With defensive tenacity and a punishing, menacing front line, the Indiana Pacers have reached the Eastern Conference finals. But if vanquishing the New York Knicks in six games seemed like a tall task, their path to the NBA Finals seems preposterously gargantuan in comparison. To defeat LeBron James in his prime and the Miami Heat in a best-of-seven series is akin to defeating a Michael Jordan-led Bulls team in his prime. James is the best player in the world. He has several
The conference finals should be set. If not for Indiana’s horrid Thursday night performance against the Knicks, San Antonio’s Game 6 victory over Golden State would have ended the NBA’s second round. How did the Spurs end up taking the final game of what looked like an incredibly tight and engaging series? Knicks are lucky to still be alive Let’s not sugarcoat this: The Knicks are lucky to be in the playoffs right now, and are only still alive because the Pacers
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 second round of the NBA playoffs have kicked off with a bang. And after what was a rather drama-less first round has become quite the opposite as we watch the final eight contend for the title. Most notably, the Chicago Bulls shocked the Miami Heat in Game 1 Monday night — on the road no less — and the Indiana Pacers came into Madison Square Garden and punked the Knicks Sunday afternoon. Did you know the Bulls are 9-8 against the Heat
NEW YORK — When Pacers head coach Frank Vogel called a timeout with 12.1 seconds left in the first half of yesterday’s matinee Game 1 matchup against the Knicks, Paul George wound up and launched a jumper, smooth as could be, from near mid-court. [Read more…]
Can a team win with its star player only scoring one point per shot? It’s not going so well over the past few games for Carmelo Anthony and the Knicks. Which players drive the Pacers in its incredibly volatile series against Atlanta? Can Oklahoma City win with Reggie Jackson as its second option on offense. We’re going behind the numbers from Wednesday night’s trio of Game Fives in today’s StatBox playoff breakdown. Knicks won’t win with VoluMelo The Knicks let a veteran
Before Game 4 of their Western Conference first-round series against the San Antonio Spurs, the Los Angeles Lakers handed out white towels to fans at the Staples Center. Apparently, someone in the marketing department didn’t understand symbolism. By halftime, those towels had become flags of surrender for the Lakers, the biggest underachieving team in the history of the NBA. Dwight Howard offered his own symbolism, figuratively throwing in the towel midway through the third quarter. Unwilling to grit his teeth and bang
If you take Chris “Birdman” Andersen’s stats and project them over 48 minutes, the NBA’s most colorfully tattooed player would be averaging about 36 points and 22 rebounds in the playoffs. Of course, “Birdman” is not a 48-minute player, but an argument can be made that he’ll se a serious uptick in playoff minutes as the Miami Heat continue to advance. And on a side note, Andersen is trying to trademark the name “Birdman” with the U.S. Patent Office — much