As the Brooklyn Nets (with a five-game winning streak) get set to take on the Los Angeles Lakers on the road tonight, their newly built home court will be occupied by a few players who will be in the discussion for the top pick in the 2013 NBA Draft. And if Otto Porter of Georgetown does to No. 1 Indiana what he did against UCLA, he will have officially stolen the spotlight from Shabazz Muhammad. [Read more…]
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — What a weekend we had in New England at the National Prep Showcase, a top-of-the-line prep school tournament that primarily features some of the New England region’s premier basketball talent. This year was no different as the field at Albertus Magnus College was loaded with an array of talented players. There were an average of 2.5 committed D-I players per team — and we are going to spotlight three of them heading to Indiana, Memphis and Syracuse. [Read
Where to begin? Mike Brown’s exit? Phil Jackson’s overnight disappearance? The unending string of power forward injuries? A reformed J.R. Smith on the undefeated New York Knicks? This season has been full of shocking developments; if you look closely enough you can find a significant surprise in nearly every division and on every team. [Read more…]
One night, both of last year’s NBA Finalists competing, both NBA Finalists going down. The Memphis Grizzlies and the Los Angeles Clippers turned in two of the top performances of the young 2012-13 NBA season, as they beat the Oklahoma City Thunder and Miami Heat by 10 and 7 points, respectively, though the point differential isn’t an indicator of how well either team played: [Read more…]
In an extremely loaded four-team preseason tournament, the Legends Classic in Atlanta tonight will place No. 7 Kansas against No. 14 Michigan State on one side of the bracket while the defending national champion No. 3 Kentucky Wildcats will face the No. 9 Duke Blue Devils. Although Kentucky escaped its matchup with the Maryland Terrapins on Friday at the Barclays Center, it’s clear that this Kentucky team is a work in progress and will try to find itself as the season
When Charlotte drafted Michael Kidd-Gilchrist second overall in the 2012 NBA Draft, they expected to see a lot of nights like the one he had on Saturday in the Bobcats 101-97 overtime victory over the Dallas Mavericks. It’s no secret that the rookie out of Kentucky has the quickness and agility to get to the rim at the NBA level; through three games he has gotten into the paint for 6.6 of his 9.2 shots per game. [Read more…]
How could the Thunder possibly think that signing Serge Ibaka was a higher priority than James Harden?!? Well, we have recent evidence. If you’ve heard the phrase “Defense wins championships,” then you might have some idea as to why the Thunder decided to re-sign Ibaka to a four-year, $48 million deal that helped to ensure James Harden was shipped out of town to the Houston Rockets. ‘Defense’ is the word that helps people to understand Ibaka’s value to the Thunder, but his work
BOSTON — From the beginning of the 2007-08 season until the final horn sounded after Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Miami Hea last June, the Boston Celtics were encapsulated by the Big Three +1 of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo. If anyone needs a refresher course on what was lost when Ray Allen decided to head down to Miami to team up with Dwyane Wade and LeBron James, last night’s performance by the Celtics