After the Washington Wizards ended a season-high five-game losing streak Saturday with a 37-point victory over the Brooklyn Nets, Marcin Gortat wasn’t quite ready to declare that their earth was back on its axis. “At the end of the day, it was Brooklyn, so we can’t get really excited,” he said. There’s nothing like perspective. And Gortat is right: One win against a plodding, tired team is nothing to get excited about. What the Wizards should be is concerned. Prior to the win
ATLANTA — With just over a minute left in the third quarter, the Hawks and Warriors were gridlocked at 83-83. Mike Scott was sitting patiently on the bench for his opportunity to make an impact. “I always tell myself when I’m sitting there on the bench and I sense the game getting a little tight, ‘I could spark the game with energy and change the game in our favor whether it be with scoring or by outrunning the bigs – just
If you have missed the New Orleans Pelicans playing the past two nights, you have missed seeing some of Anthony Davis at his best. On Sunday night, he stole Rajon Rondo’s last inbounds pass (Note to Rajon: Don’t try to lob the ball over this guy) and was fouled, making both from the stripe to give New Orleans a three-point lead. After the game, he leapt into the embrace of a random fan. On Monday night, on the way to a
One of the biggest knocks against the NBA is that when the season starts, there are only five or six teams that can truly win the championship, making the regular season and the early playoff rounds interminably tedious. Not this season. As we reach the midway point – 18 teams have played at least 41 games, another nine have played 40 – there are no less than a dozen teams with legitimate title aspirations, including a handful that haven’t been in the
Every time someone summons up the nerve to ask, “What’s wrong with the Spurs?” the defending NBA champions have provided an emphatic response: Nothing. They did it in November, beating the Clippers and Warriors on the road on consecutive nights after losses to Houston and New Orleans. They did it again in December, beating the Clippers to end a four-game losing streak that included back-to-back excruciating triple-overtime losses. And they did it again last night, beating the Rockets for the first time
The hottest team in the Eastern Conference doesn’t have a three-headed monster like the Cleveland Cavaliers. It doesn’t have a scrutinized superstar returning from injury like the Chicago Bulls or a rapper sitting courtside at every home game like the Toronto Raptors. Heck, it doesn’t even have a national TV appearance, even though it plays in TNT’s backyard. But the Atlanta Hawks have won nine of their last 10 games, flying well under the radar toward the top of the conference. The Hawks
On Sunday night, Kobe Bryant passed Michael Jordan for third all-time on the NBA scoring list. On Friday night in a 112-110 overtime victory over the Spurs, Kobe scored 22 points, leaving him eight short of tying MJ and nine short of leaping him in the record books. He finished Sunday’s game with 26 points and a 100-94 win over the young Minnesota Timberwolves, passing Jordan with an exclamation point. In a season surrounded by uncertainty for the Lakers and Kobe’s future,
Various athletes gathered in Michael Jordan’s “The Steakhouse NYC” on a rainy Tuesday morning to promote a new form of collectibles released by Steiner Sports – leading producer of authentic hand-signed collectibles – called “In their Own Words”. When it comes to sports collectibles, we typically think of autographed memorabilia. Brandon Steiner, the C.E.O. of Steiner Sports, went further with the idea by having notable athletes describe an iconic moment in their careers – captured in photo – in their own