Top Posts
-
In an ideal world, the NBA (and basketball) is a meritocracy — how well you do as a player or coach or executive is based solely on how well you do your job. Skin color, religion, who you choose to sleep with, none of that should matter. But we know better — organized professional sports…
-
SEASON RECORDS Mavericks: 57-25 (No. 3 seed in Western Conference) Thunder: 55-27 (No. 4 seed) SEASON SERIES Dallas won the regular season series 2-1, but the most recent of the games was Jan. 6 — back before the Kendrick Perkins trade, and when Caron Butler was healthy. Nowitzki didn’t play in the Thunder win. So…
-
The Miami Heat shot the ball just as well as the Chicago Bulls. It didn’t feel that way at all, but the Bulls shot 43.7 percent in Game 1 and the Heat shot 47.1 percent. Use effective field goal percentage to account for all the Bulls made threes and it is a nearly identical 49.4…
-
It was a line buried in PBT’s Game 1 preview but it ended up telling you all you needed to know — both of these teams can defend so it was about who got the easy buckets. For Chicago, that meant offensive rebounds — and they went out grabbed 19 of them, a full 41.7…
-
Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Nick Collison…. Like the old Sesame Street game and song, “One of these things is not like the others.” Collison may look out of place among those elite scorers, he averaged 21 minutes a game off the bench for the Thunder this past season. The classic veteran role players.…
-
No doubt, Kevin Durant was special Sunday. In the biggest game of his NBA career he remained undaunted through a slow start and hit 11 of his last 16 shots on his way to 39 points. He played smart, used back-door cuts to get easy baskets, and once he got rolling everything fell. But that’s…
-
Let’s get this out of the way. Derrick Rose is going to average over 20 points per game in this series, and the only reason I’m putting that that low is because the trudging slow pace of the series due to the defense will limit how many opportunities he gets. Rose is not only a…
-
Shannon Brown has something he wants to make clear about Pau Gasol’s love life
May 15, 2011, 3:02 PM EDT
So, about all the rumors and innuendo regarding Pau Gasol‘s personal life and how it affected the end of his season. You’d expect most members of the Lakers’ organization to remain silent about the issue. I mean, after all, talking about it, in any context, is only going to make things worse. You don’t want…
-
There will be spectacular plays because this series features three of the most dynamic players in the league. Derrick Rose will break somebody’s ankle with a crossover, LeBron James will destroy someone in the open court. Bank on it. But highlights will not win this series. Defense will. That starts with Game 1 Sunday night…
-
Kevin Durant has played on big stages before. Just this past summer he led Team USA to gold in the World Championships for example. But his first ever NBA Game 7 is maybe his biggest stage yet, and if the Thunder are going to advance they need more out of him. With Tony Allen and…
-
There was a time when Charles Oakley was the enforcer. When he was Michael Jordan’s on-court bodyguard. But now the former Bull and Knick, and current Bobcats assistant coach, is suing a Las Vegas resort over an alleged beating by security guards last year. Oakley has filed a lawsuit against the Aria hotel at MGM…
-
Joakim Noah operates in a weird nexus of over and underrated. His actual consistent play by play work can vary greatly. He drifts in and out of plays and those nights where he simply doesn’t have it happen more often than you’d like. But when he does make an impact, he seems to shift the…
-
You conspiracy theorists who believe Tupac is alive, there was a guy on the grassy knoll and that aliens helped the Egyptians build the pyramids, you also believe LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade had it all mapped out two years ago. The Miami Heat master plan. That’s not how it worked. It was…
-
Here’s a question: Why on Earth did the Grizzlies draft Thabeet when they had Gasol?
May 14, 2011, 4:00 PM EDT
Hasheem Thabeet is probably the worst draft pick of the 2000′s. I know you’re going to want to say Kwame Brown. I get that. Bear in mind that Kwame Brown ended up an average center, ten years later. Sure, Thabeet could wind up in a similar boat, it just looks remarkably unlikely. Brown couldn’t put…
-
What if James Harden had been traded to Boston in the Perkins deal?
May 14, 2011, 2:00 PM EDT
When the Kendrick Perkins trade went through, there was a considerable amount of flabbergasting about what it was Boston saw in Jeff Green. That’s only intensified since, especially with the Celtics eliminated in the second round and Green coughing up a pair of killer turnovers down the stretch in Game 5. The Celtics have consistently maintained…
-
You know who’s NOT coaching the Warriors? Jerry Sloan or Jeff Van Gundy.
May 14, 2011, 12:00 PM EDT
The Warriors’ head coaching gig is kind of an interesting mesh of issues. You’ve got a management that has pledged to provide a new coach with defensive personnel, but there’s still a roster full of guys who don’t fit that description. There’s certainly talent, but not necessarily a cohesive unit, and few experienced veterans. There’s…
-
Jeff Green is primarily known as “that guy who sucks that we traded Perkins for” in Boston. It’s not fair, he doesn’t play the same position as Perkins, didn’t ask to be traded, and had to try and fit into a tight-knit team making a championship run. He was set up to fail. Granted, he…
-
Derrick Rose was special this season. He attacked the rim with a reckless abandon on his way to 24.1 points and 7.4 assists per game, carrying the Bulls offense all the way to the conference finals, picking up an MVP trophy along the way. He did it driving in a straight line. Literally. He is…
-
As Zach Randolph goes, so go the Memphis Grizzlies. While that statement might not necessarily be true on a game-by-game basis, it’s certainly true in terms of just how far Memphis will go in these playoffs. The Grizzlies needed every bit of Randolph’s 30 points and 13 rebounds in Game 6, on their way to…
-
From Games 2 through 5, Oklahoma City had kept the force of nature that can be Zach Randolph in check. They had packed the lane, threw multiple long defenders at him and never let him get comfortable. He shot just 32 percent in those four games. But it all changed Friday night, starting with Grizzlies coach Lionel…
-
Play
Video: Grizzlies ready for 'running' Spurs
-
Play
Video: Durant won't 'compromise himself' like other stars
-
Play
Video: Knicks avoid elimination
-
Play
Video: Heat finish off Bulls, James 'has no energy left'
-
Play
Video: Health woes make Heat vulnerable
-
Play
Video: Good news for Sacramento, Kings stay
