Archives › Kurt Helin
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Danny Ainge has placed a big bet on Shaquille O’Neal. He went from the summer insurance plan to the guy who should be the starting center for the Celtics in the playoffs. If he’s healthy. The Celtics yesterday decided to stop guessing when he might be back, but Shaq himself told ESPNBoston — at his…
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I’ve heard plenty of Celtics fans tell me why I am wrong, but count me in the group that thinks trading away Kendrick Perkins will come back to haunt Boston. I’m not alone, Dan Shaughnessy ripped Ainge in Sports Illustrated when the trade went down. But Monday he gave Ainge a chance to defend the…
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Channing Frye likely out 2-3 weeks with dislocated shoulder
Mar 7, 2011, 4:44 PM EDT
Well, now who is going to hit the game winning shots for the Phoenix Suns? Channing Frye, who nailed two game winners last week, will be out about two to three weeks with a separated shoulder, the Suns announced Monday after Frye underwent an MRI. Frye is going to meet with an orthopedic surgeon still,…
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You would think after having been on this Heat superteam treadmill for about nine months now, Erik Spoelstra would have figured out that the media coverage is pretty intense. And that everything you say is going to be dissected for meaning (that may not be there). And that if you say guys are crying in…
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Some Heat players cried in the locker room after the loss Sunday. So what? The reaction from many around the league has been “I’ve been there.” Well, not in the Knicks locker room, they thought it was way funnier than anything Dane Cook ever said. But others took more muted tone. Even Stan Van Gundy,…
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A lot has been made about Heat coach Erik Spoelstra saying guys were crying in the locker room, about what the Heat players said after their loss to the Bulls Sunday. You’ve read a lot of the quotes, but we thought you might like to see the words from the men themselves in context. Make…
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NBA Power Rankings: The Lakers are on top, the Cavs are out of the cellar
Mar 7, 2011, 2:37 PM EDT
Changes at the top and bottom of the roster, and we wonder who can coach Kwame Brown? 1. Lakers (45-19, LW #4). It’s not the seven wins in a row that vault them to the top (well, it was in part). It wasn’t just wins over Boston and the Spurs recently. It’s the defense with…
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Kevin Love says there was a lot of recruiting going on All-Star weekend
Mar 7, 2011, 1:10 PM EDT
Lest you think that star players trying to recruit others stars was just some isolated little fad, we bring you Kevin Love. If he doesn’t sign an extension with the Timberwolves (and they plan on offering him a max deal or at least near it), Love could be a restricted free agent in 2012. (Well,…
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Former Stern right hand man not optimistic about CBA negotiations
Mar 7, 2011, 12:44 PM EDT
You remember Russ Granik as the guy everyone cheered for when he came out to announce the second round of the NBA Draft every year (until he retired). Granik did more than just that and pick up David Stern’s dry cleaning as NBA Deputy Commissioner, however, he was the NBA’s lead negotiator when the last…
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Prokhorov backs off Nets to playoff pledge, looks long term — like to David West
Mar 7, 2011, 12:08 PM EDT
The Nets are not going to make the playoffs this year. I know it’s not a shock, we all kind of knew that was happening before the season started. They won 12 games last season, we all recognized how much work there was to do. They’ll probably finish around 25 wins this season, and that’s…
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Mark Cuban, Charlie Sheen talking about a new show. What could go wrong?
