A month from now when we’re forced to endure an Indiana Pacers or Atlanta Hawks playoff game and we’re looking back fondly on what has been smorgasbord of a regular season, we shall long for nights like the one we had Wednesday. Heat-Thunder. Lakers-Clippers. Spurs-Celtics. And perhaps best of all, because I am biased here by virtue of touting this one and watching the thrilling finish from the edge of my office chair, Suns-Jazz. Great game in Miami, won by the Heat
The Clippers have long been the laughingstocks of the NBA, save for one season when Sam Cassell was running the show back in 2006 – the last time the team sniffed a winning record in the past 19 years and only the second time they made the playoffs in that stretch. Through its first 42 years as a franchise, the team has yet to even win a division title. The Los Angeles Clippers (32-21) look to finally change these fortunes behind MVP
The (mostly) young Oklahoma City Thunder have been the most consistent team in the Western Conference this season. The Lakers — a team full of veterans (with the exception of the one they’ll have a reunion with tonight) — are trying to get back to a level of consistency they once held over the Thunder. In a meeting between two of the top scorers in the league, Kobe Bryant and the L.A. Lakers take on the visiting Kevin Durant and the Western
Checking back in on that Battle for L.A. we were telling you about…. As in, “What battle?” The Lakers are still the Lakers, more or less, even if we still don’t know what they’ll wind up as, more or less. The Clips are no longer the Clippers, even if Clippers have always gone back to being the Clippers with mass desertions, heads rolling, lawsuits, etc. For the moment, the air has gone out of the Clips’ euphoric breakout—remember Lob City?–even with the team on
Everything is back to normal in the Western Conference: Kobe Bryant is hitting late daggers for the Lakers, the San Antonio Spurs are putting upstarts back in their place, the Oklahoma City Thunder are cruising, and the defending champion Dallas Mavericks are appearing title-worthy again. Well, not everything is hunky-dory. Andrew Bynum getting benched by coach Mike Brown for the final 9:10 means there is still a whiff of controversy in the stronger of the NBA’s two conferences. “I don’t know what was
LeBron James injured the ring finger on his left hand during Miami’s 105-90 loss at Indiana on Monday, according to league sources. ESPN.com The severity of the injury is not known at this point, but sources indicated the finger might be dislocated. The Heat did not practice Tuesday and had no comment on James’ injury. The injury, which is to James’ non-shooting hand, occurred in the first half and did not force James to leave the game. Instead, after having it taped by a
Jim Buss made an appearance in Los Angeles last week and apparently did not see his shadow because he said he will no longer play hide and seek. Which is good because now that he has ventured into the public, he can get himself familiar with the Thunder, Spurs, defending champions and … the potential shadow cast by Larry Brown? If only the basketball gods will cooperate. But first, let’s address Buss – a man who has been a shadowy figure, unwilling to
Kobe Bryant watched from the bench for a key stretch of the fourth quarter as his Los Angeles Lakers suffered a rare home loss. Dwyane Wade watched LeBron James dominate the ball and didn’t attempt a single shot in the final 12 minutes as the Miami Heat got soundly defeated in Oklahoma City. Do we have a pair of controversies on two of the NBA’s marquee teams? On a Sunday that included a possible NBA finals preview, the first quadruple-overtime game in 15