Kobe Bryant achieved something on Sunday night that no one else in NBA history has before. With his ninth assist in the third quarter versus the Toronto Raptors, Kobe recorded his 6,000th career assist. He became the first player ever to be named to the 30,000 point and 6,000 assist club. A little less than two weeks ago, he put himself in the record books when he scored his 32,000th career point against the Atlanta Hawks. He’s sitting at fourth on
Mark Cuban wants the Dallas Mavericks to become an Eastern Conference team, and he appears to be dead serious about it. Based on how the respective conferences look these days, can you blame him? The West has absolutely demolished the East in the early going with a combined record of 55-23 (!!!). With that kind of differential, it’s no surprise to see that the West has nine teams with a 60 percent or better winning percentage, while the East only has three such
Over the weekend, LeBron James called his slumping, underachieving Cleveland Cavaliers “a fragile team.” James is partially right. As a group, the Cavaliers aren’t dealing very well with the lofty expectations put upon them by pundits like me. Right now, they look like a typical front-running team that lacks mental toughness and gives in at the first sign of trouble. That was evident Saturday, when the Cavaliers sprinted to a 26-8 lead in the first eight minutes – and were overwhelmed thereafter
As you’ll probably notice from the headline, Andrei Kirilenko’s time with the Nets may be drawing to a close. What makes this interesting, apart from how good Kirilenko used to be, is that he turned down a sizable contract from the Timberwolves to come to Brooklyn in the first place on a veteran minimum deal. Kirilenko has barely seen the floor this year, and last year was easily the worst of his career, but you’ve got to imagine there’s an NBA
Of the eight teams that reached the Western Conference playoffs last season, six of them had at least one player among the NBA’s top-20 in win shares. The two playoff teams that did not have a player among the top 20 were Memphis, with stars Marc Gasol, Mike Conley and Zach Randolph, and San Antonio, who boasts the famed star quartet of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Kawhi Leonard. Obtaining, maintaining and sustaining a roster with All-Star level talent
The New York Knicks have lost five straight games and are now 2-6 after wins over Cleveland and Charlotte in their first three contests. So what are the Knicks doing so poorly over the league’s first two-plus weeks? The offense is disastrously slow and inefficient The Knicks’ 88.7 Pace, or approximate possessions per game, is the worst in the league. New York has consistently gone late into the shot clock as they learn the Triangle offense, looking for the perfect pass or
NEW YORK – Phil Jackson addressed the sorry state of the Knicks (2-6) Monday, preached patience with words such as “process” and “progress,” addressed the Triangle offense, Carmelo Anthony and more. Patience? The Knicks have advanced past the first round once in the past 14 seasons. Progress? The offense has looked like any other geometrical shape during most games. Anthony? After shedding weight and coming into training camp in the best shape of his life, it appears once again that the former scoring champion
Monday afternoon New York Knicks All-Star forward Carmelo Anthony was basking in his career accomplishment. A night earlier, in a home game against the Charlotte Hornets at Madison Square Garden he scored a very important basket — two important baskets, really. The first basket came with 7:41 left in the first quarter, when he hit his second shot in the game, a three. That shot gave New York an early 15-to-five lead. It also gave Anthony 20,002 career points, putting him