You won’t read this sentence too many times: The Oklahoma City Thunder lost at home, and so did the Chicago Bulls. And you haven’t read this sentence in more than a year: The Bulls have now lost consecutive games. While Kentucky predictably won the NCAA championship Monday night, it was a different story in the NBA. The two best teams lost, both at home, and the playoff races got even tighter. Fasten your seat belts, because this is shaping up as a wild
The Milwaukee Bucks and Memphis Grizzlies are both jockeying for playoff position with little room for error. Saturday’s best game will test each team’s mettle as they try to prove they belong in the postseason. So far the Bucks have been pretty convincing. Milwaukee has won nine of its last 12 games and averaged 108 points over its last 10. In Monta Ellis’ first game with the Bucks on March 16th, Milwaukee set a season high with 120 points in a win over
Two teams separated by percentage points jostle for playoff position Saturday when the banged-up L.A. Clippers host the finally healthy Memphis Grizzlies at the Staples Center. The outcome of this game is huge. Memphis (25-20) and the Clippers (26-21) are fourth and fifth respectively in the tight Western Conference playoff race, but just half a game ahead of 9th seeded Denver. The Clips have lost three straight games for the first time this season, falling three-and-a-half games behind the Pacific Division leading Lakers
Gilbert Arenas is back in the NBA, officially signing Tuesday with the Memphis Grizzlies. Released under the amnesty clause in December – and still due more than $60 million from the Orlando Magic – Arenas worked out for the Grizzlies on Monday. The Memphis Commercial-Appeal reported that Arenas appeared slender and shot the ball well during the workout. The Grizzlies could use Arenas’ shooting ability as they are next to last in the NBA with 3.8 3-pointers per game. Arenas also can
Whether you want to call him “Hibachi,” “Agent Zero” or some other new nickname, Gilbert Arenas is on the verge of a return. The Memphis Commercial-Appeal is reporting that Arenas worked out for the Grizzlies this morning and the team is preparing to sign him to a deal for the rest of this season, according to sources close to the process. Beat writer Ron Tillery said Arenas appeared slender and shot the ball well during the workout, and he is scheduled to take
When he met reporters before Sunday night’s game, Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was asked if the Orlando Magic are a title contender. “Absolutely,” the coach replied. “There is no doubt about it. Anytime you have an MVP candidate like (Dwight Howard) and then personnel that fits, you’re a contender.” Writers covering both teams took that quote and ran with it, but not in the way you might expect. In Orlando, Spoelstra was taken with a grain of salt. From Josh Robbins of the
Pencils down and papers forward, please. Here are my grades on how teams did at the trading deadline. We aren’t going to evaluate whether Dallas was helped or hindered by Thursday’s wheeling and dealing. The Mavericks – and 13 other teams – didn’t make a deal, so consider their grade to be incomplete. Or a withdrawal, if you prefer. No one got an F, although the Nets came awfully close. At the other end of the scale, the Rockets are officially the teacher’s
// Almost all of the trade deadline attention is focused on Orlando, where the Magic have to figure out what they are going to do with Dwight Howard. D-12 is the top domino, and there could be a lot of residual movement if he is traded before next Thursday’s deadline. But there are also other trades being discussed that have absolutely nothing to do with the Magic; trades that would take second-echelon teams to the next level. Chris Sheridan, editor-in-chief of SheridanHoops.com, sees