Raise your hand if you had the Portland Trail Blazers leading the Western Conference. OK, now put your hand down and stop lying. The Trail Blazers are 16-3. After a disappointing loss in Phoenix that ended a double-digit winning streak, Portland is 3-0 in December, including back-to-back home victories over the Indiana Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder, two of the best teams in the NBA. There are two things every NBA fan wants to know right now. First, is this Blazers team
In Oklahoma City, the source of civic pride is never in doubt. Trying to walk or drive through the streets without seeing a Thunder sign or flag or banner is like trying to stand in Times Square without seeing a tourist. In fact, if you didn’t know any better, you would swear the name of the place is “Thunder” city rather than “Oklahoma City.” On Thursday night, NBA royalty even appeared at courtside to take in a Thunder game. Beyoncè visited the
Oklahoma City Thunder All-Star guard Russell Westbrook had a second knee surgery Tuesday and is out until December. Thunder GM Sam Presti announced that Westbrook had an arthroscopic procedure after experiencing swelling in his surgically repaired right knee caused by a loose stitch. Westbrook originally hurt the knee in the 2013 postseason. Westbrook is expected to miss the first four to six weeks of the regular season, which means his entire recovery period could require up to 10 weeks. When Westbrook went down
When are folks going to stop picking on Oklahoma City’s Sam Presti and Clay Bennett for trading James Harden? Not any time soon around here. Exhibit A is this outstanding column by Chris Bernucca, and Exhibit B will be seen nearly every week in my Power Rankings. Perhaps sometime in the next 5-10 years, we’ll let it go. But to break up a championship-caliber team and end up with nothing but Jeremy Lamb in return is borderline nauseating. Let’s face it: If
The 2012-13 season was a tale of two beings for the Denver Nuggets. The first being was the regular season, where they won an NBA franchise-record 57 games. The other was the playoffs, where they were abruptly taken out by the Golden State Warriors in six games. This offseason was a shocking one for many Nuggets fans. GM Masai Ujiri, the NBA Executive of the Year, walked away and was replaced by Tim Connelly. Long-time coach George Karl was fired and
Kevin Durant is a great player. He deserves a great owner. Durant may not know it yet, but he is becoming this generation’s Jerry West: a fantastic talent and class act whose career was marked by finishing second. In 14 seasons, West twice finished second in scoring (also winning once). He never won an MVP award, finishing third once and second a record four times. And he lost the NBA Finals seven times before finally winning in his 13th season. In six seasons,
The 2012-13 season was not a kind one to the Portland Trail Blazers. Forget the NBA Rookie of the Year Award given unanimously for only the fourth time in history to Damian Lillard. Forget, too, the second straight All-Star nod for LaMarcus Aldridge. Also forget that Aldridge, Lillard, Nicolas Batum and Wesley Matthews comprised the top four-man lineup in the league. Portland finished the campaign on a franchise-worst 13-game losing streak and wasn’t competitive in a game for more than a month. This season is shaping
We’re entering Year Six of Thundermania here in Oklahoma City, and the level of expectation surrounding the team is as high as it has ever been. But with that expectation comes a certain degree of uncertainty. After all the years of hearing about how the Thunder were an organization based around a true “team” concept, fans are now coming to accept that the Thunder are a two-headed horse. There’s simply no way that this team could hoist a championship banner without a