Monday night. 10 p.m. Eastern. Memphis Grizzlies. Phoenix Suns. Only one of them can make the playoffs. The Grizzlies will be coming off a game the previous night against the Lakers. If they win that game, they’re a game up on the Suns. If they lose, the two teams are tied. Phoenix has to be praying the Lakers get the win, because they’ve lost all three games against the Grizzlies this season, and they need to claim the eighth spot
This is not David Stern’s NBA anymore. The old commissioner is out of sight and out of mind, but his successor has been keeping a relatively low profile. Sooner or later, Adam Silver is going to put his imprint on the NBA … it is just a matter of when. [Read more…]
There is a curious thing happening right now. As the search for the replacement Executive Director for Billy Hunter at the NBA players’ union drags into its second year with no end in sight, there is a tremendous void not being filled. The league and Commissioner Adam Silver, being bright and experienced, have decided to take this opportunity and fill it themselves. The missing element is the voice of the players. And their silence is deafening. As the NBPA office continues to shrink
The Miami Heat do not intimidate the Indiana Pacers. That much was very, very clear in their matchup Wednesday night. But you know what intimidates the Pacers? The moment. We saw it last year in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals when they looked like deer in the headlights. And we saw it again Wednesday night when George Hill went to the line with 1.8 seconds left and a chance to put Indiana ahead by 3 – and promptly missed both
There is a curious thing happening right now. As the search for the replacement Executive Director for Billy Hunter at the NBA players’ union drags into its second year with no end in sight, there is a tremendous void not being filled. The league and Commissioner Adam Silver, being bright and experienced, have decided to take this opportunity and fill it themselves. The missing element is the voice of the players. And their silence is deafening. As the NBPA office continues to shrink
With the seedings for the NCAA tournament announced today (and my beloved Maryland Terrapins not even making the NIT), college ball takes centre stage for a few weeks. I used to be primarily a college basketball fan. Sure, I loved watching the NBA, basketball is basketball, but I thought of Joakim Noah as a former Florida Gator, not as a Chicago Bull. I thought it was weird that he wasn’t Al Horford’s teammate any more, and wondered what happened to Taurean
Something I have noticed about the NBA: “The Game” is fighting a losing battle with those promoting the game. While that may sound a little confusing, it has become increasingly obvious that the promotion around the game is more important than the game itself. And this discussion looks very different depending on which side you are on. Last week LeBron James scored a career-high and team-record 61 points in a game. A few games later he lays an egg (by LeBron standards)
LeBron James has been all over the internet for the past 24-hours. Thursday night, as he and the Miami Heat hosted the New York Knicks in what became a 26-point home victory, the internet was all abuzz over the carbon-fiber mask he wore to protect his broken nose. The mask drew comparisons to all sorts of popular characters: Zorro, Hannibal Lector and, of course, Batman. The mask garnered so much attention that someone started a Twitter account for it. There were tons