MIAMI – OK, he did it again. LeBron James, the talented and tormented Miami Heat forward, declined to take a late-game shot Friday at Utah. He saw a double-team coming and passed to forward Udonis Haslem, who missed a jumper. The Heat lost, 99-98. You’d be tempted to think it was the All-Star game all over again. It wasn’t. This wasn’t some made-for-TV pickup game. It was a regular-season game. It mattered. Now, the LeBron debate can continue. “At the end of the
For a six-game board, there are some pretty good games on League Pass on Monday night. The Miami Heat go to Milwaukee to try to solve the Bucks, who have beaten them twice this season. The top two rebounders square off with Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic host Kevin Love and the Minnesota Timberwolves. And there is the car-crash quality of the Philadelphia 76ers visiting the Charlotte Bobcats, who have lost 14 straight games. But the best game should be Blake
On Monday, there were four injuries that could dramatically impact the NBA playoff picture. Chief among those was Chauncey Billups, who is out for the season with a torn Achilles’ tendon suffered in the Clippers bittersweet win over Orlando. An MRI exam revealed a full tear of the tendon. During the fourth quarter, Billups was trying to stop backpedaling, and he injured himself when he tried to switch direction and run forward. Averaging 15 points and 4 assists, Billups’ numbers will have
Kobe Bryant needed 22 points to pass Shaquille O’Neal on the all-time scoring list and got them in the first 21 minutes. He looked like he was on his way to 50, a great way to celebrate his annual trip to his hometown. The Lakers held a 55-30 advantage in rebounds. Andrew Bynum (20 points, 20 rebounds) and Pau Gasol (16 and 11) looked like they were playing against children. And LA held a seven-point lead with less than five minutes to
The Los Angeles Clippers have come a long way. Once the laughingstock of the NBA, they are on national TV for the second straight night as they welcome the Denver Nuggets in Thursday’s best game. This is a rematch of the Clippers’ 109-105 victory on Sunday. This time, the Nuggets will have back speedster Ty Lawson to run with the Clippers’ star guard trio of Chris Paul, ex-Nugget Chauncey Billups and Mo Williams. It will also be the first time Timofey Mozgov
Live from Staples Center, it’s the Next Great Team! No, of course, it’s not the Lakers. They’re the Last Great Team. If the next great one is busy being born here, it’s the Clippers, who are already spectacular and aiming for bigger things. If you want to know what the Clippers could be, it’s no longer a problem because they just turned it all loose, for one night, anyway, routing West-leading Oklahoma City. After rolling up 38 points in the first quarter, or as
Remember the old NBA slogan “I love this game!?” (It pre-dates “Where Amazing Happens”). If you are in your early 20s, you may not. But that’s OK. Lots of people in their early 20s seem to believe the world began 10 years ago, and have no recollection of crappy cell phone reception, dial-up Internet or the fax machine. But those who are a bit older certainly remember that ad campaign, and Sunday was one of those days when love for the game
Highlight Performance: Chauncey Billups, LAC– Returning to Denver, his former team, Billups had a great game, scoring 32 points and hitting 6-12 shots beyond the arc. Being that he is no longer the point guard, Billup’s assist totals have suffered a but this season. However, being the starting shooting guard, he has been a bit more willing to pull the trigger than usual, so big scoring nights occasionally come as no surprise. This was an impressive game by Billups, and his