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November 25, 2024
 

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Sam Smith

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Sam Smith
Sam Smith covered the Chicago Bulls for the Chicago Tribune for nearly 25 years, including all six of the team's NBA titles with Michael Jordan. He is the author of the bestselling book "The Jordan Rules" and now writes for bulls.com. He was honored with the Basketball Hall of Fame's Curt Gowdy Media Award for lifetime achievement earlier this year.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Nov 8, 2016
Looking back at Magic Johnson's stunning HIV announcement 25 years later
Sports is fun, and sports is games. But it can often be so much more than just fun and games, the toy store of the real world. Sometimes it can be the leader of society, and not just its weather vane, not the remnant Of the public's conventional wisdom but the leader in societal change for the better....
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Oct 25, 2016
Bulls hope to contend despite huge roster overhaul
The big news of the NBA summer was Kevin Durant leaving Oklahoma City for Golden State, thus, in theory, improving a team that set a record for the most wins in the history of the league.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Jul 5, 2016
Durant's decision based on best chance to win titles
Jerry West may have done it again.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Jun 21, 2016
No need for Warriors to panic despite Game 7 loss
Well, as Ron Harper famously told the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls, "Don't mean a thing without the ring."
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Jun 7, 2016
Could Durant join forces with LeBron on Cavaliers?
The NBA Finals still is the big story in basketball, and it will be for the next week or so no matter the conclusion.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
May 24, 2016
Cavaliers may have right formula for Warriors this time
It looks like the NBA is going to finish its 2015-16 season the way it should and the way few expected it might.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
May 10, 2016
Coaches find that patience no longer a virtue for teams
How does that saying go about better to rent than buy?
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Apr 26, 2016
Thibodeau could make Timberwolves genuine contenders
One of my favorite movies, and not just because I live in Chicago — but if you want to see the best city location shots, that's the movie — is the John Belushi/Dan Aykroyd 1980s farce, "The Blues Brothers." It's a send-up of a Saturday Night Live TV show bit in which the comics actually became blues...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Apr 12, 2016
Brilliant-but-humble Curry a product of the modern game
Stephen Curry is about to win his second consecutive NBA Most Valuable Player award. In its penultimate game on Monday, his team tied the all-time record for wins (72) in a season, equaling Michael Jordan's 1995-96 Bulls' record that many believed was as unassailable as Wilt's 100 points.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Mar 29, 2016
Duncan quietly winding down a sensational career
In this NBA season of Kobe, his season-long farewell tour perhaps the only thing distracting from the Golden State Warriors fast break to history, it is fitting that this likely is the final season for probably the greatest power forward of all time in the NBA. He's a player who may even rank above Bryant...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Mar 15, 2016
Celtics seeking missing piece to become legitimate title contenders
The Boston Celtics are having a wonderful season, third in the Eastern Conference with only about a month remaining in the regular season, one of the true surprise teams in the NBA along with perhaps the Charlotte Hornets and Portland Trail Blazers.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Mar 1, 2016
Nomadic Whiteside playing well, but remains enigma
Hassan Whiteside has become one of the most remarkable NBA stories of recent years, a virtual outcast who was a second-round draft pick, a regular in the minor league D-League and then expatriate playing in China and Lebanon, and even in an attempt to return to the NBA released by the Memphis Grizzlies....
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Feb 16, 2016
Fisher a victim of Jackson's coaching purism
Phil Jackson is much less Zen master than basketball apostle.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Feb 2, 2016
Hoop sage Bach lived incredible life
You probably don't know Johnny Bach. You've seen him, the ruddy-faced guy with the stern demeanor sitting on the bench of the champion Chicago Bulls next to Phil Jackson in the 1990s, steely grey eyes fixed on the defensive play, his "Doberman defense" as it came to affectionately be known during the...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Jan 19, 2016
Rockets lacking in many areas, will likely deal Howard
One of the theories about the Houston Rockets this season, one of the Western Conference preseason title favorites who reached the season's halfway mark at about .500, has been the proof their analytics rage isn't the answer to success.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Jan 5, 2016
Moses Malone should be remembered as all-time great
Moses Malone, the Hall of Fame center who died Sept. 13 of a heart attack, was a man of few words.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Dec 22, 2015
Bryant determined to remain defiant until the end
In some respects Kobe Bryant, perhaps the true Baby Jordan, reminds me the most of Jerry West, the original Los Angeles Lakers great guard. Because they go out of their way, defiant to the end.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Dec 8, 2015
George's amazing comeback may be best story of season
Consider this story: A star professional athlete suffers a gruesome injury, a broken leg so horrific that bystanders — including me — couldn't even bear to look at the damage, the bone literally sticking out, piercing the covering skin.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Nov 24, 2015
Warriors off to great start, but 72-10 Bulls were better
It's the defense, stupid.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Nov 10, 2015
Pressure on Donovan from outset in Oklahoma City
Billy Donovan qualifies as the luckiest, unluckiest rookie coach in the NBA. He also, by the way, has to save a franchise.
Taiwan stuns Samurai Japan to capture Premier12 title
Japan starter Shosei Togo reacts after allowing a three-run home run against Taiwan in the fifth inning of the Premier12 final on Sunday.
Woman dies after train collides with car in Tochigi
A Moka Railway train car
Japan beats Taiwan ahead of rematch in Premier12 final
Keita Sano celebrates with his teammates after scoring on Kotaro Kiyomiya's two-run triple against Taiwan during their Premier12 game at Tokyo Dome on Saturday.
Tokyo’s newest three-star chef wants ‘harmony across every detail’
British-born Daniel Calvert earned his third Michelin star last month — a stunning achievement considering his restaurant, Sezanne, has only been open for just over three years.
'Kohaku' still matters for J-pop bragging rights
Emerging Gen Z J-pop group ME:I will perform on this year's "Kohaku Uta Gassen," national broadcaster NHK’s New Year's Eve spectacle.
Tokyo’s newest three-star chef wants ‘harmony across every detail’
British-born Daniel Calvert earned his third Michelin star last month — a stunning achievement considering his restaurant, Sezanne, has only been open for just over three years.
133-year-old Kyushu railway station remains to be partially preserved
The remains of the original Moji Station in Kitakyushu
After Shohei Ohtani bump, Iwate ironware maker sees brighter future
Kaito Kikuchi's decision to send superstar Shohei Ohtani one of his company's traditional ironware tea kettles has paid off with a surge of interest from general consumers.
Shohei Ohtani wins National League MVP award
Shohei Ohtani celebrates after hitting a three-run home run against the Padres during the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles last month.
The slow-burn success of ‘A Samurai in Time’
A 19th-century warrior gets struck by lightning and wakes to find himself in 21st-century Kyoto in Junichi Yasuda’s surprise hit “A Samurai in Time.”

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat
By Greg Dvorak

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