0 comments by Matt Zemek on 3/30/2016
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 […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 3/27/2016
There aren’t many good reasons to think the Chicago Bulls, currently in a state of free fall, can make the Eastern Conference playoffs and avoid humiliation. The Atlanta Hawks are one of them. We emphasize the word “good” here, because it owns a double meaning. The Hawks are a good reason why the Bulls are […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 3/26/2016
Everyone who follows the NBA knows when the 2015-2016 Detroit Pistons first made a very large impression on the league. It was the second Sunday night of the season — Sunday, November 8, 2015. The Pistons trailed by 13 at the start of the fourth quarter in Portland against the Trail Blazers. Then they made […]
Houston Rockets’ James Harden (13) and Toronto Raptors’ Norman Powell chase a loose ball during the first quarter of an NBA basketball game Friday, March 25, 2016, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
0 comments by Jovan Alford
After losing to the Utah Jazz at the Toyota Center on Wednesday night, the Houston Rockets knew that on Friday night, they had to beat the Eastern conference’s second-best team in to retain the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Coming into Friday’s game against the Toronto Raptors, Houston was riding a […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 3/25/2016
It never ends with LeBron James. To be fair, LeBron could prevent some of the fires of controversy and soap-operatic drama from burning at the edges of his daily NBA life. He could have refrained from unfollowing the Cavs; he could have not socialized with Dwyane Wade last Saturday in Miami; he could do a […]
Mar 23, 2016; Washington, DC, USA;Washington Wizards forward Marcus Thornton (15) shoots the ball over Atlanta Hawks forward Mike Scott (32) during the second half at Verizon Center. The Hawks won 122-101. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 3/24/2016
The Washington Wizards used to be called the Bullets. How fitting, because the Wizards are running out of shots to make the playoffs. After Wednesday night’s crippling loss at home to the Atlanta Hawks, the outlook for Washington is particularly grim. Five-game winning streak or not, Washington needed to make the streak six. This is […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
The Utah Jazz are the Detroit Pistons of the Western Conference. Sure, they’d love to make the playoffs — it would be great if they did — but as much as they’re locked in a present-tense battle, they’re more fundamentally playing for the future. A championship is not a realistic aspiration this season, and it […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
Let’s repeat something that was said much earlier in the season: The main problem with the Chicago Bulls was not Fred Hoiberg, but the front office. Gar Forman and John Paxson were the poxes on the House of Chicago. That remains true in the Windy City. The twists and turns of one season are not […]
Photo by Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
0 comments by Bart D on 3/22/2016
The mediocre road paved with cheap pea gravel at the bottom of the Western Conference just turn to hot coals for the Dallas Mavericks and became a little less jagged for everyone else with Tuesday’s announcement of a season ending meniscus tear for forward Chandler Parsons. Parsons was hitting the Renaissance portion of his comeback […]
Feb 26, 2016; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry (7) shoots the ball as Cleveland Cavaliers center Tristan Thompson (13) defends in front of Cleveland Cavaliers guard Matthew Dellavedova (8) at the Air Canada Centre. The Raptors won 99-97. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports ORG XMIT: USATSI-233022 ORIG FILE ID: 20160226_ads_ss9_121.JPG
0 comments by Matt Zemek
The Toronto Raptors need to be mindful of the familiar expression, “Watch what you wish for — you just might get it.” It’s perfectly reasonable to say that the Raptors and the Cleveland Cavaliers should go after the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, if only because it’s important to have Game 7 on […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
The Charlotte Hornets did the San Antonio Spurs a favor on Monday night, but more about that later. The Hornets — with a remarkable comeback from a 23-point deficit and a seven-point first-quarter nightmare — stunned the Spurs in North Carolina, taking a 91-88 decision. The Hornets immediately wiped out the memory of Saturday’s home-court […]
0 comments by Bart D on 3/21/2016
“I’m not promising a championship. I know how hard that is to deliver. We’re not ready right now. No way. Of course, I want to win next year, but I’m realistic. It will be a long process, much longer than it was in 2010. My patience will get tested. I know that. “ — Lebron […]
