LeBron James pushes David Blatt aside to argue call in Cavs' loss to Suns

LeBron James made his return to the Cleveland Cavaliers lineup on Tuesday after missing two weeks with left knee pain and a strained back. His overall form after the longest layoff of his professional career looked to be a matter of some debate in the early going — on the plus side, sweet dunk; on the minus side, not-so-sweet transition defense — but his facilitating game sure seemed to be on point. Don't believe me? Just ask Cavaliers head coach David Blatt, who found himself on the receiving end of James' assistance in moving away from the referees so that he didn't get a technical foul while complaining about an offensive foul call on James during the second quarter

Because of the nature of LeBron's action, though — literally pushing the first-year Cavs coach back toward the bench — and the context in which it comes, with Cleveland scuffling along, and folks' memories stretching back to that time that James bumped Erik Spoelstra in the midst of some early-season struggles during his first year with the Miami Heat, LeBron's physical suggestion that his coach take a load off raised more than a few eyebrows on Tuesday night.

Floyd has everything to, says Holyfield

As the world awaits the outcome of the negotiations to make a Manny Pacquiao vs Floyd Mayweather fight, four-time world heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield believes Mayweather has everything to lose and Pacquiao has everything to gain in the super showdown.

“Floyd is the one who has everything to lose because he doesn’t want to lose. When you’ve already lost, what difference does it make? But Floyd wants to be undefeated (for his career). Now it comes down to if he’s going to risk it all for this one (fight),” Holyfield told the Atlanta Black Star.

Mayweather is very protective of his 47-0 record and ringsiders share the opinion that the 37-year-old US puncher is not scared of facing Pacquiao but afraid of seeing his immaculate slate get tainted.

It is for this reason that negotiations have apparently stalled even after Pacquiao has agreed to give in to Mayweather’s demands, something that has compelled the Filipino’s camp to entertain thoughts about reviving its fallback option.

Despite claims by Pacquiao that an official announcement is due anytime soon, the unbeaten Mayweather has opted to remain silent even though he expressed his desire to meet Pacquiao during a US primetime television interview last December.

Lately, however, Mayweather has been tight-lipped and noticeably quiet even on social media and the Internet, two of his favorite vehicles in getting his message relayed.

In case a Mayweather fight goes down the drain, Top Rank is setting up the 36-year-old Pacquiao for a ring return sometime in April.

Jackson: Now it's up to me to build the Knicks the right way

Phil Jackson offered a mea culpa for the New York Knicks' awful first half of the season but said he's doing what's best for the franchise's future.

Days after trading away two of the team's best players and getting little in return, Jackson asked fans not to blame coach Derek Fisher because what's shaping up as the worst season in franchise history is his responsibility.

The Knicks fell to an NBA-worst 5-35 with their 110-82 loss to Charlotte to extend the longest single-season skid in team history to 15 games.

''In anticipating that we were going to be better, that we were giving hope to our fans that maybe there was a possible playoff opportunity here, that goes on me,'' Jackson said.

Pacquiao, Mayweather agree on fight venue

The camps of WBC champion Floyd Mayweather (47-0-0) and WBO champion Manny Pacquiao (57-5-2) got through one hurdle for the highly-anticipated mega-fight as they both agreed that it would be held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, in Las Vegas.

“We’re making progress,” a boxing authority involved in the talks told the Los Angeles Times’ Lance Pugmire on Friday.

In Pacquiao’s last fight at the MGM, Top Rank Promotions boss Bob Arum lashed out at the venue for their lack of support. Arum blasted the arena’s management as they had promotional materials for the fight between Mayweather and Carlos Maidana even though it was already the weekend of the rematch between Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley.

However, this is apparently water under the bridge now as the two camps moved on to other parts of the fight contract.

A highly contested issue is the purse and Pugmire’s source added that Mayweather wants a 60-40 split in his favor and that Pacquiao’s side has expressed willingness to be the B-side.

The drug testing, fight date, and the deal between Showtime and HBO also need to be addressed before the fight could be finally signed but the source added that this could be done in the next seven to ten days.

Pacquiao’s camp confirms Mayweather negotiations are ongoing

In an interview Ring Magazine’s Lem Satterfield, Manny Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz confirmed that there are indeed negotiations for a mega-fight between the eight-division and current WBO welterweight champion versus the number 1 pound-for-pound fighter and WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather.

“We’re still in negotiations with Floyd’s group through Top Rank. I spoke to Manny this morning. I gave Manny what is perceived to be a counter offer from the Mayweather people,” said Koncz.

“We discussed it and now I’ve given instruction to Bob to counter their counter. We’ve been going back and forth. Bob has been negotiating with the powers that be on Floyd’s side for the past couple of weeks. There’s been offers and counter offers, and a couple of days ago Bob called me and gave me allegedly where Floyd’s side is, and I discussed that with Manny two hours ago.”

Immediately after defending his title against Chris Algieri in Macau back in November, Pacquiao called out Mayweather. The undefeated American finally replied in an interview saying that he wants to fight Pacquiao on May 2.

“Now I’ve given Bob our response to that. I’m never overly optimistic until the contract is signed, but the good thing is that we’re still going back and forth,” Koncz ended