Indiana’s playoff hopes looked especially dim after a 15-30 start, but a stretch of inspired play in February and March had the team at 30-34 on March 12 after a seven-game winning streak. Paul George was set to come back and it looked like the Pacers were going to be the team no one wanted to draw in the first round. Since then, Indiana has lost eight of 10 including Monday’s crucial 111-106 setback in Brooklyn against the Nets. The Pacers
As we approach February and the 2014 All Star Weekend, the league will approach a milestone that for the vast majority of NBA players, fans, and executives will represent uncharted waters .. . the great unknown. David Stern will not be the commissioner. As Stern retires after serving a 30-year term as commissioner, the game as we know it today is largely a product of his influence. Stern took over as commissioner when Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuon entered the league and Bird/Magic
// My favorite David Stern story happened in Las Vegas, on the corner near the footbridge that takes you from the MGM Grand to the New York-New York without having to physically step on “The Strip” as you cross Las Vegas Boulevard. This was back in 2007 when the NBA had its All-Star game in Sin City, a grand experiment that produced one of the momentous All-Star Weekends ever — although what it’ll be remembered for is the unruly crowds it
The year the NBA got over the hump, even if it didn’t initially look like it was possible … Let’s just say it was a good time for a memorable postseason, with the improbable rise of the precocious Thunder, until going up 1-0 over the Heat, which didn’t turn out to be comprised of choking, mercenary divas, after all. Otherwise, the 2011-12 season would have gone down as the one when the NBA locked the players out until Christmas, then jammed 66
I finally figured out the problem with the NBA’s lockout-shortened 2011-12 season … They didn’t shorten it enough. These days, all sports’ regular seasons seem like interminable waits for the real deal, even if they’re cut from 82 games to 66, crammed into 123 days that started on Christmas, fooling the veterans, most of whom apparently stopped working out at Thanksgiving. If it was an inelegant rush to put this mess behind them, you could see the season as a triumph… if you fell
As you can see from that video, it was a quiet night in the NBA as the final two exhibition games were played, Denver defeating Phoenix by 25 points despite playing without Nene, Ty Lawson, Al Harrington and Rudy Fernandez, and Atlanta defeating Charlotte by 17 despite a combined 0-for-7 performance off the bench by Tracy McGrady (0-for-4) and Jerry Stackhouse (0-for-3). So, ready or not, the 66-game NBA season is about to begin. And when then quintupleheader happens Sunday, Kobe Bryant
NEW YORK — Five NBA owners voted against the league’s new collective bargaining agreement, commissioner David Stern said Thursday following the conclusion of the league’s Board of Governors meeting. The identities of those five teams were not disclosed, and Stern joked that the over/under on negative votes as set at 8 before the ballots were cast. But what Stern did disclose is that he expects this to be the last collective bargaining agreement he negotiates – even if one side chooses to
NEW YORK — A memo was sent out this afternoon from the players’ union urging ratification of the new collective bargaining agreement. Players have until 4 p.m. Thursday to vote “yes” or “no” on the deal. In the memo, a copy of which was obtained by SheridanHoops.com, union director Billy Hunter wrote: “Although the players made significant financial concessions, including taking a reduced share of Basketball Related Income, collective salaries will nonetheless increase over the course of the CBA, the players retained