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Haywood won't be suspended

I just got off the phone with a spokesperson with the NBA and was told that Brendan Haywood will not be suspended for the hard foul he laid on LeBron James last night. Haywood was hit with a flagrant 2 foul and ejected in the third quarter. The NBA's Stu Jackson reviews all flagrant fouls and determines whether to take further action.

I asked whether the league was satisfied with the call and told that the league agreed with the flagrant 2 because James was in the air defenseless and Haywood extended his arms to shove him.

Eva Longoria-Parker going for movies despite tv-shows?

Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria-Parker has refuted reports she is to quit the hit TV show in a bid to pursue her burgeoning movie career.

The 33-year-old has made several high profile films since shooting to fame on the drama series, including Harsh Times with Christian Bale in 2007 and this year's Over My Dead Body.

But Longoria-Parker is quick to dismiss rumors she is to leave Desperate Housewives to become a full-time Hollywood star.

She tells British magazine Heat, "I would be insane to do that. I'm of the opinion that the show will still be running for another five years, at least. Marc Cherry (creator) has all these incredible ideas and plot twists planned for the coming years, and I'm convinced the show will be a success as long as he's involved."
Copyright World Entertainment News Netwo

Kevin Garnett is the best defensive player of the year.The NBA announced today that Kevin Garnett of the Boston Celtics is the recipient of the 2007-08 NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award presented by Kia Motors.

The 6-11 forward led the Celtics in rebounds with a 9.2 average (7.3 defensive rpg), to go along with 18.8 points, 1.2 blocks and 1.4 steals. He recorded a team season-high seven blocks against Chicago on Dec. 12.

As part of its support of the Defensive Player of the Year Award, Kia Motors will donate a brand-new 2009 Kia Borrego seven-passenger SUV on behalf of Garnett to Boston Centers for Youth and Families, the cities’ organization supporting the same youth as Kevin’s “Big Ticket Challenge” program. Kia Motors will present a Borrego to the charity of choice of each of the four year-end award winners in 2008 as part of the “The NBA Performance Awards Presented by Kia Motors.”

Garnett helped the Celtics to league-best records of 66-16 (.805) overall and 31-10 (.738) on the road. Boston held opponents to just 90.3 points (second in the NBA) after allowing 99.2 points per game a season ago. Garnett led the Celtics to the biggest one-year turnaround in NBA history as the team won 42 more games this season than in 2006-07 (24-58), surpassing the previous record of 36 games, set by the San Antonio Spurs in the 1997-98 season.

The 12-year NBA veteran became the 32nd player in league history to record 20,000 career points on March 8 against Memphis. Garnett is only the fourth active player to reach this milestone, joining Phoenix’s Shaquille O’Neal (26,296), Denver’s Allen Iverson (22,988) and Kobe Bryant (21,619) of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Garnett received 493 points, including 90 first-place votes, from a panel of 124 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. Denver’s Marcus Camby, who won the award last season, finished second with 178 points and Houston’s Shane Battier finished third with 175 points. Players were awarded five points for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote and one point for each third-place vote received.

The 2007-08 NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award presented by Kia Motors is part of a series of on-court performance awards called “The NBA Performance Awards Presented by Kia Motors.” The awards, which are part of a multi-year marketing partnership between Kia Motors America and the NBA, also include the Most Valuable Player, Sixth Man Award, and Most Improved Player. The series also includes the Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Month presented by Kia Motors. For more information on the “The NBA Performance Awards Presented by Kia Motors” visit www.NBA.com/performanceawards.

Attached are the 2007-08 results and the league’s all-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award Presented by Kia Motors winners:

2007-08 NBA DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR PRESENTED BY KIA MOTORS RESULTS

Player, Team 1st 2nd 3rd Pts
Kevin Garnett, Boston 90 12 7 493
Marcus Camby, Denver 12 32 22 178
Shane Battier, Boston 11 33 21 175
Bruce Bowen, San Antonio 7 7 24 80
Kobe Bryant, L.A. Lakers -- 10 10 40
Josh Smith, Atlanta 1 6 11 34
Chris Paul, New Orleans 1 4 7 24
Dwight Howard, Orlando 1 4 7 24
Tim Duncan, San Antonio -- 6 4 22
Tayshaun Prince, Detroit -- 3 4 13
Tyson Chandler, New Orleans 1 1 2 10
Rasheed Wallace, Detroit -- 3 -- 9
Richard Hamilton, Detroit -- 1 -- 3
Samuel Dalembert, Philadelphia -- 1 -- 3
Raja Bell, Phoenix -- 1 -- 3
Rajon Rondo, Boston -- -- -- 1
Chauncey Billups, Detroit -- -- 1 1
Kyle Lowry, Memphis -- -- 1 1
Ron Artest, Sacramento -- -- 1 1
Andrei Kirilenko, Utah -- -- 1 1

ALL-TIME NBA DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR WINNERS

Season Winner, Team
1982-83 Sidney Moncrief, Milwaukee
1983-84 Sidney Moncrief, Milwaukee
1984-85 Mark Eaton, Utah
1985-86 Alvin Robertson, San Antonio
1986-87 Michael Cooper, L.A. Lakers
1987-88 Michael Jordan, Chicago
1988-89 Mark Eaton, Utah
1989-90 Dennis Rodman, Detroit
1990-91 Dennis Rodman, Detroit
1991-92 David Robinson, San Antonio
1992-93 Hakeem Olajuwon, Houston
1993-94 Hakeem Olajuwon, Houston
1994-95 Dikembe Mutombo, Denver
1995-96 Gary Payton, Seattle
1996-97 Dikembe Mutombo, Atlanta
1997-98 Dikembe Mutombo, Atlanta
1998-99 Alonzo Mourning, Miami
1999-00 Alonzo Mourning, Miami
2000-01 Dikembe Mutombo, Philadelphia
2001-02 Ben Wallace, Detroit
2002-03 Ben Wallace, Detroit
2003-04 Ron Artest, Indiana
2004-05 Ben Wallace, Detroit
2005-06 Ben Wallace, Detroit
2006-07 Marcus Camby, Denver
2007-08 Kevin Garnett, Boston

Former Mississippi Valley State head coach James Green has been named men's basketball head coach at Jacksonville State University.

