The Dallas Mavericks have been living off the glory of their NBA championship all season while simultaneously plotting their salary cap strategy to lure Deron Williams to Dallas next season, and Dwight Howard the year after. Jason Kidd will be elsewhere next season, Brendan Haywood will be amnestied, and a good portion of Dirk Nowitzki’s supporting cast figure to be castoffs if the plan to lure D-Will succeeds. The Thunder? Everybody loved them through March, and then they went 8-7
NEW YORK — Old guys are resting, young teams are angling, and Kobe Bryant is dreaming of another championship. It’s that time of year: the NBA’s playoffs are upon us! And thanks to the Milwaukee Bucks losing to the Indiana Pacers on Thursday night, the Knicks (33-29) officially clinched a berth in the NBA’s postseason party. At the very least, Knicks fans can be assured of four more games after the Knicks conclude their regular season in Charlotte on April 26,
There are some automatic penalties in the NBA. For example, if you throw a punch at another player, you are suspended at least one game. And if you give someone a “Wet Willy,” you are fined $25,000. That is what Dallas Mavericks guard Delonte West did to Utah Jazz forward Gordon Hayward on Monday night, and NBA executive vice president of basketball operations Stu Jackson ruled on it Wednesday with a $25,000 fine, calling it a “physical taunt.” West was not suspended for the
The Dallas Mavericks are clinging to the seventh seed in the cramped Western Conference playoff race. A loss tonight would inch them closer to being the first team since the 1997-1998 Bulls to miss the playoffs after a championship season. Relating further to those Bulls, the Mavericks are also working with a shortened lockout season. Dallas (34-28) looks to avoid that dubious feat and snap a two-game skid as they try to sweep the season series against the Houston Rockets for the second
Monday night’s triple-overtime thriller in Salt Lake City simply was one of the best games of the season. It was a three-hour commercial for why League Pass is worth every penny and Exhibit A for why I walk away laughing when some fool tries to explain why the college game is better than the NBA. We will get to that game in some detail. But the first matter of discussion is the Houston Rockets, whose late-season freefall gives North Korea’s space
Four point guards, including Jeremy Lin of the New York Knicks, were chosen as divisional winners for the annual NBA Sportsmanship Award. Lin, whose emergence from benchwarmer to star transcended the game for more than a month, is the finalist for the Atlantic Division. He is currently sidelined with a knee injury. Other point guard finalists are Jason Kidd of the Dallas Mavericks (Southwest), Luke Ridnour of the Minnesota Timberwolves (Northwest) and Chris Paul of the Los Angeles Clippers (Pacific). The other two
Sixteen days to glory. The title of Bud Greenspan’s documentary of the 1984 Olympics also is fitting for the NBA season, which has just 16 days remaining and a dozen playoff spots still up for grabs. For argument’s sake, we’re going to assume middle-of-the-packers Indiana, Boston, Atlanta and Orlando will eventually clinch berths in the Eastern Conference, while the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers and Memphis will sew up spots in the West. All seven of those teams have fewer than 25
A quick check of history reveals the saying “the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry” came from a 1785 Scottish poem by Robert Burns. Before translation, however, the original makes English sound like a foreign language: “The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men Gang aft agley, An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain, For promis’d joy!” After reading that, I was sure I had found the perfect introduction for a treatise on Lamar Odom’s career in Dallas. He may have