Stan Van Gundy wants to be back with the Orlando Magic next season, and he’s saying so definitively. That’s more than Dwight Howard can say. In an interview today with Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel in the wake of a bizarre series of events that included the revelation that Howard asked management to fire Van Gundy, the coach was asked what he wants to do next season. “I don’t have a scenario in my head where I wouldn’t (return),” said Van Gundy,
The Picker was curious about the two mortal locks I wrote about this morning, but he agreed with only one of them. After a poor showing Friday night (0-2), “The Picker” has spoken anew. We’ll get to his latest picks in a moment. The Picker” is a guy I chat with often on Twitter who likes to pick NBA games against the spread. He has been on a tremendous run the past couple months, and I dared him to publish his picks prior to the
Tensions are running high as the playoffs draw near, and two teams feeling the heat will take their respective aggressions out on each other when the floundering Philadelphia 76ers host the reeling Orlando Magic in Saturday’s best game. If you haven’t seen the NBA’s most awkward clip of 2012, here it is. The Dwight Howard saga has somehow grown since the trade deadline, with his sudden reversal on his trade demand and his decision to opt in to his contract and possibly
By TERRY LYONS NEW YORK, APRIL 6, 2012 — There’s a common belief that when someone passes from this earth, their life passes before their eyes in an instant. If that is the case, together with one of my best friends in the world, I can now attest to living through that experience when we attended Magic/Bird on Broadway last Wednesday afternoon. For 90 minutes, we must’ve been out cold because our basketball lives passed right in front of our eyes
Just sent an e-mail to “The Picker” asking for a public explanation. He went 0-2 last night after a 3-0-1 start Wednesday and Thursday. He could have taken the Spurs and given away 11 1/2 points against the worst team in the West, but nooooooo. San Antonio won by 25 over New Orleans. He could have looked at the over/under of 188.5 on Cavaliers-Raptors, realized there were two D-League offenses competing, and plugged the under (164 combined points). But noooooooo. “The Picker” is
Kevin Durant scored 44 points but his team lost their third straight game. Russell Westbrook was close to a triple-double (21 PTS, 11 REB, 9 AST) but missed 16 FG attempts, which doesn’t help fantasy owners. Serge Ibaka played less than 20 minutes; only his coach knows why. The Pacers are in a groove — Danny Granger led the way with 26 and Paul George had 16 rebounds from the backcourt. Roy Hibbert (21 PTS, 12 REB, 4 BLK) played
Let’s go down the checklist, shall we? The Miami Heat are a team that suffers too many letdowns too consistently. Check. The Los Angeles Lakers cannot thrive when Andrew Bynum is a hothead. Check. The Oklahoma City Thunder scare the wits out of nobody. Check. The San Antonio Spurs are a machine. Check. Well, that was quite a Friday night in the NBA wasn’t it? And for different reasons than those that made Thursday such a special night. That’s the thing about this truncated, squished-together
“I hit my seven-team parlay last night.” “My bankroll is up 2900 percent this week.” “I went 26-1 this week.” These were some of the messages I was getting a couple months ago from one of my Twitter followers. Naturally, I had my doubts, but I started communicating with the guy by e-mail, asking him for his picks in advance. Bang, bang, bang, bang — he kept hitting them. And not just against the spread. He’d say stuff like “I like the first-half under