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Denver Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony may be a little pouty, but he is not a sore loser unlike his 2003 NBA draft classmate LeBron James.
Melo pouted on the sidelines while watching the clock tick down in the Nuggets’ Game 5 loss to L.A. in the Western Conference Finals, and he looked dazed on the sidelines Friday as Kobe Bryant and the Lakers dealt the Nuggets a 27-point Game 6 loss to advance to an NBA record 30th NBA Finals.
Nevertheless, Anthony hung around to shake hands with the Lakers, and he and Bryant shared a five-second embrace before he headed back to Denver’s locker room. And while Denver players sorely boasted that they are “the best in the West” and more talented than L.A., Anthony disagreed.
“We can always talk, we can say it all day every day,” Anthony said. “But until we go out there and beat the Lakers, they’re going to be the best team in the West.”
NBA MVP LeBron James, on the other hand, behaved liked a sore loser after the Magic knocked Cleveland out of NBA title contention Saturday with a 103-90 victory in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals to advance to Orlando’s first NBA Finals since 1995.
As soon as the final buzzer sounded to signal the end to the Cavs’ record-breaking season, James pulled out his shirt, bowed his head and made a beeline to the Cavs’ lockers. No wave goodbye to Cleveland fans who endured the Magic’s home crowd full of hecklers. No congratulatory handshake to Orlando center Dwight Howard for putting up the 40 points usually customary for James, who finished with just 25 after being held scoreless in the second quarter and mustering only four points in the fourth. And no appearance at the postgame press conference.
Once in the locker room, James mumbled to his teammates that they’ve got to get better and he put on big headphones and sunglasses and walked past Nike execs, his mom and friends who were all waiting for him after the game, said Cleveland Plain Dealer writer Brian Windhorst on The Dan Patrick Show. Windhorst added that James also threw a tantrum when he was overlooked for the NBA All-Star Team as a rookie.
Windhorst also revealed that Cavs guard Mo Williams beat James off the court after the season-ending loss to Orlando.
Yeah, but at least Williams had the guts to attend the postgame conference in spite of his pre-Game 4 guarantee that Cleveland would win the series to advance to the franchise’s second NBA Finals in three seasons.
James provided a bad example of sportsmanship for all of the kids and budding high school and college hoop stars who admire James, who many experts including Lakers Hall-of-Famer Jerry West consider to be on pace to be the greatest NBA player ever.
You can stick up for the 24-year-old James and say he was disappointed because the NBA Finals were supposed to feature his No. 23 vs. Bryant’s No. 24 after the Cavs’ posted the league’s best regular season record and swept their first two playoffs opponents only to be outplayed and outcoached by the Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals.
James finally spoke up for himself, a day after the Game 6 loss, and he mentioned that he emailed Howard to congratulate his Olympic teammate.
“It’s hard for me to congratulate somebody after you just lose to them,” James said. “I’m a winner. It’s not being a poor sport or anything like that. If somebody beats you up, you’re not going to congratulate them. That doesn’t make sense to me. I’m a competitor. That’s what I do. It doesn’t make sense for me to go over and shake somebody’s hand.”
Sounds like a poor sport.
Anthony could have used a similar excuse after losing to his Olympic teammate Bryant after the Nuggets avoided a sixth consecutive first-round exit to make the West Conference Finals for the first time since Anthony’s first birthday. Judging by his facial expressions and body language in the Nuggets’ final two playoff losses, Melo was obviously very disappointed. But at least he had the graciousness to suck it up, congratulate the winning team and slap hands with the fans before making his final walk to the lockers this season.
James could have done the same, but instead we are all witnesses to the Chosen One being a poor sport. But, he can redeem himself next year when he returns for the final year of his Cavs’ contract.

