It seems like the Houston Rockets are willing to try nearly anything to get out of their early-season funk. As we approach the quarter pole of the NBA season, Houston has already replaced its head coach and is trying numerous different lineup combinations. To put it nicely, things are still a work in progress for the Rockets. After needing overtime to defeat the Knicks, who were without Carmelo Anthony because of an illness, on Sunday, Houston stumbled to a 116-105 loss to
Do you remember what Paul George was like before his gruesome injury? Do you remember the 2013 playoffs, when he showed everyone how much better he was than supposed MVP candidate Carmelo Anthony? Do you remember how he accepted and met the challenge of defending LeBron James in those Pacers-Heat playoff wars? And how much respect James had for him? Well, Paul George isn’t that player anymore. He’s better. [Read more…]
NEW YORK – Some of the 2016 NBA draft’s top prospects were in town for the 2K and Legends Classics with executives drooling over their potential, including Philadelphia’s Sam Hinkie and Boston’s Danny Ainge. With Brooklyn holding the third-worst record in the league (3-12), Ainge should give Nets GM Billy King a Thanksgiving turkey for sending him Brooklyn’s unprotected first-round pick next summer as part of the 2013 trade for Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. However, Hinkie – the man who puts
For several years, probably dating back to 2011 when the Dallas Mavericks became one of the most unlikely champions in NBA history, Rick Carlisle has been compared favorably to Gregg Popovich, the best coach in the league. Both men are superior strategists and in-game coaches, and both take little credit for their excellence. Popovich, who is in his 20th season as the Spurs head coach, has never allowed anyone to lose sight of the primary reason for his success. When praised
Inevitably, the Golden State Warriors are going to lose a game. Probably more than one game. Perfection is impossible in the NBA, despite what we’ve seen from Stephen Curry and Co. over the first four weeks of the season. The numbers associated with Golden State’s season-opening winning streak are mind-boggling – even more so when we start comparing them to the numbers put up by the Chicago Bulls during the 1995-96 season, when they won an NBA-record 72 games. Golden State is
Based on how the Boston Celtics’ roster is currently assembled, they need to be greater than the sum of their parts in order to succeed. The Celtics undeniably lack star power right now. According to ESPN’s preseason rankings of the league’s top 400 players, Isaiah Thomas is Boston’s best player at 65th overall. Only the Nuggets, Lakers and Sixers have their top player ranked lower. Yet through 13 games, Boston boasts a statistically elite defense thanks to coach Brad Stevens and
In the classic war movie Apocalypse Now, Marlon Brando plays a decorated American colonel who has abandoned the war in Vietnam to set up his own dystopian military conclave in Cambodia that features random missions, animal sacrifices and human beheadings. Martin Sheen plays an American captain sent on a classified mission to assassinate the colonel. When Sheen arrives at the camp, he is asked if he believes the colonel’s methods are unsound. And Sheen replies, “I don’t see any method at all,
It’s been a long rebuild for the Minnesota Timberwolves, who have endured 10 straight losing seasons, and 11 without making the NBA playoffs. But thanks to a pair of young stars, long-suffering basketball fans in the North Star State may finally have reason to cheer again. It took 14 games and over a month for the Timberwolves to earn four wins last season, a campaign in which they endured a pair of double-digit losing streaks before finishing with an NBA-worst 16