Remember the Oklahoma City Thunder? They have been out of the news for a while since sweeping the Dallas Mavericks back on May 5. The waiting game will end soon enough as they will learn who their next opponent will be, with the Lakers and the Nuggets playing an elimination game on Saturday. There will be no waiting for the Sixers and the Celtics, who face off in the second round just two days after celebrating their first round victory. Philadelphia (0-0) at Boston
We haven’t had a 76ers-Celtics playoff series in 10 years, so there is a whole generation of NBA fans who may not understand the historical significance of their Eastern Conference semifinal showdown: They once hated each other. This is the 19th playoff meeting between Boston and Philadelphia and should be just an intense as all of the previous matchups. The fourth-seeded Celtics appear to have an edge in experience over the eighth-seeded Sixers. But there is a fine line between
What shall be our parting memory of Carlos Boozer? Him sitting on the bench for the final 14 minutes. What shall be our parting memory of Josh Smith? A 21-foot fadeaway jumper, when the Hawks needed him to attack the rim, that never had a shot. And those were the losers whose seasons ended Thursday night. What of the night’s other loser, the Los Angeles Lakers? Let’s just say that if Pau Gasol is that unassertive in the Olympic gold medal game, the United
WHAT HAPPENED: Andre Iguodala rebounded a missed free throw by Omer Asik with 7 seconds left, drove all the way downcourt and was fouled with 2.2 seconds left, making both free throws for the tying and winning points — making the Sixers only the fifth 8th-seeded team to knock off a No. 1 seed. Asik played an incredible game, never once taking a seat in the second half, but he was the wrong guy for C.J. Watson to give the
Did you guys hear? Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant is sick and may be questionable for tonight’s contest in Denver! Okay, so no one actually believes Bryant will miss the game in any capacity, including his coach. “If I were a betting guy, which I’m not, I would probably bet that he would play,” Mike Brown said. It’s still big news though, and worth keeping an eye on because he really is “sick as a dog.” Bryant’s Lakers, along with two other teams hoping to eliminate
Oklahoma City Thunder guard James Harden ran away with the Sixth Man Award, receiving all but four of the 119 first-place votes. In voting released Thursday by the NBA, Harden received 584 of a possible 595 points. He received 115 first-place votes, three second-place votes and inexplicably was left off one ballot. Points were on a 5-3-1 basis and sportswriters and broadcasters in the United States and Canada had ballots. Harden played 62 games and came off the bench in
Just when it seemed fair to come to the conclusion that the first round of the playoffs (with the exception of the Clippers-Grizzlies series) sucked worse than a broken Oreck … Just when it looked like Thursday might be a decent time to schedule a date night … Halt! It’s all good. We were ridded of the Orlando Magic and their soap opera season in the first game of the night Wednesday, and after that came dramatics and comebacks that made that early evening
The first round of the playoffs are seemingly coming to a quicker close than many may have anticipated. The Mavericks and Jazz have already been swept out, and one of the remaining teams in each series is on the brink of elimination. Four teams will try to extend their postseason on Tuesday night as they head into their series down 3-1, but history is not on their side, as only eight teams in NBA history have come back from a 3-1 deficit. The