In the Sunday matinee, Carmelo Anthony scored 27 points and J.R. Smith was red-hot — 20 PTS, 9 REB in 35 minutes — to lead the Knicks to an easy win. In a great example of the new “position-less NBA,” Melo (admittedly a tall SF) actually played the 5 for a while, surrounded by guards. Jason Kidd had a nice afternoon: 12 PTS, 6 AST, 3 STL and two 3-pointers. The Sixers lost Jason Richardson to an ankle injury in the
NEW YORK – When you’re the New York Knicks, you’ll take any piece of positive history you can get. And after the Knicks defeated the Philadelphia 76ers, 100-84, on Sunday afternoon, they have opened a season with back-to-back victories for the first time this century. That the two victories came against two quality opponents in the Miami Heat – whom the Knicks defeated Friday night – and the 76ers should give Knicks fans more gooey feelings of positivity. Mike
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
Mike Woodson A few weeks ago, I wrote that the Knicks had one of the NBA’s deepest frontcourts. Obviously, whether or not they would be able to live up to their potential depended on whether or not they would be able to stay healthy. Because of Hurricane Sandy, as I write this, the Knicks are one of the NBA’s seven teams who are yet to play a game. We know that Amar’e Stoudemire is going to be out for
By now you’ve probably heard that the Thunder dealt last season’s NBA Sixth Man of the Year, James Harden, to the Rockets for three draft picks, rookie Jeremy Lamb, and guard Kevin Martin. It’s a bold move for rebuilding Houston, now banking on Harden becoming a franchise cornerstone, and a bit of a questionable one for the Thunder, who will still battle for a title this season, but will find that more difficult without Harden. The move comes after the Thunder
When you want to hear a candid opinion about any given subject, there may not be a better NBA personnel to listen to than Sir Charles Barkley. The Van Gundy brothers are up there as well, but Barkley just has a way of grabbing you by the balls about what he has to say. He will be honest about anyone, even if it’s about his best friend Michael Jordan, who – as you’ll find out below – doesn’t exactly appreciate the
When LeBron James made his move to the power forward position last season, things changed drastically – in a championship winning way – for the Heat. There aren’t too many small forwards that are versatile enough to play both small forward and the power forward positions: the difference in physicality is simply too significant to handle for most. Another three that is capable of playing the four – and creating havoc in the process – is New York Knicks forward Carmelo
Here are this morning’s top NBA news stories: “Memphis Grizzlies sale to be voted on by NBA Board of Governors on Thursday,” by Marc Stein from ESPN.com “Is Luis Scola Phoenix’s X-Factor,” by Bill Ingram from HoopsWorld “Expect Warriors to go small early in season,” by Matt Steinmetz from CSNBayArea.com “Oklahoma City’s James Harden a hot ticket,” by Paul Coro from the Arizona Republic “The differences between Dwight Howard and Andrew Bynum are plain to see,” by Mike Bresnahan from the Los Angeles Times “Pierce: ‘it would be difficult’ to see