There is, for me, an out-of-time quality to the recent string of crazy, wonderful Knicks playoff games. I find myself lying awake night after night reviewing jump shots made, fouls committed, and shots blocked, always anxious for what lies ahead. Half a century ago, this routine had a certain age-appropriate insanity to it. Now, though, I'm on the distinctly long side of middle age, yet here I am, fitfully trying to sleep and clearing my calendar for each game night as if for a devotional event. I'm aware that New York City has fine baseball'I am on a Mets sabbatical until the Knicks run is complete'as well as hockey and soccer. No doubt there are badminton teams of note. But sorry (except not really): Our city game is hoops, and after their prolonged stay in purgatory, the Knicks are back, and playing a beautiful style that long ago seemed our birthright. As the championship series between my Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs commences tonight, I find myself wondering if, maybe, just perhaps, we'll finally recapture the NBA title. And then I wonder if I've committed a karmic crime by even typing such words....
Throughout the 2025-2026 NBA season, the Sixers will honor the 25th anniversary of their legendary 2001 team. The celebration kicks off with the return of Hip-Hop, the muscle-bound rabbit mascot who debuted in 1998 and represented the team for 13 years. Throughout the year the team will wear jerseys and feature court designs from the 2001 season, and it will honor the team and its star player, Allen 'The Answer' Iverson, during a reunion game on Jan. 31, 2026. As a pop culture scholar and director of a program in critical sports studies, I regularly teach about the influence of Iverson, whom I was a big fan of during my elementary school, high school and college years in Philadelphia. I even named my pet guinea pig after the Hall of Fame player. The City of Brotherly Love is known for its passionate sports fans. Although this passion has been interpreted by some as aggressive, if not barbaric, Philadelphians' knowledge of and loyalty to their teams has never waned ' even as they endured a 25-year championship drought across their four major professional teams....
My instructor drew up a basic diagram for me to follow in my next drill using an iPad. He showed how he wanted me to start at the baseline, then curl up to the corner of the free-throw line before taking a pass and driving to the basket. Easy enough to remember. Here's the thing, though: I didn't have to remember any of the words he spoke or any of the lines he scribbled. That's because, as he drew on his iPad screen, his diagrams simply appeared under my feet. Anytime he wanted to change or remove the drill, he simply tapped the iPad's screen, and everything on the floor changed instantly, illuminating my new route. Over the course of an afternoon visit, ASB's team took me through a catalog of visual experiences on their basketball court setup. Name an NBA team court design; they could swap it onto the surface we were standing on with one tap. Any practice drill template could be loaded onto the floor using ASB's 'Whiteboard' feature, a potential capability leap for basketball coaches and trainers. The company tells me that soon, these diagrams could feature active animations that change as the drill is completed. Meanwhile, a sensor in my pocket tracked my movements and created fun effects on the LED panels beneath me, like a trail of flames that flittered behind me as I ran. (This in-person demo was made possible by ASB covering some travel costs.)...
If you filled out a March Madness bracket this month, you probably faced the same question with each college match-up: What gives one team an edge over another' Is it a team's record through the regular season' Or the chemistry among its players' Maybe it's the experience of its coaching staff or the buzz around a top scorer. All of these factors play some role in a team's chance to advance. But according to a new study by MIT researchers, there's one member who consistently boosts their team's performance: the data analyst. The new study, which was published this month in the Journal of Sports Economics, quantifies the influence of basketball analytics investment on team performance. The study's authors looked in particular at professional basketball and compared the investment in data analytics on each NBA team with the team's record of wins over 12 seasons. They found that indeed, teams that hired more analytics staff, and invested more in data analysis in general, tended to win more games....
