This shouldn’t really be a surprise to anyone anymore, but Draymond Green played a key role in helping the Golden State Warriors take a 2-0 lead against the New Orleans Pelicans with a 97-87 victory on Monday in Oracle Arena. Green, who has been instrumental all season long for the Warriors on the defensive end of the floor and is a strong candidate to win this year’s DPOY award (although you’d never know it if you were listening to Charles Barkley
Can I have last weekend back? I mean, seriously. The playoff games were duds, almost all of them. And the one game that went to overtime happened so early Saturday afternoon, lunch was not even finished. Watching playoff games should never feel like a chore, but it sort of felt that way the past two days. The second-most compelling thing I saw on video was Blake Griffin posterizing Aron Baynes twice in a row, and technically that did not happen over the
A funny thing happened on the Clippers’ way to continued ignominy. Imagine finishing the season on a 14-1 surge that takes you to the third seed in the brutal Western Conference and finding yourself facing the sixth-seeded booby prize, the defending NBA champion San Antonio Spurs, who are favored in the series opener on your floor. What else is new? As one buzzard said to another, “I’ve been having Clipper luck.” Oh, you say the Clippers won? Fairy tales can come true; they just
How many of the 16 teams in the NBA playoffs have a legitimate shot at the championship? It is a fair question, and it was posed to me this morning on NBC Sports Radio by host Erik Kuselias. Just to give you a preview, I did not answer “Trail Blazers,” “Pelicans” or “Celtics.” But I did give an answer that reflects what an odd situation we have on our hands after the first two days of the NBA playoffs. Clearly, the Los
So far, there have been no shocking upsets in the NBA playoffs. The only home team that lost was Toronto, in overtime. That trend should continue tonight. [Read more…]
The two Eastern Conference games on Sunday afternoon are far less competitive than the evening battles between powerhouse teams from the West. [Read more…]
Of all the owners, executives, GMs, and other management types in the NBA, few approach Mark Cuban and Daryl Morey in terms of openness with the media. Neither is afraid to speak their mind, and neither has a reputation for pulling any punches. That’s part of why their first-round matchup is among the most interesting. There’s also the Chandler Parsons saga from last summer, and a rivalry that’s been simmering for a while, but the main sources of fuel for that
Some of the greatest and most fit athletes on the planet get injured on the court so there’s no 100 percent foolproof way to totally avoid injuries, but there are preventative measures you could take that will help keep you off injured reserve. From staying hydrated and stretching, to having the right gear and knowing your own limitations, Dick’s Sporting Goods blog got five easy ways to avoid injury from Dustin Willis, a physical therapist at Rancho Therapy in Southern California.