Some prominent NBA athletes are still recuperating from injuries, taking necessary time off to recover, heal and rest from weariness and prolonged seasons that may have gone deep in the playoffs. Some, like Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash, among others, are in Brazil enjoying the 2014 FIFA World Cup. There are plenty, like LeBron James, who are on vacation, spending time with their families. Still, there are those who are already hard at work, trying to improve for the 2014-15 NBA season.
With Thursday playing host to a critical Game 4 in the 2014 NBA Finals wherein the Miami Heat trail the San Antonio Spurs 2-1 in the best-of-seven series, a far more important game took place early in the afternoon. The 2014 World Cup. The host nation faced off against Croatia in the opening game of the world’s most anticipated sports tournament. The game, which ended in a 3-1 victory in favor of the Brazil. With many NBA athletes coming from countries all across the
Phoenix Suns point guard Goran Dragic, once [presumably] hailed as Steve Nash’s heir-apparent, made great strides this year, leading his team to 48-34 record—a 23-game improvement from 2012-13, just missing the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. His play was markedly better, improving his scoring from a career average of 9.5 points to 20.3 this year. That’s an impressive amount of growth. His play earned him the NBA Most Improved Player Award. Our own Chris Sheridan broke down Dragic’s performance and
Craig Sager, often recognized for his quirky suits and ties, has been a staple on NBA sidelines for 17 years. Thursday afternoon, Craig Sager, Jr. broke the news on Twitter that his father, long-time NBA on TNT sideline reporter, Craig Sager, would be out for 3-4 weeks while receiving treatment for acute leukemia. [Read more…]
For Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki, Tuesday turned out to be a pretty special night. The former teammates each accomplished a major milestone during their respective games against Houston and Utah: Nash moved past Mark Jackson for third all-time with 10,335 career assists behind John Stockton (15,806) and Jason Kidd (12,091), while Nowitzki passed Oscar Robertson for 10th all-time with 26,714 career points . Nash has maybe one more year left in him, so he will stay behind Kidd in the record books,
Tuesday night’s showdown between the Knicks and Lakers was a bit one-sided. The New York Knicks, who had been surging towards the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference with a recent string of eight straight wins, have (seemingly) fallen flat on their faces. If their recent fourth-quarter collapse against the hapless (and Kyrie Irving-less) Cleveland Cavaliers wasn’t bad enough, they travelled to Los Angeles for a shellacking at the hands of the short-handed Lakers. [Read more…]
We are about to witness what may be a first in the long history of the NBA. For the first time, four of the league’s flagship franchises could well be out of the playoffs. OK, the Knicks aren’t technically out of the race in the Hindenburg Conference, but they have a lot of ground to make up on Atlanta – four games in the loss column with 13 to play. The Celtics, Lakers and 76ers all are making plans for the
Not that anybody should care, but my bracket is looking pretty good. Not only did I manage to get through the first round without losing a Final Four team (one year I lost two on the first day), but I haven’t even lost an Elite Eight team yet. Of course, four of them still haven’t played their second game yet, but things are looking pretty good. Not as good as last year, when I called Louisville over Michigan in the