Can Derrick Rose still come back this season to help the Chicago Bulls against the Miami Heat in the Conference semifinals? Much has been made of why he – despite being cleared to play by doctors some time ago – has still been unavailable to play for the team. Perhaps there wouldn’t have been so much scrutiny on the point guard, who is still in the process of recovering from the torn ACL he suffered in last season’s playoffs, had he
I will be rooting for the Boston Celtics against the Miami Heat tonight. Having been a Philadelphia 76ers fan for nearly four decades, that’s a pretty big deal. Usually there are only three circumstances that can get me to throw my allegiance behind a team I have despised for as long as I’ve watched the NBA. 1. By winning, the Celtics would beat a team whose loss would help the 76ers. 2. By winning, the Celtics would get a tougher playoff opponent. 3. By winning, the
LeBron James scored 27 points, dished out eight assists and grabbed seven rebounds in Miami’s win over Philadelphia on Wednesday in the Heat’s historic 20th consecutive win. Only three other teams have won at least 20 straight in a single season (the Washington Capitols, who played basketball in the 40’s, won 20 straight spanning two seasons). Two other teams won 19 straight, and all six clubs that won at least 19 in a row had historically great players on their respective
Dwight Howard sure did open up a can of worms when he called out his former teammates in a recent interview with Kristine Leahy, saying he led a group of guys that no one else wanted on their team. Didn’t Howard say he has learned his lesson when it comes to discussing matters of this nature with the media? It’s well known around the league that the big man simply wants to be liked by everyone. Newsflash: no one is going to
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…]
Kareem. Karl. Michael. Wilt. Kobe. Last night against New Orleans, in the middle of an important three game road trip, Bryant made history by hitting the 30,000 career point plateau. [Read more…]
When the NBA lockout was announced in the summer of 2011, I was driving the streets of Dallas and checking out the three sports radio stations in the area. I listened briefly to each one to get their take on the major news of the day and then called my basketball cohort Mike Monroe in San Antonio. “Guess what the three sports radio stations are discussing?” I said. “Not the lockout?” wondered Monroe. “Hardly.” “Well then what?” “Two of the three are in animated discussions
In Sunday night’s preseason game between the Lakers and the Warriors, we witnessed something that may take a while to get used to: Steve Nash was running the floor alongside Kobe Bryant in a Lakers uniform. If you’re not a Lakers fan, what we saw was bad news because Nash – as he always does – made the game look so darned easy for everyone else. The Warriors actually blew the game open for a 110-83 victory and showed promising