mandated scoring procedures and failed to respond effectively when the members of the statisticians’ crew noticed the mistake. Because of this conduct by Atlanta’s personnel, Miami suffered a clear competitive disadvantage, as O’Neal – the Heat’s second leading scorer and rebounder that night – was removed from a one-point game with only 51.9 seconds remaining. Under this unprecedented set of circumstances, the Commissioner granted the Heat’s protest, and fined the Hawks $50,000 for their violation of league rules.

The protest is the first granted by the NBA since December 14, 1982 when then-NBA Commissioner Larry O’Brien upheld a protest by the San Antonio Spurs concerning their 137-132 double overtime loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Nov. 30. The Spurs and Lakers finished the game on April 13 with San Antonio collecting a 117-114 win.

Amare Stoudemire also had a huge game with 42 points, and 13 rebounds offsetting Jermaine O’Neal’s 30 point night. It was a pretty close the entire game, the Suns held a few double digit leads but the Pacers quickly bought it back down to single digits to put pressure on the Suns to score. Although they struggled from the three point line (3-16), but they made up for it at the free throw line (28-31), Amare making 12 of his 13 attempts.

First off, a small disclaimer, I got a pair of these shoes to review for free from Hops who have also bought an advertising package on Bball City for the next 6 months. As for the review I have permission to be as honest as I want: if I think the shoe is a piece of crap, then that’s exactly what I’m going to write (not that it is). As for my qualifications as a shoe reviewer: I have spent most of my life playing basketball and I also worked at a shoe store for a few months when I was younger, so I have a general idea of what makes a good basketball shoe.

About Hops

From their website:

2 years in the making “HOPS” is an exciting new brand of high performance basketball footwear. “HOPS” is based in Melbourne, Australia but its shoe designer comes from Italy. Both the Designer and Company Founder are basketball people with over 50 years combined basketball experience. Both have a passion for the game of basketball which is the reason why “HOPS” was formed.

“HOPS” is determined to bring top quality footwear to the world at reasonable prices. Over 20 testers from 4 different countries have been wearing the “HOPS” shoes for the last 12 months. Through the feedback that has been received “HOPS” has been able to fine tune their brand to deliver the best possible shoe ready to be sold globally.

Source

The Review

Build Quality

The shoe features a combination of synthetic leather (for most of the upper body), suede around the front, rubber for the outsole, and mesh underneath the laces for breathability. The build quality is solid, and after a few weeks of casual wear (indoors and outdoors), as well as some decent time on the hard wood, the shoe has not taken any damage except some minimal wearing at the bottom of the soles.

Performance

To be honest I really wasn’t expecting the shoe to hold up that well on the court, the fit was definitely different than what I’m used to wearing on the court (usually a pair of Jordans). But the shoes held up very well in all major areas; comfort, support, durability, and performance.

The Supacleans feature a high collar that goes up to the ankle on the inside part of the shoe, and drops down in a v shape on the outside. The tongue of the shoe is held down to the midsole using a piece of elastic on each side. This combination gives a snug, comfortable fit without compromising ankle support.

The grip on the shoe is excellent as well; it features a zig zag wavy tread all the way up the bottom sole, kind of like with the older Adidas Superstar models. The Supacleans also feature a medial wing, which is basically a slightly wide outsole on the inside of the shoe. It is supposed to improve balance and explosiveness in lateral movement. When testing it out, I did notice a slight improvement in balance, but overall it felt pretty normal.

Affordability and Availability

The deal breaker with the Hops brand of shoes falls with the affordability and availability of the shoes. Although it’s competitively priced at $100AUD it does get considerably more expensive when you factor in the shipping / customs charges for worldwide orders. For example in Canadian dollars a pair of Supacleans would come out to around $130 ($150AUD) after shipping and customs. This isn’t a problem for Australian residents who not only don’t have to worry about any customs charges, but they also get free shipping for the rest of the month and a 3-5 day delivery expectation.

Verdict

Hops have built a solid shoe in the Supaclean model; it’s well built, has a retro innovative design, and provides great support and comfort on and off the court. Although I can’t see it becoming a big hit in the North American or European markets until it becomes more widely available (ie. locally), Hops is definitely on the right track to building a solid brand of basketball shoes.

More Pictures

A week after skipping practice, missing a game, being fined $180,000, and playing off the Knicks bench, Stephon Marbury has finally returned to the starting lineup. In that time, the struggling Knicks extended their losing streak from 3 games to 6, they will be looking to break that streak against the uptempo Golden State Warriors tonight.