by Tom Ziller

Filed under: Clippers, Heat, NBA Referees, NBA Videos

On Saturday in Los Angeles, the Heat trailed the Clippers by one point with 7.6 seconds left in the game. Baron Davis inbounded the ball … to Dwyane Wade. Watch below, or cop the high-res version here.

Dwyane Wade’s Not Happy, But the Clippers Should Be the Mad Ones originally appeared on Fanhouse NBA Blog on Sun, 30 Nov 2008 11:45:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• 12:00 — Movie: Annie [ABC Family] - If your team loses today, you just stick out your chin and grin and say…
• 12:00 — Sport: College Football - Georgia Tech at Georgia [CBS] - Stone Mountain will be leveled by the sheer force of will emitted from this game. This will not be enough to convince some that the Confederacy lost.
• 12:00 — Sport: College Football - Virginia at Virginia Tech [ESPN] - Thankfully, both schools are located in the real Virginia, saving everyone the trouble of having to get passports updated.
• 12:00 — Sport: College Football - South Carolina at Clemson [ESPN2] - If Clemson wins, the state becomes the state of Clemson on all official documents for one year. If South Carolina wins, the state becomes the Land of Confusion in honor of Lou Holtz.
• 12:30 — Sport: College Football - Kansas at Missouri [FSN] - You can’t fool us; these are different states. Sorry, Charlie!
• 1:00 — Sport: Golf - LG Skins Game, Front Nine [ABC] - LG is the sponsor because they realized they could give cells to each player to phone in their performances with.
• 2:30 — Sport: College Football - Bayou Classic: Grambling State vs. Southern [NBC] - Every year, we swear we’re going to get into this game. Every year, we fall into a nap and miss the halftime show. Then we flip over to…
• 3:30 — Sport: College Football - Florida at Florida State or Maryland at Boston College [ABC or ESPN] - Look, if you can’t tell them apart by now, we can’t help you.
• 3:30 — Sport: College Football - North Carolina at Duke [ESPNU] - You can’t fool us; these schools don’t play football. Sorry, Charlie!
• 3:30 — Sport: College Football - Auburn at Alabama [CBS] - You can call us BETTY.

by Tom Ziller

Filed under: Grizzlies, Thunder

As we’ve discussed, Oklahoma City saw two major changes last weekend: Scott Brooks replaced P.J. Carlesimo as coach, and Kevin Durant moved from the two-guard to small forward (which adds a second guard — Damien Wilkins — to the lineup). How has Durant taken to the shifts?

Well, Durant lead the Thunder to its second win of the season, this one at Memphis. Durant had 30 points on 16 FGAs. He had 16 FTAs, tying a career high. Despite mounting losses, KD has played well in four of the five games since the move. (The outlier: a 13-point, 6-for-16 shooting night matched up against the world’s best player, LeBron James.)

But the positive changes haven’t just helped Durant: Russell Westbrook got his first career start Saturday, replacinga healthy Earl Watson. Westbrook had 12/5/4 in 38 minutes with only two turnovers. The team has also taken to the slower styles Brook implemented, slicing its turnover rate magnificently. (Who knew young players would be better off in a patient offense where they can think things through instead of being forced to read on the fly?) Brooks wasted no time in shaking up the Thunder. When you take over a 1-12 team, I guess things can only get better. But Brooks seems to be exceeding all expectations to this point.

Kevin Durant Takes to the OKC Changes Well originally appeared on Fanhouse NBA Blog on Sun, 30 Nov 2008 11:10:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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by Ryan Wilson

Filed under: Chargers, Raiders, AFC West, NFL Fans, NFL Coaching, NFL Rumors

Warren Sapp, fresh off not winning Dancing With the Stars, returned to his full-time job as teevee analyst for NFL Network. During GameDay Morning, Kara Henderson, in San Diego for today’s Falcons-Chargers game, asked Sapp about embattled coach Norv Turner, who has “led” San Diego to a 4-7 record in one of the worst divisions in football.

Sapp, who verbalizes every thought that comes into his brain, was predictably frank:

“I tell you what, [owner] Dean Spanos and [general manager] A.J. Smith need to do their homework because the two years I played with Norv Turner, we did not practice the two-minute offense or defense one time. So when you look at the game last week … and Norv using his timeouts in a bad situation, that’s why.

He does not practice time management in a game; I’ve been with him two years — he don’t do it.

Sapp’s GameDay Morning co-analyst, Marshall Faulk, was shocked by the revelation: “I don’t know how you can get by in the NFL and not go over two-minute offense … that’s impossible.”

Apparently, you “get by” by going 4-7.

Now, I have no reason to believe Sapp is making stuff up, but I also find it damn near impossible to think Turner doesn’t devote at least some practice time to the two-minute drill. Wherever the truth may lie, Norval Eugene’s job is safe for 2009, which must make Chargers fans very happy.

