Every night, another knee injury. Or so it seems. This time, it was the best player on the Atlanta Hawks, Josh Smith, walking off the court in disgust with just over four minutes left. Unlike Iman Shumpert (Knicks), who was carried off the court, and unlike Derrick Rose (Bulls), who was helped to the locker room by teammates, Smith walked of the court under his own power, and later exited the arena on his own two feet, according to the team. But
Is it safe to say that NBA teams always enjoy home court advantage? It may actually be an understatement when it comes to home court in this postseason. All but two games in the playoffs so far have been won by the home team, and the lone two teams that won on the road basically needed to pull off miracles to get their victories. Of course, there’s the simple fact that the home teams are also generally the better teams, which is why
Some folks gave the New York Knicks a puncher’s chance in their first-round series against the Miami Heat. Not anymore. In a remarkably stupid act, Amar’e Stoudemire expressed his frustration after Monday’s 104-94 loss in Miami by punching the glass of a fire extinguisher encasement. He cut his left hand so badly that he required stitches and left American Airlines Arena with his arm in a sling. TNT’s David Aldridge reported that teammate Tyson Chandler said Stoudemire would be “out,” although he was
NEW YORK — Prior to Game 2 of their playoff series against the Miami Heat, Amar’e Stoudemire said that things would end differently than they did in Game 1. In some ways, he was right. On Monday night, the Knicks actually competed with the Heat and kept Game 2 close, but in the end, they would lose, 104-94. The Knicks now trail the Heat 0-2 in their best-of-seven series and are faced with a must-win Game 3 on Thursday night. To make
Game One of the NBA Playoffs is in the books for all 16 teams. And we saw just about everything from flopping to bad officiating to devastating injuries to, blowouts, comebacks and game-winners. As anyone can tell you, though, and some may need reminding, it was only one game. A script can easily flip in the postseason. So we move on in the playoffs, with six Game 2s Monday night. New York (0-1) at Miami (1-0): Things could not have gone any worse for the
Shame on you if you turned off the television early last night. (Or the night before, for that matter). If you did, you missed one of the most epic comebacks in the history of the NBA playoffs. And you also missed a chance to see an example of just why Chris Paul is indeed worthy of MVP consideration (even though it seems like a foregone conclusion that LeBron James is going to get the award.) The Clippers were down 24 points early
It’s right there on Page 58 of the NBA rule book. Thou shalt not bumb a ref. OK, those aren’t the exact words, but that is the gist of the rule that Rondo violated in the closing minute of Game 1 of the Hawks-Celtics first-round playof series, won by Atlanta 83-74 Sunday night. Rondo drew a technical foul for arguing a call with 41 seconds left when he thought a jump ball should have been called, then clearly made intentional contact with referee
So the playoffs began on Saturday afternoon, and they could not have gotten off to a worse start. A much anticipated day of postseason action turned absolutely tragic when two key players for the Bulls and the Knicks – Derrick Rose and Iman Shumpert – each suffered devastating knee injuries – a torn ACL. Chicago was well on its way to the first postseason win of the season. Then, with less than two minutes remaining in the game, the reigning MVP jumped up