No word yet from the NBA on when the Most Valuable Player award will be announced, but you can pretty much assume it will be LeBron James (who did not have the ball in his hands for the final shot yesterday at Madison Square Garden, Dwyane Wade did.) But what about the playoffs? Who has been the MVP thus far? In my book, it has been Rajon Rondo despite his bumping of a referee that earned him a one-game suspension for Game 2.
Tyson Chandler was awarded the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award. But you know what, I think Serge Ibaka should have gotten it. Click on the video above to find out why, and insert your comments in this post or into the DPOY post from yesterday. CineSport’s Tara Petrolino and SheridanHoops.com’s Chris Sheridan discuss this, along with the Heat vs. the Knicks, and the Grizzlies’ win over the Clippers in Game 2. //
// csprtContainer(); // ]]> The Chicago Bulls played 27 games without Derrick Rose during the regular season, and they won two-thirds of them. They were without Richard Hamilton for more than half of the season. They lost Luol Deng for a long stretch. So if there’s any team prepared to deal with the calamity that was the season-ending injury to Derrick Rose, it is them. C.J. Watson will take over the starting point guard duties for the Bulls as they resume their first-round playoff
csprtContainer(); … and it is going to be relatively easy. I explain why in this chat with CineSport’s Noah Coslov.
// csprtContainer(); // ]]> When I first saw Metta World Peace throw that elbow to James Harden’s head, I thought he would draw a two-game suspension at a minimum. In the 24 hours since, I have been wondering whether I set the bar too low. There was no word as of Monday afternoon from the league office on how long the former Ron Artest will be banned for his most egregious act since going into the stands and fighting fans during the infamous
// csprtContainer(); // ]]> Out of the four teams currently fighting for the eighth spot in the Western Conference, who would be most gratified to earn that berth? The Houston Rockets? In their post-Yao era, they tried to trade half their team before the season started to rebuild around Pau Gasol. That didn’t happen after the original Chris Paul trade was vetoed, and the two players who would probably be most gratified are Luis Scola and Goran Dragic, who were a part of
// Milwaukee Bucks Scott Skiles has put his house up for sale in Mequon, Wisconsin, north of Milwaukee, which could mean a lot or could mean nothing. Skiles still has one year remaining on his contract, and he has the Milwaukee Bucks fighting for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, two games behind the New York Knicks. (If the teams finish with the same win-loss record, the tie will be broken by better conference record — the Bucks are 22-20,
// What are we going to learn in tonight’s big Heat-Bulls matchup in Chicago? Hopefully, we’ll find out which stars can show some fourth-quarter moxie. But the better Chicago-Miami game to look forward to will happen next Thursday, when a clearer picture of playoff positioning possibilities will have emerged. There is a case to be made that it is better to be the No. 2 seed than the No. 1 seed, because it might mean an easier path to the conference finals