O.J. Mayo is growing up. and if the first four games of the 2012 NBA season are any indication, you can expect his game to evolve to new heights with his maturity. “Obviously I built a big-time ego and a comfort level like you made it and you arrived,” Mayo told Mac Engel of the Fort-Worth Star-Telegram. “There is so much more to prove, ways to get better. There is a long way to get better. You don’t get into the
The Cleveland Cavaliers have finished a combined 40-108 the past two seasons. Despite their growing pains following LeBron James’ departure, Cavaliers fans have an intriguing team moving forward. Cleveland won its first game of the season against Washington but arrived in Los Angeles after a two-game skid in which they lost to Chicago by 20 and to Milwaukee on Brandon Jennings buzzer-beating triple with 0.7 seconds left. Such is life for a talented yet youthful team: There will be surreal highs and
Were there enough highlights from the first week of the NBA season for you? James Harden’s surreal first two games. The Knicks’ phenomenal ball movement. LeBron James’ assist to Ray Allen for a game-winning four-point play over Denver (Pat Riley had to be grinning away). Along with the other top stories of the week, the Dwight-less and rebuilding Orlando Magic skated through their first two games of the 2012-13 season against the Nuggets and Suns, respectively, in large part to the play of
With the NBA Finals in the rearview and an exciting new crop of prospects hours away from officially entering the NBA, we thought it would be interesting for you to hear their lasting impressions from the showdown between the Thunder and Heat. What did these prospects learn from the championship series? Are they happy for LeBron James, or upset the Kevin Durant didn’t seize the throne? Below we have short responses from 11 of the players invited to the NBA draft’s green
NEW YORK — It is 1:28 PM on Wednesday afternoon and a throng of reporters are gathered around an empty table. A purple microphone sits at the head of the table, awaiting the arrival of a 6-11 rebounding and shot-blocking machine that simply doesn’t come around very often. The NBA draft will take place later today in Newark, NJ. Contrary to popular belief, there are a lot of really good players who will likely help downtrodden franchises on their way back
MIAMI — The Oklahoma City Thunder had just been blown out by the Miami Heat by the score of 121-106, dropped their fourth straight game for the first time in 276 games, and the silence of their locker room said it all. Russell Westbrook walked out of the shower and into the locker room. He sat down and looked around at all the media in the Thunder locker room, his eyes puffy, red and a little watery. After a few moments of silence,
SOUTH BEACH — “Harden at the end of game three – a bad foul,” said Jeff Van Gundy, former Knicks head coach and current ABC analyst. “Two bad fouls in the third quarter of Game 3. The game is turning based on these small things that turn out to be huge in their amount of consequence going into winning and losing. “These last three games have been so close.” You can say that again, Jeff. To give you an idea of just how
MIAMI — He had hit just two of his previous 18 attempts from the field, but none of that seemed to bother Mario Chalmers during Game 4 of the NBA Finals last night in the biggest performance of his career to this point. “Mario has that thing,” said Dwyane Wade, who has played alongside Chalmers for four seasons– before the Big Three was formed. “That thing called heart, and no matter what, no matter how tough we are on him, he actually