Manu Ginobili, the star of the Spurs, is expecting that he will recover from the ankle injury before the Beijing Olympics which starts on August 8. He will play for Argentina, the defending champion. Ginobili is looking forward to participate in the practice sessions which will start from July. He is the leading scorer for the Spurs and their coach Gregg Popovich is happy that Manu will get ample time to recover from his injury. Ginobili was hurt during the basketball match against the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference finals. He was given an injection to reduce the swelling in the left ankle on Friday and the doctor confirmed that he will be fine within 10 days. Any Manu Ginobili fan will be rushing to grab tickets for the basketball games that feature him.

The Los Angeles Lakers could not press forward their advantage of leading 2-0 in the Western Conference finals and had to succumb to the San Antonio Spurs in Game 3 with a 103-84 loss that now puts the Western Conference finals score sheet at 2-1 in favor of the Lakers. Lakers  has said that he was totally responsible for the poor showing of his team in the Sunday’s game and admitted that his poor basketball skills resulted in the Spurs winning the game. He regretted for not making most of the free throws and said that he will be heading for practice straight in order to improve his over all game.

Joakim Noah, forward player for the Chicago Bulls, is one of the latest sports celebrity to be arrested on drug charges. He was caught by authorities in Gainesville approximately 1.50AM on Sunday morning. and discovered to have been drinking alcohol in a plastic container which is against the city’s law. Upon further inspection, Sgt. Rick Roberts found some marijuana nestled in his pocket. He was not put in jail immediately, rather he signed a notice and promised to appear before a judge before being let go. If convicted, Noah could be put behind bars for up to half a year and be slapped with a $500 fine for having marijuana with him.

The Boston Celtics super basketball player Kevin Garnett has bagged the NBA Community Assist Award for the month of April for his outstanding charitable efforts and philanthropic works. Kevin Garnett receives this award for gifting 600 Celtic tickets to the Boston Public School students in the month of April, thereby giving the young at risk students, who excel in their school, a chance to watch the Celtic games as well as a chance to meet the “Big Ticket” himself. Kevin has also been an 11-time NBA All Star player and has received the 2007-08 Kia Motors Defensive Player of the Year Award.

Robert Horry, the forward of San Antonio Spurs, set a new record for playoff appearances.  He played his 238^th play off game last Tuesday against New Orleans. The previous holder of the record was Kareem Abdul- Jabbar with 237 playoff appearances.  Horry is now playing his 16^th NBA season and has won two championships each with Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs and three championships with Los Angeles Lakers. Robert Horry stands 2000 playoff minutes behind Abdul-Jabbar.  With this record, he enters into the elite group ranking of the Basketball League. He has ranked second in post season 3- pointers made by league players.      

It was announced last Tuesday by Toronto Raptors that their rookie forward Jamario Moon has been named to the 2008 NBA ALL Rookie Second team and is the ninth player in the Raptors history to receive this prestigious opportunity. He was signed into the Toronto team during the 2007 free agent tryout summer camp. He had 75 record starts as a rookie in 2007 and was ranked first in the steals among all the NBA rookies. He also got the opportunity to showcase his basketball skills in the 2008 Rookie Challenge and Slam Dunk competitions. Moon also received the NBA Eastern Conference Rookie of the month for his performance in the month of January.

Ben Wallace, starting forward of Cavaliers, is doubtful about playing in the remaining game against the Boston Celtics in the Cleveland’s playoff series of basketball, as he had to stop playing after feeling dizziness while playing a match last week. He was seen staggering while going to the bench. He underwent medical checkup and was diagnosed with left inner ear infection and allergies. The team officials said that the chances for his play in the next game are 50-50. Mike Brown, the coach of Cavaliers, said that most probably Anderson Varejao will play in Wallace’s position till he recovers.  At present, the Cavaliers are behind Celtics in the series.

Larry Brown and Michael Jordan, the former players of North Carolina, who were desperately in need of a boost to their careers, have teamed up together.  Larry Brown has signed a four-year contract with Charlotte Bobcats as their coach. This will be Brown’s ninth job as NBA coach. Michael Jordan was in need of an experienced teacher to save him from his falling reputation as the NBA executive.

 Brown is happy with his new post and said that he cannot deny the request of Michael as they know each other for a long time. Larry Brown is 67 year old and will replace Sam Vincent. This is the fourth year of Bobcats in NBA and the mere presence of Larry will increase the credibility of the team. He is a coach with 1000 wins to his credit and Michael Jordan doesn’t want to put too much stress on his friend as he knows that Brown will make the team better.

The Boston Celtics won big time last Sunday night and overpowered Atlanta with the winning score of 99-65 to gain the upper hand in the second round of the NBA playoffs. Most notable scorers were Kevin Garnett who scored 18 points while minutes before that his teammate Paul Pierce added to the score board with his 22 points. The Celtics enjoyed being record holders to have won 16 NBA titles but they are experiencing a dry spell since the year 1986, not being able to win any championship title. The dynamic basketball team also boasted the victory of winning every single game during the Eastern Conference matches.

Doc Rivers, the Celtics’ coach maintained a positive mindset and was glad that he did not have to lose his first three game sevens.

Avery Johnson was shown the door by the Dallas Mavericks management due to the shock first round exit of the Mavericks basketball team in the playoffs. Avery Johnson, who has brought in many laurels to the Mavericks, also has had some disappointing set backs with the Mavericks during his stint as the coach of the Dallas team. Johnson has led the Mavericks to four straight playoffs and took the team into the NBA finals in 2006.

Avery Johnson has been the coach of the Dallas Mavericks side since 2005 and his recent poor record of 12 loses in the past 15 games is one of the reason that he was sacked from his prestigious job. Johnson said that he knows to take the good with the bad and knows that he is not in a bad shape like many other people. Mavericks owner Mark Cuban thanked and appreciated the efforts of Johnson over the past four years and wished him good luck in the future.