Chris Bernucca

Bernucca: The Hawks Are Real and They Are Spectacular

February 2, 2015 by Chris Bernucca

Why do doubts remain about the Atlanta Hawks? The Hawks are 40-8. They have lost twice since Thanksgiving. They have beaten Chicago, Cleveland, Houston, Dallas, the LA Clippers, Cleveland again, Portland, the Clippers again, Memphis, Washington, Toronto, Chicago again, Oklahoma City and Portland again. The Hawks just completed the best undefeated month in NBA history, going 17-0 in January. They have won 19 consecutive games, the fifth-longest streak in league annals. They have won 12 straight road games. What seems to be the

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Rookie Rankings, Week 12: Galloway Recalling Linsanity for Knicks

January 30, 2015 by Chris Bernucca

When you think of words to describe the New York Knicks’ season, “fun” isn’t among them. If you’re looking for words beginning with the letter F, “frightening” and “failure” come to mind. If you’re looking for three-letter words, “bad” certainly works. As for four-letter words, well, I’m sure Knicks fans have used them all. But fun? Well, that’s how Langston Galloway sees it. “I’m just out there having fun,” the rookie point guard said after Wednesday’s win over Oklahoma City. “Just trying to play

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Three-Man Weave: Playoffs, Hawks and Shootouts

January 29, 2015 by Chris Bernucca

When you consider the number of basketball savvy writers on our staff and the number of opinions they have, it is obvious that we always go way too long between editions of the Three-Man Weave. But it is back. In this edition, we take a look at the bottom of the Eastern Conference playoff bracket, the sizzling Atlanta Hawks and perhaps the best Shootout field in All-Star Weekend history. 1. Assuming the six teams in the East above .500 make the playoffs,

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Bernucca: Who Deserves to be an All-Star Reserve?

January 26, 2015 by Chris Bernucca

Every team wants a player in the NBA All-Star Game. Just this week, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban complained that the voting system is “absolutely, positively broken” and lobbied for the NBA to provide additional roster spots for reserves who may have been overlooked by the fans. His reasoning was that leading vote-getter Stephen Curry received a mere 1.5 million votes, which is a miniscule total when you consider the global, electronic balloting process. As he often does, Cuban made some good

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Rookie Rankings, Week 11: New International Rookie Game Format is Good Idea

January 23, 2015 by Chris Bernucca

The glorious history of NBA All-Star Weekend is littered with bad ideas. Remember 2-Ball? The Wheel of Fortune at the Slam Dunk Contest? The game uniforms that had different colors on the front and back, so you couldn’t tell which players were on which team? This week, however, the NBA announced a change to one of the All-Star Weekend events that is a really good idea. The Rising Stars will pit American players against international players. The Rising Stars has undergone several changes

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PODCAST: Houston, We Have No Problems

January 21, 2015 by Chris Bernucca

On Tuesday night, publisher Chris Sheridan was supposed to appear on the Red & Orange Report, a podcast hosted by Josh Reese and Sheridan Hoops contributor Ben DuBose that covers Houston sports. Maybe Sheridan was chasing down more info on Tom Thibodeau’s shaky future as coach of the Chicago Bulls. Or maybe he was watching President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address. But I was asked to fill in for him. In a lengthy discussion, I talked about how the Rockets

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Bernucca: Handing Out My Midseason Awards

January 19, 2015 by Chris Bernucca

One of the biggest knocks against the NBA is that when the season starts, there are only five or six teams that can truly win the championship, making the regular season and the early playoff rounds interminably tedious. Not this season. As we reach the midway point – 18 teams have played at least 41 games, another nine have played 40 – there are no less than a dozen teams with legitimate title aspirations, including a handful that haven’t been in the

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Rookie Rankings, Week 10: The Cavs Should Have Kept Wiggins

January 16, 2015 by Chris Bernucca

Maybe the Cleveland Cavaliers should have kept Andrew Wiggins. Yeah, I know, it’s easy to say now, with Kevin Love sitting out fourth quarters and contemplating whether to re-up alongside LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, while Wiggins drops 20 every night for the Minnesota Timberwolves. But I’m not just saying it now. I said it back in the summer, too, before the big deal was even done. [Read more…]

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