Warren Sapp: Norv Turner Didn’t Practice Two-Minute Offense in Two Years in Oakland originally appeared on Fanhouse NFL Blog on Sun, 30 Nov 2008 11:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hugh Johnson is up and/or running. “The Hugh Johnson” on AIM. Please let us know if you can’t get a message through. It’s so lonely being a single Hugh.

by Michael David Smith

Filed under: HBO

In an exciting, hard-hitting, sloppy eight-minute war, heavyweight boxer Chris Arreola beat Travis Walker with a TKO just 13 seconds into the third round. Walker whipped Arreola in the first round and knocked him down in the second, but Arreola showed a strong chin and a strong heart in coming back to knock Walker down twice in the second and again in the third.

Arreola is America’s best heavyweight, but if he wants to be heavyweight champion of the world — which would mean beating either Wladimir Klitschko or Vitali Klitschko — it’s time for him to devote himself to his conditioning. Arreola weighed in at a flabby 254 pounds for the Walker fight. To have a realistic chance of beating a Klitschko, he’s going to need to be a chiseled 240.

Fortunately, Arreola seems to know that.

Chris Arreola Is America’s Best Heavyweight Boxer, Now He Needs to Get in Shape originally appeared on Fanhouse Boxing Blog on Sun, 30 Nov 2008 09:54:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• Poor Chris Bosh got trapped in his condo’s elevator for over 45 minutes, which gave him time to find his inner Bosh and then unleash that bastard for 30/10/7/3 against the Hawks. Hoops Addict asked Bosh exactly what we wanted to: Maybe you could find your way to locking yourself in small spaces before each game? [Hoops Addict]

• We were a little confused by this last night, too; apparently, Pitt doesn’t have to worry about trophy deflation due to dropping oil prices as they invented six national championsips for themselves. Trophy envy is so sad. [The 700 Level]

• Bend It Like Bennett’s photo essay of last night’s game may have some interpretive moments. We approve. [Bend It Like Bennett]

• We have one bit of advice if you’re going to be a citizen journalist showing a middle-aged Wisconsin fan being tasered at Camp Randall: get a decent camera phone. [Busted Coverage]

• Anne Heche expands her horizons to include giving Selachimorpha head. Frankly, we don’t know what took so long. [The Power Play]

by Ryan Wilson

Filed under: Giants, NFL Fans, NFL Injuries

Twenty-four hours later and Plaxico Burress is still dumb. Yesterday, we learned that he accidentally shot himself in the leg on Friday at a Manhattan nightclub. And while that’s almost impossible to fathom — billions of people manage to make it through life without ever putting a bullet into their thigh — the details of exactly how it happened are, well, stupefying.

The New York Daily News reports that Burress, “who was sporting flashy jewelry and carrying loads of cash,” was initially turned away from the LQ nightclub because he was packing heat, but explained that he needed the weapon for protection. Presumably because he was sporting flashy jewelry and carrying loads of cash.

[UPDATE: The Star-Ledger reports that Burress will surrender to authorities as soon as tomorrow. Hooray, U.S. justice system.]

And from there it just got worse:

Plaxico Burress Expected to Be Arrested, Antonio Pierce Could Face Criminal Charges originally appeared on Fanhouse NFL Blog on Sun, 30 Nov 2008 09:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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by Ryan Dembinsky

Filed under: Sunday Morning Tailgate, Fantasy Football, Expert Chats

Good morning good folks. Hopefully, everybody is off to a good start this week after the Titans read the Lions the riot act on Turkey Day and Brian Westbrook singlehandedly destroyed some opponents’ hopes and dreams. Personally, I was hoping for more out of Anquan Boldin, but everybody has an off day now and again.

Moving forward, we’ll be here from 10:30 ET all the way up to kickoff in an attempt to guide your fantasy football teams to victory.

Check out up-to-the-minute player notes for injury updates.

We have already completed positional rankings for quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, tight ends, D/STs, and kickers. Yes, it’s true; we are so awesome that we actually rank kickers.

We’ll be happy to tackle flex position starts, trade situations, shady commissioner activities — pretty much anything else under the sun, including unrelated questions about Lost and Heroes, .

See you at 10:30!

Sunday Morning Tailgate: Live Fantasy Football Chat, Circa 10:30 AM Eastern originally appeared on Fanhouse Fantasy Blog on Sun, 30 Nov 2008 09:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yep, you read that right. Jay Glazer is reporting that sometime last night, Burress fired a gun into his own leg and spent the night in hospital, but that the injuries are non life-threatening. More, obviously, as more becomes available. UPDATE: Apparently John Clayton is reporting the incident took place…at a club!

Giants’ Burress accidentally shoots self in leg [Fox Sports]