"Always buy the extra half-point"
With the wild race for a playoff spot in the Western Conference reaching its final days, the Phoenix Suns and the Utah Jazz have yet to settle the score to claim the final seed. Fittingly in terms of timeliness, they will match up against against each other tonight in the most important game of the season for both teams to determine which team will make the playoffs or go home. The Suns (33-31) look to sweep the season series for the second
Tony Allen of the Memphis Grizzlies had eight steals last night. Eight! He is one of the league’s toughest on-the-ball defenders — the type of guy every contending team needs on its roster to sic on the opposing team’s best scorer. Lindsay Hunter made a living out of it for years. So did Bruce Bowen. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute of the Milwaukee Bucks has joined that select group, and Andre Iguodala has made his mark in the NBA and internationally (on the
Well, they’re in. The Philadelphia 76ers are in the playoffs. They might not be there very long, and once they exit, their leading scorer might be leaving as well. But for now, all is well in the City of Brotherly Love. The Sixers won a game they were supposed to win, had to win, needed to win, pulling away for a 105-87 road victory over the shorthanded New Jersey Nets that clinched their second playoff berth in as many years under coach
This time of year is so strange for fantasy owners. We’re trying hard to win our Head-to-Head playoffs or Roto leagues, but have no idea who might — or might not — actually play. Raymond Felton, assumed to be shut down for the season, started for the Blazers (13 PTS, 7 AST) but Nolan Smith (10 PTS, 6 REB, 5 AST) still got 34 minutes. As usual, the Spurs used 13 guys and limited everyone’s court time, yet still romped.
NEWS The 1977-78 NBA scoring race was so close — San Antonio’s George Gervin (27.21 ppg) edged Denver’s David Thompson (27.15 ppg) — that if you turn to the Official NBA Guide for the points leaders for that season, you’ll discover Gervin’s and Thompson’s averages extend two decimal points rather the traditional one, necessitated by the fact that the league’s closest scoring race ever was determined by a miniscule .06 ppg. That contest has entered the realm of the legendary based
Imagine how mad Doug Collins would have been had the Philadelphia 76ers lost. Collins was fined $15,000 for verbally abusing a referee as he left the Bankers Life Fieldhouse floor in Indianapolis on Saturday night – after his 76ers won, 109-106, in overtime. The fine was announced Monday by NBA executive vice president of basketball operations Stu Jackson. The Sixers held a three-point lead when Indiana’s Danny Granger missed a 3-pointer. There was some serious pushing and shoving underneath the basket, and Pacers
Despite a near catastrophic meltdown over the last two months, the Philadelphia 76ers have done just enough – winning the last two games against Indiana and Cleveland – for a comfortable three-game lead for the eighth and final seed in the Eastern Conference. A win against New Jersey or loss by Milwaukee tonight would secure the Sixers a playoff berth, and they are just a half-game behind the New York Knicks for the seventh seed. The Sixers (33-30) look for their third