Rajon Rondo is now in his ninth NBA season. He has led the league in steals once and in assists twice. He is second among active players in triple-doubles. He has made the All-Defensive Team twice and the All-Defensive Second Team twice more. He is a four-time All-Star. And he has a championship ring from 2008 with the Boston Celtics. And he still can’t shoot. That’s the biggest gripe with Rondo, other than the fact that he can be more than a
As all eyes were on the 2015 NCAA Tournament, the NBA stepped up with an extraordinary evening of basketball. An MVP candidate had the greatest scoring performance of his career, a pair of postseason hopefuls clashed and multiple games were decided by single-digits. This is how it all transpired. [Read more…]
Where would the San Antonio Spurs be this season without Kawhi Leonard? To answer my own question, probably out of the playoff picture. In a Western Conference where the 8th-seeded New Orleans Pelicans are seven games over .500, the Spurs are 33-16 with Leonard and just 9-9 without him. Leonard leads the team in scoring, defensive rating and minutes per game. There’s an immense difference in Leonard’s stats in Spurs wins and losses, to the point where an off night can torpedo
The 2014-15 NBA regular season continued on Tuesday, March 17 with a slate of five games featuring 10 competitive teams. There was a tremendous performance by an embattled player, a number of vital victories in the postseason picture and a shocking upset. This is how it all transpired. [Read more…]
The San Antonio Spurs lost to the New York Knicks 104-100 in overtime on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden and Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was not happy with his team’s performance. In a short yet purposeful postgame statement to the media, Popovich bashed the way the Spurs played and complimented the way the Knicks played to earn just their 14th win of the season. “We didn’t respect the game, we didn’t respect our opponent,” Popovich said. “It was a pathetic performance. And I
The 2014-15 NBA regular season continued with a bang on Monday, March 16. There was a triple-double from an All-Star, a pair of grind-it-out performances by top contenders against underachievers and a number of big wins for teams in pursuit of a postseason berth. This is how it all transpired. [Read more…]
With the NCAA Tourament upon us, it seems like as good a time as any to remind everyone that there is a canyon between coaching in college and coaching in the NBA. There is more than a generation of evidence which clearly illustrates that any NBA team hiring a head coach directly from college is making a huge mistake. P.J. Carlesimo. Tim Floyd. Leonard Hamilton. Lon Kruger. Mike Montgomery. Jerry Tarkanian. Rick Pitino, who failed twice. Even John Calipari, who is
The 2014-15 NBA regular season continued on Sunday, March 15. A perennial All-Star returned from an extensive injury absence, a number of championship contenders clashed and a number of superstars put forth outstanding performances. Here’s how it all transpired. [Read more…]