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OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – MAY 22: Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors reacts to their 133 to 105 loss against the Oklahoma City Thunder in game three of the Western Conference Finals during the 2016 NBA Playoffs at Chesapeake Energy Arena on May 22, 2016 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Following Game 3 blowout loss to Thunder, Warriors suddenly staring into abyss

0 comments by on 5/23/2016

The Golden State Warriors are staring into the abyss. Maybe that’s a little strong, but that’s how it feels the morning after one of the most dramatic thumpings any team has absorbed in NBA playoff history. Don’t be fooled by the 28-point margin the Oklahoma City Thunder enjoyed when the buzzer sounded at the end […]

The Thunder, so close to escaping the darkness, try to handle prosperity

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Shake down the Thunder? That’s what Oklahoma City did to the Golden State Warriors in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals. This surge might mean that the Thunder — viewed with legitimate skepticism entering these playoffs, especially the West semifinal series against the San Antonio Spurs — are about to cast away the dark […]

The 2016 West playoffs, and the reality of rhythm-free results

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What’s true in the larger global theater of sports is true in the NBA’s Wild, Wild West. It is a first-world problem, but a problem nonetheless, for many professional athletes: How do you perform well over a broader expanse of time when so many games lack rhythm? How does a tennis player sharpen her groundstrokes […]

The Raptors exhibited meaningful desperation in Game 3

0 comments by on 5/22/2016

Whenever a best-of-seven NBA series begins with two wins by the home team, Game 3 invariably becomes a do-or-die occasion for the trailing team, even though it’s not technically an elimination contest. Students of sports history are well aware that no NBA team has successfully overcome a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven battle. Three teams […]

GSW-OKC Game 3: Golden State tries to slay a particular demon

0 comments by on 5/21/2016

The Golden State Warriors are playing more than one opponent in the Western Conference Finals. The Oklahoma City Thunder represent the official foe for the NBA champions, but Steve Kerr and his roster know that an opponent as formidable as OKC can be found within the Warriors’ own bones and marrow. Golden State is its […]

The Strain: Why Game 3 looms large for the Thunder

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The Strain is not just the FX thriller about a destructive and virulent microorganism. It’s the toll a long season takes on a team whose record is 82-12 entering Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals. My colleague at Crossover Chronicles, podcaster and columnist John Cannon, has taken care to note how constantly the Golden […]

Crossover Chronicles Podcast: Peter Vecsey

0 comments by on 5/20/2016

Before Woj, before Marc Stein, before Marc Spears, before any of the NBA national reporters we all follow on Twitter, there was Peter Vecsey. If you’re old enough to have watched the NBA in the 1990s, you remember him as the know-everything guy on NBC’s broadcasts. Vecsey retired from the New York Post in 2011 […]

Cleveland’s compound advantage: not just rest, but rolling rest

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The Cleveland Cavaliers gained a lot of rest before the Eastern Conference Finals. The Cavs are rolling past the Toronto Raptors. The rested team is rolling. Why is it rolling? Because of rolling rest. * What’s rolling rest, you ask, and why the seemingly cute introduction to this story? Very simply, this is not a […]

A familiar debate is revived by the Eastern Conference playoffs

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The NBA’s Eastern Conference playoffs have provided a number of timely reminders to sports fans. One reminder is that the playoffs need to be desegregated in terms of conferences, and ideally turned into a conference-free bracket. The NBA’s need for conferences no longer exists. The concept has outlived its usefulness. Another reminder is more specific […]

The 5 worst conference finals since the start of the Magic-Bird era

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The Eastern Conference Finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the injured yet still scuffling Toronto Raptors are drawing very little reaction from #BasketballTwitter… and really, who can blame folks for not having much to say about this series? Say this much for Cavs-Raptors, though: At least one team’s playing well. Sometimes, neither team does. You […]

The Warriors right the ship in Game 2. Now what?

0 comments by on 5/19/2016

After spending the second half of Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals impersonating a non-73-win basketball team, the Golden State Warriors got back to business in Game 2, running the Oklahoma City Thunder out of Oracle Arena. Now the series moves (after another three-day break, of course) to Chesapeake Energy Arena, where Game 3 […]

Two games into Thunder-Warriors, we don’t know much

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The Western Conference Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Golden State Warriors feels… oh, what’s an apt expression for the series right now… ah, I got it: up in the air. The series is as “up in the air” as Stephen Curry’s body is in the cover photo for this story. To be […]

Jeff Hornacek and the NBA coaching carousel: so many plot twists

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The arrival of Jeff Hornacek as the new head coach of the New York Knicks certainly qualifies as a surprise relative to expectations… and hopes. Any Knicks fan who had become resigned to the idea that Kurt Rambis would be the permanent head coach in New York is happy in the wake of this development. […]

during game one of the NBA Western Conference Final at ORACLE Arena on May 16, 2016 in Oakland, California. 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.

The Thunder need third quarter Russell Westbrook for all 48 minutes in Game 2

0 comments by on 5/17/2016

Monday night, the Oklahoma City Thunder went into Oracle Arena and knocked off the Golden State Warriors, 108-102, in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. The Thunder were able to win thanks to a 19-point third quarter from point guard Russell Westbrook. That dynamic quarter from Russ was the key to Oklahoma City’s comeback […]

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