After winning four straight games on the road just a week ago, the Houston Rockets sat alone in sixth place of the Western Conference. Since then, they have dropped three straight games, all against conference rivals who are fighting for the final playoff spot — Utah, Phoenix and Denver — to fall back to the eighth seed. Houston (32-28), in danger of losing its grip on a playoff berth, hosts the seventh-seeded Denver Nuggets to conclude a home-and-home game in Monday’s best game. The
NEW YORK — You won’t find either of these items in the box scores this morning: _ Waiting for Dwyane Wade outside the visitors’ locker room at Madison Square Garden yesterday afternoon was Vogue editor Anna Wintour, who had her family with her, her trademark sunglasses in her hands, was wearing a 10,000 watt smile and showing off bright eyes that could melt a glacier. Who knew? She made small talk with Wade about a book he is finishing writing, and he
A potential first round matchup gets a vigorous nod for Sunday’s best game when the Miami Heat make their first and only appearance in New York against the Knicks. That is, until the playoffs. New York (31-28) is currently tied with Philadelphia for the seventh and eighth seeds but holds the tiebreaker. Miami (41-17) lost 96-86 in overtime in Chicago on Thursday. LeBron James missed a game-sealing free throw that allowed the Bulls to make an improbable comeback without Derrick Rose, essentially locking
Usually, the winners make the headlines. In today’s roundup, however, the losers were the story of Saturday night as a handful of teams fighting to make the playoffs came up short. With three different teams — Milwaukee, Utah and Phoenix — still within reach of the eighth and final playoff seed in their respective Conferences, how many of them came out with a victory? None. Starting with the most inexplicable blowout of the night – the only game on national television – the Spurs
The banged-up Utah Jazz and Memphis Grizzlies will both try and rebound from costly losses as the playoffs draw near in Saturday’s best game. After upsetting the Spurs as the eighth seed in last year’s playoffs, Memphis (34-24) lost to San Antonio for the fourth time this season on Thursday, 107-97. Forward Rudy Gay said the team remains confident, “I still feel like we can match up with them or anybody.” They’ll have to prove it by not letting the Jazz sweep them
This had been a perfect season for Stan Van Gundy. Well, check that. In a lot of ways, it has been a nightmare season for the head coach of the Orlando Magic, who has been feuding with his trade-me, don’t-trade-me franchise center, living and dying by the 3-pointer and enduring a soap opera of a year that just keeps coming up with new twists and turns. But through it all, Van Gundy had maintained enough cool to not be called for a single
With the news that Kobe Bryant would sit out another game, the Los Angeles Lakers will turn to their big men looking for another stellar performance. If Andrew Bynum can have a repeat of his 16 points and league-high 30 rebounds as he did against San Antonio, the Lakers may be equipped for success, even if he continues his quest to shoot threes or act rebellious in various ways. The Lakers (37-22) look to build upon a two-game winning streak without their leading scorer
April is supposed to be the time of the NBA season when the best teams gear up for the playoffs and head into it playing their absolute best basketball. The Heat must have missed that memo. And the Bulls’ starters, too. With the NBA regular season slowly but surely winding down, two of the top teams in the Eastern Conference are heading into the postseason with plenty of uncertainty and several important questions to still resolve. For the Chicago Bulls, the team with