0 comments by Matt Zemek on 1/23/2016
As David Blatt’s tenure comes to an end in Cleveland, the ironies surrounding his departure are numerous, profound, and endlessly fascinating. It’s a sidebar to the main story — in other words, it’s not about LeBron’s possible power play or David Griffin’s reasoned attempt to hold the Cavs franchise together — but it certainly rates […]
US and Miami Heat basketball player LeBron James looks on before the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and Manchester United at Anfield, Liverpool, England, Saturday Oct. 15, 2011. (AP Photo/Tim Hales)
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 1/22/2016
Certain teams, at certain times in their history or evolution (or both), are expected to win world championships and nothing less. Viewed from this vantage point and phrased in this manner, it’s understandable to see why the Cleveland Cavaliers fired head coach David Blatt on Friday afternoon, despite a 30-11 record and a first-place standing […]
Photo by Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports
0 comments by Matt Zemek
What did the NBA need on a Friday morning? A Woj bomb, that’s what, even with a typo: It’s hardly a shock that the Josh Smith experiment didn’t work out in Los Angeles. If anything is surprising about this move, it’s that Smith is going back to the team he helped lead to the Western […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 1/16/2016
The Washington Wizards are 19-19. They’re not even in a playoff position at the midpoint of the season, weeks before the All-Star break. Like every other Eastern Conference team not named the Cleveland Cavaliers, they have their share of gaping flaws. Yet, as hard as it might seem to say of a ballclub which is 10th […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
On one hand, the Chicago Bulls — like every other non-Cleveland team in the Eastern Conference — are just about impossible to figure out. They were really bad before Christmas. Then they smoked the Oklahoma City Thunder on the road on Christmas Day, and got hot for a little bit. Then they turned around and […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 1/15/2016
The NBA season and its backloaded schedule are finally arriving at the parade of spotlight-grabbing centerpieces which will set the stage for the playoffs. If Thursday night offered an accurate reflection of what the playoffs will be like, we’re going to have a grand ol’ time this spring. * In San Antonio, the first in […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 1/14/2016
It’s one of the more fascinating questions in the NBA right now: What if Jason Kidd had not made a power play in Brooklyn, being content to coach the Nets without having more control over operations? This question was worth asking on Sunday, when Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov (the biggest problem with the organization) sacked […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
The Portland Trail Blazers have not been at the forefront of the race for the No. 8 playoff seed in the Western Conference this season. That might soon change. Heck, Wednesday night might have already altered the dynamic in the wild, wild West. While the extremely bipolar Sacramento Kings — winners in Toronto, Indiana, and […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 1/13/2016
It’s as though the Cleveland Cavaliers and San Antonio Spurs are trying to prepare for a reunion or something… If the Golden State Warriors are the best team in the NBA, second- and third-best teams will meet Thursday night in San Antonio. The NBA has backloaded the regular season schedule with high-profile meetings, and Cavs-Spurs […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 1/10/2016
The Brooklyn Nets decided to fire head coach Lionel Hollins on Sunday, part of a massive reorganization which raises questions more than it addresses them. Brooklyn will muddle through this season and become a lottery team — this can be said with great confidence, given the number of Eastern Conference teams that are well ahead […]
Moscow, Russia February 04 2012: Russian billionaire and presidential candidate Mikhail Prokhorov
0 comments by Matt Zemek
The Brooklyn Nets’ future is as dark as their road uniforms and the outer border of the parquet floor at Barclays Center. Sunday morning, owner Mikhail Prokhorov decided to do something about it… but the damage has already been done, and will be difficult to repair anytime soon. It’s not as though head coach Lionel […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 1/8/2016
With the season closer to its numerical (41-game) midpoint, let’s see how the West fared in back-to-backs over the course of December. * Reference Guide: B2B = back-to-back 45 = a “4 in 5” game sequence, referring to four games in five nights W = win L = loss Labels applied to each date in […]
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We did this for November, and we’ll do it for every full month this season. Here are the back-to-back splits for the month of December in the NBA: * Reference Guide: B2B = back-to-back 45 = a “4 in 5” game sequence, referring to four games in five nights W = win L = loss […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 1/7/2016
It was — and will likely remain — the worst fourth quarter of NBA basketball this season. In 12 minutes of professional hoops, two teams combined to produce 21 points. It’s one thing when such a retina-searing sequence emerges in the first quarter of a game, in a half-empty arena, between two teams playing the […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
The past two nights in the NBA have shown a new side of the New York Knicks. They’ve shown a familiar side of the upper half of the Eastern Conference. If you wanted clarity and separation in the East, you have been sorely disappointed, but if you wanted to see the Knicks announce their presence […]
