Oklahoma City Thunder guard James Harden ran away with the Sixth Man Award, receiving all but four of the 119 first-place votes. In voting released Thursday by the NBA, Harden received 584 of a possible 595 points. He received 115 first-place votes, three second-place votes and inexplicably was left off one ballot. Points were on a 5-3-1 basis and sportswriters and broadcasters in the United States and Canada had ballots. Harden played 62 games and came off the bench in
LOS ANGELES – Still crazy after all these years…. There was a time when the Lakers were just a good NBA team, like their romantic underdogs in the ‘60s with Jerry West and Elgin Baylor, and the Showtime teams that threw off the Celtics’ dominance in the ‘80s. Then came Shaq, Kobe and, a few years later, Phil, and nothing was the same for years…. Besides the feud that broke up their dynasty with three titles when Shaq was shipped to Miami as
“I’m retro,” the player formerly known as Ron Artest said last night in explaining his style of play. He also said he had not yet called James Harden to apologize for the elbow to the head that gave Harden a concussion, because he and Harden may yet meet again in the playoffs, and it would be a violation of competitors’ etiquette to pick up the phone right now. World Peace also declined to comment on the length of his suspension — seven
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
Ryan Anderson is not the NBA’s Most Improved Player this season. Yes, the voting by a media panel says he is, and the Orlando Magic made a big to-do about their guy winning the award, even though he really didn’t improve and has stunk up the postseason joint something fierce over the last week. But Anderson should not have been voted Most Improved Player. Andrew Bynum should have. Or James Harden. Or Gerald Green, who wasn’t even in the NBA the last
So the playoffs began on Saturday afternoon, and they could not have gotten off to a worse start. A much anticipated day of postseason action turned absolutely tragic when two key players for the Bulls and the Knicks – Derrick Rose and Iman Shumpert – each suffered devastating knee injuries – a torn ACL. Chicago was well on its way to the first postseason win of the season. Then, with less than two minutes remaining in the game, the reigning MVP jumped up
NEWS Chicago Bulls PG Derrick Rose has torn ACL and MCL in left knee, will miss remainder of playoffs – @NBCMiami Boston Celtics guard Ray Allen is still not sure if he’ll be able to play in the playoff opener against the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday. The New York Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony and the Los Angeles Clippers’ Chris Paul today were named the Kia NBA Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Month, respectively, for games played in April. All-Star point guard Deron Williams wants to have a new
