After playing just well enough to get past the eighth-seeded Atlanta Hawks in the first round, the Indiana Pacers continued to show on Monday that their struggles are far from over. Facing a young and energized Washington Wizards team in the conference semi-finals, the Pacers floundered on both ends of the court and lost 102-96, losing homecourt advantage once again in the process. The Wizards shot a whopping 10-of-16 from the 3-point line, and the Pacers collectively shot 40.7 percent from
The game was supposed to be just about over. The Houston Rockets were supposed to force a Game 7 against the Portland Trail Blazers after Chandler Parsons gave them the 98-96 lead on a put-back layup with just 0.9 seconds left in the game. At worst, they should have prevented a 3-point shot so that the game would go into overtime if the Blazers converted any other shot. Unfortunately for the Rockets, Damian Lillard hit the shot of his life at
The Memphis Grizzlies are in serious trouble heading into Game 7 against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday. The NBA announced on Friday that Zach Randolph would be suspended for the next game for this combo-hit against Steven Adams late in the fourth quarter of Game 6: [Read more…]
Late in the third quarter in Game 6 of the Pacers-Hawks series, Mike Scott – known at this point for his shooting – cut straight to the basket and went right at Ian Mahinmi, who was right under the basket to meet Scott in the air. To everyone’s surprise, Scott got the best of that exchange: Naturally, players around the league saw the play and reacted accordingly: [Read more…]
The picture above – The Oklahoman newspaper with the headline “Mr. Unreliable” to describe hometown hero Kevin Durant – caused a serious stir around the league on Thursday for obvious reasons. It’s one thing for anyone else to describe Durant with such a negative connotation, but for his hometown paper to do so for a guy that has done such incredible things for the organization? Naturally, many were upset, and it caused editor Mike Sherman of The Oklahoman to come out with
Mike D’Antoni has coached his last game with the Los Angeles Lakers. With so much assurance from the front office throughout the year, most expected the coach to return next season. However, there were certain conditions he hoped Mitch Kupchak would agree to, and those conditions weren’t met. ESPN has details: The Lakers and D’Antoni have been discussing his future with the team since the season ended, multiple sources told ESPN.com’s Ramona Shelburne. Last week he asked them to pick up the
All along, Mitch Kupchak had said the Los Angeles Lakers would bring back Mike D’Antoni for next season. Since then, there had been some reports suggesting that D’Antoni would want certain conditions fulfilled in order for him to return. Apparently, those conditions weren’t met. Ramona Shelburne of ESPN LA abruptly reported on Wednesday that the coach has made the decision to resign from his position: [Read more…]
Joey Crawford is one of the most – if not the most – animated referees in the game. On Tuesday, his antics in overtime may have helped cost the Oklahoma City Thunder Game 5 against the Memphis Grizzlies: With 27.5 seconds remaining in the game and about to take his second free throw to tie the game, Kevin Durant was abruptly interrupted by Crawford as seen above. The reason for Crawford’s sudden course of action to prevent Durant from shooting his