Fan at Rockets-Grizzlies game hits half-court shot for $25,000, gets carried out (VIDEO)

There was one happy home town fan who didn't care about the  controversial James Harden "non-call" in the final seconds of the Rockets’ loss to the Grizzlies Wednesday night at the Toyota Center.

That's because this guy become the first local to sink a promotional half-court shot at the venue for $25,000.

The dude's heave from mid-court hit glass but was still on target for the 25 big ones.

$25,000 shot from half court! @houstonrockets

A video posted by Bun B (@trillog) on Mar 4, 2015 at 5:50pm PST

And if the 25 Grand wasn't enough, he even got the hero's treatment and was carried off the court on the shoulders of the adoring crowd:

James Harden got stuck in an elevator before All-Star three-point contest (PHOTO)

Houston Rockets star James Harden tweeted out this below picture at 5:58 P.M. (EST) on Saturday night, alerting his 2.5 million followers that he is stuck in an elevator. 

#Selfie stuck in a elevator. Man I'm so nervous right now 😓😓!!! I just hope it doesn't drop. Diana smiling but she really scared! #StillYoungSwagChamp #HappyValentineDay

A photo posted by jharden13 (@jharden13) on Feb 14, 2015 at 2:56pm PST

As of this posting, Harden might still be stuck on the 48th floor somewhere and was scheduled to take part in the three-point contest on Saturday night.

Hmm ... just wondering if Stephen Curry had anything to do with it.

Hey @stephencurry30! I know you think your training will help you take tonight's @footlocker 3-Point… http://t.co/E2R8mLG3bx
— James Harden (@JHarden13) February 14, 2015

Knicks fans wear paper bags on heads during game (VIDEO)

The Knicks are so bad right now some fans just don't want to be seen — even after shelling out big bucks for a seat.

These five die-hard fans sitting in the celebrity row of Madison Square Garden during the Knicks' blowout loss to the Houston Rockets Thursday night used one of the oldest means of protest at a sporting event — wearing paper bags over their heads. 

But even these bagheads didn't stay to see the home team lose their 14th straight.

Isn't that Spike Lee I see under there?

Rockets fan does his own version of Flashdance in stands (VIDEO)

This diehard Rockets fan took full advantage of his five seconds of fame when the camera turned in his direction on Wednesday.

Not only did he have "I (heart) Rockets" scrawled across his belly, he had a bottle of water ready to pour over his head after he tore off his Dwight Howard jersey.

The only thing missing was "Maniac" on the sound system for his low budget Flashdance.



This is for your burning eyes:

Mark Cuban: Realignment could help the NBA

Mark Cuban wants to throw out everything your second grade teacher taught you about geography — all to assist a plan to fix the gap in quality between the NBA's Eastern and Western Conferences — by realigning eight teams.

According to Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com, in the Dallas Mavericks owner's plan, the Mavs, San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets and New Orleans Pelicans would move to the Eastern Conference. The Chicago Bulls, Indiana Pacers, Detroit Pistons and Milwaukee Bucks would move to the West.

"It's not like it'd be the first time we've ever realigned," Cuban said while working out before Wednesday's home game against the New York Knicks. "It's happened many times before, so there's precedent and I just think it shakes things up and makes things interesting."

Just about any Western Conference owner wouldn't mind swapping conferences — especially when the East is as soft as ever. 

So is Cuban trying to make it easier for his Mavs by padding it with Knicks and 76ers games?

Not when he proposes sending perennial winners, the Spurs, and the up-and-coming Rockets and Pelicans with him.

But Cuban's plan does make some sense. The West has had a winning record against the East in 14 of the past 15 seasons, according to John Schuhmann of NBA.com, and change doesn't seem to be on the horizon. "After an 18-3 week, the West is an incredible 45-19 against the East this season," Schuhmann wrote on Nov. 24.

Cuban claims he has not discussed his idea with the commissioner or anyone else in the NBA.

"I did the trial close right here," said Cuban. "Then it'll turn into headline porn and then we'll see the response."

Rockets players harassed gay worker at Barclays Center, says lawsuit

A gay catering service worker claims he was taunted with homophobic slurs by Houston Rockets basketball players while setting up a buffet in their locker room at Barclays Center last year.

Rasean Tate says in a federal discrimination lawsuit that his back was turned when the insults were directed his way, reports The New York Post.

But he heard them.

The 28-year-old Tate claims that he was setting up the buffet in the visiting Rockets locker room before a game on Feb. 22, 2013, when he was all but chased from the area because he was gay.

“When the plaintiff’s back was turned to defendant Rockets players, he began to hear laughter and taunting voices saying ‘get this f—– out of here!’ ” according to the suit, and ” ‘He’s trying to catch a sneaky-peeky!’…

“These series of comments were repeated a number of times by defendant Rockets players and staff,” claims the suit. “Plaintiff could hear defendant Rockets players overlapping voices and laughter.”

