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
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
MAGIC/PACERS Danny Granger scored 25 points to help the Pacers defeat the Orlando Magic 105-87 on Tuesday night and clinch their first-round Eastern Conference playoff series 4-1. Darren Collison scored 15 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter and George Hilladded 15 points for the Pacers. Nelson led Orlando with 27 points and made 5 of 8 3-pointers. Glen Davis, a thorn in Indiana’s side throughout the series, scored 15 but made just 6 of 17 shots. CELTICS/HAWKS Al Horford scored 19 points, hit Atlanta’s final two baskets and came
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
No word yet from the NBA on when the Most Valuable Player award will be announced, but you can pretty much assume it will be LeBron James (who did not have the ball in his hands for the final shot yesterday at Madison Square Garden, Dwyane Wade did.) But what about the playoffs? Who has been the MVP thus far? In my book, it has been Rajon Rondo despite his bumping of a referee that earned him a one-game suspension for Game 2.
The theme of this year’s playoffs has been injuries, and they kept coming Friday night. Tracy McGrady sprained an ankle (though he later returned), Avery Bradley hurt his shoulder, and Al Harrington fractured his nose. No team, though, is getting hit harder than the Chicago Bulls, the top-seeded team in the Eastern Conference, who lost 79-74 at Philadelphia to fall behind 2-1 to the Sixers. Already without Derrick Rose, who was lost for the remainder of the playoffs after tearing an ACL in his
If there was one lesson Danny Granger learned earlier this season about saying something to fire up the other team (he did it after losing two straight games to the Knicks), it was this: Don’t. Yet, that’s exactly what Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo did in his recent interview after his one-game suspension. “The end result is all that matters,” Rondo said. “If there had been a different result, it would have been very difficult. But since we won, it felt like we
