In the brave new world of basketball analytics, trends and modules, a simpler stat surfaced this week that was utterly inexplicable. Two teams have lost 10 games this season in which they led after three quarters. One is the league-worst Philadelphia 76ers, who have no one on their roster who knows how to win a game. The other is the Oklahoma City Thunder, who have two of the supposed best closers in the game in Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. [Read more…]
For the four remaining teams left in the CBA playoffs, the stakes simply could not be higher. After one of the tightest regular seasons in the history of Chinese basketball followed by a grueling quarterfinal round, the semifinals get underway on Wednesday. On one side of the bracket is a dream matchup between two historic foes while on the other, one heavily favored team will be challenged by an underdog with no prior history in the postseason. Some compelling basketball is
For the last three months, Emmanuel Mudiay hasn’t been able to cross the Guangdong Tigers’ locker room without first passing the cubicle of the team’s starting small forward, Zhu Fangyu. Zhu is the Chinese Basketball Association’s all-time leading scorer and a fixture on China’s national team for over a decade. He is also known as the authority figure within the Guangdong roster that sizes up new arrivals and decides if they are serious enough about playing for China’s most successful team. The
In Elton Brand’s 14 NBA seasons, the two-time All Star has played alongside some of the league’s most respected point guards. From Sam Cassell to pre-injury Shaun Livingston to Andre Miller to Jrue Holiday, Brand has grown accustomed to excellence from his floor generals. So when Brand signed with Atlanta over the summer and was told to check out the highlight reel for his new teammate, a 19-year-old who had been nicknamed “Baby Rondo,” he was understandably skeptical of the moniker. “People
The Dwight Howard signing had a humongous effect on the futures market for who will win the NBA title. And then it started a trickle-down effect. [Read more…]
Is it an exaggeration to call Jrue Holiday a member of the elite point guard class in the NBA? Not entirely. Sure, it was only last November that Holiday was coming off a disappointing third season in which his reclining numbers and lower efficiency ratings had many analysts wondering whether he had reached his ceiling as nothing more than a competent point guard. This season, however, Holiday has indisputably become a worthy All-Star selection and has earned a rightful place on the short
Toward the end of the film “Se7en,” two detectives are driving a serial killer to a supposed location of one of the killer’s victims. The serial killer, played by Kevin Spacey, tries to convince the detectives of the lasting importance of his acts. One of the detectives, played by Brad Pitt, dismisses the serial killer’s claims by saying, “You’re a T-shirt. You’re a Movie of the Week.” That pretty much sums up Jeremy Lin. [Read more…]
PHILADELPHIA—Maybe it’s no big deal. Andrew Bynum will be back before they know it—with two healthy knees—and the Philadelphia 76ers will go on to have the glistening season many are projecting. His unexpected three-week precautionary absence due to a bone bruise suffered while recovering from that recent non-invasive Orthokine procedure performed on both his knees in Germany—announced at the start of Media Day here yesterday—will simply be a glitch in the road to their ultimate success. Certainly that’s what they’d all like to