The race for playoff positioning is a day-to-day adventure in the ultra competitive Western Conference, and two teams in the thick of it all look to gain ground against each other — despite some separation in Sheridan’s most recent Power Rankings. The Dallas Mavericks — on a three-game winning streak including an impressive win over the Spurs — look to snap their seven-game road skid as they visit the Denver Nuggets in Monday’s best game. It has been a tale of home
The kids are alright. We could have guessed Enes Kanter (17 & 8 in 23 min.) would play well off the bench as Derrick Favors (12 & 10) got the tough start vs. Andrew Bynum (33 & 11 with 2 BLK). Another Jazz rookie to watch is Alec Burks (17 PTS in 19 min.) but the story of this shocker was a miserable 3-20 shooting night by Kobe Bryant, with seven turnovers. Starting PG Steve Blake went scoreless; backup Ramon
With Thursday’s trade deadline come and gone, two teams with frontcourt injury issues will test whether a midseason roster change was the right decision when the Boston Celtics visit the Denver Nuggets on Saturday. Boston (23-20) learned Wednesday that center Chris Wilcox will miss the remainder of the season, needing surgery on an enlarged aorta, and malcontent Jermaine O’Neal is looking for a buyout. Desperately needing help down low – the Celtics are dead last in the league in rebounding (38.3). Boston
// The New York Knicks have now clobbered two opponents since Mike D’Antoni was fired resigned from his job, which makes it a cinch that Mike Woodson will not only be Coach of the Year but will be given a five-year, $25 million extension by Jim Dolan (pardon the hyperbole). In actuality, the Knicks (Dolan) are going to have t decide whether or not to make a serious run at Phil Jackson, who is spending a year (at least) in retirement and
The trade deadline had passed at 3PM EST on Thursday afternoon. Everything seemed settled and players could finally take a deep breath and play basketball again. Not so fast. Moments after the official deadline had passed, word arrived out of Denver that they had traded away long-tenured Nene Hilario in a three-team deal, receiving JaVale McGee, Ronny Turiaf and a future second-round pick in the process. The loss of Nene turned out to be too much for George Karl and the Denver Nuggets
It’s another edition of Trade Spin, where we try to sort out the fantasy implications of yesterday’s deadline deals. Tomorrow, the Spin will return to our usual around-the-league format as we catch up on who’s hot and who’s not. The biggest news of a busy Thursday was the three-way swap that sends JaVale McGee to Denver, Nene to Washington and Nick Young to the Clippers. It’s a homecoming of sorts for Young, the former USC star, and means Randy Foye has
Despite suffering a slew of injuries to key players throughout the season, the Denver Nuggets have been deep enough at just about every position to stay afloat in the playoff race. With just about every player back to full strength, the Nuggets may be hitting their stride just in time to fight for home court advantage in the Western Conference. They look to avenge their previous loss to Oklahoma City as Kevin Durant and the Thunder visit in Thursday’s best game. Both
Nobody saw that coming. In L.A., the Timberwolves clipped the Clippers, behind a career night from rookie Derrick Williams: 9-10 (including 4-4 from deep) for 27 points. Almost as surprising was Michael Beasley getting 30 minutes and scoring 27 of his own. That’s the good news. The bad is, Kevin Love left the game with sore ribs. He says nothing is broken and will try to play tonight, but we’ll see. Tuesday Reflections BOS @ CLE: Despite an 0-6 shooting night from