HOUSTON — For the doubters, the story behind the Rockets’ unbeaten start is about who Houston hasn’t beaten, rather than the teams they have. There is some logic to that, of course. The Rockets are 6-0, but the Lakers, Jazz, Sixers and Celtics are a combined 3-16 entering Friday. And the Spurs, whom the Rockets romped past in Thursday’s nationally-televised showdown, were missing Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili. Of the six wins, only the rested Heat in Miami, where the Rockets
The NBA season is only 10 days old, but there’s been a lot to take in and observe. The “Big Three” in Cleveland have a big three losses against one just one narrow win. The Sacramento Kings didn’t get the memo about returning to the lottery. The Los Angeles Lakers are finding out that winless and glamorous usually are mutually exclusive. The New York Knicks look like a different team from game to game. Here are five things I’ve learned so far
BROOKLYN – Andrew Wiggins grew up watching Vince Carter during his “Air Canada” days, back when Tracy McGrady was also with the Toronto Raptors, showing his early flashes of stardom. The phenom drew comparisons to both former Toronto players as ceilings for his development when he entered the NBA draft. However, a handful of games into his NBA career, the 19-year-old has drawn numerous comparisons to Paul George in recent conversations with several league general managers, executives and scouts. Wiggins had his best
Kevin Garnett was the 2004 NBA MVP. He was the Defensive Player of the Year in 2008. He has been an All-Star 15 times. Garnett is an NBA champion, a surefire Hall of Famer and will probably go down as one of the top 25 players in NBA history. It would be unfair to place those sorts of career expectations on a 21-year-old, right? Not necessarily. If the 21-year-old in question is Anthony Davis, anything is fair game. If Davis’ first two seasons suggest
Brooklyn Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov has never met his new head head coach, but Lionel Hollins already has the respect and attention of both players and management. “We have a very strong experienced coach,” Prokhorov told reporters before Monday night’s home opener against Oklahoma City, a game in which the Nets would win by 31. In speaking with various Nets players and a coaching peer, it’s apparent that Hollins’ demanding, honest, no-nonsense style sits well with the players and is a nice
Welcome to my inaugural EuroHoops update column. You will be getting these once per week, and I will be keeping you abreast of all the guys who may one day be headed to the NBA, or those who already have been there and won’t be going back … like the first guy we are checking in on. [Read more…]
There were two pieces of bad news coming out of Loud City this weekend. And there was a disproportionate reaction to the wrong one. There was far too much hand-wringing to the news that Russell Westbrook will be joining fellow Oklahoma City Thunder superstar Kevin Durant on the sidelines after undergoing surgery on his broken right hand. The Thunder are going to survive November without Durant and Westbrook. They have 14 games between now and Dec. 1, the projected earliest return for
NEW YORK – Three games into the Lance Stephenson era, the star free agent signee is not pleased with his role in Charlotte and vowed to make a change. “I didn’t let the game come to me,” Stephenson said after Charlotte’s 96-93 loss to New York. “I just tried to make something happen. I let the game come to me the last two games and I ended up doing nothing so I’ve got to just play more aggressive, be in attack