Moving past the obvious in Miami’s Game 2 triumph How do you push past the obvious insight about Miami’s all-around 115-78 beatdown of Chicago in Wednesday night’s Game 2? What can you say besides the Heat shooting 60 percent to 35.5 percent for the Bulls? Let’s break down the major things that changed on both sides that helped lead to such a different result in Miami’s favor: Miami’s Big Three was way more efficient in Game 2, perhaps with more determination and urgency in
Tuesday night’s games were all about guard play and righting a set of wrongs from Game 1. The Knicks’ guards didn’t do enough to overshadow the strong play of Indiana’s frontcourt, but Pablo Prigioni helped New York rectify that problem during a historic fourth quarter run. And Memphis needed a boost from Mike Conley after a subpar Game 1 performance, and Conley redeemed himself during the Grizzlies’ huge Tuesday night road win. Let’s discuss these themes as part of the
The Phoenix Suns have a huge rebuilding project on their hands. However, they have the tools to do it. And now they believe they have the right man to use those tools. Two weeks after firing Lance Blanks, Suns president Lon Babby on Tuesday hired Ryan McDonough as the team’s new general manager. The hiring puts interim coach Lindsey Hunter’s status in immediate jeopardy. Hunter was working in player development when he was installed by Blanks after Alvin Gentry was fired. Assistants
Many will attribute Miami’s 93-86 Game 1 loss to Chicago on Monday to the seven days of rest the Heat had between its first and second round series. Can we blame the loss on Miami being “rusty,” “over-rested,” or given too much time between series, being punished for quickly finishing off the Milwaukee Bucks a week ago? “There’s no excuses,” said Miami Head Coach Erik Spoelstra, whose team had not played in more than a week. “We’re not making any excuses
The two best games of the playoffs thus far have clearly been Game 4 between the Brooklyn Nets and Chicago Bulls and Game 1 between the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs, which had a number of similarities. Both games went multiple overtimes. Both games had plenty of big shots. Both games had role players becoming unlikely heroes. And unfortunately for the Nets and Warriors, both games had huge collapses late in regulation. [Read more…]
Here’s the bottom line on Carmelo Anthony’s recent play. Using the measuring stick of points per shot, it is his worst four-game stretch of the postseason since the first four playoff games of his career. Furthermore, when compared alongside other worst four-game stretches of contemporary solo superstars, it is near the bottom. Following Sunday’s loss to Indiana in the Eastern Conference semifinals opener, the Knicks are 1-3 in their last four games, including 0-2 at home. Their only win saw them nearly
Any of the residual gratification felt by the New York Knicks and their fans was quickly erased Sunday when the Indiana Pacers came into Madison Square Garden and manhandled the Knicks to take away home court advantage. Indiana’s top-ranked defense protected both the rim (eight blocks, five by Roy Hibbert) and the arc (the Knicks made just seven 3-pointers, one less than the Pacers) as they led for the entire second half and took away many of New York’s secondary weapons.
It seems like the Chicago Bulls spent every last ounce of available energy and every last healthy or semi-healthy body simply to get out of the first round. It seems like the Miami Heat have not played in about a month, spending that time waiting for pretenders to wrap up their postseason series, chuckling to themselves and speculating on who was the lone wolf who did not cast a first-place MVP vote for LeBRon James. So it seems like the fifth-seeded Bulls