The Cleveland Cavaliers won for an eighth time in nine NBA games this season as they had too much for the Charlotte Hornets.

Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today.

Never mind these bandwagon-jumping Johnny-come-latelys at Red Bull and New York City, true Big Apple sawker fans get behind the revived New York Cosmos and Pele’s old club have made this week’s box-office signing.

For a while there, it seemed like the NBA player of the year vote deciding the regular season’s Most Valuable Player would devolve into an alphabet soup of stats, highlights and what “valuable” really even means.

Reading Ronan O’Gara explain the timing of his retirement in these pages the other day, it reminded us of the outlook of another Cork sporting legend on the end game.

NBA basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal has revealed he is set to retire.

THE makers of the Power Balance bracelet worn by footballer David Beckham have admitted there is no evidence that the wildly popular wristbands boost sporting prowess.

CARLOS BOOZER led the Chicago Bulls to victory after a superb late fightback by the Detroit Pistons took the game to overtime.

Kobe Bryant admitted “a big old monkey” was off his back after winning his fourth NBA championship with the Los Angeles Lakers, his first without the help of former team-mate Shaquille O’Neal.

Phil Mickelson, who announced an "indefinite" break from golf after his wife Amy was diagnosed with breast cancer last month, is set to return in Memphis next week.

AFTER what happened at Augusta in April everybody in golf was looking forward to the coming US Open on New York’s Long Island.

DARREN CLARKE is acutely aware of the life-changing scenario when your wife is diagnosed with breast cancer. Little wonder then that Clarke offered immediate support to Phil Mickelson and his wife, Amy, after she was diagnosed with the disease.

TWEET ON, brother.

Basketball superstar Steve Nash has revealed he is in “casual contact” with Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy and director of football Damien Comolli but insists he has no immediate intention of getting involved in the club.

One of the world’s most glamorous couples, Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria and basketball champion Tony Parker, married today in a civil ceremony in Paris that kicked off a weekend wedding extravaganza expected to include church vows and a star-studded chateau bash.

Denmark 86 (152) Ireland 70 (150)

CAL BOWDLER believes Ireland has what it takes to reach European basketball’s elite with victory in Denmark tomorrow.

Ireland's women have lost their opening European Championship qualifier against Sweden.

Ireland’s Senior Men take on Denmark on Saturday in the final series of the play-offs for Division A.

Dublin-born NBA star Pat Burke helped Ireland's men team stay in the hunt for European championship qualification by top-scoring in tonight's 82-68 Division B win over the Slovak Republic.