The slumping Celtics have a revenge game at Indiana. The Knicks are visiting the Thunder in what could be a shootout. And Deron Williams is returning to Salt Lake City. All good games Saturday night in the NBA. And none nowhere near as good as the heavily hyped first meeting between the Lakers and Clippers. The locals call this the “Hallway Series” as both teams reside down the corridor from each other in the Staples Center. But this is not a rivalry,
Technically, fan balloting for the All-Star Game ends Jan. 31, and TNT plans to announce the starters on Feb. 2. In reality, fan balloting already is over, and the starters already have been announced. While Twitter was all atwitter Thursday, with everybody and their fathers sending snippets of the first returns released by the NBA, we didn’t see anyone point out the yawning margins between the potential starters and also-rans. To unseat the current leaders at each position, it would take a “vote
ESPN has a solid opener to its doubleheader as the Boston Celtics host the Dallas Mavericks. But the nightcap should be an alley-oop fest and Wednesday’s best game as the Miami Heat, fresh off their loss to Golden State Warriors in which LeBron James disappeared in the fourth quarter (sound familiar?) visit the Los Angeles Clippers. The game features no less than six players from Team USA’s preliminary roster as LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Blake Griffin, Chris Paul and
The stars came out on Saturday night. LeBron James was back for the Heat, Kevin Durant was draining another game-winning jumper and Blake Griffin was posterizing Ersan Ilyasova. And down in Atlanta, Josh Smith almost did something that no NBA player has done in more than six years. But more on that later. James sat out Thursday’s triple-overtime win at Atlanta with a sprained ankle, joining Dwyane Wade in the thousand-dollar suit club. While Wade remained sidelined Saturday in New Jersey, James let
LOS ANGELES – Now about those exciting new Clippers … They’re definitely new with five starters who were on four different teams last season. They’re guaranteed to excite, too, with Blake Griffin, the game’s most spectacular player since Julius Erving, or ever, Chris Paul trying to see how high he can throw a lob Blake can jam, and everyone putting on a nightly highlight reel. Unfortunately for them, they’re still the Clippers, yet to distinguish themselves from The Band You’ve Known For All
A new day, a new year. That’s what the Clippers hope as they host undefeated Portland tonight at 9:30 to kick off 2012. The honeymoon is over for the Clippers as they look to right the ship after a 1-2 start to a season filled with extremely high expectations. The buzz created by trading for one of the league’s premier point guards, Chris Paul, quieted Friday when Chicago came into the Staples Center and unleashed Derrick Rose. The Bulls’ own star
With ESPN’s prime-time air time locked into bowl season and TNT having already aired a pair of doubleheaders this week, Friday belongs to NBA TV. Despite an 11-game slate, there are not many intriguing matchups. But if you can fight your eyelids at the end of a work week, the Chicago Bulls visit the Los Angeles Clippers at 10:30 p.m. ET. This is a getaway game for the Bulls, who started the season with a four-game trek through California. They stole a
With a new era in the NBA that features the league dictating the Clippers are blessed and the Lakers are not, it is obviously time for an advanced way of thinking that requires everyone to not only accept changes, but also embrace them. I read many predictions before games began on Christmas Day and it was clear that the majority of media has yet to adjust to the new NBA. I will have to admit that I made it only halfway