Archives › Matt Moore
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“We learn little from victory, much from defeat.” – Japanese proverb “It’s about damn time.” – LeBron James on winning the NBA championship He’s there. After the Heat’s 121-106 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder, he’s finally there. LeBron James has reached the place where so few stars reach. He is certified. He is bonafide. He is…
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In the NBA Finals last year, Mario Chalmers hit a huge three to give the Heat the lead late vs. Dallas. It was supposed to be his moment. Finally, finally, he would be accepted, respected, celebrated. It would be about him, and his game, his shot. It was not. A blown rotation and an answer from Dallas…
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Video: Russell Westbrook with a crucial mistaken foul off jump-ball
Jun 20, 2012, 1:51 AM EDT
43 points. Seven rebounds. Five assists. Russell Westbrook was pure and complete brilliance for 46 minutes. And then he made the biggest mistake of his career. Westbrook played the best game of his professional career, in a game where the Thunder needed each and every point, rebound, assist and play to hang with Miami after…
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Charlotte Bobcats hire Mike Dunlap, assistant coach at St. John’s
Jun 18, 2012, 9:50 PM EDT
Well… I mean… you know… the one thing you can say is… huh. Yeah, that about sums it up. The Charlotte Observer first reported and a half-dozen news outlets are confirming that the Charlotte Bobcats have hired a coach. It’s not Brian Shaw. It’s not Jerry Sloan. It’s not Quin Snyder. It’s Mike Dunlap, former…
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NBA Finals Heat-Thunder Game 3: LeBron James finally suffocates Kevin Durant in the fourth
Jun 18, 2012, 2:36 AM EDT
(Before we get started, there is an alternate view point here, one in which Durant was out of his rhythm because he had been benched for the final 5:40 due to picking up his fourth foul, or that he was tentative for the same reason, concerned with drawing an offensive foul. If you choose to…
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NBA Finals Heat-Thunder Game 3: The Triad have found the nexus
Jun 18, 2012, 12:33 AM EDT
In Miami’s 91-86 win over Oklahoma City Sunday night, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade scored 35 points on 34 shots. That’s a bad ratio. It would indicate that LeBron James (29 points on 23 shots) carried the team. But that’s off, you have to consider everything. The metrics, the plays, the context of the series,…
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Jeff Green’s agent says things are going great for Jeff Green on the free agent market. Yeah.
Jun 17, 2012, 6:30 PM EDT
You have to be rooting for Jeff Green. The Oklahoma City scapegoat before Russell Westbrook took over the mantle, Green was traded to Boston with huge expectations, and before he could settle in, a serious heart condition that proved to be life-threatening ended his season and put his life in danger. Now he’s on the…
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Report: Scott Brooks turned down 3-year, $11 million extension offer
Jun 17, 2012, 5:00 PM EDT
These Finals don’t feature coaching legends. Both Scott Brooks and Erik Spoelstra face constant doubts and criticism from fans and media. This is how it works if you haven’t won a title. Win one, and you’re on a whole other level, you have the credit built up and no matter what you get the benefit…
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With the Heat and Thunder knotted at 1-1, the NBA Finals resume Sunday night for the latest in a series of “pivotal” games. Both sides have accomplished some things in the first two games beyond just the one win, and both have established challenges they’ll have to overcome. Here are five things to keep an…
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LeBron says you can’t stop KD, you can only hope to contain him. That also will not work.
Jun 17, 2012, 11:30 AM EDT
Lost in the eternal pursuit of a high quality shot by any NBA team on a given possession in the name of efficiency is this reality: you’re always going to have bad possessions. End of the shot clock, up against a trap, heat checking, trying too hard to victimize a mismatch, all these things happen…
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Lou Williams was rattled about as a Sixth Man of the Year Runner-Up candidate this year (since James Harden wrapped it up by the end of January). He didn’t shoot well from the floor, but his True Shooting percentage (52.5%) was just OK enough to cover for it. He was the Sixers’ best scoring option…
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The rumors are true, and for better or worse, Brandon Roy is going to give it another go. Roy’s friend Will Conroy said on Twitter that he and Roy were together answering questions Friday night, and provided photo evidence. Roy retired this season due to his knee condition which robbed him of most of his…
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Russell Westbrook will not be altering his game, thank you very much
Jun 16, 2012, 4:00 PM EDT
Russell Westbrook, for reasons I struggle to comprehend, took a lot of flak for Game 2. Magic Johnson called it the worst performance by a point guard in the Finals. People have blamed the entire loss on him. As if, without Westbrook, the Thunder would have magically created his 27 points, 8 rebounds, and 7…
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Heat says they’re done talking about last year’s Finals disaster.