The lawsuit claims Tate was phased out of locker room duty and demoted by Levy Restaurants (the company that handles catering at Barclays center) after he complained and he was given fewer hours to work because of it.

“It was loud and gregarious and there were overlapping voices,” Tate’s lawyer Marjorie Masidor told The Post.

A representative of the Nets allegedly witnessed the incident and told Tate to leave the locker room and that he would “take care of it,” according to the suit.

“I think there’s a bit of irony that this occurred in the same place where a person’s (Jason Collins) sexual identity is accepted and welcomed with openness, while in the same place a visiting team chose to degrade Rasean and set us back,” Masidor said.

Among the players on the Rockets roster for the game were James Harden, Carlos Delfino and Jeremy Lin. The lawyer would not say whether Tate could identify anyone who made the comments.

The Rockets organization and Levy were named in the suit. No Rockets players, Barclays Center or the Nets were named in the legal action.

Dwight Howard elbows LeBron James in face (VIDEO)

Miami Heat fans held their breaths when LeBron James hit the deck Tuesday night after Dwight Howard inadvertently elbowed the MVP (Most Valuable Proboscis) in the face.

James Harden tried to make an ill-advised pass ahead to Howard in the final seconds of the Rockets-Heat game when the the center's elbow whacked the masked James in the jaw.

To add insult to injury, James' attempt at a buzzer-beating, game-tying three clanked off the rim to seal a 106-103 victory for the Rockets in Houston. James joked about the pain after the loss, telling The Miami Herald: 

"It feels like my nose is broken."

LeBron had 22 points on the night on 9-of-18 shooting, but was scoreless in the fourth quarter.

Curry floater, O’Neal block keys to dramatic Golden State win over Rockets (VIDEOS)

The Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors thrilled fans with a finish that included Stephen Curry hitting a floater over Dwight Howard and off the glass to send the game to overtime.

Then in overtime, with 30 seconds to go and Golden State up one, Jermaine O’Neal preserved the win by blocking a Chandler Parsons dunk.

Golden State went on to win 102-99, snapping Houston’s eight-game win streak.

One Lakers fan leaves Dwight Howard hanging on high five (VIDEO)

When Dwight Howard was walking off the court after the first half of his return to Staples Center Wednesday night, the Los Angeles pariah still managed to get a few high-fives from fans — all except one.

Watch the one guy pull his hand back in a classic case of “psych.”

Howard ended up slapping five with his teammates though, after the Rockets cruised to a 134-108 win over the Lakers. 

DeMarcus Cousins goes coast-to-coast for the slam (VIDEO)

Sacramento picked up a big New Year’s Eve win over Houston thanks to five players finishing in double figures — including their big guy, DeMarcus Cousins.

After battling through some early foul trouble, the Kings center finished the night with 17 points and 16 rebounds. But it was this lumbering coast-to-coast dunk that helped kick off the New Year's festivities by making sure the basketball got slammed. 

Kevin McHale tries to interfere with Tim Duncan inbounds pass (VIDEO)

The sight of coaches impeding with the course of play seems to be the trend these days (i.e. Jason Kidd, Mike Tomlin).

Now, watch as Kevin McHale tries to get in the way of a Tim Duncan inbounds pass in the Rockets' win over the Spurs Saturday night.

To say the least, Gregg Popovich was not amused.

Fiery Hall of Fame power forward ... say hello to mellow future HOF power forward.

NBA teams to wear sleeved uniforms for Christmas Day games

If you thought the NBA's color-on-color Christmas Day uniforms were bad last year, you'll probably think the league's plans for this season's holiday games are just as ho-ho-horrible.

Paul Lukas of Uni Watch confirmed on Thursday in a tweet that the NBA will unveil new sleeved uniforms on Christmas Day.

Uni Watch Exclusive! NBA Xmas uniforms CONFIRMED: http://t.co/rRVTvhyZ2y pic.twitter.com/GKXuanfn4g
— Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) November 7, 2013

The uniforms, which look more like warm-up shirts, were first spotted by SNY's Brian Erni who saw the jerseys on eBay.

The NBA has experimented with sleeved jerseys in the past, as the Golden State Warriors donned them last season, looking more like a volleyball team instead of professional basketball players.

The one improvement is that the jerseys this year will include numbers on the sleeve, whereas last year's Warriors jerseys had blank sleeves.

Each year, Christmas Day is filled with marquee NBA matchups, and this year is no different. Many of the NBA's best teams, including the defending champion Miami Heat, will play in a slate of five games.

