Any of the residual gratification felt by the New York Knicks and their fans was quickly erased Sunday when the Indiana Pacers came into Madison Square Garden and manhandled the Knicks to take away home court advantage. Indiana’s top-ranked defense protected both the rim (eight blocks, five by Roy Hibbert) and the arc (the Knicks made just seven 3-pointers, one less than the Pacers) as they led for the entire second half and took away many of New York’s secondary weapons.
The New York Knicks spent the offseason – and the regular season – adding playoff-hardened veterans to challenge the Miami Heat for the NBA title. But it is some of those same veterans who are showing inexcusable immaturity in their first-round series vs. the proud Boston Celtics. Whether it be unnecessary elbows or dressing for a funeral or failing to defend their home court, the Knicks have let the Celtics back into the series. What once looked to be a sweep now
You can be the judge on this one — but I’d expect very few people outside of Denver to side with anyone aside from Mark Jackson and his Golden State Warriors. The Denver Nuggets toughened things up in their 107-100 victory over Golden State last night — toughened to the point that Jackson told the media afterward that he had been tipped off by someone on the Nuggets that there would be some rough stuff coming. The play that particularly galled Jackson
I have been sounding like a broken record talking about Prop 30, the so-called millionaire’s tax, that was adopted by voters last fall in California and levies a 10 percent surcharge on the state’s highest earners. This tax negates whatever financial advantage the Lakers would have in being able to offer larger annual raises to Howard to convince him to stay in Los Angeles. [Read more…]
If you take Chris “Birdman” Andersen’s stats and project them over 48 minutes, the NBA’s most colorfully tattooed player would be averaging about 36 points and 22 rebounds in the playoffs. Of course, “Birdman” is not a 48-minute player, but an argument can be made that he’ll se a serious uptick in playoff minutes as the Miami Heat continue to advance. And on a side note, Andersen is trying to trademark the name “Birdman” with the U.S. Patent Office — much
What, you wanted eight games that were all as compelling as Warriors-Nuggets? OK, I was disappointed, too, especially on Sunday, with the lack of competitive Game 1s across the NBA. And the real bummer was that in the one game that was a nail-biter, the Warriors lost David Lee for the remainder of the postseason. The award for Most Snake-Bit NBA Player is hereby retired in his honor. So what will this week bring? First of all, Carl Landry (pictured to your left)
… disclosed in this video. At least it’s my pick to win the championship — a team that lulled everyone into a false sense of serenity over the final 20 games of the regular season. And, no, it is not the Miami Heat. [Read more…]
Because you can only put two forwards on the All-NBA First Team, and as I explained at length in my column detailing my ballot choices, I have Carmelo Anthony 2nd on my MVP ballot. And since that other forward spot on First Team All-NBA is being occupied by LeBron James, who should be a unanimous MVP pick, there’s only so much room at the inn. As I say in this interview with CineSport’s Noah Coslov: “Kevin Durant isn’t second-team anything.” [Read