Why isn’t Josh Smith in the All-Star Game? Smith has been the best and most consistent player this season on the Atlanta Hawks, who have the same record (20-14) as the Philadelphia 76ers, Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets and deserve to have an All-Star. But the Hawks probably don’t deserve two All-Stars. At least that’s what the Eastern Conference coaches felt, picking Joe Johnson and snubbing Smith, whose numbers are considerably better. When Johnson had to bow out with an injury earlier
NEW YORK – After Thursday night’s 102-88 loss to the Miami Heat, the New York Knicks have reached the All-Star break with a 17-18 record. They’re clinging to the Eastern Conference’s seventh seed and hardly resemble a playoff team, much less a championship contender. Good wins. Bad losses. Injuries, disappointments, and pleasant surprises. It’s been a long two months for the New York City Slickers. But for their sake, I hope they’ve been eating their Wheaties and taking their multivitamins, because the next two
Tonight’s TNT doubleaheader includes the league’s two best teams and a strong contingent of All-Star Weekend participants. In the first game (7 p.m. ET), the Miami Heat (26-7, .788) hosts the New York Knicks (17-17, .500), while the Los Angeles Lakers (20-13, .606) travel to Oklahoma City to face the Thunder (26-7, .788). Miami and Oklahoma City are tied for the league’s top record. This marks the second of three meetings between New York and Miami. Despite hitting a season high
Twitter and Facebook will be set ablaze Thursday night when Linsanity and the New York Knicks take their talents to South Beach, ending the first half of the NBA season with a nuclear-sized bang against the Miami Heat. “I’m not looking forward to the game like I woke up on Sunday and said I can’t wait for Thursday,” Heat star Dwyane Wade said. “It’s going to be great intensity, but it’s not the Finals or anything.” Maybe it is. Aftermarket courtside seats
// Before All-Star weekend arrives, there is one last test game for a couple of teams. It comes Thursday night when the Knicks visit the Heat in Miami, and it is a test in many ways. For New York, now with a full complement of healthy players and a level of depth that exceeds what they’ve had over the first half of the season, it is a chance to measure themselves against a Heat team that has been steamrolling through the
There aren’t many fringe benefits that come with a 66-game schedule, but one cool quirk is that All-Star Weekend is splitting the season almost exactly in half. When the Lakers and Thunder wrap things up late Thursday night, all but six teams will have played half their games as the league takes a four-day break in Orlando, where the forecast is less than ideal. Speaking of less than ideal forecasts, below are our midseason award winners, delivered with the complete understanding that “they
The TV was turned off before 11 p.m., and the home office shut down for the night. Yes, the San Antonio Spurs were playing, going for their eighth straight road win and their 12th straight W overall. But truly, they weren’t going for it. Tony Parker and Tim Duncan were being rested by their coach on the second night of a back-to-back, Tiago Splitter and Manu Ginobili were out nursing injuries, and there is only so much Cory Joseph a man can endure. I
MIAMI – The Miami Heat have been playing better than ever during the past 10 days. Think about that. Better than ever. Last season the Heat had stretches in which they won 21 of 22 games, and 15 of 18 games. Yet this is the best stretch ever. That’s not me talking, that’s Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. The Heat are on a six-game winning streak over the past 10 days, and five of those wins were blowout victories on the road. Those