Shaquille O'Neal Michael Jackson Tribute - Beat It

[Video: Shaquille O'Neal Michael Jackson Tribute - Beat It]

Video: You'll have to foul Andre Iguodala harder than that, Gerald Wallace

[Video: Iguodala sick dunk on Gerald Wallace (Dec. 4, 2010)]

Cleveland Cavaliers: Could the Cavs Bring Back Lebron in 2015

By 

Daniel Morrill 

(Contributor) on December 3, 2010

After what we all saw in LeBron James' return to Cleveland last night, LeBron returning to the Cavaliers seems crazy now, but a lot can change in five years.  Here are a few things that need to happen for LeBron to return to Cleveland in the summer of 2015.

1. Cleveland Can't Win a Championship

For the moment, this doesn't seem like much of a concern, but if Cleveland does win a championship without LeBron, there is no reason to bring him back.

2. The Cavaliers Need to Restock

LeBron left Cleveland because he felt like their roster wasn't strong enough to win a championship.  If the Cavaliers don't revamp their roster, there is little chance that LeBron would come back to play with essentially the same cast of characters.  Fortunately, the Cavs will be blessed with something they haven't had in the last five years with LeBron in place: lottery picks.

3. Apologies Have to be Made

First and foremost by LeBron.  LeBron needs to be extremely remorseful for the way he left Cleveland in order to begin the healing process.  Cleveland fans certainly won't accept LeBron back unless he apologizes for the way he embarrassed and betrayed them on national TV.  Also, Dan Gilbert needs to apologize to LeBron.  What he said about LeBron was unprofessional and insulting, and the two will need to square things away before they can think about contract negotiations.

4. LeBron Needs a Change of Heart
LeBron devastated Cleveland fans when he left them for Miami, and since then he hasn't shown much remorse.  If he is going to return to Cleveland, it isn't going to be for money or for championships or for the the nightlife, its going to be for Cleveland.  Distance makes the heart grow fonder, and it very well could happen the same way for LeBron and his home state.

5. Cleveland Needs to Forgive

This is what it all comes down to.  Easier said than done, but after five years of watching Mo Williams take the big shots at the end of games, it might not be as hard as it may seem now for Cleveland to welcome LeBron back.

LeBron returning to Cleveland after betraying it for Miami would be the NBA version of the prodigal son, but who knows what will happen over the next five years?  The Heat could win three championships, or they could fail to make it past the first round of the playoffs.  Time will tell, but if the summer of 2010 free agency taught us anything, it's that it's never too early to start overhyping a free agency period.  Bring on 2015, and let the LeBron back to Cleveland rumors begin.

Coach uses iPhone app to help save collapsed player

La Verne Lutheran (Calif.) School basketball star Xavier Jones has two men to thank for still being alive: His coach and Steve Jobs.

According to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune and the Los Angeles Times, an iPhone -- a creation of Jobs' Apple Corporation -- helped teach La Verne basketball coach Eric Cooper how to perform CPR when he downloaded a life saving app called "Phone Aid" one night last week.

The very next day, Cooper had to put the skill to the test when Jones collapsed during a team practice. Cooper was able to keep his star pupil alive until paramedics arrived, at which point Jones had begun breathing again.

"When it happened, that was too much of a coincidence for me," Cooper told the Tribune.

It may have seemed like a huge coincidence, but given the holiday season, Cooper's timely intervention seemed almost a guided act of faith. Jones, who was set to play basketball at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point next year, has since been diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a thickening of the heart wall that previously killed Loyola Marymount basketball player Hank Gathers during the 1990 college basketball season.

[Related: Soccer club president saves player's life]

"I'm just thankful and happy to be here," Jones told the Los Angeles Times. "Things could have been a lot worse.

"I'm just happy to be alive."

While Jones hasn't decided on his next course of action -- one group of doctors has already recommended Jones have a defibrillating device implanted that would re-start his heart if it stopped again -- he and his parents said they were sure he would find a way to success.

[Related: Swedish referee performs on-ice CPR to save player]

More importantly, they were just thankful that his coach was able to think so quickly on his feet, and that he had such a timely interest in boning up on his lifesaving skills.

"I can't thank him enough for being there for my son," Xavier Jones' mother, Linda Jones, told the Los Angeles Times.

