Carmelo Anthony Wraps Up China Tour With Furry Friend

New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony just wrapped up his promotional excursion through China, as part of the Jordan Brand Flight Tour, and made a new friend he tried to bring back to New York City with him.  Sadly for Knicks fans, it wasn't New Orleans Hornets guard Chris Paul.

The Knicks forward posted a picture of himself holding a cuddly panda bear on his Twitter account--and, although David Stern comes to mind, no it wasn't him.

'Melo, Paul and Miami Heat star Dwayne Wade just finished a week-long, four-city itinerary of China for the Jordan brand; which celebrates basketball in local communities.  The three NBA stars made stops at basketball camps and skills clinics to sign autographs and promote the game-- and the Michael Jordan sneakers over 300 million basketball fans will see and now be screaming for.

The big-three were treated like rock-stars and mobbed by thousands of screaming fans.  Yao Ming, you did a good job of bringing the NBA to the people's Republic.

The Knicks star and his fellow good will ambassadors each had their own shoes to promote for the tour.  Anthony's was called "Explosive" and based on a Chinese opera.

No word yet if Anthony signed with a Chinese team or if he and the free-agent-to-be Paul discussed the possibility of playing together for the Knicks.

Shaq Yuks it Up on Conan O'Brien's Late Night Show

Shaquille O'Neal's appearance on Conan O'Brien's late night talk show last night began with the 7-foot-1 former NBA player walking out onto the stage donning a Conan look-a-like red wig.  Hilarious.  Then the 7-foot-1 Shag then proceeded to maul Conan side-kick Andy Richter on the guest couch and later tried squeezing his 300-pound frame into a little go-kart for a  race with the host.  Let's put it mildly to the big guy-- none of it really worked.

Fans of Coco-- what does that mean?-- were rolling in the aisles and the two Big O's were slapsticking themselves silly,  but it was the same old Shaq routine.

 The four-time NBA champion, who never met a camera he didn't like, appeared on the TBS show as a cross-promotion for his new gig on TV.  Shaq had been hired by TBS sister station TNT as an NBA analyst.

The charming O'Neal is no stranger to the small screen and has appeared on Saturday Night Live and even had his own reality show, but some of his shtick is getting thinner than Conan himself.  What diet has that guy been on?

Even his first appearance as an analyst on TNT wasn't without controversy after the mumbling Shaq took a personal shot at Miami Heat player Chris Bosch after Shaq's former NBA championship team  lost in the NBA Finals. 

Superman (or whatever name O'Neal goes by these days) may not be a Hubie Brown (at least he's more appealing to the eye) in the analyst department, but Shaq doesn't take himself seriously and, if you can understand one out of every three words he says, O'Neal is sometimes pretty funny-- and not in a "Shazam" kind of way.

Chris Bosh's Four-Day Bachelor Party Filled With Guns, Booze and Levitation

Chris Bosh's bachelor party sounded a lot more fun than his NBA Championship series and lasted almost as long.  Bosh, the last wheel in the Miami Heat's Big Three, and his pals partied like rock stars during a four-day Las Vegas bacchanal dubbed "The Hangover 3."   Bosh celebrated, alongside 11 of his closest friends, with guns, liquor, steak dinners and magic shows. 

"It was everything these guys don't get to do during the season," said a source close to the party.

Funny, it sounds like a typical NBA season to me.

Miami teammates, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, were nowhere to be seen.  They probably had colds.

Bosh's Dirty Dozen, which included New Orleans Hornets players Jarrett Jack and Pops Mensah-Bonsu, kicked off the weekend by taking in Criss Angel's magic show "Believe" at the Luxor.  Angel pulled the guest of honor onstage and made him part of the act.  Backstage, Bosh was levitated by the greasy illusionist for a photo shoot.

The New York Post reported that Bosh and his posse's manly fun included blowing off steam at a gun range as soon as they hit the Strip and pigging out on steak dinners at some of the top restaurants in Vegas.

Other Sin City activities for Bosh and his posse included partying at Tao and a day of paintball.

The crew capped off the festivities on Sunday with a "Rack Pat" casino night at Caesars and the comedy-styling of Mark Curry.

Bosh will marry Adrienne Williams at the Fountainbleu Hotel in Miami in July.