As we head into an all-important Game 6 between the Golden State Warriors and Denver Nuggets on Thursday, lets first get whatever happened in Game 5 out of the way and hope that nothing dumb – like players getting ejected or face suspensions over unnecessary physical play – happens. The word, at least according to Mark Jackson and his “source”, is that Denver’s game plan was to go after Stephen Curry, who had completely lit them up in the previous three
For so long, much too long, he had not been The Jet. He had been The Dreamliner, batteries not working, grounded, under repair, embarrassed, a symbol of excess spending and not enough due diligence. Jason Terry’s first season in Boston had been his worst, statistically, since his rookie year of 2000-01. Little had gone right. This was not what Terry or the Celtics had envisioned. He was the guy who was going to replace Ray Allen. He was a scorer off the
If you take Chris “Birdman” Andersen’s stats and project them over 48 minutes, the NBA’s most colorfully tattooed player would be averaging about 36 points and 22 rebounds in the playoffs. Of course, “Birdman” is not a 48-minute player, but an argument can be made that he’ll se a serious uptick in playoff minutes as the Miami Heat continue to advance. And on a side note, Andersen is trying to trademark the name “Birdman” with the U.S. Patent Office — much
The Los Angeles Lakers, although they finished the season on a very strong note, have greatly underachieved this season. We all know this. For that, most want to blame Mike D’Antoni for his inability to make better use of the talent he has. Any time you have four Hall of Fame-level players on the same team (which doesn’t happen very often), you have the responsibility of doing big things. If you don’t, the blame goes on you. It’s as simple as
NEW YORK — On Tuesday night, in Game 2 of the best-of-seven series between the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics, J.R. Smith checked into the game with 8:24 remaining in the first quarter. Fresh off being minted as the league’s Sixth Man of the Year, Smith received a rousing ovation from the Madison Square Garden faithful. His first four shots found the bottom of the net, and the final one—a buzzer beating 36-footer that gave the Knicks a 26-20 lead after
NEW YORK — Well, you can’t exactly call it a landslide. But it certainly was a more decisive vote than many might have anticipated. J.R. Smith, who led all reserves in scoring, received 72 first-place votes to Crawford’s 31 in winning the NBA’s Sixth Man award Monday. Jarrett Jack of Golden State received 14 first-place votes and finished third. My vote went to Smith, who had seven 30-point games in which the Knicks went 5-2. Crawford scored 30 once — one of the deciding
Last season, the creaky Boston Celtics entered the Eastern Conference playoffs as the fourth seed, having gone 39-27 over the NBA’s lockout truncated season. They ended up just three games better than the 36-30 New York Knicks, who ended up the conference’s seventh seed. [Read more…]
I always wait until the final day of the season to make up my mind on my official NBA ballot choices. Why? Because during the lockout-shortened NBA season in 1999, I was in San Antonio covering a forgettable game at the Alamodome when I spoke with a veteran writer for a national publication who had already submitted his ballot after only 44 of the 50 games had been played. I asked him, and I asked myself … “What’s the rush?” I was working at