Dwight 'goes mad viral,' takes 'NBA Jam' to the streets of NYC

Dwight Howard

[Video: Dwight Howard Plays NBA Jam on the Street]

The fine folks at Dime had this clip last week, but it got caught up in the travel-and-tryptophan haze of the Thanksgiving whirlwind. So we find ourselves playing catchup with Dwight Howard popping up from underground at 34th Street in Manhattan and, apropos of nothing (save viral marketing), playing "NBA Jam" on an Xbox-360-cum-arcade-cabinet with random passersby on the streets of New York.

Obviously, the entire point of making a clip like this is for what's happening right now to happen — for people to share it, smile at it, snicker at it, above all else watch it and, in the process, promote the two brands up for sale ("NBA Jam, The Super Fun Video Game!" and "Dwight Howard, The Super Fun Athlete!"). And sometimes that feels gross and lame and problematic and difficult. When that's the case, we should either A) not share/write about/post those craven attempts at attention-grabbing or B) call them out for what they are, grit our teeth at the knowledge that doing so does exactly what the makers intended by shining more light, and just hope that the light we're shining is sunlight, which I've been told is the best disinfectant.

To the extent that this feels like anything, though, it feels harmless, because what it's selling is a game that most of my generation has always spoken of in reverential tones. Plus, it puts Dwight Howard in exactly the kind of position in which he can successfully perpetuate the public image that he's crafted thus far — drop him onto a city block with a video game, let the crowd come to him, let him roar and high-five and smile and be all the things everyone enjoys him being, and show off a bunch of CG dunks.

LeBron James returns to boos in Cleveland, does the chalk toss

Cleveland Cavalier fans came down hard and heavy with their boos as former Cavalier LeBron James played his first game in Cleveland as a member of the Miami Heat, but that didn't dissuade James from going right to his pregame ritual of clapping a giant cloud of chalk dust in the air, right in the face of 20,000 rabid fans.

[Video: What LeBron heard when he took the court]

Still, as James' long-awaited return became a reality, this contentious initial back and forth turned into the most combative conflict of the night. 

James not only spurned his former Cavalier team last summer as a free agent, but in doing so on live TV,he swiftly and tactlessly broke the hearts of thousands of Cavalier backers. And northern Ohio, rightfully,has been rather ticked off in the months since. But save for one profane chant just before the players were introduced Thursday night (a seven-letter expletive), things were somewhat civil.

Will Lebron Do His Pregame signature "Powder In The Air" Thing In Cleveland?

 

Memories for Cleveland Fans

Juwan Howard shoves Hilton Armstrong who shoved Joel Anthony

In another hard foul gone wrong, Washington Wizards center Hilton Armstrong pushed Miami'sJoel Anthony on Monday night as the Heat pivotman went up for an attempted dunk (let's not give Joel the benefit of the doubt on his dunking aptitude), and nobody came out of this looking pretty.

Armstrong probably didn't want to send Anthony to the floor, but it was a dumb move considering the fact that the Heat center was already in the air, and quite prone to be sent to the floor. And then Juwan Howard, in what may have been the most dangerous move of the two (because Armstrong wasn't expecting to be sent to the hardwood), gave the Wizards big man a two-hand shove as he tried to check on the newly floor-bound Anthony.

YOUTUBE: CLICK THE LIONK BELOW

Hilton Armstrong hard foul on Joel Anthony dunk attempt (Nov. 29, 2010)

Bulls' Boozer to return Wednesday?

Power forward Carlos Boozer fractured a bone in his right hand on Oct. 2 and the 9-6 Chicago Bulls have been waiting for him to return to action and show the world his greatness.

It appears that Boozer's return is imminent. The Chicago Tribune reports that Boozer took part in his first contact practice Monday since the incident.

If he doesn't have any undue swelling or pain in the hand, he may be making his Bulls debut Wednesday night against the Orlando Magic, the Tribune reports. "I felt I had a pretty good day of practice," Boozer said, according to the paper. "My hand felt pretty good. There were a couple of times it got hit, which was good to see how that felt. It was a little sore. But my wrist is getting a lot stronger."

He went on to say that he's very excited to return. "We have a very good group of guys," he said, the Tribune reports. "We [went] on a road trip and lost some close games to some championship-level teams. When we get back full force, we should be something to be reckoned with."