This is what we have been waiting for since Halloween. The strength of the Western Conference was as good as advertised and has provided a first round of playoffs that should have NBA fans salivating. The best series appears to be the Los Angeles Clippers vs. the San Antonio Spurs, whom you could argue were two of the league’s three best teams coming down the stretch. And approximately two weeks from now, one of those teams will be headed to its offseason,
What do James Harden, Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook and LeBron James have in common? They’re all legitimate MVP candidates, of course. But what else does that Awesome Foursome have in common? In a potential playoff series against the defending NBA champion San Antonio Spurs, they can all expect to see an individual matchup with Kawhi Leonard. In case you’ve been transfixed by March Madness, the Spurs are looking like a championship contender. Again. If you want some perspective, my son Andrew was born
Warriors Clinch Division Title 39 years is a long time for anything. It’s especially long when it is the amount of time since a team last won its division title. The Golden State Warriors, who have been buried behind the greatness of many teams in the Pacific Division — the Los Angeles Lakers, Sacramento Kings, Phoenix Suns, Portland Trail Blazers and Seattle SuperSonics (both previously members of the Pacific Division), even the historically bad Los Angeles Clippers in recent years — are
Monday night represented the second time in four games that Miami big man Hassan Whiteside found himself ejected from a game for an unnecessary cheap shot. On Tuesday, the NBA added to his troubles with a one-game suspension without pay for an “elbow to the back of Kelly Olynyk’s neck”. With Whiteside only playing 22 minutes, the Heat (28-35) lost a game that was, on paper, a very winnable home matchup against the Celtics (26-36). And because of that, the Heat now
Thursday night was a rough night for the Portland Trail Blazers. The team may have won the battle, having soundly beaten the Dallas Mavericks 94-75, but they suffered a crushing blow towards winning the war. Starting shooting guard Wesley Matthews went down after playing only 18 minutes in the game. The NBA on TNT announcers, Marv Albert and Brent Barry, both seemed to have suspected something as simple as an ankle injury, as Matthews tumbled to the court while receiving an outlet
The summer’s free agent market will not be as crazy as last year’s, when LeBron James left Miami for Cleveland, or next year’s, when Kevin Durant and his agent, Jay-Z, will decide where he will continue his career. In fact, this summer’s market could be a relative dud given the incentive teams now have to match any reasonable offer their restricted free agents receive. And with the influx of new TV money coming into the NBA, “reasonable” is a relative term. But
We are now less than 48 hours away from the NBA trade deadline, and I have set the over/under on the number of trades made Thursday at 4 1/2. Does that seem low? Well, with the number of trades that have already taken place this season, it stands to reason that things will be more quiet this year than they have in years past. With that being said, here are a couple things I expect to happen: [Read more…]
Aside from the expected festivities, the Dunk Contest, Three-Point Contest, Skills Challenge, BBVA Compass Rising Stars Challenge and the All-Star game, the NBA All-Star weekend brings with it ample time to either rest or stay busy with promotional opportunities. While many will be resting for the second half of the season, a number of NBA athletes are choosing the latter, opting to do a number various promotional activities. Atlanta Hawks power forward Paul Millsap stopped by the Samsung Soho Studio to meet