At the beginning of the season, Chris Sheridan polled our writers and asked for their predictions on a number of things, including the NBA Finals matchup and eventual winner. Chris Perkins, Chris Silva, and I picked the Thunder and the Heat to represent their respective conferences, and all three of us picked the Heat to win the whole thing. See for yourself. In the interest of full disclosure, though, I’ll point out that along the way, I changed my East pick to
So much has been written about the Oklahoma City Thunder throughout these NBA playoffs that it’s difficult to find any new nuggets of information about the team and its city that aren’t already in cyberspace. But I’m going to give it a shot. I had the good fortune of working for the Thunder as its Web site writer from 2008 up until last season’s All-Star break, so I have my share of memories and experiences, both first-hand and from the reporting I
Ok, so the Oklahoma City Thunder are in the NBA Finals, and the knee-jerk reaction will be that they are doomed to lose because they’ve never before performed on the big stage like so many of the Celtics and Heat have. We’re here to tell you that knee-jerk reaction argument is fatally flawed. Unbeknownst to many Americans, the Thunder’s dynamic duo of Durant and Westbrook have not only performed, but won, at the highest level on earth. That happened at the 2010 World
Somewhere in San Antonio, be it in somebody’s basement or in some large warehouse, are thousands upon thousands of “I Want Some Nasty” t-shirts with bleak futures as dishrags. Turns out the signature phrase of the 2012 NBA Western Conference finals was uttered by Gregg Popovich once again, but this one doesn’t have much of a future as a fashion statement. “We’re in trouble” was what Pop told point guard Tony Parker at the beginning of the fourth quarter, imploring his playmaker
Amarillo Slim at the 1974 World Series of Poker
MIAMI – Order was restored to AmericanAirlines Arena Tuesday, both on and off the court. Well, order was restored after Miami Heat security and the Miami police handled the potential streaker. Apparently, there might be a $10,000 connection to hip-hop artist Rick Ross, who issued the 10k challenge to anyone bold enough to streak across the court wearing only MMG (Maybach Music Group) T-shirt. Making this streaker story even more bizarre is that supposedly the man was, well, rotund. Plump. Husky. OK,
Quick quiz: Who are the only two referees to work the last five NBA Finals? Dick Bavetta? Sorry, he hasn’t worked a Finals since 2008. Eddie F. Rush? Nope. Since 2007, he’s only gotten the call once. Mike Callahan? You’re getting warmer. He’s worked the last three, as have both Derrick Stafford and Monty McCutchen. Scott Foster? Joey Crawford? Warmer still. Both have worked the last four. If you answered Dan Crawford and Ken Mauer, take a bow. That duo has the longest current
Earlier this week, LeBron James said his situation in Cleveland and Dwight Howard’s dilemma in Orlando were not comparable. So true. Where they differed most was that James ultimately made a decision – however foolishly elaborate and narcissistic it may have played out – while Howard was virtually paralyzed by indecision. When Howard finally made up his mind just hours before Thursday’s trading deadline and opted into the final year of his contract with the Magic, a cool breeze of relief wafted through