We are back with a long-overdue edition of the Three-Man Weave, taking a look at the NBA All-Star Game starters. What did the fans get right? What did they get wrong? Should Kobe Bryant be part of the All-Star Game? And what does John Malkovich have to do with all of this? Let’s get right to it. 1. Which Eastern Conference player should have been an All-Star starter? [Read more…]
The NBA announced the 2015-2016 All-Star starters on Thursday, and some of the results were surprising to say the least. Final voting results for NBA All-Star East & West starters. Seven reserves from each conference named next Thursday. pic.twitter.com/HQpJzBh93h — Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) January 22, 2016 The biggest surprise was the sudden rise of Zaza Pachulia, who nearly beat Kawhi Leonard for the starting forward position with 768,112 votes. Can you say travesty? Pachulia is having a career year to be fair,
We have two pieces of news to pick apart today: The announcement that USA Basketball has released a list of 30 finalists for the 2016 Olympic team, and the “non-commitment” from LeBron James regarding whether he will be part of the party. And yes, it will be a party. The games are in Brazil, after all. And LeBron, whose non-commitment is disingenuous at best, does not miss a good party. So let me tell you a little story about the Brazilians. [Read more…]
This is the time of year when we give out our midseason awards. But before we get to the drudgery of Sixth Man Award and Most Valuable Player, let’s start the festivities with a special award for individual achievement that goes to Rashad Vaughn. Vaughn is a shooting guard for the Milwaukee Bucks and the second-youngest player in the NBA. He is one of the dozens of rookies who have made virtually no impact in their first season. He is averaging 2.5 points
This man’s greatness inspired a poem. I’d like to start this column off by paying tribute to a true basketball hero. I couldn’t express his greatness in column form, so I wrote a poem. I hope you’ll oblige. Dim the lights please. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhem. Ahhhem. Ahhhhh. Here we go: (Bongos playing) Dreary. Locker room smell. Sweaty socks. He walks in, authoritative. A Pelican no more. Scored 14 points in first game back. Tripled win total. There’s now hope where the bell tolls. Hope, and hoagies. (Bongos stop) Thank you. [Read more…]
Once upon a time, Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers were the champs and regularly owned the Western Conference. Suffice to say, that included the domination of the Golden State Warriors. The script flipped sometime ago, though, and it’s been the Warriors who have had the Lakers’ numbers over the last three years with an overall record of 9-2 in their last 11 meetings. [Read more…]
It’s no secret that the Golden State Warriors were able to win their first championship in 40 years largely by going to the unconventional small ball lineup when it mattered the most. For whatever reason, Miami Heat center Hassan Whiteside took a shot at the concept of small ball during the offseason. It’s unclear if Whiteside was referring to what the Warriors did specifically, but the center was adamant that he could dominate any matchup if a team went small against him. In
With a 35-2 record and perfect so far at home, the Golden State Warriors are double-digit favorites to beat Miami tonight. The champs just swept a three-game road trip averaging over 120 points. [Read more…]