Monday morning Hall of Fame head coach and NBA broadcaster Dr. Jack Ramsay, 89, died. The cause of death was immediately known, though he had endured a long battle with cancer and had been recently diagnosed with a marrow syndrome. Ramsay, a permanent fixture around the NBA, began his professional career in Philadelphia with the 76ers as their general manager, taking the team to an title. He later became their head coach, staying with the Sixers for four years. He had later
On Thursday night, Philips Arena opened its doors for the Atlanta Hawks first home playoff game of the 2014 NBA postseason. After having stolen home court advantage, the air in Atlanta was heavy, of course it was humid—welcome to Georgia, but it was heavy with hope and expectation. All week long, ever since the Hawks 101-93 Game 1 road victory in Indiana on Saturday, the talk among locals has been upset. Not just a game; the series. The team’s confidence only served to
The Indiana Pacers, now down 2-1 in their series with the Atlanta Hawks after a 98-85 loss in Game 3 in Atlanta Thursday night, have been the talk of the postseason. Even amidst their late-season swoon, many experts had them pegged to dispatch their first round opponent, especially considering that the Hawks finished the year below .500 with a 38-44 record. The talk, however, hasn’t been flattering, or quite constructive. Their statistical numbers haven’t been very staggering either, at least not in
Phoenix Suns point guard Goran Dragic, once [presumably] hailed as Steve Nash’s heir-apparent, made great strides this year, leading his team to 48-34 record—a 23-game improvement from 2012-13, just missing the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. His play was markedly better, improving his scoring from a career average of 9.5 points to 20.3 this year. That’s an impressive amount of growth. His play earned him the NBA Most Improved Player Award. Our own Chris Sheridan broke down Dragic’s performance and
The Atlanta Hawks are quite social savvy when it comes to Twitter. More than most teams, the Hawks often utilize their social presence to draw fans in, often having players take over the account during games to do Q&As with fans. Tuesday, as the Hawks prepared to take on the Indiana Pacers in Game 2 of their first round series—hoping to extend their series lead to 2-0, the ATLHawks Twitter handle fell into the hands of shooting guard John Jenkins. [Read more…]
Finally, the monkey is off the proverbial back so to speak. For the past few days, perhaps even the past few weeks, ever since the New York Knicks announced the arrival of Phil Jackson—one of the most respected names in NBA history—would be taking over as President of Basketball Operations, back in mid-March, it seemed only a matter of time before he would begin reconstructing the team organization. Monday marked the beginning of the likely multi-faceted project, as Jackson addressed the elephant
The NBA Playoffs have started. The first game of the day on Saturday saw the Toronto Raptors give the Brooklyn Nets a 1-0 lead in the series between the 3- and 6- seeds in the Eastern Conference. The Raptors committed 17 turnovers in a seven-point 94-87 loss. It was a physical contest, marred by 42 total fouls. However, if you thought the officials let loose with the whistles in the first game, you may have missed the second game. Game 2 of the
Craig Sager, often recognized for his quirky suits and ties, has been a staple on NBA sidelines for 17 years. Thursday afternoon, Craig Sager, Jr. broke the news on Twitter that his father, long-time NBA on TNT sideline reporter, Craig Sager, would be out for 3-4 weeks while receiving treatment for acute leukemia. [Read more…]