After losing four starters and their sixth man over the summer, it seems so unlikely insane that the Portland Trail Blazers are currently tied for the sixth seed in the Western Conference. The reason why Portland is the hottest team in the league aside from Golden State is the play of its backcourt of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, which has quickly become one of the league’s elite guard pairings. The Blazers have now won 10 of their last 12 and
The familiar days of Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade leading the shooting guard rankings are over. In fact, Bryant, Wade and Monta Ellis are the only players over 30 to crack our top 10 rankings at the position. James Harden, Klay Thompson and Jimmy Butler are the new – and younger – top dogs at the position. DeMar DeRozan, Bradley Beal and Khris Middleton are three rising young stars listed that could vault within the top five by next season. Shooting guard is thin
Terrence Jones could return as soon as Wednesday for the Rockets, who upgraded his status to questionable for the team’s showdown with Western rival Dallas. It’s the first time in months that the Rockets have changed Jones’ status from “out”. Jones, a third-year power forward from Kentucky, has missed Houston’s last 41 games with a nerve issue affecting his left leg. At one point, his mobility was so limited that Jones worried if his basketball career might be over. But Jones has
The NBA Playoffs have started. The first game of the day on Saturday saw the Toronto Raptors give the Brooklyn Nets a 1-0 lead in the series between the 3- and 6- seeds in the Eastern Conference. The Raptors committed 17 turnovers in a seven-point 94-87 loss. It was a physical contest, marred by 42 total fouls. However, if you thought the officials let loose with the whistles in the first game, you may have missed the second game. Game 2 of the
I’m always a little bit disappointed that I’m not a professional basketball player, but air travel takes it to a whole new level. I originally booked a two-part flight to Halifax on Monday, and ended up having to leave Sunday night and sleep in the Philadelphia airport after my first flight was cancelled. That was fine, until my flight the next afternoon had to turn around and go back to Philadelphia when we were right over Halifax. [Read more…]
Earlier tonight, I managed to catch a good deal of the Warriors-Kings game. It was a tough one to pick a rooting interest in: the Warriors have been “my team” since my family left Toronto in 1999 (for Baltimore, and I’m not going to root for a team from DC), but Greivis Vasquez is my favorite basketball player by a pretty wide distance, and I’ve grown accustomed to always rooting for Greivis’ team. Also, their new coach has a great
When I lived in the US, I took both Thanksgiving and Black Friday off from just about everything except eating, sleeping, and watching TV. Even fun things like the internet and video games. Now I live in Canada, so I don’t get to take either day off, but if you’re like me, only American, you could be forgiven for missing yesterday’s Sixth Man rankings. [Read more…]
Life without Derrick Rose isn’t necessarily bad for everybody. And while the Bulls have proven they can make noise without their All-Star point guard, the Los Angeles Clippers may have caught them at the best possible time: the first game after Rose was diagnoses with a torn meniscus. [Read more…]