This coming weekend, Moe Harkless will have to match up against both LeBron James and Kevin Durant for the second time in three weeks. But that doesn’t scare him. Do you know what does spook the 19-year-old rookie forward of the Orlando Magic? Haunted hotels. Last weekend, Harkless and his Magic teammates made a trip to Oklahoma City and stayed in the Skirvin Hilton, which is supposedly haunted. After his first stay there, Harkless may be a believer. [Read more…]
En route to the best record in the NBA, the San Antonio Spurs have withstood injuries to Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Kawhi Leonard. Now they will have to do without Tony Parker, their most indispensable player. The Spurs announced Saturday that Parker had an MRI that revealed a Grade 2 sprain of his left ankle that will sideline him for four weeks. Parker was hurt in the third quarter of Friday’s 130-102 home rout of Sacramento. He is averaging a career-high 21.0
Riddle me this: If I were to ask you which NBA team could eviscerate the leagues most respected defense, the Chicago Bulls, for 103 points – an offensive efficiency that’s seven points higher than the average mark of the league leading Oklahoma City Thunder – a handful of teams might come to mind. [Read more…]
In the 2012 draft, Thomas Robinson and Damian Lillard could not have been closer together. Robinson went fifth to the Sacramento Kings and Lillard went sixth to the Portland Trail Blazers. In their rookie seasons. however, Robinson and Lillard could not be farther apart. To be fair, Lillard has had a better opportunity to show his wares. Portland basically gave him the point guard position with carte blanche to learn on the job, dumping everyone from last season except Nolan Smith. Robinson wasn’t
Given his precocious play and the piles of praise he is receiving, Damian Lillard appears to have a stronghold on this season’s Rookie of the Year. And the calendar hasn’t even changed. Some of that recognition came recently from San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who along with a national TV audience watched the point guard light up his squad for 29 points last week. “I think he’s a wonderful player,” said Popovich, who normally isn’t prone to effusive praise. “His skills
(This is another in a series of 30 guest columns that will run in October, when optimism reigns supreme across the NBA. The theme will be “Five Reasons to Feel Positive About … ” We encourage you to follow the authors on Twitter and visit their sites. – CS) The fact that the San Antonio Spurs managed to win 50 games in the 66-game lockout-reduced slate should not be a mere footnote; it is remarkable. Translated over a normal schedule, the
Even for hoops addicts, watching NBA preseason games presents a challenge. The baseball playoffs are under way, the college football and NFL seasons are in full swing, and there is this small matter of a presidential election. There is no subscription package for the preseason. League Pass takes a pass until the regular season starts later this month. So the only way you can watch games right now is on NBA TV, which isn’t part of the basic package of a number
The Spurs stars may be getting old, but their blueprint for winning remains as strong as ever. They were beaten at their own game by former Spurs executive, Sam Presti, this season, but they still have a few more tricks up their sleeve with Erazem Lorbek and Nando De Colo. Since that fortunate day in 1997 when the ping-pong balls magically awarded Tim Duncan to San Antonio, the Spurs have written the instruction manual on how a small market team can achieve