After trouncing the Los Angeles Lakers in Kobe Bryant’s return, the San Antonio Spurs are in the driver’s seat for the top seed in the West. They have four games left, and they only need to win three to be the West’s No. 1 seed for the second consecutive season. If they win all four, they could finish with the best record in the entire NBA. As for the Lakers, they may need to win out in their final two games against
Shall the focus be on the individuals or the teams this morning? Well, the individual part takes less explanation, so let’s start there: Andrew Bynum grabbed 30 rebounds, yes, 30, in San Antonio on Wednesday night as the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Spurs 98-84 to become only the fifth visiting team to win at the At&T Center this season. The 30 boards were the most in an NBA game this season, shattering the mark of 25 shared by Dwight Howard and
Let’s go down the checklist, shall we? The Miami Heat are a team that suffers too many letdowns too consistently. Check. The Los Angeles Lakers cannot thrive when Andrew Bynum is a hothead. Check. The Oklahoma City Thunder scare the wits out of nobody. Check. The San Antonio Spurs are a machine. Check. Well, that was quite a Friday night in the NBA wasn’t it? And for different reasons than those that made Thursday such a special night. That’s the thing about this truncated, squished-together
// What did the Miami Heat prove in their win over the Thunder Wednesday? That they’re a very good team — at home. Let’s see them do it on the road before we gush too hard, OK folks? Meanwhile, the playoff races remain jumbled and overcrowded in both conferences. Whether the Knicks make it in the East or not, would Phil Jackson be a good fit for the Knicks? CineSport’s Noah Coslov and SheridanHoops.com’s Chris Sheridan discuss.
A month from now when we’re forced to endure an Indiana Pacers or Atlanta Hawks playoff game and we’re looking back fondly on what has been smorgasbord of a regular season, we shall long for nights like the one we had Wednesday. Heat-Thunder. Lakers-Clippers. Spurs-Celtics. And perhaps best of all, because I am biased here by virtue of touting this one and watching the thrilling finish from the edge of my office chair, Suns-Jazz. Great game in Miami, won by the Heat
You won’t read this sentence too many times: The Oklahoma City Thunder lost at home, and so did the Chicago Bulls. And you haven’t read this sentence in more than a year: The Bulls have now lost consecutive games. While Kentucky predictably won the NCAA championship Monday night, it was a different story in the NBA. The two best teams lost, both at home, and the playoff races got even tighter. Fasten your seat belts, because this is shaping up as a wild
The more I watch the Oklahoma City Thunder rack up wins and inch closer to the league’s best record, the more I question my preseason predictions. Can the Thunder win the NBA title this season? Back in December I said no, although I did have them facing the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. After watching the Thunder cruise to a 40-12 overall record thanks to Sunday’s 92-78 thrashing of the Derrick Rose-less Chicago Bulls, and putting the rest of their season
NOTES: Two of the league’s best offenses are in action tonight on TNT. The first game, a rematch of last year’s Finals, features the Dallas Mavericks visiting the Miami Heat (8 p.m. ET). Miami’s vaunted defense deservingly has gotten a lot of pub. The Heat, however, also ranks fourth in scoring, averaging 100.9 ppg, allowing for a robust +7.3 point-differential (second to Chicago’s . The second contest features the Los Angeles Lakers hosting the Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City Thunder (10:30 p.m.