0 comments by Matt Zemek on 4/4/2016
We have tracked back-to-backs each month of the NBA season. Here are the facts and figures for the Eastern Conference in the post-All-Star break portion of February and the whole month of March: * Reference Guide: B2B = back-to-back 45 = a “4 in 5” game sequence, referring to four games in five nights W […]
Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry (30) during an NBA basketball game against the Boston Celtics Friday, April 1, 2016, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
0 comments by John Cannon on 4/3/2016
In an area famous for seismic activity, there was an earth-shaking basketball game in Oakland Friday night. It was a regular-season game, the 76th of the season for both teams. It didn’t get anybody into the playoffs or knock anyone out of the playoffs; in fact, neither team gained or lost any ground in the […]
Detroit Pistons’ Reggie Jackson (1), battles Chicago Bulls’ E’Twaun Moore (55), for a loose ball during the first half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, April 2, 2016, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)
0 comments by Matt Zemek
While the Detroit Pistons are at a point in their evolution where they’re just getting started, the Chicago Bulls have traveled many miles and years along the path of an NBA contender. The Pistons are young pups, just beginning to taste what it’s like to compete for a postseason berth. They haven’t even confronted an […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 4/2/2016
The Dallas Mavericks’ season and Jose Barea’s life have flowed into the same river this week. The Mavericks — in huge trouble after their loss to Sacramento on Sunday — had not inspired confidence that they could take care of inferior opponents. However, they were able to push through their injuries and roster limitations to […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
The Boston Celtics didn’t merely snap the NBA’s longest home-court winning streak Friday night in Oakland. They offered a vision of what the NBA could become over the next several years. Earlier this week, we wrote about how this regular season’s late-stage games are generally providing questions more than answers. Boston’s win in Oracle Arena […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 4/1/2016
Portland’s one major professional sports team has blazed quite a trail this season. On November 8, when this 82-game journey was just getting started, the Blazers surrendered a 24-0 run to the Detroit Pistons at home in the fourth quarter. After an offseason in which LaMarcus Aldridge and Nicolas Batum left, it was easy — […]
0 comments by Sean Woodley
Not all rookies can be Karl-Anthony Towns, or Kristaps Porzingis, or Justise Winslow, or Willie Cauley-Stein… …or D’Angelo Russell, or Devon Booker, or Myles Turner (damn, this draft class rules). Despite some outstanding first-year performances this season, the reality when it comes to rookies is that they just don’t typically affect winning or improve their […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 3/31/2016
The Washington Wizards don’t need to hear it… or maybe they do: No one feels sorry for anyone else in professional sports. Injuries, one-point losses, bad calls, they’re part of the game. The NBA season offers teams 82 chances to make their case. If several games spin sideways, the bulk of the schedule offers teams […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
The Miami Heat — which appeared to be in danger of missing the playoffs in late January — have coped with a season of struggle and limitation better than most had a right to expect. Justise Winslow started the season brightly but ran into a winter of adjustment and difficulty. Hassan Whiteside is a dynamic […]
CHARLOTTE, NC – OCTOBER 29: Al Jefferson #25 of the Charlotte Hornets reacts after a play during their game against the Milwaukee Bucks at Time Warner Cable Arena on October 29, 2014 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Charlotte Hornets defeated the Milwaukee Bucks 108-106 in overtime. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
0 comments by Bart D
In case you haven’t noticed … which makes stumbling upon the blog all the more random for you… the NBA season ends in a few weeks. Teams are down to their final 7-10 games. The playoffs will be great because they’re always great, but a host of matchups could add to the intrigue. So if […]
0 comments by Bart D on 3/30/2016
The Chicago Bulls were dead to rights Tuesday night. Losers of four straight, including two to the languishing Knicks and one to the perpetually awful Orlando Magic, they trailed the Indiana Pacers in their home gym late in spite of easily putting in more physical effort over the course of the game. At three games […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
The 2015-2016 Houston Rockets will be a puzzle to basketball students five, 10, 20, 50, and 100 years from now. The team that’s not even worth figuring out is a team whose season has transcended the need for editorial commentary at this point. Merely laying out some of the twists and turns in the path […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
The Los Angeles Lakers have created the perfect mess. One of the two most storied franchises in professional basketball — once a model for the rest of the NBA and pro sports at large — is now so utterly incompetent that a historically awful season has not become the most humiliating and depressing problem on […]
Oklahoma City Thunder’s Kevin Durant soars in to dunk against the Toronto Raptors during second half NBA basketball action in Toronto on Monday, March 28, 2016. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 3/29/2016
Late-season NBA games should not be painted with the same brush. You could certainly comb through NBA history and find late-season games (Game 70 or later out of 82) which broke ties to determine a top-two seed in the playoffs, altering the balance of power in one half of the NBA postseason. You could just […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
It’s not news to a single soul in the NBA: Derrick Rose hasn’t been what he once was, and he’ll never return to that glorious stage of his career. Repeated injuries have taken away the explosiveness which made Rose a singular force in professional basketball. The ability to throw his body into contact with such […]
