Usually, the winners make the headlines. In today’s roundup, however, the losers were the story of Saturday night as a handful of teams fighting to make the playoffs came up short. With three different teams — Milwaukee, Utah and Phoenix — still within reach of the eighth and final playoff seed in their respective Conferences, how many of them came out with a victory? None. Starting with the most inexplicable blowout of the night – the only game on national television – the Spurs
With the NBA regular season winding down, it’s time for a look back at what I consider the top 10 individual performances of the year. One name is conspicuously missing, and one date on the calendar accounted for two of this season’s best performances. Here we go … 1. Tony Parker: 42 points, 9 assists, 0 turnovers in 39 minutes February 4 vs. Oklahoma City in a 107-96 Spurs victory. The four-time All-Star point guard, who I stated last week deserves consideration for the MVP
NOTES Paraphrasing Yogi Berra, it’s getting dark early for the Miami Heat (40-16) as it tries to secure the top seed in the Eastern Conference, with the Chicago Bulls (44-14) owning a three-game cushion. The Heat, however, still has some time to turn back the clock, beginning tonight when it visits the front-running Bulls (8 p.m. ET, TNT). The teams will play once more, in Miami, April 19. They have split the first two games of their regular-season series. The Heat
Shall the focus be on the individuals or the teams this morning? Well, the individual part takes less explanation, so let’s start there: Andrew Bynum grabbed 30 rebounds, yes, 30, in San Antonio on Wednesday night as the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Spurs 98-84 to become only the fifth visiting team to win at the At&T Center this season. The 30 boards were the most in an NBA game this season, shattering the mark of 25 shared by Dwight Howard and
After looking old and uncertain at various times during the season, the Boston Celtics have hit their stride just in time to take a convincing Atlantic Division lead as the playoffs draw near. As usual, defense has been the key. They have allowed just 89.3 points per game this season, good for third best in the league. Since the insertion of Avery Bradley in the starting lineup nine games ago, they have been even better, giving up an average of 81.7 on
With 11 games left in the regular season, the Philadelphia 76ers can slice their Atlantic Division deficit in half on Sunday with a win over the division-leading Celtics in Boston. It could come down to a battle of the benches. Saturday, Ray Allen came off the bench for just the sixth time in his career and hit four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter. Philadelphia’s leading scorer, Lou Williams (15.3 ppg), comes off the bench every game; and Saturday the Sixers were paced by
NOTES The Eastern Conference’s two best teams since the All-Star break go head-to-head tonight when the Chicago Bulls host the Boston Celtics (TNT, 7 p.m. ET). Only the San Antonio Spurs (14-4, .778) have a better winning percentage than the Bulls (15-5, .750) and Celtics (15-6, .714) in the second half. The league-leading Bulls (42-13, .764) have had success despite reigning MVP Derrick Rose missing significant time due to injuries. According to NBA.com, Chicago has been without Rose for 21 games this season, including
