When it comes to running franchises, David Stern is doing a great impersonation of Ted Stepien. Stepien owned the Cleveland Cavaliers in the early 1980s and spent most of his time firing coaches, overpaying mediocre players and trading away so many draft picks that the NBA instituted the “Ted Stepien Rule,” which now prevents teams from trading first-round picks in consecutive years. Stepien’s mismanagement of the Cavaliers had to be fixed by the NBA. But the NBA – led by Stern –
The Miami Heat can join some very exclusive company Tuesday night. The Heat complete the 20th set of back-to-back-to-back games when they visit the Indiana Pacers in the NBA’s best game. They can become just the third team to win all three – and the first to do it entirely on the road. Previously, only the Chicago Bulls and Oklahoma City Thunder have gone 3-for-3 over the most unforgiving portion of their schedule. The Bulls beat Detroit, won at Minnesota and defeated
Let’s check in on last year’s Finals participants, shall we? There was quite a game in Dallas, where the Mavericks were trying to extend their winning streak and the Clippers were trying to complete a spiffy 5-1 road trip. The night began and ended with Caron Butler. Butler spent last season with the Mavericks. He began as their starting small forward and helped Dallas to a 24-8 start before suffering a torn patellar tendon that cost him the rest of the season.
Eric Gordon’s nightmare season continues. It began with the young shooting guard being shipped from the Los Angeles Clippers to the New Orleans Hornets as the key piece in return for Chris Paul. After making the game-winning shot in a season-opening victory over Phoenix, Gordon sat out four games with a bruised knee. He played once more and has not seen any action since. When the extension deadline rolled around, Gordon and agent Rob Pelinka could not get a deal from the Hornets,
For a six-game board, there are some pretty good games on League Pass on Monday night. The Miami Heat go to Milwaukee to try to solve the Bucks, who have beaten them twice this season. The top two rebounders square off with Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic host Kevin Love and the Minnesota Timberwolves. And there is the car-crash quality of the Philadelphia 76ers visiting the Charlotte Bobcats, who have lost 14 straight games. But the best game should be Blake
Remember Gerald Green? Yeah, you remember. After a side sojourn to China, the 2005 first-round pick of the Boston Celtics is now toiling in the D-League, where he is trying to resuscitate his career by proving he can do more than dunk. And he’s getting there. Green was named D-League Performer of the Week on Monday after leading the Los Angeles D-Fenders to a 4-0 week with a pair of 30-point games. He averaged 27.3 points and 6.5 rebounds, shooting 54 percent from
Is Paul Pierce part of the Boston Celtics’ all-time team? On Tuesday, Pierce passed Larry Bird on the team’s career scoring list, moving into second place for the most historic franchise in the NBA. He is creeping up on 22,000 career points and still going strong. Pierce has a ways to go to catch Celtics all-time leader John Havlicek, whose total of 26,395 is even more remarkable when you consider he began his career as a sixth man. If Pierce passes Havlicek
Cleveland Cavaliers center Anderson Varejao is out indefinitely with a broken wrist. The team announced Saturday that Varejao had an MRI on Saturday at the Cleveland Clinic that revealed a non-displaced fracture of his right wrist. He will undergo further tests this week to determine a timeline for his return. Varejao suffered the injury early in the third quarter of Friday’s home loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. He left the game and did not return. It is the second straight season Varejao has