By Teneshia LaFaye
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This has got to be the most exciting NBA playoffs in more than a decade.
But the action isn’t restricted to the court. Apparently, the sideline has its own sideshow, and I don’t just mean celebrity sightings of Jack Nicholson, Justin Timberlake, Will Ferrell, Denzel Washington, Terri Hatcher, Tom Cruise and Mrs. Terminator Maria Shriver.
The players’ mates and moms are creating excitement.
The girlfriend of Denver forward Carmelo Anthony was ejected from Game 4 of the Nuggets’ semifinal game at Dallas early this month after punching a fan in the face. Former MTV veejay Alani “LaLa” Vazquez, who has been engaged to Anthony since January 2005, recently said she “was defending herself” and child because the “fans were out of control”. She revealed that beer-guzzling Mavericks fans were shouting obscenities and racial slurs in reference to her 2-year-old out-of-wedlock son with Anthony. She sent their son, Kiyan Carmelo, home before getting into the brawl. Ironically, she is helping teach etiquette to rowdy, raunchy reality TV women on VH-1’s Charm School with Ricki Lake.
And in Game 4 of a Boston-Cleveland semifinal last season, LeBron James’ mom jumped out of her seat under the basket and into the face of Paul Pierce after a hard foul on her son. Pierce’s teammate Kevin Garnett held back Gloria James, and LeBron told his mom to “sit your (butt) down.”
With James’ and Anthony’s teams in the playoffs, you may see more sideline action. Maybe Kobe Bryant’s wife, Vanessa, who has been said to have a nasty attitude and lays in wait to smooch her husband during and after the game, will spar with Nuggets fan when the Lakers venture to Denver for Games 3 and 4 of the Western Conference Finals. In Game 2, Kobe’s wife and Carmelo’s fiancée locked arms and strolled behind Bryant as he walked to the locker room with the Lakers’ 55-54 halftime lead.
James, Bryant and Anthony are the Top 3 scorers remaining in the NBA playoffs. But while you’re enjoying their electrifying moves, make sure to keep a third eye on the sidelines.
The NBA has a sideline policy that suspends players for a game without pay or a fine up to $35,000 if they aren’t near their team’s bench during an altercation. The league probably should make a rule for disruptive family members.

By Teneshia LaFaye
Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/teneshialafaye
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With only a two-day break after fighting off undersized and undermanned Houston in a fierce seven-game semifinal series, Lakers coach Phil Jackson said that his players are going to have to win on emotion when Los Angeles opens the Western Conference Finals against Denver tonight.
But if the Lakers are relying on emotion for a victory, I don’t like their chances.
Lakers guard Kobe Bryant admitted that “we’re bipolar” after struggling with the Yao Ming-less Rockets, and NBA analysts Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith said the Lakers have half-a—ed their way to the Finals after dominating the West in the regular season to finish one game behind Cleveland for the best record in the league
Maybe the Lakers aren’t motivated because the playoffs are like a second home. They went to the NBA Finals last year, but lost to Boston because “the Celtics had more heart”, said NBA analyst Chris Webber.
Bryant, Derek Fisher and their coach share three NBA championship rings from 2000-2002 and of course, Jackson has six more pieces from Chicago’s two triple peats in the 1990s.
But the Nuggets have all kinds of emotions flying around. After experiencing five consecutive first-round exits in his entire pro career, Carmelo Anthony has transformed his game to lead Denver to its first West Finals since a week before his 1-year-old birthday in 1985. Anthony is getting a big assist from Denver native Chauncey Billups, who is making his seventh consecutive conference finals appearance after returning to his hometown in a November trade that sent Allen Iverson to Detroit, where Billups was the 2004 NBA Finals MVP after helping the Pistons defeat the Lakers.
Nuggets coach George Karl is still looking for his first NBA championship as a coach after missing out when his Seattle team lost to Jackson’s Bulls in the NBA Finals at the beginning of Chicago’s second triple-peat in 1996.
Who would have thought Denver would make it to face the Lakers for a chance at its first NBA Finals appearance? Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke certainly didn’t.
Obviously expecting his team to make its usual first-round exit, Kroenke scheduled the WWE to tape the popular Monday Night Raw pro wrestling TV series in the Pepsi Center, the scheduled site for Game 4 of the Nuggets-Lakers series.
And I’ll bet Bryant and his Lakers teammates are looking over Denver to see whether they’ll make their second consecutive NBA Finals against either Cleveland or Orlando, which begin the Eastern Conference Finals on Wednesday. The Lakers lead the all-time series with the Nuggets 93-46, boast a 13-2 playoff record against Denver and reached the century mark three times this season to win the teams’ regular season series 3-1.
The last time the Nuggets made it to the Western Conference Finals, they lost the series 4-1 to the Lakers, and Pat Riley went on to coach Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson and James Worthy to the first of L.A.’s three NBA titles in four seasons.
So the finals are old hat for the Lakers, but they’ve got to match the Nuggets’ emotional intensity if they are to make it home to the NBA Finals.

By Teneshia LaFaye
Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/teneshialafaye
Add me on Myspace: www.myspace.com/tlafaye