The Clippers are hardly the Knicks/Nets dumpster fire through their first 25 games. They’re not a sub-.500 bunch with a new coach working in the shadow of the old like the Grizzlies, or a sexy preseason Finals pick currently positioned outside the top 8 out West like Golden State. Nope, the Clippers are firmly planted in the playoff picture, coming home for six of their next eight after polishing off a seven-game road trip with a win Saturday in Washington. Chris Paul
At the quarter pole of this NBA season, it’s becoming clear which teams are truly part of the league’s elite and which ones ought to be condemned. In between is a giant squishy middle including some supposedly good teams, particularly … Oh, who are we kidding. Kobe is back! Let’s talk about that. Never has the return of a player to a .500 team with zero shot at a title been so highly anticipated. Sunday, the Lakers got back Bryant, and the
About a month into the season, we’re past the point of Wacky Fun, Power Rankings Style (THE SIXERS ARE 3-0! BEST TEAM IN THE LEAGUE!) but not quite to the point where teams in the NBA’s middle class start separating themselves or merit full buy-in’s whether positive (Portland) or catastrophic (New York, Brooklyn). Still, a few things are abundantly clear. First, the Eastern Conference is a dumpster fire that will burn until nothing but Indiana, Miami, and a heap of ashes remain. Second,
There is an alternate universe somewhere in which the Lakers stayed healthy, and people still speak of them as Finals contenders. Must be a nice place. Friday night at Staples Center, the Lakers took the floor short Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Steve Blake, and Jodie Meeks, with Metta World Peace playing one-legged after having fluid drained from his surgically repaired left knee earlier that afternoon, and a starting backcourt consisting of a point guard who should have just finished his senior season
It took every available day of the regular season and meant wounds both self- and externally inflicted, but the Lakers managed to qualify for the playoffs Wednesday night. They even avoided the high-powered Oklahoma City Thunder in the process. And while the San Antonio Spurs, winners of 58 games and featuring the best power forward in history along with the league’s best coach can hardly be considered the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, it is certainly a
With the finish line approaching, there are still many details left to be ironed out, but a few things have become more clear for the NBA’s four California squads. The Clippers, once sporting the league’s best record, are now in a dogfight to remain in the West’s coveted top three, avoiding a brutal 4/5 battle with either Denver or Memphis. The Warriors’ swoon appears over, and their playoff-starved fans can comfortably look forward to the playoffs. The Lakers will be an 8-seed
The big numbers this week? Three and six. As in seeds. And three of the four California teams are directly involved in the chase for those numbers. And the Kings? Well, surely they’re up to something. Can the Warriors hold on and avoid a first-round date with San Antonio or Oklahoma City? Can the Lakers climb high enough to do the same? Can the Clippers restore a little confidence and hold on to the three seed? This week went a long way towards
The All-Star break has come and gone, and the trade deadline is here. (We’ll get to that.) But the biggest story in California this week – the biggest in the NBA, really – came Monday with the death of Lakers owner Jerry Buss. It will have a serious impact on the league’s most important brand, so it makes sense to start there. [Read more…]