The Milwaukee Bucks were one of last season’s biggest fairy tale stories. It’s not a common occurrence in the NBA for a team to go from a sorry 15 wins in one season to the playoffs in the very next campaign. But that’s exactly what the Bucks did in 2014-15. If that wasn’t remarkable enough, it is the factors that contributed to Milwaukee’s success that really stand out. Caoch Larry Drew was fired and replaced by Jason Kidd after Kidd’s power play
Spain will have a chance at revenge Thursday when it faces France in the semifinals of Eurobasket 2015. Both won quarterfinal games Tuesday, setting up another meeting between Europe’s two most talented countries. In last year’s World Cup in Spain, France ended the host’s dreams of a gold medal with a 65-52 victory in Madrid. France lost to Serbia in the semifinals before edging Lithuania for the bronze medal. Now Spain has a chance to get even by toppling the hosts. It was
This year’s European Championship, the Eurobasket, will be kicking off this weekend with group play taking place in France, Croatia, Germany and Latvia, with 24 teams fighting for two automatic bids for the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Both the champion and the runner-up will automatically qualify for the prestigious competition next summer, with the 3rd-7th place teams earning the right to fight for one of the three final bids for the Olympics in next summer’s three pre-Olympic qualifying tournaments. Team USA is
Jimmy Butler shaved his head and wore No. 45 in his return with the Bulls last week. (We think). Last time we were all together in this space, I announced that Jimmy Butler was dead. That was evidently erroneous and inaccurate reporting. I apologize for that. I was just trying to honor a veteran. I know now that Jimmy is not dead. In fact, he only missed 11 games for the Chicago Bulls, then returned triumphantly last week against the
Whenever I’m asked if I have been watching the NCAA Tournament, I say, “No. I haven’t.” That raises some eyebrows in my home state of Connecticut, where both genders of Huskies basketball have been winning national championships for nearly a generation and are followed religiously by the Nutmeg State’s hoops fans. But among the many reasons I don’t go mad in March is because over that same generation, the college game has become less and less of a barometer for NBA success.
There’s just one NBA game tonight, but our friends at DraftKings have created Turbo contests that include the three earliest starts on Friday. It’s the first two-day event of the season; those become common — and are great fun — during the later rounds of the playoffs. [Read more…]
BROOKLYN – The slogan for the Milwaukee Bucks is “Own the Future,” which is fitting because they certainly haven’t owned the present. Milwaukee is now 4-12 overall since trading for Michael Carter-Williams, including five straight losses. Keep in mind, the Bucks were at the peak of their season at 31-23 overall and coming off a four-game winning streak one day after the trade deadline. On Friday night, the Bucks fell below the .500 mark for the first time since Dec. 27 (15-16)
James H. Butler III 1989-2015 Hello everyone. Please take your seats. I’d like to start this column off with a moment of silence for our friend, Jimmy Butler. (Silence). Thank you. Ahem…god, this is tough…ahem. Ahem. Sorry. What can you say about a guy like Jimmy Butler? Jimmy was more than just a basketball player to most of us. He was maybe the most improved basketball player of the 2014-15 NBA season. His life was short, indeed, but in such a short time, he touched so many others. Colossians 1:17