An overnight windstorm knocked out our internet access (and many of our TV channels) for 36 hours. Man, it was like the Dark Ages. I feel bad about there being no Tuesday Spin; this one is both late and abbreviated. Catching Up Among the things I missed was Monday’s triple-OT classic: Dirk Nowitzki’s 40 and Al Jefferson with 28 and 26 among many great fantasy lines. Can’t believe the Thunder were held to 25 points in a half, by anybody. The Clippers are
Monday night’s triple-overtime thriller in Salt Lake City simply was one of the best games of the season. It was a three-hour commercial for why League Pass is worth every penny and Exhibit A for why I walk away laughing when some fool tries to explain why the college game is better than the NBA. We will get to that game in some detail. But the first matter of discussion is the Houston Rockets, whose late-season freefall gives North Korea’s space
Usually, the winners make the headlines. In today’s roundup, however, the losers were the story of Saturday night as a handful of teams fighting to make the playoffs came up short. With three different teams — Milwaukee, Utah and Phoenix — still within reach of the eighth and final playoff seed in their respective Conferences, how many of them came out with a victory? None. Starting with the most inexplicable blowout of the night – the only game on national television – the Spurs
Kevin Durant scored 44 points but his team lost their third straight game. Russell Westbrook was close to a triple-double (21 PTS, 11 REB, 9 AST) but missed 16 FG attempts, which doesn’t help fantasy owners. Serge Ibaka played less than 20 minutes; only his coach knows why. The Pacers are in a groove — Danny Granger led the way with 26 and Paul George had 16 rebounds from the backcourt. Roy Hibbert (21 PTS, 12 REB, 4 BLK) played
Reader Daniel put an end to a two-list losing streak, correctly solving last week’s Bernucca List with the answer of “leading scorers on the losing team in the Finals.” The list actually comprised the last 10 players to turn the trick. So congrats to Daniel as we move on to this week’s list, which is comprehensive but not complete as the research was somewhat time-consuming. See if you can find the common thread among the players listed below. If you think you
It was the Rajon Rondo show, with a triple-double (16 PTS, 14 AST, 11 REB) that left Heat coach Eric Spoelstra fuming on TV at halftime about his team’s defensive effort. Paul Pierce added 23 while Brandon Bass had 16 & 10 in the unexpected rout. Miami got very little from Dwayne Wade (15) and almost nothing from Chris Bosh (4 points on 2-11 shooting) in one of their worst performances of the season. Ray Allen (ankle) missed another game; Avery
The Boston Celtics have had little trouble defeating the Utah Jazz in recent years. They have won eight of the last 11 meetings at the TD Garden — including the last three games by an average of 17.3 points — and swept last season’s two-game series. Their last loss came back on March 14, 2008, when Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer were still toiling for Jerry Sloan. But with the way the Jazz have played as of late, the Celtics may be
Johnson, Durant Earn Weekly Honors The Atlanta Hawks’ Joe Johnson and the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Kevin Durant today were named the Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week, respectively, for games played March 19-25. Johnson led the Hawks to a 4-1 week with averages of 23.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists. Johnson hit game-tying three-pointers vs. Cleveland on March 21 and Utah on March 25, as well as the game-winning three-pointer at Washington on March 24. Durant’s 29.5 ppg