The 2014-15 NBA regular season continued on Monday, February 23 with eight games featuring 16 teams. An MVP candidate took over with a dominant performance, an under-appreciated star made a clutch play to seal a win and a recently traded player shined for his new team. Here’s how it all transpired. [Read more…]
The MVP is James Harden’s to lose, right? And Coach of the Year is a two-man race between Steve Kerr and Mike Budenholzer, correct? Not so fast. It is still February, the temperature here in New York is going to hit zero again tonight, and the number zero was an accurate reflection on the chances of Russell Westbrook contending for the MVP award and Stan Van Gundy being in the mix for Coach of the Year as recently as Christmas. To refresh your
We’re talkin’ all native NBA/ABA sons. Ever. The three-pointer is more vital than ever. On the court, year by year, teams get smarter about what kind of shots help win ball games and, year by year, they increasingly realize three-point shots get it done better than most others. This year, no team taking 30% or more of its field goal attempts in threes has a bad offense. “All nine teams above that 30 percent mark have ranged from
There was a lot of shade in the Valley of the Sun this week. It all started with Goran Dragic, who is far from blameless in this mess. But because the Phoenix Suns sent Dragic packing in a trade, president Lon Babby and GM Ryan McDonough got to write the epilogue and spin it in intelligence-insulting fashion. Dragic is an unrestricted free agent this summer. At 28, it’s his first and last chance at a max contract. And while the idea of
The injury bug continues to have a negative affect on the NBA, in real life and fantasy. Last night All-Stars Stephen Curry (ankle) and LaMarcus Aldridge (thumb) were scratched, and both their teams lost. [Read more…]
The 2014-15 NBA regular season continued on Sunday, February 22 with a healthy slate of nine games. Multiple contenders were in action with the opportunity to spark a second-half run in the wake of All-Star Weekend. This is how it all transpired. [Read more…]
Rebuilding franchises conjure up a wide spectrum of emotions. They prompt hope for a brighter future, frustration that wins will likely be hard to come by in the immediate future and, sometimes, disappointment that tangible progress isn’t being seen quite quickly enough for increasingly rabid fan bases — specially in this instant gratfication digital era. Orlando is an interesting case study. The Magic have what seems like a decent enough young core in shooting guard Victor Oladipo, double-double machine Nikola Vucevic,
It is pretty unusual for a team in the playoff picture to make wholesale changes at the trade deadline. While it is common to add a piece or two, trading featured stars or half the roster is not common for teams in the hunt. This season it was surprising that so many impactful trades were made at the trade deadline, the busiest one in NBA history. With Phoenix and Oklahoma City fighting for the last playoff spot, team instability is something