Monday morning Hall of Fame head coach and NBA broadcaster Dr. Jack Ramsay, 89, died. The cause of death was immediately known, though he had endured a long battle with cancer and had been recently diagnosed with a marrow syndrome. Ramsay, a permanent fixture around the NBA, began his professional career in Philadelphia with the 76ers as their general manager, taking the team to an title. He later became their head coach, staying with the Sixers for four years. He had later
The Oklahoma City Thunder lost to the Memphis Grizzlies 111-105 in overtime in Game 2 of the first round of the playoffs, but they only managed to get that far because of Kevin Durant, who hit the most ridiculous shot of the year in the fourth quarter. With 13.3 seconds left in regulation and down 98-93, Durant found himself in the corner to catch a pass from Russell Westbrook. With Marc Gasol draped all over him, Durant lost balance and was
With one week left in the NBA regular season, the pressure is on for two Eastern Conference teams and four Western Conference teams fighting for the final playoff spots. Millions will intently watch what transpires over the next seven days as teams face must-win games, and the effort and intensity pick up. Each of these half-dozen teams have a player who will greatly impact the fate of their clubs the rest of the way. [Read more…]
How about those Indiana Pacers? For five straight games they have been held below 90 points — and in four of those games they were sub-80. Their last two victories have been quality wins against the Miami Heat and the Chicago Bulls, but they have lost five of six overall and are now tied in the loss column with LeBron James’ team. All in all, it is fair to call them something close to a mess as they head into Monday
It’s been a while since the Western Conference wasn’t jam-packed with high-end teams, and this season is no exception. If anything, it’s been even more absurdly competitive. Five teams will almost certainly finish with 50 wins, and at least one team with a win total in the mid-40s is guaranteed to miss the playoffs. We know this because as of this writing, the Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks and Memphis Grizzlies own the 7-9 seeds with identical 43-30 records. Last I checked,
Sunday night’s self-destruction against the Cavs was about as bad of a loss as the Knicks could have imagined, given that they had a chance to pull within two games of the Atlanta Hawks, who had lost earlier in the day. Well, to be fair, it wasn’t totally a self-destruction. Jarrett Jack was phenomenal for Cleveland on offense, repeatedly burning Raymond Felton, and Luol Deng did a terrific job on Carmelo Anthony, keeping the ball out of the NBA’s second-leading scorer
While Victor Oladipo and Trey Burke chase Michael Carter-Williams for Rookie of the Year, a handful of other rookies are helping their teams chase postseason berths and higher seeds. The Eastern Conference has three teams in the playoff chase whose finish will be somewhat impacted by the play of their rookies. The Western Conference has five teams in the hunt with rookies playing a prominent role. The team relying most on rookies is undoubtedly the Atlanta Hawks, who have two rookies in
Tuesday’s contest between Dallas Mavericks and Golden State Warriors was supposed to be something of a showdown – a dog fight – between two teams trying to establish their position to ensure that they make the playoffs in the insanely-competitive Western conference. Instead, the Mavericks looked lifeless for much of the night and suffered an embarrassing 108-85 loss to the Warriors, who have now won five consecutive games to gain a firm three-game lead over Dallas and the Memphis Grizzlies in