In case you missed it, the Heat and Thunder both lost last night (as did the Lakers, but that was kind of expected). That’s the third time both teams have lost on the same night this season. The Heat lost to the Spurs in a rematch of last year’s Finals that was nowhere near as close as those Finals, and the Thunder went to the wire against the upstart Phoenix Suns. I caught the end of that Thunder/Suns game, so I
The Washington Wizards’ John Wall and the Houston Rockets’ James Harden today were named NBA Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week, respectively, for games played Monday, Feb. 24, through Sunday, March 2. Wall led the Wizards to a 3-0 week, behind averages of 25.0 points (seventh in the conference), 10.7 assists (tied for first in the league) and 2.0 steals. Wall shot .592 (29-of-49) from the field and .813 (13-of-16) from the foul line. He tallied 17 points and
I don’t know how to feel about the prospect of changing the NBA draft. Peter May is against it. My gut says I should be too. I love the draft, I love the lottery, I love all the drama there is in the whole process. But then I hear Daryl Morey talk about “eliminating the material incentive to lose” and I think he’s probably right. But then my inherent sense of fairness wonders what would have happened if the Lakers had gotten
I mentioned last weekend that I’ve been watching old NBA games on YouTube, and while Karl Malone, for obvious name-related reasons, is probably never going to be surpassed as my all-time favorite basketball player, Hakeem Olajuwon is making it pretty close. I mean, look at this: [Read more…]
About a year ago, I found an interview with an end-of-the-bench big who had just been traded. It caught my eye because of the frankness and wit of the player involved. He said that what kept him in the league was his ability to give fouls, and said he chose his number to make the refs hold up a lot of fingers. I don’t think I ended up including it in my blog, but it stuck with me nonetheless. That player
Lately I’ve been watching classic NBA games on YouTube. There’s a fair few of them up there in full, and while it’s obviously nice to watch Michael Jordan in his prime (and the Bad Boys-era Pistons, Charles Barkley in Philly, young Scottie Pippen… the list goes on), what’s struck me most has been the differences in how the game is played between then and now. Namely, I’m talking about the veritable avalanche of long twos. These days, if a player jacks
I’ve never been huge on the All-Star Game. Sure, the novelty is great. I mean, all the stars are there. But that wears off pretty quickly, and then I remember that what I really like about basketball is seeing players stand out above the rest, and that doesn’t usually happen in an all-star environment. I also like defense sometimes. Speaking of players standing out above the rest, if you haven’t seen John Wall’s dunk from last night, go do that right
All-Star Saturday is one of my favorite days of the NBA season, because it’s the best chance we get to see players just having fun. More than just about any other sports league on the planet, the NBA likes to show off its players’ charisma, flair, and general ability to entertain. And it’s working. Just ask every company that uses an NBA player in their advertising. Any of the twenty or so of them. I rounded up some NBA players’ reactions