You scratch my back, I scratch yours. This statement best describes the scenario that is the new partnership between Larry Brown and Michael Jordan, both whom are former North Carolina basketball players. Jordan has asked the 67 year old Brown if he is able to take up his ninth NBA coaching stint as head coach for the Charlotte Bobcats, and Brown needed little persuasion to agree. For that he was rewarded a four-year contract. Jordan is relieved as he now has the veteran Brown on his side to revive his sagging career as NBA executive while Brown now has the chance to increase his reputation as Hall of Fame coach. Ironically Brown is now back to where he first started his long standing teaching career.

Brown was hired to replace Sam Vincent who was brought in by Jordan himself even though he has had no prior NBA coaching experience. Vincent was let off last Saturday for failing to do his job well.

Chris Paul was at the right form for his debut NBA playoff game for the New Orleans Hornets as he guided his team to a 104-92 point victory over Dallas Mavericks in Game 1 of their first round of series. The explosive basketball skills of Paul helped the Hornets to come from behind to beat the Mavs and Paul had 35 points, four steals and ten assists in the game.  Paul who usually takes an afternoon nap could not do so before the game as he was very much tensed about the prospect of debuting at the playoff game.

Chris Paul played some unimaginative basketball in the match and he truly played the match like a playoff veteran. Byron Scott, the Hornets coach, said that he was very much pleased with the effort shown by his boys and praised Paul for his debut efforts in the game. The Game 2 between these two teams will be played on Tuesday night.

It was a tragic case of the giant stomping on the ant when the almighty Orlando Magic dragged the Toronto Raptors into submission with a 114-100 score during last Sunday’s NBA playoffs.

Things went from bad to worse for the helpless Raptors, culminating in a shameful defeat against the Orlando Magic. It must be said that their star players did not stand out like they should on the court. Most notably under-performing player was Rasho Nesterovic, who was the Raptors’ centre. He admitted that they were not ready for the onslaught dished out by Magic. Additionally, Sam Mitchell who was the Raptors’ coach, might have made the biggest mistake this season by rolling out a dusty starting lineup that was hardly used since last season. Andrea Bargnani was placed at small forward, but the Italian player only managed to score a measly five points in the game.

Things started looking up when the Raptors trailed only five points behind the Orlando Magic with ten minutes remaining in the fourth quarter but the opposing team scored ten consecutive points, finally crushing the Raptors’ spirit and determination.

Denver Nuggets registered their 50^th win in their NBA basketball history courtesy of a superlative performance by Carmelo Anthony who scored 17 points in the game against the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night which the Nuggets won 120-111. The 50^th victory came in the Nuggets 20^th year at the NBA and coach George Karl said that he was pretty excited with his team attaining their 50^th victory.   

The Nuggets have been playing in the NBA since 1976 and is the third best team to register 50 wins in 20 years or so. All the players of the Nuggets team were excited with the outcome of the game and have promised for greater showings in the near future. Nuggets player Iverson said that he is now satisfied to be a basketball player and this achievement by the Nuggets has instilled plenty of competitive spirit in him. Iverson said that he will be working even harder to put the Nuggets on a successful road map from now on.  

Rumor has it that the Jazz’s pre-game shootaround will be the setting stage to unveil their new Northwest Division championship banner at the Energy Solutions Arena.

The ceremony can be delayed but their 124-97 victory over the Denver Nuggets certainly did not wait.

Deron Williams displayed true grit and determination in the game to win over the Nuggets who are vying with the Golden State for the Western Conference’s final playoff position.

“I was definitely worried about this game,” Williams said, “just because they had so much riding for them and we just came off a tough loss. It was interesting to see how we were going to react tonight and I thought we did a great job. We win by 20 to a team that’s fighting for their life trying to get into the playoffs, that’s just a great accomplishment.”

Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur and Ronnie Brewer cumulatively scored 20 points each while Deron Williams added 19 points as well as 11 assists.

Many attempts by various teams throughout the years have been done to persuade John Hammond to be their new GM but to no avail. Finally, the Milwaukee Bucks succeeded in luring Hammond away from the Detroit Pistons.

Unsuccessful attempts by Portland and Toronto have been done in the past but Hammond was never swayed. Finally Hammond accepted the Bucks’ offer and is set to replace Larry Harris as their new GM this coming Monday. Harris left on March 19 after a series of unsuccessful meetings to negotiate his soon-to-expire contract.

With his new post, Hammond is expected to hire a new veteran coach to boost the Bucks’ winnings. He is eager to seek help from former Pistons’ coach Rick Carlisle, having worked with the vet boss previously. On the other hand, Carlisle is also sought after by the Chicago Bulls. Can Hammond persuade Carlisle to join them instead of being the Bulls’ prolific coach? Only time will tell.

Candice Wiggins was declared the winner of the 2007-08 Lowe’s Senior Class Award in the NCAA women’s basketball category. The award is decided by a vote of coaches, media and fans and is presented to the NCAA Division I student athlete. The award was given to her by Lowe on the 5th of April during the festivities of the NCAA Women’s Final Four in Tampa. This award is one of the top most tributes given to college seniors.

 Wiggins is the only Pacific-10 conference player to have bagged the honor. Some of the past recipients of the award have been Sue Bird, Alana Beard, LaToya Thomas, Kendra Wecker, Alison Bales and Seimone Augustus. Wiggins in her playing career has led her team to a record of 33-3. There are 22 consecutive wins that have led the team to be in the final four. She averages 20.2 points, 3.1 assists and 4.6 rebounds per game. She is also the all time leading scorer in the history of Pacific-10. 

The Phoenix Suns top players, Amare Stoudermire and Stewe Nash, were in the top of their game as they beat Denver nuggets 132-117 to register the Suns 50th win in four consecutive seasons. This win also takes the Phoenix Suns to a tied lead position with the Los Angeles Lakers in the Pacific Division and also puts them in a gripping position on the ever so close Western Conference. An interesting thing about this Suns win is that they rallied from a 22 – point deficit at the end of the second quarter to win the basketball game and credit must be given to Nash for the way in which he fought through to score 36 points.

Phoenix Suns coach Mike D’Antoni was very happy to see his boys fight hard from behind and appreciated both the offensive as well as the defensive efforts showcased by the Phoenix players. Amare made the bulk of the scoring for the Suns with 41 points and 14 rebounds.