Amid its myriad injuries, its dozen teams below .500 and its 44-98 record against the Western Conference, there is a looming question regarding the Eastern Conference: Can the East even field an All-Star team? A year ago, Kevin Garnett, Rajon Rondo, Luol Deng, Joakim Noah, Tyson Chandler, Kyrie Irving, Brook Lopez and Jrue Holiday were among the East’s All-Stars. You can make the argument – irrefutable in some cases, strong in others – that none of those players should be invited back
It’s been an unexpected season of sorts for the Brooklyn Nets. That is to say, they have been one of the worst teams in the entire league rather than one of the best as many expected them to be prior to the season. They were supposed to challenge the Miami Heat and match up very well against the Indiana Pacers. Both notions are seemingly laughable at this point. [Read more…]
New York sports fans are very protectively delusional with players they consider stars or superstars. Just look at Mark Sanchez. Or 2013 Derek Jeter. The same thing seems to be happening with Carmelo Anthony, who New Yorkers remarkably revere as a megastar. In reality, Anthony is only average defensively and, so far this season, inefficient offensively. As we’ve seen throughout this season, Melo is certainly no Paul George. Just consider this sequence over the last five minutes and nine seconds of Wednesday
The first thing you notice watching the undefeated Indiana Pacers is their intensity. More than the other seven teams this writer has seen in person this season, Indiana plays hard and aggressive basketball for 48 minutes. Indiana remained unbeaten at 8-0 after Monday’s 95-79 home win over Memphis. “We are just trying to play our style of basketball,” Pacers forward David West said after Indiana’s hard-fought 96-91 win over the Nets on Saturday in Brooklyn. That tough, tenacious style includes going hard on every
The first thing you notice watching the undefeated Indiana Pacers is their intensity. More than the other seven teams this writer has seen in person this season, Indiana plays hard and aggressive basketball for 48 minutes. The Pacers did that again Saturday night – its fourth game in five nights- and came away with a hard-fought 96-91 win over the Nets at Barclays Center to go to 7-0 on the season. “We are just trying to play our style of basketball,” Pacers
With wing extraordinaire Paul George signing a max-level, five-year contract with the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday, a legitimate argument can be made that the Pacers have the most secure medium to long-term future of any Eastern Conference team. At just 23 years of age, the 6-8 small forward already is one of the top five defenders in the NBA, as evidenced by his regular season advanced numbers, and is quickly developing a really strong offensive game. [Read more…]
The Dwight Howard signing had a humongous effect on the futures market for who will win the NBA title. And then it started a trickle-down effect. [Read more…]
Smoove Takes the Motor City Traditionally, after the biggest of fish find themselves off of the market, the second and third tier quickly follow. On Friday, when it became common knowledge that Dwight Howard was headed to Houston, the Atlanta Hawks, Dallas Mavericks and Golden State Warriors rebounded quite nicely, agreeing to terms with Paul Millsap, Jose Calderon and Andre Iguodala, respectively. Now, just one day later, Andrew Bynum appears to be close to signing with the Mavericks, as