TEL AVIV — With the announcement of this year’s early entry candidates for the NBA draft, now is a good time to take a look at this season’s international crop. There are no clear cut stars coming from abroad in this year’s draft, but there are a few names that have a good chance to be solid contributors to teams down the line. (Click here to reach Tommy Dee’s column on 5 Hidden Gems among the Americans who ar entering the draft
MAGIC/PACERS Danny Granger scored 25 points to help the Pacers defeat the Orlando Magic 105-87 on Tuesday night and clinch their first-round Eastern Conference playoff series 4-1. Darren Collison scored 15 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter and George Hilladded 15 points for the Pacers. Nelson led Orlando with 27 points and made 5 of 8 3-pointers. Glen Davis, a thorn in Indiana’s side throughout the series, scored 15 but made just 6 of 17 shots. CELTICS/HAWKS Al Horford scored 19 points, hit Atlanta’s final two baskets and came
Just when it seemed fair to come to the conclusion that the first round of the playoffs (with the exception of the Clippers-Grizzlies series) sucked worse than a broken Oreck … Just when it looked like Thursday might be a decent time to schedule a date night … Halt! It’s all good. We were ridded of the Orlando Magic and their soap opera season in the first game of the night Wednesday, and after that came dramatics and comebacks that made that early evening
The first round of the playoffs are seemingly coming to a quicker close than many may have anticipated. The Mavericks and Jazz have already been swept out, and one of the remaining teams in each series is on the brink of elimination. Four teams will try to extend their postseason on Tuesday night as they head into their series down 3-1, but history is not on their side, as only eight teams in NBA history have come back from a 3-1 deficit. The
From www.fiba.com
// Check out this video of Jack Nicholson Mark Heisler, our Hall of Fame columnist, weighing in on the state of NBA basketball coverage in the day and age of social media, the 24/7 news cycle and the journalistic need to sensationalize coverage in order to engage eyeballs. Give a close listen to what Mark has to say. It’ll be the topic of his column Wednesday. It makes a lot of sense, and it comes from the perspective of a super-respected senior writer
