If you are like many Americans – middle-class, middle-aged males not unlike myself – and watched your first NBA games this season on Christmas, then you probably think the Chicago Bulls are just fine. If you have watched at any other time this season, then you know otherwise. On Christmas, the Bulls played perhaps their best game of the season. They went into Loud City without injured emotional leader Joakim Noah and never trailed against the Thunder, leaving with a convincing 105-96
LAS VEGAS — When the Golden State Warriors won the 2015 NBA title, it became official — the slow it down and throw the ball inside style of play is a thing of the past, and pushing the ball and spacing the floor is the way of the future. Here in the NBA’s de facto summer capital, Mike D’Antoni, Ettore Messina and Bob Donewald shared some of their secrets on how their international experience has helped them positively influence the NBA game. With
NEW YORK – It is rare when an assistant coach steals the show at an NBA game, but that is exactly what Mike Woodson did in his victorious return to Madison Square Garden. Less than a year after being fired by the perpetually rebuilding New York Knicks, Woodson was back in The Big Apple, riding shotgun alongside Doc Rivers on the staff of the title-contending Los Angeles Clippers. He met the voracious New York media before the game, then made a surprise
NEW YORK – Nearly three years ago to the date, Jeremy Lin began his rise as a worldwide icon during “Linsanity.” Lin had Madison Square Garden buzzing like Times Square on New Year’s Eve on a nightly basis. Three years later, Lin returned to the Garden on Sunday as a bench player on a struggling Lakers team headed for the lottery while keeping his “options open” heading into unrestricted free agency this summer. [Read more…]
Over the last 35 years, the Los Angeles Lakers have been the gold standard for success, not just in the NBA, but across the Big Four sports in America. That’s the big picture. Little picture? The Lakers last season set a new standard for futility: 55 losses, more than any other team in franchise history. Nearly from start to finish, the 2013-14 campaign was a disaster of injuries and ire, much of it directed at owner and basketball operations head Jim
Lakers players make sure their feet hit the line while running suicide sprints. The Los Angeles Lakers have opened training camp and held their first practice under new head coach Byron Scott on Tuesday. Scott’s approach is markedly different from that of previous coach Mike D’Antoni. Scott is more disciplined and structured, and so, it seems, are his practices. Big difference in coaching style, D’Antoni kept it light, breezy & fun – Scott is establishing discipline, hard work &
The picture above – The Oklahoman newspaper with the headline “Mr. Unreliable” to describe hometown hero Kevin Durant – caused a serious stir around the league on Thursday for obvious reasons. It’s one thing for anyone else to describe Durant with such a negative connotation, but for his hometown paper to do so for a guy that has done such incredible things for the organization? Naturally, many were upset, and it caused editor Mike Sherman of The Oklahoman to come out with
For weeks the talk has been almost exclusively whether or not TNT’s color commentator Steve Kerr would consider, if not outright accept, the vacant coaching job with new President of Basketball Operations Phil Jackson and the New York Knicks. Now, after two underwhelming seasons—failing to win a single postseason game, let alone make the 2014 NBA Playoffs, Los Angeles Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni resigned Wednesday. The move, unexpected as it was, seemed to have been prompted by his displeasure with the