Basketball

Basketball was first played in 1891 in Massachusetts and has since become one of the most popular sports in the world. Basketball has many professional leagues across Europe, Asia and South America. The most important Basketball league however is the NBA based in the United States which features well known teams such as the Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics. Basketball became an Olympic sport in 1936 and has thus became one of the more important Olympic events. Probably Basketball’s most famous figure is Michael ‘Air’ Jordan, who wowed audiences all over with his unique ability. Other famous names include LeBron James, ‘Magic’ Johnson and Kobe Bryant.

While the NBL has staggered and all but fallen in recent years, it seems much of Australia’s young basketball talent are instead heading to the US college system to further their careers.
No less than five Australians were in the 12 man St Mary’s squad as the Gaels kicked off their NCAA campaign yesterday, beating [...] Read article

The Perth Wildcats became the NBL’s most successful team on Friday night, securing their fifth championship with a 96-72 victory over the Wollongong Hawks in the deciding game three of the grand final series in Perth.
In a fiery encounter, Perth trailed by 11 points early in the second term but clawed their way out of [...] Read article

Wollongong ensured the NBL championship would go to a game three decider after levelling the series with a decisive 75-63 victory over Perth in Wollongong on Tuesday night.
Roared on by a sell-out crowd of 5,786 the Hawks made it 16 wins from their last 17 home games to ensure the championship would be settled in [...] Read article

As the winter football codes launch into their seasons, Australia leaves behind what many are bemoaning as a forgettable summer of sport. A summer that Sport & Style labelled as the ‘Summer of dud’ .
Across all of the summer sports, off-field talking points overshadowed on-field performance – and what happened on the field wasn’t [...] Read article

There was in interesting interaction on Canberra local ABC Radio 666 on Friday morning. The well respected local sport journo Tim Gable was interviewing Jess Bibby from the Canberra Capitals about their crucial game this weekend against Bulleen.
Jess was talking about a game that would shape the finals, that was so popular it had been [...] Read article

Having made his presence felt in the NBA, Andrew Bogut is starting to cast his considerable shadow over the rest of Australia’s sporting stars in money matters.
The Milwaukee Bucks centre has shot up from fifth to second in the BRW’s latest list of the nation’s top 50 sports earners behind occasional golfer Greg Norman.
The 25-year-old’s [...] Read article

Details of a new national basketball tournament are set to be announced on Thursday featuring a number of rule changes to hype the sport’s appeal to fans.
Much like cricket’s moves to spice up its action and appeal with the introduction of Twenty20 games, basketball’s new tournament is expected to feature some innovative modifications to its [...] Read article

We rarely focus on female sport, even when there are events that are more than worthy of our attention. One such scenario has been quietly bubbling away in the background over the past week, and that is the impending return of Lauren Jackson to the Canberra Capitals for the remainder of the WNBL season.
The story [...] Read article

While the relationship between sport and television is typically a reciprocal one, it is the broadcast networks that usually wear the pants.
Sporting bodies around the world are pressured into scheduling games at the behest of their broadcast partners’ demands, with the lure of rights fees and advertising exposure usurping the convenience of those who [...] Read article

It’s been a while but I have come back from a break ready to dissect sport. So what have I learned in my break?
1. The Cox Plate is Australia’s best race for “Purists”
2. Our Cricket team will be unearthing Bradman just to fill a team.
3. Our rugby team has serious problems in the head when [...] Read article

It was once the country’s hottest sport, but in recent years Australian basketball has taken a turn for the worse. The revamped National Basketball League and a refurbished governance structure may well be the last roll of the dice for the sport in Australia.
The latest reincarnation of Australian basketball features a restructured national competition comprising [...] Read article

Basketball great Andrew Gaze has urged A-League clubs to take heed of the tough lessons learned by the NBL to ensure the football competition’s survival.
The NBL’s seven-time MVP and all-time record points scorer, Gaze sees many similarities between the two competitions, which both enjoyed a surge in popularity before being beset by financial difficulties and [...] Read article

With the NBA season starting this week, my friends and I held our annual Fantasy NBA draft recently. When it came to my turn to pick a player, I looked at the ESPN player projection cheat sheet and it became apparent that the player I would have to select was Kobe Bryant.
Now, let me be [...] Read article

The National Basketball League’s publicity machine has been in overdrive during the early part of season 2009/10, churning out press releases in the hope of repairing the sport’s battered image.
First to arrive in the inbox was a release titled “BA chief hails NBL rule changes as a success”, in which Larry Sengstock credited the [...] Read article

Charles Barkley, the famous former NBA star and US Olympic basketballer, was recently quoted speaking about AFL players.
“I don’t want to insult the Australians (but) I am like, ‘These guys are some damn idiots’,” Barkley told the Dallas affiliate of ESPN Radio.
“Nobody plays football without pads every week for three, four or five months [...] Read article