Last week, we had a book review of Don’t Put Me In Coach, in which Ohio State benchwarmer and author Mark Titus repeatedly refers to teammate Evan Turner as “The Villain.” On Monday night in Boston, The Villian was The Hero. Turner shook off a tough shooting night to make a difficult driving, twisting layup that gave the Philadelphia 76ers the lead for good, then added two clutch free throws to help them hold on for an 82-81 victory over the Celtics
Two years ago, the Oklahoma City Thunder were the upstarts who gave the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers a serious run for their money in a first-round series that lasted six tough games. The Lakers emerged primarily on the strength of their veteran core and extensive postseason experience, while the Thunder went through growing pains that all young teams have. This time, the Thunder – two years wiser and perhaps still not at their ceiling – are the favorites, while
When Derrick Rose went down with a torn ACL in Game 1, Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said, “We have more than enough to win.” No one doubted him. After all, Chicago was 18-9 this season without Rose and his myriad injuries. And the Bulls were playing the Philadelphia 76ers, quite possibly the weakest of all the postseason teams. Then Joakim Noah went down with a severely sprained ankle in Game 3, and Thibodeau again said, “We have more than enough to win.” Again,
We haven’t had a 76ers-Celtics playoff series in 10 years, so there is a whole generation of NBA fans who may not understand the historical significance of their Eastern Conference semifinal showdown: They once hated each other. This is the 19th playoff meeting between Boston and Philadelphia and should be just an intense as all of the previous matchups. The fourth-seeded Celtics appear to have an edge in experience over the eighth-seeded Sixers. But there is a fine line between
WHAT HAPPENED: The old man, and the C’s. Kevin Garnett turned back the clock to his MVP days and collected 28 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks to lead the Boston Celtics past the Atlanta Hawks in a grinding Game 6. Boston got a huge break down the stretch when, holding a two-point lead with 3.1 seconds left, Marquis Daniels fouled Al Horford just as the ball was being inbounded, a foul to give for the Celtics. Had Daniels’ foul
Oklahoma City Thunder guard James Harden ran away with the Sixth Man Award, receiving all but four of the 119 first-place votes. In voting released Thursday by the NBA, Harden received 584 of a possible 595 points. He received 115 first-place votes, three second-place votes and inexplicably was left off one ballot. Points were on a 5-3-1 basis and sportswriters and broadcasters in the United States and Canada had ballots. Harden played 62 games and came off the bench in
Last week’s edition of The Bernucca List had been posted for less than an hour before reader Randy – who isn’t necessarily a randy reader – provided the correct answer. Randy’s response was “Players who wear 0 and whose teams made the playoffs this year.” Nice job. This week, we have a list of coaches rather than players. However, our postseason theme continues. If you think you know the common threads among these men, send me a Tweet or post
Everyone wanted another glorious chapter in the Knicks-Heat rivalry. Everyone wanted the surging Knicks to catch the overconfident Heat by surprise. Everyone wanted a motivated Carmelo Anthony to outplay a befuddled LeBron James. Everyone wanted Amar’e Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler to overwhelm Miami’s questionable frontcourt. Everyone wanted an ultimate game, the way these teams settled matters every year from 1997 to 2000. You know what? That was almost a generation ago. It doesn’t matter anymore. What matters is the Heat have James, and Wade,