After 66 games of the wildest schedule the league has ever seen, the lockout shortened regular season has finally come to a close. No more four games in five nights or back-to-back-to-backs. The demanding schedule saw many key players suffer devastating and nagging injuries throughout the season. The Hawks and the Clippers will surely feel those losses as they head into the playoffs without Al Horford and Chauncey Billups, respectively. Without a real training camp and preseason, teams with new coaches and players were
Five Factors: Bulls-76ers Playoff Preview
The travails of the Sixers have been well-chronicled here, partly because we have a big Sixers fan on the staff, partly because everyone likes to watch a train wreck. The Bulls, meanwhile, have been at the top or near the top of Sheridan’s Power Rankings and Heisler’s Power Rankings since this truncated season began on Christmas Day, and no number of injuries could knock them from their perch. Five things to watch for in the first-round playoff series between the
Five Factors: Magic-Pacers Playoff Preview
You can watch paint dry, or you could watch every single second of this series. OK, that’s a little harsh. But the star power that this series would have had is gone with Dwight Howard out with season-ending back surgery, and you have to wonder whether the Magic are kicking themselves for not trading him to the Lakers when they had the chance. It has been a soap opera season for the Magic, and soap operas usually have tragic ends,
Sixers finally clinch playoff berth, Spurs secure top seed
Well, they’re in. The Philadelphia 76ers are in the playoffs. They might not be there very long, and once they exit, their leading scorer might be leaving as well. But for now, all is well in the City of Brotherly Love. The Sixers won a game they were supposed to win, had to win, needed to win, pulling away for a 105-87 road victory over the shorthanded New Jersey Nets that clinched their second playoff berth in as many years under coach
Sixers coach Doug Collins fined $15,000
Imagine how mad Doug Collins would have been had the Philadelphia 76ers lost. Collins was fined $15,000 for verbally abusing a referee as he left the Bankers Life Fieldhouse floor in Indianapolis on Saturday night – after his 76ers won, 109-106, in overtime. The fine was announced Monday by NBA executive vice president of basketball operations Stu Jackson. The Sixers held a three-point lead when Indiana’s Danny Granger missed a 3-pointer. There was some serious pushing and shoving underneath the basket, and Pacers
Bucks’ Sanders suspended 2 games, pair of Pacers fined
The Larry Sanders Show has been panned by the NBA. The forward of the Milwaukee Bucks was suspended two games without pay and Indiana Pacers forwards David West and Danny Granger were fined $25,000 apiece by the NBA on Friday for their roles in a skirmish in Thursday’s game. Sanders was suspended for Saturday’s game vs. New Jersey and Monday’s game vs. Toronto. The ban is for initiating an altercation, failing to leave the court in a timely manner and actions following
Heat beat Bulls; Suns beat Clippers and take eighth seed; Pacers beat Bucks
As the season winds down with the playoffs set to begin one week from tomorrow, players and teams are starting to feel more tension and desperation. It showed on a Thursday night that featured 11 technical fouls, five flagrant fouls and three ejections in three games with teams jockeying for playoff positioning. We start with the Miami Heat, who extended their winning streak to five games as they beat the league-leading Chicago Bulls 83-72. Despite missing Chris Bosh and Derrick Rose, the game
Jazz show playoff fight Rockets, Sixers wish they had
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