Bruised and bloodied, the Chicago Bulls have no chance of overcoming a 3-1 deficit against LeBron James and the Miami Heat, right? Right? Well, don’t be so sure. Some pretty good players have been on the wrong end of 3-1 comebacks in the playoffs. Guys like Kobe Bryant. Patrick Ewing. Julius Erving. Charles Barkley. George Gervin. Jerry West. And Wilt Chamberlain. And Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant and New York’s Carmelo Anthony don’t have enough help to overcome a 3-1 deficit and win their
PHILADELPHIA – The hard truth of life in the NBA is that once you’re down, it’s nearly impossible to get back up. The haves always seem to have it. The have-nots seem to be perpetually buried near the bottom. Or worse, in the middle of the pack, where there’s little chance of finding that rare gem in the draft and not much hope in free agency, either. [Read more…]
Before Game 4 of their Western Conference first-round series against the San Antonio Spurs, the Los Angeles Lakers handed out white towels to fans at the Staples Center. Apparently, someone in the marketing department didn’t understand symbolism. By halftime, those towels had become flags of surrender for the Lakers, the biggest underachieving team in the history of the NBA. Dwight Howard offered his own symbolism, figuratively throwing in the towel midway through the third quarter. Unwilling to grit his teeth and bang
PHILADELPHIA—Andrew Bynum was supposed to be their Moses, the one who would help bring the Philadelphia 76ers to the NBA’s Promised Land. That was General Manager Pat Williams’ mindset when he pulled the trigger on the 1982 off-season deal that made Moses Malone a Sixer. That set in motion a chain of events that would bring Philadelphia its first—and as it’s turned out over the next three decades, LAST—championship since Hall of Famers Wilt Chamberlain, Hal Greer and Chet Walker led them
Which player is the most consistent winner for his own team in NBA history? That is the question I asked myself a couple of years ago, in February 2007 to be precise. In an effort to find an answer, I decided to rank all NBA “franchise players” since the 1979-80 season. This winter, I updated the research, taking into consideration every player that has played in the NBA. [Read more…]
Wednesday was my 16th wedding anniversary. It also was the 30th anniversary of one of the most anticipated playoff games in NBA history – Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Boston Celtics. The rivals met in the conference finals in three consecutive years from 1980-82. In 1981, the Sixers opened a 3-1 lead before the Celtics won the next three games by a combined five points. The following year, the Sixers again opened a 3-1
PHILADELPHIA—They turned back the clock Friday night in Philadelphia. With “The Doctor,’’ a.k.a. Julius Erving, officially welcomed back into the house, the “joint was jumping’’ as they used to say in his day. Meanwhile Dr. J’s old teammate turned coach, Doug Collins, pleaded with his team to keep plugging away in what appeared to be a lost cause, urged on by the some 20,000 red-and-white towel waving banshees, screaming “Defense. Defense’’ at their top of their lungs. The NBA playoffs returned to the
MIAMI – OK, he did it again. LeBron James, the talented and tormented Miami Heat forward, declined to take a late-game shot Friday at Utah. He saw a double-team coming and passed to forward Udonis Haslem, who missed a jumper. The Heat lost, 99-98. You’d be tempted to think it was the All-Star game all over again. It wasn’t. This wasn’t some made-for-TV pickup game. It was a regular-season game. It mattered. Now, the LeBron debate can continue. “At the end of the