Remember back in 2010, when Kenny Smith boldly claimed that Kevin Durant would be the best basketball player in the NBA in three years? It sounded pretty crazy then, mostly because of the guy that just won Sportsman of the Year, along with just about everything else you could possibly win over the past calendar year as a basketball player. What separated LeBron James from Durant back then was his ability to create for others on offense, something the Thunder forward had
Did Gregg Popovich screw the fans and the NBA by making the decision to sit out four of his starters for a nationally televised game on TNT, on a night where only two games were on the schedule? Because lets face it: no one is exactly clamoring to see the Heat take on a bunch of role players that casual fans know nothing about – the Spurs aren’t exactly the most popular team to watch to begin with. Hell, even the
Where to begin? Mike Brown’s exit? Phil Jackson’s overnight disappearance? The unending string of power forward injuries? A reformed J.R. Smith on the undefeated New York Knicks? This season has been full of shocking developments; if you look closely enough you can find a significant surprise in nearly every division and on every team. [Read more…]
One night, both of last year’s NBA Finalists competing, both NBA Finalists going down. The Memphis Grizzlies and the Los Angeles Clippers turned in two of the top performances of the young 2012-13 NBA season, as they beat the Oklahoma City Thunder and Miami Heat by 10 and 7 points, respectively, though the point differential isn’t an indicator of how well either team played: [Read more…]
In the game of the night, Gary Neal scored a career-high 27 points to lead a furious Spurs comeback. Manu Ginobili (17) had his best game yet, and even without Tony Parker (illness) they scored 39 fourth-quarter points to prevail. For the Blazers, Nicolas Batum (33) and LaMarcus Aldridge (29) were terrific in defeat and rookie Damian Lillard added 20 points, but the Portland bench is really, really bad — they were outscored 63-4 by the San Antonio reserves. Other November 10 Games WAS @ IND:
It’s getting hard to keep up with all the injuries and illnesses. Every NBA team has to deal with them, but let’s consider just one, the Cleveland Cavaliers. Their star Kyrie Irving played (quite well) through a bout of food poisoning on Wednesday. Anderson Varejao has a sore knee, though we expect both in the lineup this evening. Rookie Dion Waiters has a deep thigh bruise, while fellow freshman Tyler Zeller, who has a fractured face, is being fitted for
The Bobcats aren’t very good, but they are better than last year and do have a few fantasy-relevant players. Byron Mullens rewarded his owners with six 3-pointers, 24 points and 8 rebounds. Kemba Walker (17 PTS, 8 AST) had a nice line. The surprise starting SG was rookie Jeffrey Taylor, but he played only ten minutes; Ramon Sessions had 17 PTS and 9 AST off the bench and will continue to fill in for Gerald Henderson (sprained foot) for at
