Tonight’s TNT doubleaheader includes the league’s two best teams and a strong contingent of All-Star Weekend participants. In the first game (7 p.m. ET), the Miami Heat (26-7, .788) hosts the New York Knicks (17-17, .500), while the Los Angeles Lakers (20-13, .606) travel to Oklahoma City to face the Thunder (26-7, .788). Miami and Oklahoma City are tied for the league’s top record. This marks the second of three meetings between New York and Miami. Despite hitting a season high
Last week’s edition of The Bernucca List produced a handful of wrong guesses until reader Dashiell broke through with the right answer – former scoring champions who played for the Celtics. Get this: Throughout their illustrious history, the Celtics have never had a scoring champion. Unlucky edition 13 is below. The idea is to correctly identify the list with the proper parameters. First correct answer gets a mention in next week’s list. You can answer via the comments or Tweet me. The Bernucca
Highlight Performance: Jeremy Lin, NYK– If anybody foresaw what Lin is doing right now, please, come forward. The undrafted Harvard graduate has drawn more hype then the Tim Tebow story, taking New York by storm. After watching him dissect the Lakers last night, I must admit, I’m on the bandwagon and I’m unsure if I’ll ever get off. The guy can ball, he knows the game very well, and he as unique as they come. Facing against Kobe Bryant and the
Lakers forward Pau Gasol received news right before the game that he was not selected for the All-Star Game. He let the Celtics know how he felt about the snub with 25 points, 14 rebounds and a game-saving block to help beat the Lakers escape Boston with an 88-87 overtime win. Kobe Bryant scored 27 points and made a handful of tough shots but was generally ineffective down the stretch. He missed a potential game-tying shot at the end of the fourth
The rivalry between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics doesn’t need any added incentive. But it may have some in Thursday night’s best NBA game. The first of two meetings between the greatest franchises in league history will be televised nationally at 8 p.m. ET by TNT, which has a one-hour pregame show that will reveal the reserves for the All-Star Game later this month. Both proud teams have former All-Stars who have taken a step back this season and may
// Fans in the NBA’s two biggest markets can’t be very happy right now. For that matter, neither can David Stern. The New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers are the NBA. They predate instant replay, maximum salaries, team planes, the draft lottery, the 3-pointer, free agency, conferences and leather sneakers. For more than 50 years, they have anchored the league on opposite coasts, guaranteeing interest in the two biggest cities in the country. Both teams basically have unlimited budgets. Both teams
Sunday night’s best game starts after the football is over and has the surprising Indiana Pacers visiting the Los Angeles Lakers, who are in a favorable stretch of their schedule and have an opportunity to fix some of their issues on offense. The first issue is scoring. Despite having the NBA’s leading scorer in Kobe Bryant, the Lakers are just 21st in offense at 92.1 points and dead last in the NBA in 3-point percentage at 25.7 percent. Derek Fisher is 7-of-29,
