One of the most intriguing elements of the NBA playoffs is what the spotlight reveals about certain players – especially those who weren’t expected to be in the spotlight at all. We expect established superstars such as LeBron James and Kevin Durant to welcome the pressure of the postseason and elevate their play. That is part of the reason they are among the game’s best players. It is also not that surprising to see very good players such as Stephen Curry and
The NBA’s active wins leader among head coaches, having accumulated 1,131 career victories, has now been honored with his first piece of hardware for individual achievement. Denver Nuggets head coach George Karl was honored Wednesday as the 2012-13 NBA Coach of the Year.
While most of the national media attention continues to go to the Chicago Bulls and Derrick Rose, whether or not he will play against the defending champion Miami Heat, quietly the San Antonio Spurs are preparing for their second round series against the upstart Golden State Warriors. Granted, the Spurs have never needed fanfare to get up for a playoff series. And, considering that they boast an impressive 29-0 home record against the Warriors in the Tim Duncan era, internally they
SAN ANTONIO – After each Spurs practice, the media assembles in a corner of the facility and prepares for an encounter with famously gruff San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich. Other teams call it an interview session. With Pop, it’s more like a duel at 10 paces. Pop is the only one armed. Verbally. Within the word “intimidate” is the word “timid,” and that combination exists at each get-together. Pop has a naturally irritated look that has been refined by years of repetition.
When Mike Brown was hired by the Cleveland Cavaliers last week, there were multiple feelings of déjà vu. One was obvious – Brown was returning to a team that had fired him three years earlier. We have all been here before. But the other was more subtle and had to do with the fundamental reality not only of today’s NBA, but also of today’s professional sports. [Read more…]
It took every available day of the regular season and meant wounds both self- and externally inflicted, but the Lakers managed to qualify for the playoffs Wednesday night. They even avoided the high-powered Oklahoma City Thunder in the process. And while the San Antonio Spurs, winners of 58 games and featuring the best power forward in history along with the league’s best coach can hardly be considered the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, it is certainly a
The Denver Nuggets were supposed to prove this season that a superstar is not needed to find great team success in the postseason. They were supposed to do it with chemistry and depth, but both of those things may have taken a huge hit on Thursday, when Danilo Gallinari suffered what appeared to be a devastating knee injury while driving to the basket against the Dallas Mavericks: [Read more…]
As the season winds down, writers and reporters will have a tendency to ask players about the future ahead of them. Some – like Andre Iguodala and Jose Calderon, as you’ll see below – may be asked how they’ll go about free agency, while others (see Ty Lawson) will be asked about how they may match up against certain teams when the playoffs come around. For Washington Wizards point guard John Wall, the main questions continue to be about his value to