Chicago at Brooklyn, Noon (ESPN)

Oklahoma City at New York, 2:30 p.m. (ABC)

Miami at L.A. Lakers, 5 p.m. (ABC)

Houston at San Antonio, 8 p.m. (ESPN)

LA Clippers at Golden State, 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Kobe used Instagram photo to solace himself after news about Howard

Kobe Bryant posted a photo of himself and teammate Pau Gasol on Instagram shortly after free-agent Dwight Howard confirmed that he was leaving the Lakers to sign with the Rockets.

The picture, which shows Gasol patting Bryant on the head, bears the caption “#vamos #juntos #lakercorazon #vino.” The Spanish words translate to “we go, together, Laker heart, wine.”

“Vino” is one of Bryant’s numerous nicknames, a reference to how he is aging well. Gasol is a native of Spain.

Bryant was acquired by the Lakers in the 1996 draft. The leading scorer in franchise history, Bryant has won five titles in L.A.

His longtime teammate, Gasol, was acquired by the Lakers in a 2008 trade with the Grizzlies. Together, Bryant and Gasol won back-to-back titles in 2009 and 2010.

Howard was acquired by the Lakers in a 2012 trade with the Magic. He averaged 17.1 points, 12.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocks last season. The Lakers were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Spurs after Bryant suffered a season-ending Achilles injury.

“I’ve decided to become a member of the Houston Rockets,” Howard wrote in a Twitter post. “I feel it’s the best place for me and I am excited about joining the Rockets and I’m looking forward to a great season. I want to thank the fans in Los Angeles and wish them the best.”

Both Bryant and Gasol will enter the final season of their respective contracts in 2013-14. Bryant is set to make $30.5 million while Gasol will earn $19.3 million.

Bryant immediately unfollowed Howard after he saw the tweet about leaving the Lakers.

It Just Got Real: @KobeBryant has unfollowed @DwightHoward within the last hour.
— darren rovell (@darrenrovell) July 6, 2013

Rockets' Chandler Parsons turns down prom invite, sends party bus instead

Houston Rockets forward Chandler Parsons may have had to let down a fan when she asked him to escort her to prom, but the NBA star still made sure she had a memorable evening.

The 24-year-old basketball player sent a party bus to take Stephanie Flores and her friends to the big dance.

Parsons was first contacted by Stephanie on Twitter a few weeks ago, as she tried to convince him to escort her to prom on May 31 with a series of tweets.

When her first messages went unnoticed, she encouraged her Twitter followers to help get her noticed by sending messages to Parsons. 

After her sister Monica sent a tweet to Parsons saying: "My sis wants to make her dream come true by having you escort her to prom! She'd even love just a response," Parsons contacted the teenager and gave her the bad news he couldn't make the dance.

Thanks for the invite @steph_marie03. Unfortunately I'm not in Houston. I hope you have a great time!! Be safe.
— Chandler Parsons (@ChandlerParsons) May 21, 2013

In a tweet he thanked her for the invite but explained he wouldn't be in Houston on the big night, before adding: "I hope you have a great time!! Be safe."

But Parsons still planned a special treat for the teenager.

Stephanie, who had been excited to even receive a response from her favorite player, was astounded when the Houston Rockets and Parsons then sent the sleek party bus for her and her friends to enjoy.

She took to Twitter to post a picture of her posing outside the party bus in her prom dress, and with a Rockets' foam finger and towel. 

Big thanks to @houstonrockets @chandlerparsons for this party bus! You made my prom even more special! :) @traceynba twitter.com/steph_marie03/…
— Stephanie Flores (@steph_marie03) June 1, 2013

In a final message she tweeted to Parsons: "Thank you so much for making my prom even more exciting! My friends and I are extremely grateful for the party bus!"

A night to remember — and safer too.

Jeremy Lin says being Asian-American led colleges, NBA teams to snub him

Houston Rockets guard Jeremy Lin says his ethnicity is the reason he was not offered any college scholarships to major colleges and why he was passed over by NBA teams during the draft.

Lin tells Charlie Rose — in a "60 Minutes" interview that was excerpted Friday — that not a single Division I school contacted the California Player of the Year after he led his high school in Palo Alto to the California state championship.

"Well, the obvious thing in my mind is that I was Asian-American ... I think that was a barrier," he told Rose.

The young man who brought "Linsanity" to the NBA for a few fascinating weeks last season believes that if he were black or white he would have gotten a scholarship to schools like UCLA or "hometown" Stanford.  He ended up going to Harvard, where no athletic scholarships are granted.

Lin says ethnicity has no bearing on anyone's performance on the court but believes perceptions about race and athletic ability still exist.

"It's just a stereotype," he says.




The 6-foot-4 guard wasn't selected by any of the 32 NBA teams in the entry draft following a successful career at Harvard.

