Last June, the Dallas Mavericks were on top of the basketball world, while the Minnesota Timberwolves were at rock bottom. Less than eight months later, the teams are separated by two games in the standings, and it’s hard to tell which club is better. The Mavericks (15-11) and Wolves (13-13) meet for the third time this season in Friday’s best NBA game. Minnesota has won the first two, easily handling the defending champions. If the Wolves win again, they will be one
csprtContainer(); Who was snubbed when the NBA All-Star reserves were selected? How intense is Linsanity in New York? What is the best game of the weekend, and why? CineSport’s Brian Clark and Chris Sheridan of SheridanHoops.com discuss.
With their backs against the wall, Israel’s Maccabi Tel-Aviv kept their Euroleague chances alive with a resounding 75-60 home win against Italy’s Bennet Cantu. After struggling in both the Israeli league and the Euroleague over the past several weeks, Maccabi turned a corner in the third quarter, displaying the brand of basketball that propelled them to an excellent first round of the Euroleague. While many were anticipating former Maccabi point guard Doron Perkins’ debut with Cantu back in the familiar Nokia Arena,
NEW YORK — Linsanity has carried over to the secondary ticket market. The Los Angeles Lakers are making their annual visit to Madison Square Garden this evening, and people trying to score tickets have a different motivation than usual this time around. Instead of paying premium prices to see Kobe Bryant, they are forking over extra dough to see Jeremy Lin (whose popularity is probably about third right now among New York athletes, training only Eli Manning and Derek Jeter.) Since Tuesday, when
Lakers forward Pau Gasol received news right before the game that he was not selected for the All-Star Game. He let the Celtics know how he felt about the snub with 25 points, 14 rebounds and a game-saving block to help beat the Lakers escape Boston with an 88-87 overtime win. Kobe Bryant scored 27 points and made a handful of tough shots but was generally ineffective down the stretch. He missed a potential game-tying shot at the end of the fourth
Dirk? Apparently, the Western Conference coaches chose this year’s All-Star reserves based upon last year’s accomplishments. The 14 All-Star reserves were announced tonight on TNT, and there were a couple of surprises. None was bigger than the selection of Nowitzki, who is averaging the lowest numbers since his sophomore season. His points per game (17.6) are down 5.4 from last season, his field-goal percentage has dropped from.517 to .461, and whose 3-point percentage has nosedived from .393 to .211. He even acknowledged recently
The rivalry between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics doesn’t need any added incentive. But it may have some in Thursday night’s best NBA game. The first of two meetings between the greatest franchises in league history will be televised nationally at 8 p.m. ET by TNT, which has a one-hour pregame show that will reveal the reserves for the All-Star Game later this month. Both proud teams have former All-Stars who have taken a step back this season and may
Boston’s Kevin Garnett needs 101 points to pass Charles Barkley (23,757) for 18th place on the all-time scoring list; he needs 24 rebounds to pass Buck Williams (13,017) for 13th on the all-time rebounding list. After averaging 89.9 points in its first eight games,GoldenStatehas picked up the pace. In the Warriors’ last 14 games, they are averaging 103.5 points and have reached the century mark 10 times. The Los Angeles Lakers’ Derek Fisher has played in 520 consecutive regular season games dating back to April 15, 2005, the longest consecutive