The TV was turned off before 11 p.m., and the home office shut down for the night. Yes, the San Antonio Spurs were playing, going for their eighth straight road win and their 12th straight W overall. But truly, they weren’t going for it. Tony Parker and Tim Duncan were being rested by their coach on the second night of a back-to-back, Tiago Splitter and Manu Ginobili were out nursing injuries, and there is only so much Cory Joseph a man can endure. I
The Hornets are 0-9 this season when allowing 100 or more points, and the Pacers got their first win when allowing 100 or more points. David West finally faced off against his former team, where he played from 2003-2011. Mario Chalmers scored 20 points in the Heat’s win over the Kings, tying a career-high with six three-pointers. The Heat scored 120 points, and all seven Heat players with at least six field goal attempts shot at least 50.0 percent from the floor. At
The San Antonio Spurs try to extend one streak and end another Tuesday, continuing their road trip against the Portland Trail Blazers, who have won the last six meetings between the clubs at the Rose Garden. After defeating the Utah Jazz, 106-102, without two key players Monday in Salt Lake City, San Antonio extended the longest active winning streak in the NBA to 11 games. Manu Ginobili (oblique strain) and Tiago Splitter (calf strain) both suffered injuries in Saturday’s 103-100 win over
Two weeks ago, Linsanity all began when Mike D’Antoni pointed down to the end of the bench, told Jeremy Lin to take his warmups off and go give it a shot against an unsuspecting Deron Williams. A comeback victory ensued, Lin was named the Knicks’ starter for the next game, and we really don’t need to rehash all the details of the phenomenon that captured the attention of every NBA fan from President Barack Obama on down. An All-Star, and a player
James, Durant Earn Weekly Honors The Miami Heat?s LeBron James and the Oklahoma City Thunder?s Kevin Durant today were named the Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week, respectively, for games played Monday, Feb. 13, through Sunday, Feb. 19. James led Miami to a 4-0 week, averaging 27.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 2.0 steals. Durant helped Oklahoma City to a 3-1 week which included wins over the Utah Jazz and Denver Nuggets. Durant averaged 32.0 points and 8.0
The team not enough people are paying much attention to is creeping up the standings. Unable to get past the second round of the playoffs for the past three seasons, not many gave the aging San Antonio Spurs much of a championship-contending thought when the shortened season began. They were regarded as aging, middle-of-the-pack type team in the Western Conference. It’s time for second thoughts. Playing the sixth consecutive game on their annual rodeo road trip, the Spurs found a way to squeak
We interrupt Linsanity with this news bulletin: The San Antonio Spurs are playing even better basketball than the New York Knicks. And they are being led by a guy who didn’t go to Harvard and wouldn’t go there unless there was a symposium on internaional geopolitical trends, with wine served afterward. Good wine. Gregg Popovich does not sleep on a couch on the Lower East Side, does not have a weakness going left (political joke), and does not move merchandise at the
The return of Kyrie Irving (22 points) is great for his fantasy owners and the Cavs. The probable Rookie of the Year showed no ill effects from his recent mild concussion, and made his teammates much better. Semih Erden is suddenly a hot fantasy pickup in many leagues. The big Turk had 18 PTS on 7-8 shooting and grabbed 8 REB, cementing his role as the starting center while Anderson Varejao is out. Coming off the bench didn’t hurt Ramon