Larry Brown Sports

Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard may have had a contentious relationship during the regular season, but make no mistake about it: Kobe understands the importance of Howard to the Los Angeles Lakers.

During an interview with 710/ESPN Radio LA on Wednesday, Bryant was asked if he has talked to Howard about free agency. Bryant said he had, and then he explained why it is imperative for the Lakers to bring back Howard, who will be a free agent this summer.

“It’s not like you have guys like Dwight Howard walking around every day,” Bryant told hosts John Ireland and Mike Trudell. “Those guys are hard to find. They don’t grow on trees. I think when you have somebody like that with his talent level, you have to be able keep him and lock him in with this franchise.”

The Lakers have had some of the best centers in history play for the franchise. Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Shaquille O’Neal have all worn the purple and gold. Bryant believes Howard would be the next great center in the franchise’s lineage.

“The history this franchise has with having great centers, in my opinion, this would be a great spot for him,” said Bryant.

[Related: Mitch Kupchak: Dwight Howard will have statue someday]

Kobe said earlier this month that he would let Howard shop around and explore the free agency process. He said that he just wanted the last word with Dwight. But Bryant says he has spoken to the center somewhat recently.

“I spoke to him maybe a couple of weeks ago, just to check in with him, see what he was up to, see how his summer was going,” said Bryant. “But I haven’t spoken to him since. I know he’s got a big decision to make and I’m sure he’s going to make the visits and talk to the players from the teams that he’s considering. We’ll touch base with him a lot more.”

[Related: Kobe Bryant confronted Dwight Howard in team meeting]

The Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, and Atlanta Hawks all are expected to pursue Howard in free agency. Houston reportedly believes they have a good shot of landing the center. Despite that, the Lakers can offer Dwight over $30 million more than any other team and therefore have a strong chance of retaining the big man.

What’s notable here is that despite all the fighting Bryant and Howard did during the season, Bryant’s opinion of Howard as a player has not changed. The question is, will Bryant’s words be enough to change the opinion of Lakers fans who grew tired of Howard during the season? Regardless, Kobe emphasizing Howard’s importance to the team should only increase the center’s chances of returning to LA.

Tracy McGrady is basically a forgotten soul at this point with the San Antonio Spurs. Once a leading scorer and perennial NBA All-Star, T-Mac has been relegated to the role of bench player who has no chance of touching the floor unless the Spurs are resting their starters in a 113-77 victory like the one they had over the Miami Heat in Game 1.

As you might expect, the former superstar has been the butt of a number of Twitter jokes this season as he waits on the San Antonio bench for his number to be called. On Wednesday morning, things really got out of hand when Arby’s restaurant joined in on the act.

@DragonflyJonez Actually, we had to release him. He kept making too many turnovers. ;-)

— Arby's (@Arbys) June 19, 2013

After Eye on Basketball tweeted about Arby’s ragging on T-Mac, the restaurant’s official Twitter account made sure to point out that it was all in good fun.

@CBSSports @EyeOnBasketball It was just a joke. We love T-Mac. :-)

— Arby's (@Arbys) June 19, 2013

We know it was a joke, and it was a fantastic one. There’s no need to justify it. If it wasn’t for the hilarious comment McGrady made earlier this postseason, we would probably never talk about him. Such is the life of an aging NBA star.

H/T SB Nation

The San Antonio Spurs lost a heartbreaker in Game 6 against the Miami Heat on Tuesday night, but they still have another chance to win an NBA title in Game 7 on Thursday night. If not for the stellar shooting of Danny Green throughout the series, LeBron James would already be living up to the name that these sneakers have given him.

Earlier this week, former Brooklyn Nets coach Avery Johnson had a discussion with Stephen A. Smith on ESPN’s “First Take” about how the Spurs came extremely close to cutting Green.

“I remember with the Nets, Billy King and I, we were trying convince Pop to cut Danny Green so we could bring him at the time to New Jersey,” Johnson said, via Nets Daily. “And Pop said if he has one more bad game we’re going to cut him and he made a bunch of threes in this one particular game and he kept him.”

In the words of Stephen A., the Spurs are incredibly lucky that Johnson’s attempt to “hoodwink” Gregg Popovich fell through. Nets Daily speculates that the game Green might have saved his job in San Antonio was on January 7, 2012, when he went 3-for-4 from beyond the arc and scored 24 points in 33 minutes.

We have no way of knowing if Pop was actually going to cut Green or if he was just messing around. What we do know is that Green drained another three on Tuesday, stretching his record to 26 three-pointers made in a playoff series. Hopefully for Miami’s sake, Chris Bosh takes the same approach with Green in Game 7 that he took in Game 6.

H/T Project Spurs

Just when Miami Heat fans were starting to earn some street cred, they go out and ruin it all by walking out on one of the most thrilling NBA Finals comebacks we have seen.

Sports reporter Victor Oquendo of WPLG in Miami tweeted towards the end of regulation of Game 6 of the NBA Finals, which the Miami Heat won 103-100 in overtime over the San Antonio Spurs, that he saw numerous fans stream out of American Airlines Arena when it looked like the Heat were going to lose. The Heat were down by five with 22 seconds left and most people thought the series was over.

Fans streaming out…I'm gonna throw up

— Victor Oquendo (@VictorOquendo) June 19, 2013

Honestly embarrassing. I'm setting up for my live shot outside the arena, just watching fan after fan exit early.

— Victor Oquendo (@VictorOquendo) June 19, 2013

After the Heat started coming back, Oquendo says the fans tried to get back in and even became unruly:

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Gregg Popovich was as salty and sassy in his postgame press conference as you would expect after his San Antonio Spurs blew a 5-point lead with 22 seconds left in Game 6 of the NBA Finals on Tuesday and lost 103-100 to the Miami Heat in overtime.

Pop fielded six questions from reporters after the game, and the Spurs coach was brief in his responses, like usual. None of his answers lasted longer than 10 seconds.

The best response from Pop came when he gave a literal answer to a question about how he would get his team ready for Game 7:

The next best moment came when Pop dismissed a question from an Italian reporter, who suggested that the Spurs could/should have fouled the Heat when up by three points in the final seconds. Pop called the question a “European question”:

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Where would the Miami Heat be without Ray Allen? The old man proved that at 37, he still has game.

Allen saved the Heat’s season with a clutch 3-pointer during a mad scramble with 5.2 seconds left that tied the game at 95. The San Antonio Spurs had a 5-point lead (94-89) with 22 seconds left and seemed like a lock to win the title. But LeBron James hit a three, and then the Heat fouled Kawhi Leonard. Leonard missed one of two free throws to keep it a 1-possession game.

After making the previous 3-pointer, James decided to try his hand at one again. He missed and, with Tim Duncan on the bench, Chris Bosh was able to grab the offensive board and find Allen, who stepped back into the corner for the wild three. Jesus Shuttlesworth then made the shot of the series to send the game to OT, where Miami won 103-100.

The officials reviewed the play to see if Allen was behind the line when he attempted his three, and there was no doubt:

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LeBron James was playing poorly for three quarters of Game 6 of the NBA Finals on Tuesday, but that all changed after the MVP had his headband knocked off in the fourth quarter.

With just under nine minutes left in the game, James made a dunk on a putback. His headband was knocked off on the play, and he continued to play without it. The score was 80-77 San Antonio after James’ dunk, and the Miami Heat went on a run to take the lead. James scored 14 points in the fourth quarter, eight of which came after his headband was knocked off. He even had a monster block on Tim Duncan and then got a layup on the other end. You can see that play in the video below:

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