TORONTO— Say this for Russell Westbrook: It’s only fitting that someone who embodies Kobe Bryant’s ceaseless competitiveness would take home the MVP award in Bryant’s final All-Star game. Westbrook-ASG Russell Westbrook scored 31 points, grabbed eight rebounds and dished out five assists to take home his second straight MVP award in a 196-173 win— a record number of points in the game and for the winning team— for the West over the East on Sunday night at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre. “That’s
The Atlanta Hawks have played six games already! Boy, did that fly by. For the most part, things have panned out roughly how you would expect over the first week of NBA action. The Rockets were slow out of the gate, and although they will bounce back and be fine, they really cannot afford to be leaving any cheese on the table in a brutal Western Conference. Those three early losses could potentially come back to haunt them in April, when they are
After an extended vacation along with a visit to Team USA camp in Las Vegas alongside Sheridan over the summer, my NBA gambling column is back. We absolutely NAILED last year’s NBA Championship winner (at 14-1, too, I might add) and I’m excited to be back on deck for the 2015-16 season. I’m going to kick things off with a series of preseason gambling predictions. We’ll cover all the major awards, division winners and even find where the value lies in the NBA Championship and conference winner markets.
Last week at the Las Vegas summer league, a 19-year-old, seven-foot rim protector averaged 17.2 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. It was not Kristaps Porzingis, but Noah Vonleh, who has somehow become Portland’s summer afterthought in spite of his overwhelming potential. After excelling in Vegas, all Vonleh has to do is try and fill LaMarcus Aldridge’s shoes as the Blazers— who acquired Vonleh and Gerald Henderson from Charlotte in exchange for Nicolas Batum on the night before June’s draft— begin
The semifinal round is set at the Las Vegas Summer League and seeding was apparently unimportant. The 4th, 7th, 8th and 14th seeds will do battle at the final four on Sunday at the Thomas & Mack Center. The top three scorers in Vegas are in the semifinals. Let’s see how the semifinalists got there: Spurs 95 Celtics 93 It sure doesn’t seem like San Antonio is distracted or impeded by being coached by a woman. Becky Hammon’s Spurs got 21 points from Kyle
The final 16 teams have been cut to eight, with a day off on Friday before Saturday’s quarterfinals in Las Vegas. Friday’s action will feature consolation games for the 16 teams no longer in the running for the highly coveted summer league trophy. Suns 106 Bucks 80 Phoenix outscored Milwaukee 56-28 in the second half en route to an easy win. The Suns’ stable of young guns all came through on Thursday. T.J. Warren scored a game-high 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting, rookie
After five days of fun-filled competition, Day Six at the Las Vegas NBA Summer League finally eliminated eight of the 24 teams and whittled the field down to 16. Here’s a quick recap of Wednesday’s eight games and a look forward to the Round of 16. Bucks 97 Rockets 93 Milwaukee, the 24th and final seed in the tournament, advanced despite going 0-3 in the three-game regular season. Sean Kilpatrick continued as the breakout star of this Summer League with a game high 26
LAS VEGAS- At the Las Vegas Summer League, wins and losses are as important as the Sacramento’s 2014 championship banner hanging near the players’ tunnel at the Thomas & Mack Center. Summer League is more about learning, development and progression. For D’Angelo Russell and Julius Randle, the Los Angeles Lakers’ top two young players, Monday’s 76-66 loss to the Knicks was a struggle to say the least. The lower bowl was packed with fans clad in purple and gold, excited to