NEW ORLEANS — Here in The Big Easy for the NCAA Final Four, there are a slew of future NBA lottery picks set to take the floor Saturday night at the SuperDome. Four of the projected top six picks on DraftExpress.com’s Mock Draft and five of the top 12 play for Kentucky, Kansas and Ohio State. (Louisville is the lone Final Four representative without a projected lottery pick.) Numerous other players no longer in the NCAA Tournament have also helped their stock
Checking back in on that Battle for L.A. we were telling you about…. As in, “What battle?” The Lakers are still the Lakers, more or less, even if we still don’t know what they’ll wind up as, more or less. The Clips are no longer the Clippers, even if Clippers have always gone back to being the Clippers with mass desertions, heads rolling, lawsuits, etc. For the moment, the air has gone out of the Clips’ euphoric breakout—remember Lob City?–even with the team on
Blake Griffin was a human highlight film with 27 points, 14 REB, 5 AST and a trio of emphatic dunks in the fourth to seal the deal as the Clippers have now won three straight by double-digit margins. Chris Paul (15 & 15) played Robin to Griffin’s Batman while the Suns were short of superheroes. Marcin Gortat had 23, but elder statesman Steve Nash missed all four of his shots and the venerable Grant Hill (knee) didn’t play. Other Stuff MIN @ CHA: Kevin
Every time it looks like the Minnesota Timberwolves are no longer part of the Western Conference playoff race, Kevin Love takes over a game, leads them to a win and keeps them in the hunt. The Wolves have no right chasing a postseason berth. They were 100 games under .500 over the last two seasons. Their prized rookie point lived up to the hype, then went down with a torn ACL. Their center, a double-double revelation in his own right, also
The Cavs scored 75 points, which was tied for season-low. Tayshaun Prince scored 29 points. Tristan Thompson had 11 rebounds. According to Elias Sports Bureau, the Knicks outscored the Magic by 35 over the 2nd and 3rd quarters on the way to a 108-86 win. It is the 2nd largest 2nd and 3rd quarter point differential by the Knicks in franchise history. Iman Shumpert led the Knicks in scoring with 25 points. Jose Calderon had 10+ assists for the 4th straight game. Andrew Bargiani and Ty
There are 10 NBA games scheduled for tonight, March 27, 2012. NEWS: Orlando Magic big man, Glen Davis, has been fined #35,000 for making an obscene gesture in a game against the Toronto Raptors at Air Canada Centre on March 26, 2012. Stephen Curry’s sore ankle will cost two additional weeks. Even though Amare Stoudemire is able to avoid surgery on the bulging disk in his back, he will still be sidelined for 2-4 weeks. NOTES: The Prudential Center in Newark, NJ will host the 2012
The Boston Celtics have had little trouble defeating the Utah Jazz in recent years. They have won eight of the last 11 meetings at the TD Garden — including the last three games by an average of 17.3 points — and swept last season’s two-game series. Their last loss came back on March 14, 2008, when Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer were still toiling for Jerry Sloan. But with the way the Jazz have played as of late, the Celtics may be
