For almost a decade, the Atlanta Hawks remained stuck in a purgatory of NBA mediocrity. Too good to select prospects in the early draft lottery and not good enough to compete deep into the playoffs, there was no obvious escape route. Although the team had the longest postseason streak in the Eastern Conference, Atlanta’s futile playoff track record overshadowed its strong core of dynamic starters and capable reserves. Then a late summer scandal came in 2014, which eventually led to the sale
There is no way to sum up the 2014-15 season for the Toronto Raptors without including the word disappointment. You can debate the extent of it, of course – the team did win a franchise-record 49 games and saw point guard Kyle Lowry start in the All-Star Game – but the basic conclusion remains the same. Touted as a new power in the Eastern Conference, the Raptors exploded into last season borne on a wave of “We the North” expectation. This
I awoke this morning and sent a text message to a friend, and my government did not keep a record of it. This is a small taste of what freedom feels like, and it is good to have it back nearly 14 years after this country’s ideals got turned upside down in the aftermath of the World Trade Center attack. Kudos to Rand Paul. And Edward Snowden. Yes, things change. Things get better, and nothing bad lasts forever. That is the feeling
We all had varying degrees of luck/prescience in the second round with our picks, but like the Pacquiao-Mayweather bout, we all nailed the Holyfield-Romney result with flying colors — though none of us foresaw Mitt’s six-pack abs being quite so popular. Those abs are like Matthew Dellavedova — more impressive than you knew. So we move on to the conference finals with a collective breath of fresh air. No more Miami Heat. No more Indiana Pacers. No More San Antonio Spurs.
OK, so we didn’t all post perfect records in the first round. You find me someone who did, and I’ll personally call the guy and offer him a job. But everyone here at SheridanHoops had Floyd Mayweather winning in a yawnfest decision over Manny Pacquiao, and we all took the American Pharoah-Dortmund exacta in the Kentucky Derby. Check the Yonkers Raceway surveillance footage if you don’t believe me. All of us also hit the daily number yesterday, and we all came home
I’ve used this line before, but I’ll use it again because it is a good one: Predictions are like armpits; everyone has them, and most of them stink. One exception would be our chief blogger, Jim Park (@SheridanBlog), whose preseason predictions included Stephen Curry as MVP and Steve Kerr as Coach of the Year. My own latest prediction is that Curry will receive 65 percent of the first-place votes in the MVP race, although he did not get mine. James Harden did.
This is what we have been waiting for since Halloween. The strength of the Western Conference was as good as advertised and has provided a first round of playoffs that should have NBA fans salivating. The best series appears to be the Los Angeles Clippers vs. the San Antonio Spurs, whom you could argue were two of the league’s three best teams coming down the stretch. And approximately two weeks from now, one of those teams will be headed to its offseason,
Everyone knows that the Eastern Conference is nowhere near as good as the Western Conference. But that doesn’t mean that the first round of the East playoffs won’t be compelling. As everyone knows, all you need is one road team to win to make a series interesting. Can the top-seeded Atlanta Hawks rediscover their rhythm? Did the Boston Celtics build confidence with two late-season wins over Cleveland? Is Chicago’s Derrick Rose returning to form or just an accident waiting to happen again? Do