I reported earlier today on Kobe Bryant mouthing the words “Fxxx Fagot” toward the referee after being benched for a technical foul. He has now come out with an apology. Kobe said in his statement tKoday “What I said last night should not be taken literally,’ ’My actions were out of frustration during the heat of the game, period. The words expressed do NOT reflect my feelings towards the gay and lesbian communities and were NOT meant to offend anyone.’”

I know I feel better. Now we can skip about our merry way like nothing ever happened. Yeah right! Where are the anger management classes Kobe. Saying the words are not enough. You have to follow up with actions. Make me believe you. I mean really how would you feel if I called you the N word. You and the rest of America would rip me a new one. All I can say right now with only the words and no actions is “Bitch Please.”

Updated 4/14/11
Yesterday afternoon the NBA fined $100,000 Kobe Bryant for his potty mouth on the bench. Kobe is fighting it tooth and nail. He has launched an appeal against the fine. NBA Commissioner, David Stern, had this to say about Kobe’s behavior “offensive and inexcusable.’ ‘While I’m fully aware basketball is an emotional game, such a distasteful term should never be tolerated. Accordingly, I have fined Kobe $100,000. Kobe and everyone associated with the NBA know that insensitive or derogatory comments are not acceptable and have no place in our game or society.’” At least something has been done to show homophobes will not be tolerated. Kobe obviously isn’t sorry he said it which tells me what is truly in his heart. What a shame!

In the fourth quarter and the Magic down 81-79, Henderson tried to dribble out of the corner and got fouled by Richardson. According to the Associated Press, Richardson was upset about getting elbowed earlier in the play and confronted Henderson.

Henderson tried to push Richardson away, but the Magic guard retaliated, put both hands on Henderson’s face and pushed back.

A scuffle ensued and both were quickly separated. The referee gave Henderson a technical foul and tossed Richardson from the game.

For all the flexing and preening, the third-person proclamations and South Beach parties, LeBron James finally delivered these Miami Heat something pure and authentic in the privacy of the locker room: Full of emotion, he apologized for his big-shot, big-games failures and promised redemption.

“I told my team I’m not going to continue to fail them late in games,” James told reporters in Miami. “I put a lot of the blame on myself.”

James has used the words “fail” and “blame” a lot of times, but seldom in context of his own performances. His idea of accountability has always been his cronies and him nudging you in the direction of the guilty parties – his coach, GM, teammates – but never the global icon in the mirror.

LeBron didn’t promise to do different.

LeBron promised to do better.

He didn’t go to Miami to construct a partnership, as much as he did gather superior sidekicks. He’s going to keep trying because the solution will never be to bend to the I-told-you-sos that insist Dwyane Wade’s the closer on this Heat team. The Heat have two of the best five players in the world, and they still can’t play together when it matters most. Derrick Rose never wanted to play with James, but he welcomed the idea of Wade as his shooting guard. Wade must have some regret that he hadn’t gone home to Chicago in free agency and spared himself this most unhappy ever-after with the Heat.

It’s March, the playoffs aren’t that far away, and the Heat are still regressing. New York survives two shots out of James in the final seconds. Orlando makes a wild comeback to beat them. San Antonio blows them out. Chicago makes James miss a wild, driving shot in the final seconds. Four straight losses, and the gulf between James and Wade widens with every embarrassment.

“I’m used to coming down in the fourth, having the ball, making mistakes, getting a chance to make up for them, etc., “ Wade told reporters Sunday. “You try to do your best. That’s all you can do. That was one of the things we got to understand when we all decided to come together. That there were going to be sacrifices that have to be made. And you live with the consequences.”

Yes, you live with the consequences. Wade has started to say publicly what he’s been saying privately for a long time: Why don’t I get the ball when it matters? Miami’s no longer his town, and the Heat no longer his team. Didn’t you hear James? It isn’t our team. It isn’t D-Wade’s team.

My team.

When people warned Wade about letting LeBron into his life, they wanted him to think about how he’d handle James making all the big shots, becoming the biggest star on South Beach. They never considered the possibility of what it would feel like for Wade to watch James fail over and over.

So, Wade played the victim act and reminded everyone that he never, ever wanted to join James on his Hate Me Across America Tour. “The Miami Heat are exactly what everyone wanted, losing games,” Wade said. “The world is better now because the Heat is losing.”

Wade is angling for sympathy, but it doesn’t exist for him, nor these Heat. And James does nothing to ever make it easier. Before Miami embarked on this telltale stretch against contenders, James tweeted: “No friends when at WAR beside my brothers.”

These aren’t his brothers, and this is no war. The Heat trained on a military base, James signed some autographs for soldiers and he likes saluting teammates on the court. In his mind, it’s a little like storming the beaches of Normandy. Yet that’s LeBron James, and that’ll always be him. Wade can pout and play the victim and grow sharper in his rebukes of a Miami system that is slowly, surely turning him into Pippen-Lite. He shouldn’t be so despondent. After all, LeBron James tried to make himself accountable for his late-game failures. That’s progress for him. That’s historic.

