FanHouse Kenny Smith

Through his time on Inside The NBA, Kenny "The Jet" Smith has become one of the most respected media voices in the NBA. Prior to that, he was a championship point guard with two rings. Prior to that, he was a four year starter at UNC. So the guy's kind of got a history of success. And judging by, yes, his Twitter, he's open to trying to succeed at the next level.

RealGM.com picked up on a tweet from Smith last Friday saying "Yes coaching or management is next... Will be super difficult to leave TNT when that happens!!"

By losing the first the first two games of this series, the Orlando Magic have secured their place in history, trailing only the old Baltimore/Washington Bullets as the team with the most consecutive losses in the NBA Finals before getting a victory.

The Bullets lost nine straight consecutive games. They were swept by Milwaukee in 1971. They were swept by Golden State in 1975. They lost Game 1 in 1978 before beating Seattle and winning the NBA title that year.

The Magic have lost six, adding these two to 1995 when they were swept by the Houston Rockets. Can they make it seven tonight? Here are the first six in chronological order:

Warning: Explicit language, and potentially NSFW, adjust your volume accordingly:



Charles Barkley has always been one to speak his mind, but his snarky reaction to Kenny Smith's interruption and the not-so-subtle name-calling directed at producer Tim Kiely last night were a bit of surprise -- until you realize these were the final minutes of the final Inside the NBA telecast of the season. It's like the last day of school before summer vacation -- what's the worst that can happen? A few months of vacation will ease the sting of even the most vicious finger-wagging.

The TNT "Inside the NBA" guys -- Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith -- always have funny little postgame gimmicks (provided you think "crappy photoshops" are "funny") but last night they busted out a remake of the famed Cleveland Tourism Video (note: it's fake people) which included little bits mocking the various analysts. And if that wasn't enough to get me on board, they also poked fun at Kyra Sedgwick.

Via NESW Sports.

CLEVELAND -- In any other city, any other country or planet or solar system, a 22-point lead would be enough to soothe any psychosis. Not here, though. The good people of Cleveland realize not to grow overly giddy about any perceived edge, having experienced every imaginable collapse, heartbreak, shot, fumble, drive, blown save and choke job in the most cursed ongoing existence of any American sports town.

And sure enough Thursday evening, that 22-point lead disappeared in a matter of 13 minutes in the second and third quarters, a stunning and confounding blackout even by northeast Ohio standards. Earlier, the fans had saved their loudest boos for Alex Rodriguez, C.C. Sabathia, Ben Roethlisberger and other local pariahs watching in Quicken Loans Arena. A minute into the second half, when Orlando party boy Hedo Turkoglu -- in the bar again on Game 5 eve -- hit a three-pointer from Lake Erie and gave the Magic the lead, those boos were turned toward an unthinkable target.

Their very own Cleveland Cavaliers, featuring the lifeblood of a city and its fleeing dreams, LeBron Raymone James.

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Another day, another NBA Twitter story. This time, it's not a story about a player on Twitter, but the league and its broadcast partners utilizing Twitter to promote this year's NBA playoffs. According to a report on Mashable.com on Wednesday, Turner Sports (TNT and NBA TV) plans to have its team of commentators start tweeting throughout the playoffs.

I know what you're thinking ... Charles Barkley on Twitter. Well, not quite. Kenny Smith, Craig Sager and Ernie Johnson will all be tweeting, but there's no mention of the the Chuckster on the list of Turner personalities getting Twitter accounts. Turrable!

In this clip from TNT's Overtime, Kenny, Charles, and C-Webb discuss the firing of Raptors' coach Sam Mitchell. While debating whether the team's sub-.500 record was Smitch's fault, they also discuss the personnel of the team, and after Charles makes some kind of Playboy bunny analogy, he mentions to Kenny that he might be confusing Jose Calderon with another Jose he has a fondness for.


I love the fact that it's like 2AM when they're filming these segments, so pretty much anything goes. The NBATV show that features Webber and Gary Payton together is quickly gaining on the TNT crew in terms of entertainment value, but still, nothing beats some classic analysis from Charles Barkley.

[via BallHype]

ESPN is all about making the big splash. And what's bigger than inking Earvin "Magic" Johnson to a broadcasting contract, just mere days after he blasted a pair of radio hosts for accusing him of faking AIDS?(Aside: Really, radio show people? Really?)

Answer: Not much. So it makes sense that the WWL announced today that they will employ Magic throughout the season in various roles as an NBA analyst. However, the coverage he'll provide is somewhat curious as the press release seems to indicate that he will only be working on Christmas Day and during the postseason.

"Magic has always been one of the most accomplished people in every field he has endeavored. He was an incomparable player and has become one of the best NBA analysts in the business. His unique insights, perspective and personality will be the perfect complement to Stuart (Scott), Mike (Wilbon) and Jon (Barry)," said [NORBY!] Williamson.

"I am thrilled to be a part of the ESPN family. I look forward to working with a great team and covering all the big NBA events," said Johnson. "Christmas Day can't come soon enough for me."

See what I mean? The season doesn't exactly start then. Which makes me wonder why ESPN bothered locking him up to a deal if they're only going to give him coverage twice a year.

This is some of the greatest television you will ever watch. Ernie Johnson pulled an Anchorman on Charles Barkley last night, editing the teleprompter to read "I'm a dumbass" while Charles was filming a T-Mobile commercial in the TNT studios. Charles did not realize it until after he'd said it. Actually right about the last syllable of the sentence, you see this amazing look of recognition come over his face.



To Barkley's credit, he doesn't get angry. He just seems amazed.

H/T: Foul Balls

All this time I thought that the secret to Charles Barkley's success as a player was the fact that he was an incredible athlete that played the game with a toughness that few players around the league were able to match. Turns out I was wrong. Because according to Charles, It was all about "my butt - which is huge."

I've never agreed with Kenny Smith more in my entire life than when he instructed the TNT crew not to go to a commercial break after Charles began a sentence with, "When I was in physics class ..." And as he finished the sentence, it was revealed that physics professors at Auburn taught the principles of "skinny spiny legs against a big ol' butt." Absolutely fascinating.

[via Awful Announcing]