Before the season, championship expectations were attached to both the Knicks and the Nets. The Knicks were coming off the team’s first season with at least 50 or more wins and a trip to the Eastern Conference semifinals since the 1999-2000 campaign, when Jeff Van Gundy patrolled the sidelines, Patrick Ewing wrapped up his final season in New York and Allan Houston was in the prime of his career. The Nets were coming off their first trip to the playoffs in six years
Editor’s note: Kels was unavailable to put together the rankings this week (he was last seen building an Igloo somewhere in the woods in northwestern Connecticut). So in his place are Marv Albert, Bill Walton and Clyde Frazier. They were all invited to Kels’ igloo over the weekend to tape the following segment. Below is a transcript. MARV: WEL-come to the MOST IMPROVED Player Rankings, I’m Mahv Albut alongside Walt “Clyde” Frazier and Bill Walton. And Bill, we’ve seen A LOT of entertaining
You can point to a handful of reasons why the Los Angeles Lakers are on the verge of panic. Dwight Howard missed all of training camp and most of preseason recovering from back surgery. Kobe Bryant has a sprained foot that requires him to wear a walking boot. Steve Nash is out for a while with a fracture in his fibula. That lack of continuity led to 11 straight losses – all eight in the preseason, which the Lakers dismissed as games that don’t count,
By Chris Bernucca This NBA lockout is a 12-inch stupid sandwich. The owners have been stupid in believing they could get back in one negotiation everything they have given away over the last 12 years. The players have been stupid in underestimating the backlash from a fickle fan base hit hard by a nationwide economic malaise. And both sides have been extremely stupid in coming close enough to shake hands, then refusing to with the childish insistence of “You first!” It is another in