A 40-point opening quarter, all five starters in double figures and improved bench scoring led to 119 points for the Lakers, whose new coach Mike D’Antoni has already had an impact without even sitting on the bench. When Steve Nash (leg) replaces Darius Morris at PG, Kobe Bryant will start to get more open looks. Last night, Mamba was a facilitator, dropping 11 dimes as part of his triple-double (22 PTS, 11 REB) and Dwight Howard (28 PTS, 13 REB,
Welcome back to the MVP rankings, James Harden — even though guys on sub-.500 tams usually should have no mention in MVP discussions. We grant you leniency here, Mr. Harden, because the season is less than three weeks old [Read more…]
The depth of the San Antonio Spurs was never more evident. With Kawhi Leonard (knee) out for the next couple of weeks, Stephen Jackson (9 PTS, 9 REB) stepped in as the starting SF, and Manu Ginobili had his best game of the season, with 20 points in 23 minutes off the bench. [Read more…]
The Cleveland Cavaliers have finished a combined 40-108 the past two seasons. Despite their growing pains following LeBron James’ departure, Cavaliers fans have an intriguing team moving forward. Cleveland won its first game of the season against Washington but arrived in Los Angeles after a two-game skid in which they lost to Chicago by 20 and to Milwaukee on Brandon Jennings buzzer-beating triple with 0.7 seconds left. Such is life for a talented yet youthful team: There will be surreal highs and
Last week, James Harden did get a contract extension and Brandon Jennings didn’t. This week, both received NBA Player of the Week honors. Harden, who received a maximum five-year, $80 million extension from the Houston Rockets after being traded by the Oklahoma City Thunder, won for the Western Conference. Called a “foundational player” upon his arrival in Houston, Harden began living up to that billing by averaging 35.3 points and leading the Rockets to a 2-1 mark. Harden had 37 points and
Once upon a time, I discouraged any and all MVP talk until a quarter of the season (at the very least) had been played. Nowadays, I am a reformed man — and I have Sam Presti, Clay Bennett, Daryl Morey and Rob Pelinka to thank. After slightly less than one week of the NBA season, we find ourselves in a situation no one could have envisioned in the waning days of October. The game of poker between James Harden (repped by
Despite only a handful of games the opening week of the NBA season wasn’t short of headlines. First there was the James Harden trade, then were some controversial extension decisions, the Lakers have started 0-3 and Danny Granger and Eric Gordon were shut down. Every Saturday afternoon, we’ll examine the Week That Was, then review our Depth Chart Updates, the Upcoming Schedule and our picks for Sits and Starts. The Week That Was Lesson #1: The James Harden trade In my Northwest Division preview,
What would James Harden do for an encore? How about a career-high 45 points? On deadly shooting (14-19 from the floor and 15-17 from the line, the newest Rocket led his team to a road win over Atlanta. Jeremy Lin provided excellent support with 21 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists, and while Omer Asik was scoreless on seven shots, he grabbed 19 boards. Patrick Patterson (9 PTS, 7 REB) made his first start at PF, with backup Marcus Morris