Coming into this season, I had the New York Knicks taking a step backward in my Sheridan Hoops preview column. But not this far back. New York is tied for the second-worst record in the Eastern Conference with a 3-8 mark and J.R. Smith, arguably the team’s second best player, is in crisis mode. “They say it’s too early to panic,” Smith said after Wednesday’s hard-fought overtime loss to Indiana, the team’s sixth straight home setback. “Me personally, I panic. I don’t
So I’ve been playing NBA 2K14 for a few weeks now, and I’m into late January in my Association mode. I’m playing as the Mavericks, for reasons I can’t really explain except by saying I thought playing as Monta Ellis would be fun. And it is. What’s more fun, though, is making minor trades and tweaking players’ minute allotments. Like, I just traded DeJuan Blair for Peyton Siva and Kyle Singler so I could reallocate Blair’s six minutes a game to
There’s no question the New York Knicks have a lot of really good players other than Carmelo Anthony. But without J.R. Smith in the lineup for the first five games, they lack a quality second option on offense in order to succeed against the league’s better teams. Who knows? The Knicks may end up struggling even when Smith returns from his season-opening five-game suspension. On Sunday night at Madison Square Garden, the Knicks struggled mightily in the first quarter, when Minnesota raced
CHICAGO — It was Halloween night, and Derrick Rose took the court in front of the capacity home crowd fans before a regular season game for the first time in over a year and a half. Peering down from the six championship banners of the Jordan era, all felt right for the folks in downtown Chicago as their star fittingly was the last player announced during player introductions. After all, this is where Rose belongs: It’s his Chicago Bulls team. [Read more…]
In today’s news, the Pacers finally signed Paul George to a much-anticipated contract extension. Meanwhile, Raymond Felton and the Trail Blazers continued their very public media feud. [Read more…]
Yesterday’s blog included an interview with Tracy McGrady, which got me thinking about the first basketball game I ever went to. [Read more…]
New York Knicks guard J.R. Smith has been suspended five games by the NBA for violating the anti-drug program. The NBA made the announcement Friday, continuing a string of off-court news for Smith, the reigning Sixth Man Award winner. Two days after winning the Sixth Man Award, Smith was suspended one game for elbowing Boston Celtics guard Jason Terry in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series. Upon his return, he shot just 29 percent (34-of-117) – including 13-of-50 from 3-point range
NBA commissioner David Stern has been behind, and orchestrated, much of the drama that has filled the NBA over the last several decades. Most recently we have seen his fingerprints all over the bizarre Chris Paul veto, the NBA lockout, the Tim Donaghy scandal and implementing the dress code. But now, much like a Vince McMahon WWE storyline, Stern’s role in the show has taken a twist. [Read more…]