We are about to witness what may be a first in the long history of the NBA. For the first time, four of the league’s flagship franchises could well be out of the playoffs. OK, the Knicks aren’t technically out of the race in the Hindenburg Conference, but they have a lot of ground to make up on Atlanta – four games in the loss column with 13 to play. The Celtics, Lakers and 76ers all are making plans for the
When Stephen Curry signed a four year, $44 million contract with the Golden State Warriors last season, some wondered if the money was worth it for the oft-injured point guard. Fast forward to present time: Curry will be in his first All-Star game this weekend as a starter voted in by the fans. Safe to say, the money was worth it — and then some. So in honor of his accomplishments this season, lets take a look into his past and see
The Boston Celtics’ Jared Sullinger and the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Kevin Durant today were named NBA Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week, respectively, for games played Monday, Feb. 3, through Sunday, Feb. 9. It is the fifth time Durant has won the award this season. [Read more…]
Martin Luther King Day is more than a day of celebration and reflection for the NBA, which probably has done more positive things for race relations than any other sport in the Civil Rights Era. It also has become the unofficial midway point of the season. By the completion of Monday’s action, more than half of the league’s 30 teams will have played half their games. With that in mind, we present our midseason awards with this reminder from the bookie of hopeless
With the midway point of the regular season approaching, we thought it would be a good idea to give the rookies a break and rank the sophomores for two reasons. 1. It is a nice change of pace and gives the reader something new. 2. This rookie class is god-awful and we are running out of ways to describe how bad it is. At the end of the season, NBA coaches are asked to vote for five players for an All-Rookie Team. We
Where the hell has the time gone? It certainly flies as the days get shorter and darkness descends in the late afternoon. We’re already through the first quarter of the NBA season and almost at Christmas. The league has seen plenty of pleasant surprises, like the consistently stellar Portland Trail Blazers, and many disappointments, like the entire Eastern Conference besides Indiana and Miami. There have also been a whole host of players who have really progressed in a positive direction over the
If the Boston Celtics are actually tanking, they are doing a really bad job of it. The Celtics played three very different kinds of basketball games over the previous five days – I was at two of them – that showed a lot about the way this team is operating. And giving away wins for ping-pong balls isn’t part of the plan. On Friday, Boston scored the first 14 points against Denver and led 39-15 after the first quarter. The Celtics nearly gave
The NBA holiday shopping season is upon us a little early this year. It usually starts December 15, the first day players who were signed in the offseason become eligible to be traded. But after seeing Rudy Gay’s immovable contract somehow sent from Toronto to Sacramento, it is clear that shopping season is under way. Come next Sunday, NBA general managers will have increased flexibility when looking to improve their rosters, which was Kings GM Pete D’Alessandro’s approach in acquiring Gay, or their payroll,