It was not a certainty that Mike Conley would be available for Game 2 against the Golden State Warriors after missing the past 10 days of action due to multiple facial fractures suffered during the first round of the playoffs against the Portland Trail Blazers. Conley did play on Tuesday with a fitted mask, and his presence was enough to help the Memphis Grizzlies tie the series 1-1 heading back home for Saturday’s contest. The point guard helped dictate the pace of
ATLANTA — With less than two minutes left in the third quarter, Washington forward Drew Gooden hit a baseline jumper to put the Wizards and Hawks in a 73-73 deadlock. It marked the sixth time in eight postseason games that Atlanta had blown a double-digit lead, and the once-jovial Philips Arena crowd let out a collective groan. “Here we go again.” On the ensuing play, however, Dennis Schroder drove to the rim on a pick-and-roll and kicked the ball out to the left corner to an
Beyond the young stars who will receive their first max contracts this offseason, few players have improved their stock and value in the NBA this postseason more than Atlanta Hawks small forward DeMarre Carroll. The only Hawk starter who wasn’t an Eastern Conference All-Star this season, Carroll brings energy, intensity, strong perimeter defense and a smooth 3-point stroke. At a time when the NBA emphasizes “3 and D” players more than ever before, Carroll (22nd in our Free Agent Rankings) is set to
The Bulls are continuing to win playoff games, yet the behind-the-scenes drama involving the front office and head coach Tom Thibodeau continues to escalate. In an Adrian Wojnarowski column filed after Chicago’s Game 1 win in Cleveland, the Yahoo! reporter says management still “can’t wait to rid itself” of Thibodeau. Furthermore, Wojnarowski cited some fairly disturbing examples of the lengths to which the relationship between the coaching staff and front office has been broken. In one such case, an assistant coach actually feared his
The mechanism by which many athletes and millions of Americans go broke can be easily visualized by a metaphor of a large bathtub. For top athletes, the tub is better represented by a swimming pool. But for now let’s keep it a large tub. The faucet represents our earned money. The more we earn, the more water is pouring into the tub. Of course, the drain represents our expenses. As we earn more, the faucet pours out more and more water, filling
We’ve all heard the stories about athletes, including basketball players, going broke despite making millions — or tens of millions — of dollars. From Scottie Pippen to Allen Iverson to Antoine Walker, the ledger of those who have squandered their fortunes is a long one. How does this happen? Why? As I told Noah Coslov of CineSport in this video interview: “The biggest thing is not really understanding how current lifestyle will impact their future lifestyle.” I have written a book on this very
Monday night began with a mild surprise — the Bulls won in Cleveland as Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler were superb. [Read more…]
The Houston Rockets had every opportunity to run the Los Angeles Clippers out of the gym on Monday in Game 1 of the conference semifinals. The Clippers were just two days removed from the most emotional win of their season in Game 7 against the San Antonio Spurs and played without Chris Paul, who sat out the contest due to a hamstring injury. Meanwhile, the Rockets had five days of rest after taking care of the Dallas Mavericks in just five