If there is one thing we have learned over the past couple of years about Jim Buss, the son of owner Jerry Buss, is that since taking greater control of the team’s personnel moves, he is loyal to the guys he has brought into the Lakers organization. The old-timers in the organization? A bunch of them have been let go in the past two years. Even before that, when the Lakers had a chance to trade Andrew Bynum for Jason Kidd
Larry Bird signed David West as a free agent, traded for George Hill, removed the interim tag from Frank Vogel and picked up Leandro Barbosa for next to nothing. And over the longer haul, he finally reaped the rewards of waiting for dead weight to be cleared from the Indiana Pacers’ salary cap, and for drafting Roy Hibbert, Tyler Hansbrough and Paul George in consecutive years. For this, Bird was honored by his peers Wednesday when he was named the NBA’s Executive
It’s a beautiful morning in Indiana, along with every other place where folks drink Haterade. You see, there is no disliking the Heat. It’s not that simple. You either like them, or you hate them. (At least that’s what the folks in South Florida, especially the superstars, would have us believe.) So if you rejoice in the fourth-quarter failures of LeBron James, you have something to celebrate today — plus you get a second helping of Hater Tots because you get to
The Lakers looked tired and got absolutely manhandled by the Thunder on Monday night. If that game was any indication, the Clippers may be in for a long night in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal vs. the Spurs. After just one day of rest since eliminating the Grizzlies on Sunday, the Clippers will go head to head against the well-rested San Antonio Spurs. We just saw what happens when a team with one day of rest goes up against a
Through the first four games of this season’s playoffs, every series had one team that held at least a 3-1 lead. So not many expected any of the series to go to a full seven games, but two of them did, and they turned out to be quite the battles until the very end. The winners of those games turned out to be both Los Angeles teams, who are moving through to the Western Conference semifinals together for the first time ever. Since
When Derrick Rose went down with a torn ACL in Game 1, Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said, “We have more than enough to win.” No one doubted him. After all, Chicago was 18-9 this season without Rose and his myriad injuries. And the Bulls were playing the Philadelphia 76ers, quite possibly the weakest of all the postseason teams. Then Joakim Noah went down with a severely sprained ankle in Game 3, and Thibodeau again said, “We have more than enough to win.” Again,
On Sunday, the Miami Heat and the Indiana Pacers are set to square off in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. Before the season began, most people would have expected the Heat to be playing in the second round, but few would have thought that the Pacers would be here. After winning their respective first-round series in five games each, LeBron James and Danny Granger will lead their respective teams in a battle for the right to head
