The first round of the playoffs are seemingly coming to a quicker close than many may have anticipated. The Mavericks and Jazz have already been swept out, and one of the remaining teams in each series is on the brink of elimination. Four teams will try to extend their postseason on Tuesday night as they head into their series down 3-1, but history is not on their side, as only eight teams in NBA history have come back from a 3-1 deficit. The
Take out the brooms. Who would have thought we’d be saying that about the reigning World Champions? The Dallas Mavericks were swept by the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night after only eight days of playoff basketball, becoming the first team to be eliminated in the 2011-2012 Playoffs. As the TNT crew stated, they’re going fishing. It marked only the second time the team was swept out of the playoffs. The first time was against the Portland Trail Blazers in 1990, in a best-of-5 format. It
Tonight (and tomorrow) it’s the Sheridan Hoops Freeroll, with $250 cash in prizes, absolutely free to play. DraftStreet, which offered one-day NBA leagues all season, now extends them over two days, so tonight’s three games not only decide May 3-4 leagues, they kick off May 4-5 leagues like the Freeroll. There is a wider assortment of great players to choose from as a result. Scroll down for more info and my picks. Thursday Recap MIA @ NYK: That was ugly. LeBron James was
Most traditional fantasy basketball leagues are finished, but fantasy hoops continues on DraftStreet during the playoffs. Instead of one-day leagues (8-man teams with a $100,000 salary cap) they are now extended over two days. That was a great call: tonight’s two games will decide May 2-3 leagues and kick off May 3-4 leagues. The pool of players improves dramatically with the 2-day duration. Scroll down for my selections. Wednesday Recap LAC @ MEM: The evening’s best game by far. The Grizzlies took
The Memphis Grizzlies are one of the less glamorous teams in the postseason party. They shoot 3-pointers about as poorly as any team in the NBA. They don’t have many high flyers offering up highlight-reel dunks a la Blake Griffin. They have not one but two ground-bound post players in Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph. The Grizzlies simply defend like mad, play through their big men and try to make hay in transition and at the free-throw line. And for the last
The Coach of the Year was announced Tuesday, with Gregg Popovich coming out on top by a wide margin. It was certainly well-deserved, but there were plenty of other coaches that warranted attention as well. Thirteen coaches received votes, including Frank Vogel, Lionel Hollins, Tyrone Corbin, Stan Van Gundy and Vinny Del Negro – mid-season crisis and all. The work of these fine coaches will be on display tonight as we look into the preview of three playoff games on Wednesday night. Utah (0-1) at
Real life got in the way for a couple of days, but the NBA playoffs are heating up. Even though your Roto league may be finished, fantasy basketball continues. I’ve been playing on DraftStreet for a couple of months now. (Click the link to join for free.) Their daily leagues during the season — now 2-day leagues during the playoffs — are a great challenge. Tuesday Recap BOS @ ATL: Josh Smith left with a knee injury after scoring 16 points, with
Some folks gave the New York Knicks a puncher’s chance in their first-round series against the Miami Heat. Not anymore. In a remarkably stupid act, Amar’e Stoudemire expressed his frustration after Monday’s 104-94 loss in Miami by punching the glass of a fire extinguisher encasement. He cut his left hand so badly that he required stitches and left American Airlines Arena with his arm in a sling. TNT’s David Aldridge reported that teammate Tyson Chandler said Stoudemire would be “out,” although he was