In the NBA, Lin mostly languished on the bench in Houston and New York until injuries last February gave him a chance to get major minutes against the Nets and kick off the Linsanity craze.

Lin left the Knicks and returned to the Rockets after they offered him a three-year deal worth $25.1 million.

Jeremy Lin tweets about heart-healthy fine

Jeremy Lin returns to New York City Friday night and — even though his Rockets will be playing the Nets in Brooklyn — the the former Madison Square Garden exile will make his appearance at Barclays Center in a foul mood — and with a healthier heart.

After receiving his first technical foul for arguing with a referee Wednesday, the former Knicks star  tweeted his anger about the $2000 fine and put it into terms most fans can relate to.

Got my first ever technical last night and lost $2000...makes me angry when i realize thats 2000 mcchickens or 4000 jack in the box tacos
— Jeremy Lin (@JLin7) February 21, 2013

It could also buy 400 of the marked down "Linsanity" jerseys on the clearance rack at Modell's.

Jeremy Lin will bring 'Linsanity' to Sundance Film Festival on Sunday

The Sundance Film Festival is about to come down with a case of Linsanity — and we're not talking the Lindsay Lohan kind.

Former New York Knick turned Houston Rocket Jeremy Lin couldn't attend the the premiere of the packed screening of "Linsanity," due to a scheduling conflict, but will now show up Sunday Jan. 27, the festival's final day.

Lin will appear in person and bring along a couple of his Rocket teammates to watch the sports documentary which tells the story of the Harvard grad's rise to NBA fame last season.

Lin, the first American of Chinese or Taiwanese descent to play in the NBA, led the bumbling Knicks to the playoffs and burst into national consciousness — kicking off the craze which became known as Linsanity.

The film focuses on the 23-year-old Lin's wild ride to international fame as the cameras rolled and is produced by his brother, Joseph Lin.

"I'm excited for Jeremy that he will be able to experience his Sundance premiere after all," said director Evan Jackson Leong.  "I'm thrilled I'll be able to watch the finished film with my film's subject."

Linsanity already had a sold-out screening that drew fans from as far away as Hawaii.  Sunday's screening will be in Salt Lake City.

Lin's story had all the elements of a Hollywood script.  Well here it is — in Indieland.

Jeremy Lin says going to Houston was 'God's plan'

Jeremy Lin is miles away from the Linsanity that swept New York last season and says he holds no hard feelings towards the Knicks for not matching his $25.1 million offer sheet last July.

In fact, Lin thinks his controversial exit from New York had come from a higher power than the Knicks owner James Dolan, indicating it was "God's plan" for him to go to Houston.

"The biggest thing is I enjoyed playing for the fans," the new Rockets' point guard said after Thursday's practice. "I had a lot of peace about it when it happened.  I know God has a perfect plan. And he's shown that in my life."

The struggling Lin (10.0 ppg, 6.3 assists) will be seeing some of his former Knicks teammates for the first time this season tonight at the Toyota Center since he became an overnight  cultural phenomenon that had both divided and propelled the team in 25 starts last spring.

Hurtful comments by Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith about Lin's contract and play, a season-ending knee injury and the success of the Knicks (8-2) this season have made Lin's departure and the frenzy of Linsanity a long forgotten footnote in New York.

"It didn't shake out the way everybody thought it would, but I'm still very at peace with how everything happened," added Lin.  "I'm in a great situation right now."

After his breakout year and fat new contract, Lin is still adjusting to a new system in Houston.

The Rockets (5-7) — who benched Lin Wednesday night after averaging only seven points in his last five games — hopes he can light a fire under the Rockets like he did with the Knicks last season despite the criticisms.

"I'm fine with whatever anybody says," said Lin. "It's all fair game."

Gerald Green's windmill alley-oop is insane

There might not be too many New Jersey Nets highlights this year but, if there is one play that takes your mind off the Linsanity (is that still around?) across the Hudson River, it's this powerful dunk by Gerald Green.



Against the Houston Rockets Saturday night in Newark, Green— the journeyman NBA player— took a fast break pass from MarShon Brooks and raced full court to throw down the windmill alley-oop with authority.

Everyone knows Green can get air— he did win the 2007 slam-dunk contest and, in 2008, wowed the crowd by blowing out a candle on a cupcake placed on the rim— but this was really insane.

Green's acrobatics might have given the fans in Prudential Center some high-flying entertainment and the Nets a small rally but you knew there had to be payback for the moment of glory.

Later, Green would inadvertently tip the ball into the Rockets' basket with 1:03 left giving Houston a lead they would not relinquish.

Green finished with 26 points in 23 minutes but the Nets ended up losing to the Rockets 112-106.