If you win Defensive Player of the Year, you should probably be on the All-Defensive First Team, right? Wrong. New York Knicks center Tyson Chandler, who won Defensive Player of the Year honors this season, was bumped to the Second Team. The Orlando Magic’s Dwight Howard was the center on the First Team. Defensive Player of the Year voting was done by a media panel, while the All-Defensive Teams were chosen by the NBA’s 30 coaches, who could not vote for players on
Through the first four games of this season’s playoffs, every series had one team that held at least a 3-1 lead. So not many expected any of the series to go to a full seven games, but two of them did, and they turned out to be quite the battles until the very end. The winners of those games turned out to be both Los Angeles teams, who are moving through to the Western Conference semifinals together for the first time ever. Since
One team, the Dallas Mavericks, has already been knocked out of the playoffs. If you want to bash Mark Cuban for it, you should read this first. The Utah Jazz will look to avoid the same fate in Game 4 against the mighty San Antonio Spurs, who seem to have forgotten how to lose – winning their last 13 contests. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Clippers hope to put themselves in a dominant position to take the series from the Memphis Grizzlies, who
We’re gonna go out on a limb and say the artist formerly known as Ron Artest won’t be repeating as winner of the Citizenship Award. But what of the NBA’s other season-ending awards? Our winners are below, replete with the customary snotty remarks. EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR: Indiana’s Larry Bird turned the Pacers into a borderline elite team, with offseason additions David West and George Hill and in-season addition Leandro Barbosa, adding needed playoff experience. He also preserved his cap room for this
Tony Allen of the Memphis Grizzlies had eight steals last night. Eight! He is one of the league’s toughest on-the-ball defenders — the type of guy every contending team needs on its roster to sic on the opposing team’s best scorer. Lindsay Hunter made a living out of it for years. So did Bruce Bowen. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute of the Milwaukee Bucks has joined that select group, and Andre Iguodala has made his mark in the NBA and internationally (on the
Memphis is famous for barbeque, Beale Street and Blue Suede Shoes. Each of those has helped produce some of the finer institutions in the city including brisket, bourbon and, when the King was around, Burnin’ Love. If there is one area where Memphis has failed to captivate the masses, however, it is basketball – at least the professional variety. Yes, it’s true that a fanatical group of perhaps 150 natives – give or take a few (very few) – remember those glorious
The banged-up Utah Jazz and Memphis Grizzlies will both try and rebound from costly losses as the playoffs draw near in Saturday’s best game. After upsetting the Spurs as the eighth seed in last year’s playoffs, Memphis (34-24) lost to San Antonio for the fourth time this season on Thursday, 107-97. Forward Rudy Gay said the team remains confident, “I still feel like we can match up with them or anybody.” They’ll have to prove it by not letting the Jazz sweep them
