ATLANTA — In a game when J.R. Smith stole the momentum away from the Atlanta Hawks and slowly quieted the Phillips Arena crowd, it was a potentially devastating injury to Hawks wing DeMarre Carroll that silenced the crowd altogether and may have been the biggest story of the night. [Read more…]
Considering the history of the Clippers, the easy shot is to compare them to the franchise they’ve always been. Losing a 3-1 lead in the series and a 19-point lead in the third quarter of what should have been the deciding game is another case of “the Clippers being the Clippers” – only on a much grander stage. The reality is, however, that as inept as the Clippers looked while losing in the Western semifinals to the Rockets, they are nothing
This is where DFS handicapping gets really interesting. It was easy enough to target Stephen Curry $10400 and James Harden $9500 last night as the Warriors edged the very stubborn Rockets, but not many touts or analysts expected Shaun Livingston $2600 (18 PTS, 7 REB, 3 AST) to be such a factor. He was on the Short List here and I hope you plugged him into your Tu-We lineups. [Read more…]
With a myriad of injuries and a questionable roster, the Los Angeles Lakers had the fourth-worst record (21-61) in the entire league during the regular season. On Tuesday, all the losing paid off, as the team managed to take the No. 2 spot in the upcoming 2015 NBA Draft. Luckily, the Lakers can now retain their pick instead of having to fork it up to the Philadelphia 76ers – part of the conditional agreement made during the Steve Nash trade. Kobe Bryant, who had a
Based on conversations I had with multiple people around the league at last week’s combine in Chicago, this draft sounds like it will be known as the Karl-Anthony Towns draft– and the Minnesota Timberwolves are going to get him. Barring an injury issue similar to what Joel Embiid had last year, Towns is all but certain to be the first player to shake hands with Adam Silver on draft night and become the third straight No. 1 pick to wear a Minnesota
21. Dallas Mavericks – Tyus Jones, PG, Duke If you watched any of Duke’s tournament games, you could see how big of an impact Jones had as a true freshman. Jones is a throwback PG that creates great scoring opportunities for his teammates, but he also has the ability to hit the big shot or convert when he’s open, sort of like Chris Paul. While Jones is not big, he has tons of heart and is a true leader. In a point guard-driven league, especially
11. Indiana Pacers – Kelly Oubre, SF, Kansas Like many Jayhawks prospects, Oubre should be even better in an NBA system where he’ll have more scoring opportunities. As a rookie, Oubre should be able to hit open jumpers, and if he develops his ball-handling skills to create his own scoring opportunities, he could be very good. He averaged 9.3 points and 5 rebounds in just 21 minutes per game for Kansas, and went 15-for-19 from the foul line in a late-season victory over
Was an unexpected comeback ever in the works for injured Houston Rockets point guard Patrick Beverley in the Western Conference Finals? It depends who you believe. Rockets’ officials, including head coach Kevin McHale and general manager Daryl Morey, consistently stuck with the company line that he’s out for the entire playoffs, which the Rockets first said on March 30 after Beverley opted for surgery to repair torn ligaments in his left, non-shooting wrist. But Beverley himself has had other ideas. In April, he told Mark Berman