So it was a good morning and a bad morning. I awoke to learn I had won $45 in Wednesday night’s big contest at DraftKings, finishing 1,730th out of 22,900 entrants to make a profit of $25 after my $20 entry fee. My lineup was anchored by Paul George (26 pts, 10 reb), Rajon Rondo (triple-double of 14 pts, 15 ast, 11 reb), Dirk Nowitzki (31 pts, 11 reb), Jeff Teague (14 pts, 10 ast), Kyle Lowry (23 pts, 8 ast)
Note to those who like to make historical comparisons ( and to those who believe history started when Al Gore invented the Internet: The Golden State Warriors are off to a better start than the Chicago Bulls team that set an NBA record with a 72-10 record exactly two decades ago. Those Bulls started 5-0 before their first loss; these Warriors have already surpassed that. Back in November of 1995, nobody was talking about the possibility of the Bulls breaking the single-season
Quite the performance by Hassan Whiteside of the Heat in Tuesday night’s loss to the Hawks: 23 points on 11-for-12 shooting, 14 rebounds and four blocks in just 31 minutes. If Dwyane Wade had not come down with a migraine, the Heat might actually be 3-1 instead of 2-2. Folks in Miami are rightfully thrilled about the emergence last season and this season by Whiteside, but here is the bad news: Unless Miami plans to renounce its right to Dwyane Wade,
Well, we’ve almost made it through the first entire week of hoops, and the only significant loss since the season started has been a broken foot that will sideline the Pistons’ Jodie Meeks for 3-4 months. Oh, and Grantland. ESPN’s decision to pull the plug on the offshoot site founded by the groundbreaking Bill Simmons is the latest ill-advised move by the powers that be in Bristol, Conn., site of the fortress-like complex that continues to lower the bar for what constitutes
Here is a prediction you won’t find in too many places: Kevin Durant is going to demand a trade in the first week of February if – and this is a big “if” – things are not going well in Oklahoma City. If you think about it, it makes sense. We all know that the Summer of Durant is only one winter away. We all know that the Thunder would have won multiple titles by now if skinflint owner Clay Bennett
I like the Detroit Pistons and the Sacramento Kings as upstarts in the East and West. I also think the Milwaukee Bucks are going to be the funnest team to watch develop … but I am not alone in that opinion. I am not on the Jahlil Okafor for MVP bandwagon. Other are, but I think it’ll be Stanley Johnson of Detroit (if the Pistons make the playoffs) or Emmanuel Mudiay of the Denver Nuggets for ROY. As far as MVP, it
When the NBA’s incoming rookie class got together last month for rookie orientation, they were polled about a number of things — including which of them would be named the Rookie of the Year. The winner was Stanley Johnson, who went with the No. 8 overall pick to the Detroit Pistons. What are the Pistons getting from the PAC-10 Player of the Year out of Arizona who won four consecutive state titles at Mater Dei H.S. in California before doing his one-and-done?
Once upon a time, Jason Kidd’s son, T.J., dressed up as Brian Scalabrine for Halloween. This was back when T.J. was smallish, the Jason-Joumana marriage was rock solid, and the Nets played in the dreary confines of the Meadowlands, where T.J. had his own locker. I only got to make a brief reference to that small piece of Scalabrine history this morning in an interview on Sirius-XM NBA radio, partly because Scalabrine was busy predicting that Kobe Bryant will shoot 37