Life can be tricky. Sometimes, you are judged by your successes. Other times, you are judged by your failures. Which brings us to the San Antonio Spurs, who are sitting at 60 victories with a little over a week left in the 2013-14 regular season, practically assured of having homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs. But when you play word association with the Spurs, what comes to mind first: Their 19-game winning streak that ended last week, or their 0-4 record this season
I don’t like the NCAA Tournament. I don’t like that college basketball’s regular season provides little postseason incentive. I don’t like that the coach is a bigger personality than the players. I don’t like that the games are played on neutral courts. I don’t like that one bad game or bad call or bad break can end a team’s season. I don’t like that “close” becomes a synonym for “well-played.” And I don’t like that poor play determines the outcome much
The Portland Trail Blazers have been struggling quite a bit since the calendar flipped to March. Prior to Friday’s contest against the Washington Wizards, the Blazers had won just four of their previous 10 games. It doesn’t sound like the worst thing in the world to go 4-6, but that’s the kind of inconsistent performance that can drop you quickly when you’re trying to keep up with some of the powerhouses of the Western Conference. After going through a tough stretch
While Victor Oladipo and Trey Burke chase Michael Carter-Williams for Rookie of the Year, a handful of other rookies are helping their teams chase postseason berths and higher seeds. The Eastern Conference has three teams in the playoff chase whose finish will be somewhat impacted by the play of their rookies. The Western Conference has five teams in the hunt with rookies playing a prominent role. The team relying most on rookies is undoubtedly the Atlanta Hawks, who have two rookies in
New York Knicks All-Star forward Carmelo Anthony, who has a shoe deal with Jordan brand sneakers and apparel, unveiled a new colorway to his latest signature shoe. The new colorway brought on a lot of Twitter speculation among fans as to where Anthony, who is expected to opt out of his current contract with New York, may land in the offseason. [Read more…]
A look at the overall NBA standings shows four teams at the top – Indiana, Oklahoma City, San Antonio and Miami – separated by one game in the loss column. In fact, they were dead even until three of them lost Sunday. Just a notch below them are three more teams – Houston, the Los Angeles Clippers and Portland – separated by two games in the loss column. They also would have been dead even had the Blazers held
All season, the Indiana Pacers have maintained that homecourt advantage for the Eastern Conference playoffs, and their chemistry will give them a great chance to dethrone the two-time NBA champion Miami Heat. Are both slipping away? In the last two weeks, Indiana’s grip on the East’s best record has loosened considerably. And the Pacers’ big move at Thursday’s trading deadline, acquiring Evan Turner, illustrated that their belief in chemistry may have been overstated. [Read more…]
NEW YORK –– Canadian men’s national team coach Jay Triano expects Andrew Wiggins, Tyler Ennis, Anthony Bennett and the country’s talented young core of basketball players to compete in Olympic qualifying in 2015. But he says the big payoff with this group might not come until the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. “The future’s going to be great,” Triano, an assistant with the Portland Trail Blazers, told SheridanHoops.com on Wednesday following a 94-90 win over the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. “But it’s not going to happen overnight. It’s