He isn’t blaming his teammates.

Not yet, anyway.

Maybe James is fighting some war, but Wade lost his own when he let LeBron into his life. He was warned. He didn’t listen. Now, he ought to take his own advice and “live with the consequences.” Mostly, he should stop feeling sorry for himself. LeBron James apologized to his team on Sunday, not Dwyane Wade’s.

Carmelo Anthony is in a New York state of mind.

The saga that has both interested and tortured NBA fans for the better part of this season appears to finally be over, as multiple reports are now confirming that Anthony has been traded to the New York Knicks.

The Denver Post first reported the deal, a blockbuster which involves nine players, three draft picks and millions in cash exchanging hands.

Anthony will head to New York, along with teammates Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Anthony Carter and Renaldo Balkman. In exchange, the Knicks will send Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Timofey Mozgov, the Knicks’ 2014 first-round draft pick, the Warriors’ 2012 second-round pick, the Warriors’ 2013 second-round pick and $3 million in cash.

After months of dealing with the topic of the long-rumored trade on a daily basis, Nuggets head coach George Karl was understandably relieved to have things resolved.

“I’m glad it’s over,” Karl said. “I’m glad it’s an opportunity to reinvent. I think everybody handled it as classy as you could handle it. There’s some sadness to it, there always will be.”

The rookie’s remarkable leap won the slam dunk contest, and it also drove home the clear point of All-Star Saturday: The Clippers’ rising star is just at the beginning of one thrilling ride.

Griffin easily cleared the hood of the 2011 Kia Optima and caught a pass from teammate Baron Davis out of the sunroof while the berobed Crenshaw Select Choir sang “I Believe I Can Fly,” winning the 26th NBA dunk contest in iconic style before his hometown fans.

“There’s a little pressure on us to really put on a show, but I thought those guys all did a great job,” said Griffin, who beat Washington’s Javale McGee in the final.

Blake Griffin is in the midst of one of the more startling rookie seasons in NBA history. He was voted onto the All-Star team by the coaches in his conference. He’s the odds-on favorite to win the dunk contest. He’s leading an otherwise-woeful Clippers team to a respectable record. And his astonishing and nearly nightly dunking exploits regularly lead off these pages every morning.

This year’s All-Star weekend is taking shape in Los Angeles, with Griffin’s Clippers acting as the hometown team. And on the eve of his most prominent turn as a pro, Griffin is mourning.

Word of his personal troubles hit Wednesday night, hidden inside an otherwise-routine AP gamer of Wednesday night’s Clipper win over the Timberwolves:

When reporters entered the locker room after the game, Griffin was anything but jubilant. His head was in his hands after receiving a phone call and he was sobbing.

Griffin, who is scheduled to compete in the dunk contest on Saturday in Los Angeles, did not speak to reporters after the game, with a team spokesman calling it an unspecified personal issue.

Thursday rolls around, and we find out the unfortunate news.

From ESPN Los Angeles:

After Wednesday night’s Clippers win over the Timberwolves in Minneapolis, Griffin had his head in his hands in the locker room after receiving a phone call that a friend from home had died.

That friend appears to be Wilson Holloway, his high school teammate and Tulsa football player who died from complications of Hodgkin’s lymphoma on Wednesday.

Holloway, who was profiled by ESPN.com in 2008, had been battling cancer since 2008.

Incredibly sad. Clearly, our thoughts are with the Holloway family in their time of loss.

Usually, these video posts contain an elegant little introduction to set up the play at hand. In this case, though, it’s not really necessary, because you read this title and just want to see two All-NBA talents complete the kind of play you can’t even pull off in a video game. So here it is: Dwyane Wade gets a rebound and throws a baseball pass the entire length of the floor to LeBron James in midair for a lay-up. Then a chorus of angels descend from the heavens and sing the most beautiful song in the history of time.

The NBA All-Star game rosters were revealed on Thursday and there’s at least one player in the league who does not agree with them.

Portland’s Andre Miller ripped Los Angeles Clippers star Blake Griffin to Jason Quick of the Oregonian and said he was chosen because of money.

“They are putting this guy on every ESPN highlight. Yeah, it’s cool because fans want to see that, but you isolate him from his team,” Miller said. “Especially, he ain’t made nobody better. It’s basically his rookie year, as an All-Star? LeBron James didn’t make an All-Star team as a rookie.”

Miller also said Griffin making his first All-Star team is a “slap in the face” to teammate LaMarcus Aldridge and that the league doesn’t “appreciate the blue collar workers.”

Aldridge is averaging 21.3 points and nine rebounds per game for the Blazers.

Griffin is scoring 23 points and grabbing 12.7 rebounds per game in his rookie season.