Green, who becomes Jacksonville State's 10th men's basketball coach, has 11 years of experience as a head coach at the Divison I level. He has spent the last three as head coach at Mississippi Valley State and eight previous years at Southern Miss.

Green led the Delta Devils to the 2006-07 Southwestern Athletic Conference regular season title and the 2007-08 SWAC Tournament championship and made an appearance in the 2008 NCAA Tournament. He was named the league's Coach of the Year in 2006-07 season after guiding the Delta Devils to a 13-5 league mark.

Coach Jim Boylen has hired Taylorsville's Stan Johnson from Cal State Northridge to fill one of the two vacant assistant coaching positions on his men's basketball staff at the University of Utah.
"The biggest thing for me is that he kind of shares my vision of Utah across your chest meaning something," Boylen said. "He wants to be here, he's passionate about being here. He understands our state and he's excited about what we are trying to build. I'm excited about it."
The 29-year-old Johnson grew up cheering for the Utes, and graduated from Taylorsville High School in 1998 - the same year the Utes played in the championship game of the NCAA Tournament.
"I was probably never good enough to play there," Johnson said. "But I know I'm good enough as a coach now to come back and help them."
Johnson played three years at Southern Utah - he helped the Thunderbirds win the Mid-Continent Conference championship and reach the NCAA Tournament in 2001 - before transferring to Bemidji State in Minnesota for his final college season. Johnson then began his coaching career at Bemidji, and moved on to Southwest Baptist University in Missouri before joining the Matadors less than a year ago.
"I'm excited," he said. "I've been around Utah basketball when it was at its peak. I know what's possible there. Coach Boylen has a great vision, great passion, and I myself am very passionate about the state. We can get Utah basketball to what it's capable of, not only competing for conference titles but nationally, doing some great things."
Johnson effectively replaces departed assistant coach Marty Wilson, who took a job as the head-coach-in-waiting at his alma mater, Pepperdine. Boylen still is working on finding a replacement for Chris Jones, who left the Utes for a similar job at Utah State.

Arizona State assistant Mark Phelps was hired as Drake's men's basketball coach Monday, replacing Keno Davis.

Phelps' hiring came less than a week after Davis took the Providence job. School officials said Phelps was their top choice.

Phelps recalled hearing from Drake athletic director Sandy Hatfield Clubb.

"One day last week, Sandy called me ... and told me about Drake University, about the Drake experience and immediately I just got excited," Phelps said after his introductory news conference.

"We had another conversation on the phone. I was up here the next day, and now I'm the coach. It was just a whirlwind," he said.

The 42-year-old Phelps spent more than a decade as an assistant to Arizona State coach Herb Sendek, both in Tempe and during Sendek's earlier tenure at North Carolina State. Previously, Phelps was a high school coach in Virginia, compiling a .736 winning percentage over six years at two schools.

He replaces Davis, the first-year coach who led the Bulldogs to one of the best years in school history. Drake compiled a 28-5 record, won the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season and tournament titles and earned the school's first NCAA tournament berth since 1971 and first national ranking in 33 years.

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press

In the Tuesday Detroit Free Press article, Coach Flip Saunders sympathized with his starting point guard.

April 22, Detroit Free Press: "Chauncey (Billups) said he got about two hours of sleep last night," Saunders said Monday. "I said, 'Now you know what a coach feels like.' But you can always look back and say, 'These are things you could have done,' or 'What if I could have done this?' But the greatest thing about the game is that in two days we get to play again."

It would seem like Chauncey had a lot to think about Sunday night, after shooting 3-9, and missing three free throws and an easy lay-up in the last minutes of the first-round game.

Rip Hamilton had a worse shooting percent than Billups did, at 29%, and was taken out of the game in the first minute of the 4th quarter after making a turnover and replaced with Lindsey Hunter. Hunter promptly missed a 20 foot jump shot, fouled Louis Williams, and turned the ball over on a shot clock violation and then a bad pass.

More....

That said, the Free Press goes on to describe the solution.

MAKE EASY SHOTS: (The Pistons) were worse than usual Sunday. You don't expect to see the All-Star backcourt of Billups and Richard Hamilton go a combined 8-for-26. Add small forward Tayshaun Prince, and it swells to 13-for-39.

That would definitely help in winning a game. Maybe Chauncey Billups should get some sleep too. It was just one game, after all. Nobody expects Chauncey, Rip and Tayshaun to combine to shoot like that again in one game.

Initially down nineteen points, DeShawn Stevenson blows on his hand as if it's on-fire after burying a three-pointer on LeBron James. But this just adds fuel to the proverbial fire between Stevenson and the L-Train, as James promptly knocks down a three in Stevenson's grill. Download: http://www.sendspace.com/file/suiddx