Notice a trend in the first round of the playoffs? Teams are missing and losing their star players. It is somewhat of an issue in the Western Conference, where the Los Angeles Lakers will be without suspended forward Metta World Peace for another four games and the Los Angeles Clippers will be without injured forward Caron Butler until perhaps the NBA Finals – if they get that far. Over in the East, there is a veritable All-Star team of sidelined players. Dwight Howard.
Real life got in the way for a couple of days, but the NBA playoffs are heating up. Even though your Roto league may be finished, fantasy basketball continues. I’ve been playing on DraftStreet for a couple of months now. (Click the link to join for free.) Their daily leagues during the season — now 2-day leagues during the playoffs — are a great challenge. Tuesday Recap BOS @ ATL: Josh Smith left with a knee injury after scoring 16 points, with
Every night, another knee injury. Or so it seems. This time, it was the best player on the Atlanta Hawks, Josh Smith, walking off the court in disgust with just over four minutes left. Unlike Iman Shumpert (Knicks), who was carried off the court, and unlike Derrick Rose (Bulls), who was helped to the locker room by teammates, Smith walked of the court under his own power, and later exited the arena on his own two feet, according to the team. But
Is it safe to say that NBA teams always enjoy home court advantage? It may actually be an understatement when it comes to home court in this postseason. All but two games in the playoffs so far have been won by the home team, and the lone two teams that won on the road basically needed to pull off miracles to get their victories. Of course, there’s the simple fact that the home teams are also generally the better teams, which is why
Shame on you if you turned off the television early last night. (Or the night before, for that matter). If you did, you missed one of the most epic comebacks in the history of the NBA playoffs. And you also missed a chance to see an example of just why Chris Paul is indeed worthy of MVP consideration (even though it seems like a foregone conclusion that LeBron James is going to get the award.) The Clippers were down 24 points early
Congratulations if you were a winner last night. I’m pleased with my results, including a couple of championships. Finishing second in the 20-team elimination was satisfying and rebuilding went very well in some deep keeper leagues. Every other year, fantasy basketball has ended with the regular season, but I didn’t know about Draft Street before. Looking forward to the challenge of that game throughout the playoffs. There’s also Fantasy Postseason if you like the idea of drafting a team and collecting points
This is probably going to be our last look at Boston’s Big Three — unless, of course, they win the championship and Wyc Grousbeck is forced to pony up a fortune in luxury taxes to keep the team together for one more year. Oh, and he needs to find a center, too. The Hawks get no respect, but that is to be expected when they come up with their annual spring flameout. Judging from the predictions below, a majority still
So how many seasons are the Miami Heat going to act like the NBA championship is their birthright and merely a formality? Not one, not two, not three, not four … It’s sometimes hard to tell whether the Heat are bored, whistling in the dark or still trying to figure it out. But one thing is certain: the basketball they are playing right now is not good enough to win a title. “We all know we have to take a real big step forward as a