Archives › Kurt Helin
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Mix Celtics defense with Bucks offense and you get a serious whooping
Mar 13, 2011, 11:45 PM EDT
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The Milwaukee Bucks have the worst offense in the NBA (98.3 points per possession according to Hoopdata). The Boston Celtics have the second best defense in the NBA (97.5 points per 100 possessions). Combine the two with a pinch of end-of-season lethargy from the Bucks and you have a perfect storm — a game where…
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Phil Jackson has been there, he has played golf with Michael Jordan. He has had dinners with Kobe Bryant. He has coached them both. He has won championships with both. His perspective on comparing the greatest player of his generation (if not all time) and his heir apparent may have the most insight. And he…
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First Stan Van Gundy said he wasn’t allowed to have an opinion on Dwight Howard’s technical because David Stern is essentially a Middle Eastern dictator in terms of allowing a diversity of opinion. Stern shot back that he wasn’t going to talk to Van Gundy but would speak to Orlando Magic management about Van Gundy’s…
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The NFL lockout is about to start after days of failed negotiations and amidst a big gulf between players and owners. For NBA fans, it will be this and worse. The NBA owners and players may be farther apart and more antagonistic to each other than their NFL counterparts. That’s why we say the lockout…
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It’s not fair — it’s on the players, not him — but Frank Vogel is not coming back as the Pacers head coach next season. He is this season’s Kim Hughes — good guy, good coach, thrown in an impossible situation and not brought back because he could not herd cats. So who is next?…
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I come into this with bias. For one, I love Guinness. I drink it (although only in specific places that pour it right, a couple trips to Ireland spoiled me). Secondly, I love Bill Walton. The greatest San Diego Clipper ever. Sure he’s over the top and a whole bunch of other things, but he’s…
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Think there might be a Kobe chapter? According to WEEI in Boston, Shaquille O’Neal is working on a new book with one of the nation’s best sportswriters, Jackie MacMullan (via Kevin Ding at the Orange County Register). “She knew things that I’d forgotten about. We were sitting at the house talking — we meet twice…
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Apparently the economy is turning around in New York City. Because the cost of seeing the new and improved New York Knicks will be a lot higher next year — the average seat price is going up by 49 percent, as the New York Post reports. MSG sports president Scott O’Neil is scheduled to meet…
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Amar’e Stoudemire’s technical rescinded, no suspension. Yet.
Mar 11, 2011, 2:24 PM EDT
I’m not sure we should look at this as Amar’e Stoudemire getting out of jail, just that his sentence was suspended. For now. But it was the right call. The league has rescinded the technical given to Amar’e Stoudemire (and the matching one to Brendan Haywood) during Thursday night’s Mavericks blowout of the Knicks. That…
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Someday, Steve Nash should have a medical textbook about him. He’s battled back pain for years — that’s why he lays down on the sidelines — and had his face busted up a few times but has kept playing. The second half of the book would be about conditioning and eating right. The man tries…
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Scottie Pippen says Michael Jordan could score 100 points today
Mar 11, 2011, 1:18 PM EDT
Back in the Jordan era, defenders out on the wing could “hand check” — put their hands on the guy with the ball — and there was no call. A little grab, a little push did not elicit a whistle. Nor did Jordan pushing off to create space. Today (for the last decade almost), you…
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Pacers teammates almost come to blows, Bird blames them not coach
Mar 11, 2011, 12:31 PM EDT
For the past 10 days, the Indiana Pacers have been the worst team in the NBA. It’s not just that they are 0-5, they have looked terrible getting there. As we pointed you to this morning in our one liners, the Pacers have had the lead just 3.4 percent of the time in those games…
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He’s not a classic Mike D’Antoni system guy. Almost the opposite, really. But Chauncey Billups is an elite point guard who can adjust his game (and D’Antoni has adjusted his system a little), a guy who is comfortable on the big stage and under pressure, and in the end that’s what matters. When has played,…
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“It’s my job,” he said. “You’ve got to work at it.” Vintage Kobe Bryant quote to Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register that sums up why he was shooting baskets in AmericanAirlines Arena two hours after the Lakers had lost to the Heat. A game where Kobe faltered — he shot 2-of-11 in the…
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Fantastic blog post at Magic Basketball about measuring teams against expectation and narrative. Dwyane Wade surprised the Lakers and Kobe Bryant by going away from screen at a key point last night. Except he does that a lot. Stephen Jackson says he’ll play Friday. OF course, he said that a couple days ago and it…
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LeBron’s team of lawyers came in and made quick work of this. About 48 hours after a lawsuit was filed, an Atlanta nightclub amended it to take LeBron James out of it, the Associated Press reports (via CBS Eye on Basketball). The Opera nightclub says “the matter has been resolved,” and it actually was “misled”…
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Yao Ming says he is not done. Injuries to his feet have kept the one time cornerstone of the Rockets franchise out of all but five games total the last two seasons. He’s had a couple of major foot surgeries in the last two years. But he told reporters Thursday at the Rockets annual Tennies…
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This was the play of the game in the Heat/Lakers showdown. Tied 88-88 with a minute and a half to go, Kobe Bryant tries to drive left on Dwyane Wade from the top of the key (triangle offense be damned the Lakers go isolation) and Wade strips the ball. Then after chasing it down he…
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Heat get some confidence, Kobe gets some fuel — everybody wins
Mar 10, 2011, 11:55 PM EDT
Here is what you need to know about what Thursday night meant to the Lakers, and why Kobe Bryant has pushed his teams to two consecutive titles. Thirty minutes after the Heat defeated the Lakers 94-88 in a game where Kobe’s shot was off after the first quarter (8-21 overall after starting 4-4) and his…
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Amar’e Stoudemire’s status for Sunday’s Knicks game against the Pacers is now in doubt as he picked up his 16th technical Thursday night, the number that triggers an automatic one-game suspension. Although, don’t be shocked if the league rescinds this one. Everyone’s favorite referee (*cough, cough*) Bennett Salvatore rushed in with 9:37 left in the…
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If the Denver Nuggets front office had gotten their wishes — if they could have traded Carmelo Anthony to the New Jersey Nets for Derrick Favors and picks rather than to New York — then Deron Williams would be a Knick today. In one of the infinite alternate universes that is the reality, but in…
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Because it wouldn’t be a big game for the Lakers if Phil Jackson didn’t take one last dig at the opponent… In the pregame media gathering in Miami, Jackson said he was not really a fan of the “Xbox games or whatever those games are when you play 1-on-1” offense style that Erik Spoelstra put…
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The Knicks have become the ultimate leverage for free agents — flirt publically with the big market team trying to rebuild through free agency and watch your current team up their offer to keep you. Ask Rudy Gay how that works if you’re unsure. Marc Gasol of the suddenly hot Memphis Grizzlies is a guy…
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Don’t know if you’ve heard this, but the Lakers have won eight in a row… what, that got mentioned in the media already? They’re doing it with defense… that got mentioned too? Andrew Bynum? Kobe as facilitator? Lamar Odom is still very tall? All talked about already… Well then, just watch some video highlights. There’s…
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Chris Bosh wants the ball more. And he wants to be on the low block, not the elbow. He’s shooting more jumpers than ever before and he wants some shots at the rim. But also he wants some key touches go get in the flow of the game, not to be the guy watching Dwyane…