Jun 16, 2012, 2:30 PM EDT
You have to live with your past mistakes in the NBA, more so than most people in a normal life. Your faults and misfortunes are broadcast to millions of people, over and over again, dissected in print, television, podcasts, and bar conversations for year. Things which happened in seconds become the source of constant…
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There’s a book on the Dream Team coming out on July 10th by Jack McCallum, who writes for Sports Illustrated and who wrote “:07 Seconds or Less” and it’s incredible like you’d imagine. I got a sneak copy of it that I’ll share thoughts on about later. But as prep for the book’s publication, McCallum…
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2012 NBA Finals Game 3: 20 observations as the series shifts to South Beach
Jun 16, 2012, 11:00 AM EDT
Here are twenty observations about the 2012 NBA Finals through two games as the series shifts to Miami for a three-game set. 1. First, and really, this can’t be stressed enough, the 2-3-2 format is horrible. I get why. I do. You don’t want the Finals dragging in for an entire month. But here’s the…
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Well, it won’t be the Knicks or Magic, but the old weirdo’s got another ride left in him. From the AP: Phil Jackson says “there might be” an NBA job that would lure him out of retirement. The 11-time NBA champion coach tells HBOs “Real Sports” that the Knicks and Magic openings this offseason were…
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I had serious questions about the Thunder defense heading into Game 1. After all, this was a top ten, but not top five defense throughout the year, and it still gave up a ton of points to San Antonio (which granted has the best offense in the league). I had major concerns about how they…
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NBA Finals Heat-Thunder Game 2: LeBron hulks out inside and rips Thunder to shreds
Jun 15, 2012, 1:53 AM EDT
For years we’ve asked the question. “LeBron James is so big and powerful. Why doesn’t he get inside more?” In Game 2 of the NBA Finals, we found out what happens when he does. James scored 18 of his 32 points in the paint. He scored 20 points on field goal attempts. So on non-free-throws,…
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The most entertaining Finals of probably the last fifteen years begins Tuesday night in Oklahoma City. With that here are 50 thoughts, observations, and predictions as the Oklahoma City Thunder face the Miami Heat in the 2012 NBA Finals. 1. This is going to be fun. 2. I’m not talking like “oh, hey, we’re going…
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How Brendan Haywood’s contract structure could help the Mavs reload
Jun 10, 2012, 4:00 PM EDT
The Dallas Morning News shared an interesting note about Brendan Haywood‘s seemingly albatross contract that could be huge this summer. Haywood has what one NBA executive called “the best spread provision in the NBA” in his contract. In layman’s terms, any team that waives Haywood can spread out the payments for the remainder of his…
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I’ll say it, I buried him. I absolutely buried Erik Spoelstra after Game 5. He had failed to make any meaningful adjustments, had allowed the Celtics to dominate the structure of the series, and had squandered opportunities to put this series away. I buried him. And hey, shocker, I was wrong. He’s not buried. He’s…
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Report: Larry Bird no longer has a relationship with GM David Morway
Jun 10, 2012, 11:31 AM EDT
When Larry Bird was retained as President of Basketball Operations for the Pacers, there was an interesting wrinkle. Kevin Pritchard, not longer-tenured David Morway, was tapped for the GM position under Bird. It was thought that was because Morway, having interviewed for vacant positions around the league, was simply headed elsewhere. Turns out that’s true,…
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Video: LeBron James hits a massive dagger three to end the Celtics’ hopes and dreams
Jun 10, 2012, 10:06 AM EDT
The Bosh threes were what won the day. The Wade and-one and jumpers were what ran them out. But this LeBron James dagger pull-up three with 5:46 to go? That was when the Celtics knew. It was not their day. Their day is over. It is the Heat’s day, the Heat’s world, the Heat’s time,…
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It’s possible, however remotely, that Miami’s 101-88 win in Game 7 wasn’t the end of the Big 3 era in Boston. It’s not inconceivable that Danny Ainge and Doc Rivers could elect for one more ride. But it doesn’t feel like it. It doesn’t feel like it because of how close this team came to…
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Video: Grizzlies ready for 'running' Spurs
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Video: Durant won't 'compromise himself' like other stars
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Video: Knicks avoid elimination
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Video: Heat finish off Bulls, James 'has no energy left'
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Video: Health woes make Heat vulnerable
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Video: Good news for Sacramento, Kings stay
