OAKLAND, Calif — It’s not often that the Most Valuable Player and the MVP runner-up meet in the playoffs — 21 times before this season, to be exact. Even less are the number of times the matchup exceeded the hype. In that case, you may want to stay tuned to the Western Conference finals, because James Harden and Stephen Curry have something special going on right now. The monster showdown continued in Game 2 on Thursday night, and it was brilliant, fabulous,
21. Dallas Mavericks – Tyus Jones, PG, Duke If you watched any of Duke’s tournament games, you could see how big of an impact Jones had as a true freshman. Jones is a throwback PG that creates great scoring opportunities for his teammates, but he also has the ability to hit the big shot or convert when he’s open, sort of like Chris Paul. While Jones is not big, he has tons of heart and is a true leader. In a point guard-driven league, especially
Was an unexpected comeback ever in the works for injured Houston Rockets point guard Patrick Beverley in the Western Conference Finals? It depends who you believe. Rockets’ officials, including head coach Kevin McHale and general manager Daryl Morey, consistently stuck with the company line that he’s out for the entire playoffs, which the Rockets first said on March 30 after Beverley opted for surgery to repair torn ligaments in his left, non-shooting wrist. But Beverley himself has had other ideas. In April, he told Mark Berman
On your mark, get set, go! Track meet, drag race, whatever analogy you like, the Western Conference finals between the top-seeded Golden State Warriors and second-seeded Houston Rockets should be played at a breakneck pace by a pair of teams who are attempting to change the paradigm of NBA offenses. During the regular season, the Warriors led the league in points per game, overall shooting and 3-point shooting. They were second in threes made and scored at least 110 points 40 times,
Impossible to go into the conference finals without talking about the team that should have made it but didn’t — the Los Angeles Clippers. My take: They are not cursed. They were merely too thin, and they didn’t have the fortitude to finish the job. And if the Houston Rockets taught us all one thing during their series against Doc Rivers’ team, it was this: Never give up, no matter how bleak things seem. But that series is behind us, and we
We all had varying degrees of luck/prescience in the second round with our picks, but like the Pacquiao-Mayweather bout, we all nailed the Holyfield-Romney result with flying colors — though none of us foresaw Mitt’s six-pack abs being quite so popular. Those abs are like Matthew Dellavedova — more impressive than you knew. So we move on to the conference finals with a collective breath of fresh air. No more Miami Heat. No more Indiana Pacers. No More San Antonio Spurs.
It was not a certainty that Mike Conley would be available for Game 2 against the Golden State Warriors after missing the past 10 days of action due to multiple facial fractures suffered during the first round of the playoffs against the Portland Trail Blazers. Conley did play on Tuesday with a fitted mask, and his presence was enough to help the Memphis Grizzlies tie the series 1-1 heading back home for Saturday’s contest. The point guard helped dictate the pace of
The Memphis Grizzlies finished off the shorthanded Portland Trail Blazers 4-1 on Wednesday, which means Marc Gasol and company will face the red hot Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors in the conference semifinals on Sunday. The Warriors beat the Grizzlies 2-1 in the regular season. More importantly, Mike Conley suffered multiple facial fractures in Game 3 of the first round of the playoffs. The point guard, who was on hand during TNT’s broadcast of Game 5, said during a