Larry Brown Sports

Forward Danny Granger has been the face of the Pacers during their playoff series against the Heat. He’s been behaving like he’s trying to prove he’s not scared of the Heat, and that’s resulted in several confrontations over the past week.

Though Granger’s behavior may have endeared him to his teammates, it’s not sitting well with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade — both of whom he’s confronted during the series.

“Whatever he’s trying, it is not working,” James said on Tuesday. “He’s said he’s not scared of LeBron, ‘I want to let (James) know.’ I guess he’s doing it for his own psyche. It’s stupid.”

Wade believes Granger is doing things for show.

“My message to Granger was that you just can’t keep running up into people’s faces for altercations. We’re not fighting on this basketball court so let’s not act like we’re going to fight. We can be physical and do all that but certain things got to stop. Are you out here to play basketball or are you out here to be a tough guy?”

From an outsider’s perspective, like Wade, I’ve felt that Granger looks pretty silly acting like a tough guy on the court, but I do understand where it’s coming from. Granger’s clearly trying to psyche up himself and his team, and it seems to be working. But you have to worry about the moves backfiring; you don’t want to give All-NBA players like Wade and James more reason to come after you.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: Dwight Howard wants out of Orlando. The latest report comes from SheridanHoops.com which says Orlando’s firing of GM Otis Smith and coach Stan Van Gundy has no bearing on Howard’s future with the team. Chris Sheridan reports that Howard wants out of Orlando as much as he ever has.

A source who has spoken with Howard recently said the All-Star center desperately wants to be traded prior to the start of next season.
[...]
The source said Howard wants out of Orlando more than he ever did before in order to start a new chapter of his career. And it is well-known throughout the league that the Magic do not want to endure another soap opera season like the one they just experienced.
[...]
If Howard tells them he wants out, they are expected to try to accomodate him and deal him to the highest bidder.

Sheridan says the Magic would hope to include Hedo Turkoglu and his $23.6 million owed over the next two seasons in a potential Howard trade. The Nets are still the frontrunner for Howard, and their chances of acquiring him would increase dramatically if they land a top three pick in the draft lottery. If they land a pick fourth-or-lower, it would go to Portland because of the Gerald Wallace trade.

The Mavericks, Knicks, Clippers and Lakers were listed among the possible trade destinations for Howard.

Orlando would be foolish to try to hang onto Howard knowing he wants out. The best thing is to trade him before the season so they can start finally begin their inevitable rebuilding process. Hey, at least they made the Finals once with Dwight; they had a good run with him.

H/T I am a GM

The future of the Lakers is in question now that the team lost to the Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals. The Lakers have Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Metta World Peace, Steve Blake, and Josh McRoberts all signed for next season. They have team options on three players including center Andrew Bynum, who would be owed $16.4 million. Several changes are expected to be made for the team this offseason, and the future of Bynum is uncertain.

Asked after his team’s season-ending Game 5 loss to Oklahoma City if he expects to sign a long-term contract, Bynum answered ambivalently.

“I’m not sure,” Bynum said, “it really doesn’t matter to me. I’ll play anywhere. I think for the most part I had a pretty decent season and OK postseason. This last game was probably the worst game I played in the playoffs. The focus is next year and coming back stronger and adding things to your game,” he told TNT’s Craig Sager.

When Sager followed up and asked if Bynum would want to remain with the Lakers, with whom he’s spent his entire career, Bynum showed more loyalty.

“I definitely want to stay. You kind of asked an open-ended question. Obviously things are going to be different come next year, but I’m going to be ready.”

That’s probably not the answer Lakers fans wanted to hear. The team will almost assuredly pick up his option for next season, but whether he remains on the roster is another question. I think he will be. The only player he’s been involved in trade talks for is Dwight Howard, and I think Howard will be back with Orlando or dealt to the Nets. But when it comes time for free agency, I wouldn’t be surprised if Bynum left, especially if Kobe’s still around. Not only does he seem like the type of player who would want to be the star of a team, but recall this incredible quote he provided a few months ago.

Below is a video of Bynum’s comments to Sager (via Eye on Basketball):

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Kevin Garnett was feeling pretty saucy after the Celtics’ 16-point win in Game 5 over the 76ers, so he decided to pump up his fan base while taking a swipe at Philly’s. When asked to compare the two fan bases after Boston’s win, Garnett jabbed Sixers fans.

“Not even close. You got fans (in Boston) and then you got fair-weather fans (in Philly). Take it how you want,” Garnett said.

“This crowd sparks you. It doesn’t take much here,” he said of the Boston fans. “Speaking about this crowd, it’s like plugging in. You’re enthused from 48 minutes on from the tip. I can’t see the difference from minute-to-minute. I feel like every minute I look up I see my family, I see people yelling, I see the drunk fat guy. I can’t decipher one from the other. This crowd is ridiculous. I love it.”

Garnett is no stranger to letting loose in postgame comments, so this shouldn’t surprise us. He’s motivated by slights and enemies, so maybe he’s trying to rile up Philly fans before Game 6 on Wednesday night. We know Sixers fans will certainly have it out for him. Let’s just hope he doesn’t get any batteries thrown at him.