Mar 7, 2011, 11:25 AM EDT
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has his own television channel, HDNet. Which is cool, I want one. But having a television channel without a hit show is like having an iPhone without apps. As you read this, HDNet is showing some old Cheers reruns (the one where Diane’s cat dies) followed by a Third Eye…
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No Kendrick Perkins and Shaq hasn’t played in a month. That is making some Celtics fans uncomfortable. Dwight Howard on his suspension for getting a 16th technical (which he will serve Monday night): ‘I’ll try not to let the officiating affect the way I play. It’s very tough, but I’ve just got to do it.…
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Back in early July, when the Knicks had missed out on LeBron James and the Heat seemed to be forming a juggernaut, this day seemed a long way off. A day when Knicks stars Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony, feeling confident after another big win, were having a laugh at the expense of the Heat…
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Does the greater Los Angeles area really need more NBA teams than New Yorks has, and will have even after the Nets move to Brooklyn? More than Chicago? The Sacramento Kings are serious about a move to Anaheim and negotiations are ongoing. But according to Mitch Lawrence at the New York Post (via Eye On…
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Just moments before this play, Dirk Nowitzki hit what looked like the game-winning shot. But then Zach Randolph of the Grizzlies bested him. With a very Dirk-like shot — a high-arcing deep two pointer taken with a hand in his face. The shot Dirk has made a career out of. You can add Dallas to…
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Baseline to Baseline recaps: Andre Iguodala has got it going on. Again.
Mar 7, 2011, 7:07 AM EDT
What you missed while staring at the earth’s two suns…. The Bulls beating the Heat and the Lakers thumping the Spurs were our two games of the day Sunday. In other action: Sixers 125, Warriors 117 (OT): Teams often exit Warriors games with gaudy statistics, so we’ll chalk Evan Turner’s 20 points up to that.…
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Chris Paul suffers concussion, leaves court on stretcher, but tests negative
Mar 7, 2011, 12:19 AM EDT
That looked scary. It could have ended up much, much worse. In the third quarter us Sunday night Chris Paul drove the lane against the Cleveland Cavaliers, lost the ball, turned his head to find it as he slammed his head into the arm ad shoulders of Ramon Session. Paul collapsed to the floor and…
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Shaquille O’Neal will be back in the Celtics lineup… sometime. Just as he was about to return from a right Achilles tendon injury, now he is having right foot soreness. Basically, the Celtics have stopped trying to guess when he will be back, reports A. Sherrod Blakely of CSN New England. “He (O’Neal) worked out…
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There is no crying in basketball. Well, there is, but we don’t really talk about it. Basketball is an emotional game. Well, it is if you care. So not for Andray Blatche most nights. But if you are invested — as any professional player should be — there will be wild emotional highs (we all…
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Phil Jackson did not treat this like any other game. He spent extra time in film preparation for this game, according to ESPN Los Angeles’ Dave Miller (a former Hornet assistant coach). He sent Kobe Bryant back into the fourth quarter of a blowout, when Kobe usually has ice on his knees. With 3:11 left…
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What does another Miami Heat loss tell us? That Chicago is good.
Mar 6, 2011, 4:45 PM EDT
For many this s going to be about Miami losing again in a close game against an elite team (87-86 to the Bulls). About the Heat players crying in the locker room afterward. About how the Heat are now 1-16 this season on shots to tie or win in the final 10 seconds of the…
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The NBA gets it. Twitter, Facebook, not ripping down videos off of YouTube. The NBA has embraced both the Web and social media. And that has put them light years ahead of the other major sports leagues in this arena. That was highlighted at the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference (and reported at TrueHoop, who killed…
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If it is not Lakers vs. Spurs in a May best-of-seven series to be the Western Conference champion, it will be a little disappointing. Sorry Mr. Cuban, Mr. Durant. It’s not personal, we do like you. You’re teams are entertaining and quite good. But Lakers/Spurs would match the two teams in the West best built…
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We bring you a Clippers highlight that does not involve Blake Griffin. Or a car. With Baron Davis gone and Eric Gordon out — again — more is falling to rookie Eric Bledsoe. And he’s struggled to fill that role, as you would expect of a rookie. But he shows flashes. He plays hard. He’s…
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Yes, the Miami Heat have some problems. They have the surging Chicago Bulls ready to pass them for second in the East if the Bulls defeat the Heat Sunday in Miami. They have struggled against the league’s better teams and were embarrassingly lapped by the Spurs a few nights back. They are 14-17 against teams…
