CLEVELAND – All day, Clevelanders were jubilant and optimistic about the season opener at Quicken Loans Arena. After four long years, LeBron James’ return to the Cavs and his home region would take its next step. For many fans, the previous night’s Bulls blowout win was a sign that the Cavs would be able to show up and run the Knicks off the court. With a city in a 50-year championship drought, the Cavs are clearly enabled to end the streak. Championships
How will the Oklahoma City Thunder do without Kevin Durant for the first six to eight weeks of the season? It’s extremely hard to tell, considering Durant has missed a total of 16 regular season games over the course of his seven-year career, including just two over the last two seasons. Durant’s lone absence last season came on Jan. 24 in a 101-83 win over Boston in which Russell Westbrook did not play, either. With Durant sidelined by a Jones fracture in
Training camps are over, exhibition games have begun, and the excitement is palpable as we build towards the 2014-2015 season with players who should have breakout or standout seasons. Here are five players in the Eastern Conference – one at each position, no rookies – who will take the next step towards greatness this upcoming season. Tomorrow, the West. [Read more…]
The New York Knicks looked like the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus on a nightly basis last season. Carmelo Anthony’s free agency, and the uncertainty it brought, hung over the Knicks like a dark cloud on a rainy day. J.R. Smith had knee surgery before last season and violated the league’s anti-drug policy, resulting in a five-game suspension to start the season. He then became more preoccupied with untying the shoelaces of opponents instead of loosening their laces with his
One of the major contributions made by David Stern during his time as NBA commissioner was expanding the appeal of the game globally. As a result of this, China became the second largest market for the game outside of the United States. [Read more…]
It’s no secret that former NBA star Stephon Marbury is not a fan of Mike D’Antoni after “playing” for him in his final season with the New York Knicks. To make a long story short, the point guard felt betrayed by D’Antoni after being told that he would have a clean slate with the team in the 2008-2009 season if he came to camp in shape – which he did – only to be publicly humiliated by being benched in favor
The NBA revealed the official schedule of the 2014-2015 season on Wednesday, and that means we finally have some specific dates to look forward to and fun things to discuss about the upcoming year. Our Chris Sheridan starts us off with the Top 10 games to watch out for. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports had his own version of ten games to watch for as well. There really are so many intriguing dates to circle on the calendar with everything that has happened
LAS VEGAS – Writers and team officials called for a running clock or the Mercy rule Monday afternoon at the Cox Pavilion when the New York Knicks opened up a 73-33 lead over the Charlotte Hornets. The 95-72 final score pushed the Knicks to 3-0. The team’s play has been an endorsement of the triangle offense Phil Jackson and Derek Fisher are implementing in New York. Players are sharing the ball and fluidly moving the ball to the open man, which