Below is video of Garnett’s comments via Ben Rohrbach of WEEI:

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Metta World Peace received a controversial flagrant foul at the end of the first half of Game 5 between the Lakers and Thunder on Monday night. Metta went for the block on Thabo Sefolosha with his right arm, but with his left he shoved the Thunder guard. After hearing that he was called for a flagrant, he exploded on the ref and yelled in his face “That is bull___!” netting him a technical foul for berating a ref.

GIF of Metta cussing is below:

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An Oklahoma City apparel company says it has pulled a Thunder T-shirt from its website after receiving death threats from angry SuperSonics fans.

The insensitive shirt (seen above) features the Seattle Supersonics logo and says “OKC Thunder” on the front. The back taunts Thunder fans with a mean-spirited message: “Thank you Seattle – Okc.”

The shirt apparently has been around for a few years but didn’t receive much attention until it was mentioned on Twitter by New York Times NBA writer Howard Beck and then highly publicized by Yahoo! NBA blog Ball Don’t Lie.

The shirt’s maker, Warpaint Clothing Co., says it began receiving hate mail on Monday and initially laughed about rubbing it in for Sonics fans. They expressed a more conciliatory tone several hours later:

So much hate in the world. No disrespect meant. We appreciate where our team came from actually. Put your energy into something positive.

— warpaint clothing co (@warpaintrags) May 21, 2012

They also reportedly announced they were removing the shirt from their site because of death threats, but that tweet has been deleted. A different version of the shirt seems to be available on the site.

I’m glad the company received some backlash and decided to pull the shirt. Tasteful taunting is fair game when your team beats another city’s, but mocking fans for their owner selling to another who moved the team out of the city is overboard.

Adam Morrison showed up for a workout with the Nets on Monday sporting an interesting look. And by interesting, we mean he likely had to remove a trench coat before changing into his basketball clothes.

The former Gonzaga star and third overall pick by the Charlotte Bobcats hasn’t played in the NBA since spending the 2008-2009 season with the Lakers. Morrison has been playing in Europe since then and parted ways with his Turkish team Besiktas in April. He and 20 other players were working out at a Nets free agent mini-camp.

Best part of all, a picture from the Nets PR Twitter account shows Morrison was playing with a headband too.

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Mike D’Antoni was so distraught by the way things worked out with the Knicks this season that he ended up resigning in March. D’Antoni spoke with SI’s Jack McCallum for his first interview since resigning, and he talked about how devastated he was after stepping down.

“I got into my pajamas and didn’t get out of them for a month. You know those people who deliver the food from Meals on Wheels? They were the only ones who saw me,” he said.

D’Antoni was sure to specify that resigning was his idea and not one pushed on him by the Knicks. He also bristled at the suggestion that he quit the job, correcting McCallum to point out that he resigned.

D’Antoni said he’ll likely sit out the upcoming season, and he called the report that he wanted the Magic coaching job “bull****.” He also offered an interesting perspective on Jeremy Lin, who shocked everyone with his rise from benchwarmer to All-Star-caliber starter.

“Anyone who claims they saw this in Jeremy is kidding himself. But we liked him. We thought he could be good. And, then, when he started to be real good … of course it was surprising … but it somehow made sense. The things he does — he can get into the lane, he can shoot, he’s tough, he’s athletic, his confidence was growing and growing. It became almost logical that he was that good during that time.”

At least we know D’Antoni hasn’t lost his sense of humor since stepping down. Can you just picture D’Antoni in a matching striped PJ set, hair all long and uncombed, just shuffling around his house all depressed? He probably had a glass of OJ in one hand, and the remote control in the other to alternate between Jerry Springer and cartoons. Such a depressing image.

Lance Stephenson just keeps making friends in the Miami Heat locker room.

According to Yahoo! Sports, Stephenson and Heat veteran Juwan Howard were seen in each other’s faces having a verbal clash while members of both teams were warming up on the court roughly 90 minutes before Game 4 on Sunday. Pacers assistant Brian Shaw broke up the incident before it escalated further. Howard retreated to the locker room while Stephenson continued with his warm up.

It’s still not clear what led to the dust-up or who started it, but this obviously isn’t the first time Stephenson has gotten under the skin of a member of the Heat this series. As the entire world knows by now, Stephenson displayed the choke sign in LeBron James’ direction during the Pacers’ Game 3 win. LeBron responded to Stephenson on Saturday by hilariously refusing to respond.

That Stephenson, 21, was able to create such a reaction out of a seasoned, 39-year-old 18-year vet shows just how irritating the second-year Pacers bench warmer has become for the Heat.

The Heat went on to win the game, tying the series at two games apiece. Stephenson and Howard saw a combined zero minutes of action.

It would appear that the longer the Thunder stick around in the playoffs, the more ridiculous outfits we are going to see from Russell Westbrook. He has already made the Steve Urkel glasses a wardrobe mainstay, but Westbrook is obviously aiming to outdo himself with crazy shirts and now fruity pants. After the Thunder won Game 1, Westbrook took the podium wearing this masterpiece. Following Oklahoma City’s Game 4 victory, he decided to rock a paint-splattered graffiti shirt and some bright red slacks.

Considering he dropped 37 Saturday night and is on the verge of leading the Thunder to the Western Conference Finals, Westbrook can pretty much wear whatever he wants.

Thanks to @cjzero for the photo