En route to the best record in the NBA, the San Antonio Spurs have withstood injuries to Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Kawhi Leonard. Now they will have to do without Tony Parker, their most indispensable player. The Spurs announced Saturday that Parker had an MRI that revealed a Grade 2 sprain of his left ankle that will sideline him for four weeks. Parker was hurt in the third quarter of Friday’s 130-102 home rout of Sacramento. He is averaging a career-high 21.0
The San Antonio Spurs’ run of good fortune continued Sunday when star forward Tim Duncan underwent an MRI that revealed no structural damage in his left knee. The Spurs won their 10th straight game Saturday night – their 14th winning streak of at least 10 games under coach Gregg Popovich. But the 96-86 home win over Washington didn’t have a celebratory feel to it. [Read more…]
Forget small ball. The NBA’s best team plays bully ball. The Memphis Grizzlies don’t have a fleet of sharpshooters standing on the arc. They don’t have a stretch 4. They don’t have a dual point guard backcourt. Heck, their shooting guard can’t even shoot. [Read more…]
(This is another in a series of 30 guest columns that will run in October, when optimism reigns supreme across the NBA. The theme will be “Five Reasons to Feel Positive About … ” We encourage you to follow the authors on Twitter and visit their sites. – CS) The early portion of the free agency period gave off the appearance that the sky was literally falling on the Dallas Mavericks. The chase to try to land Deron Williams fell short as
(This is another in a series of 30 guest columns that will run in October, when optimism reigns supreme across the NBA. The theme will be “Five Reasons to Feel Positive About … ” We encourage you to follow the authors on Twitter and visit their sites. – CS) The fact that the San Antonio Spurs managed to win 50 games in the 66-game lockout-reduced slate should not be a mere footnote; it is remarkable. Translated over a normal schedule, the
(This is another in a series of 30 guest columns that will run in October, when optimism reigns supreme across the NBA. The theme will be “Five Reasons to Feel Positive About … ” We encourage you to follow the authors on Twitter and visit their sites. – CS) Basketball analytics in their current state have become quite hypocritical, and while that’s a bit of a random statement off the top, it works hand-in-hand with the present perception of the Houston Rockets. The
(This is another in a series of 30 guest columns that will run in October, when optimism reigns supreme across the NBA. The theme will be “Five Reasons to Feel Positive About … ” We encourage you to follow the authors on Twitter and visit their sites. – CS) Two seasons back, the Grizzlies were a Game 7 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder away from making it to the Western Conference finals. To that, they entered the 2011-12 season with
Southwest Division Fantasy Preview Part I The difference between an NBA team’s real ability and its importance in fantasy leagues can be enormous. In the Southwest, there’s one truly great team that actually frustrates fantasy owners. Two other teams with virtually no chance to be contenders on the court are potential sources of fantasy bargains. This is the fourth installment of our week-long series. I examined the low-scoring Atlantic on Monday, Jeff looked at the high-powered Northwest on Tuesday and Bruce visited