Is it safe to say that NBA teams always enjoy home court advantage? It may actually be an understatement when it comes to home court in this postseason. All but two games in the playoffs so far have been won by the home team, and the lone two teams that won on the road basically needed to pull off miracles to get their victories. Of course, there’s the simple fact that the home teams are also generally the better teams, which is why
One bump begat another. As expected, Rajon Rondo of the Boston Celtics has been suspended one game without pay for making contact with a game official, it was announced today by Stu Jackson, NBA Executive vice president of basketball operations. The incident occurred with 0:41 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter of the Celtics’ 83-74 loss to the Atlanta Hawks at Philips Arena on April 29. Rondo will serve his suspension tomorrow when the Celtics play the Hawks in Game 2 of their opening
// csprtContainer(); // ]]> The Chicago Bulls played 27 games without Derrick Rose during the regular season, and they won two-thirds of them. They were without Richard Hamilton for more than half of the season. They lost Luol Deng for a long stretch. So if there’s any team prepared to deal with the calamity that was the season-ending injury to Derrick Rose, it is them. C.J. Watson will take over the starting point guard duties for the Bulls as they resume their first-round playoff
Shame on you if you turned off the television early last night. (Or the night before, for that matter). If you did, you missed one of the most epic comebacks in the history of the NBA playoffs. And you also missed a chance to see an example of just why Chris Paul is indeed worthy of MVP consideration (even though it seems like a foregone conclusion that LeBron James is going to get the award.) The Clippers were down 24 points early
It’s right there on Page 58 of the NBA rule book. Thou shalt not bumb a ref. OK, those aren’t the exact words, but that is the gist of the rule that Rondo violated in the closing minute of Game 1 of the Hawks-Celtics first-round playof series, won by Atlanta 83-74 Sunday night. Rondo drew a technical foul for arguing a call with 41 seconds left when he thought a jump ball should have been called, then clearly made intentional contact with referee
After 66 games of the wildest schedule the league has ever seen, the lockout shortened regular season has finally come to a close. No more four games in five nights or back-to-back-to-backs. The demanding schedule saw many key players suffer devastating and nagging injuries throughout the season. The Hawks and the Clippers will surely feel those losses as they head into the playoffs without Al Horford and Chauncey Billups, respectively. Without a real training camp and preseason, teams with new coaches and players were
This is probably going to be our last look at Boston’s Big Three — unless, of course, they win the championship and Wyc Grousbeck is forced to pony up a fortune in luxury taxes to keep the team together for one more year. Oh, and he needs to find a center, too. The Hawks get no respect, but that is to be expected when they come up with their annual spring flameout. Judging from the predictions below, a majority still
So we finally come to the conclusion of the regular season. In terms of who’s making the playoffs, anyway. With only one spot – the eighth seed of the Western Conference – still left for grabs, the Utah Jazz sealed the deal on Tuesday night by defeating the Phoenix Suns for their fourth consecutive victory, on national television, and clinched the final available seed. They are not done either, as they still have a chance to move up to the seventh seed, albeit