0 comments by Matt Zemek on 3/1/2016
When the 2015 Houston Rockets completed an all-time comeback in Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals, the death-defying feat turned around the series and led to a substantial, tangible result. Houston, you’re not in 2015 anymore. It’s true that the 2016 Rockets recalled their 2015 escape from the clutches of the Los Angeles Clippers […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 2/26/2016
The saying goes that lightning never strikes in the same place twice. Technically, Los Angeles and Portland aren’t the same place. Don’t tell the Houston Rockets. They just re-created their great escape from danger in the 2015 NBA Playoffs. Some of the specific details were different, but the larger resurrection was very much the same. […]
0 comments by CC Locker on 11/19/2015
The Houston Rockets ended their four-game losing streak and gave interim head coach J.B. Bickerstaff his first win as an NBA bench boss Wednesday night. How did they beat the Portland Trail Blazers, roughly 13 hours after the dismissal of Kevin McHale as head coach? They dominated overtime, but in order to get to the […]
0 comments by Bart D on 11/18/2015
So here’s your deal: there are just some dudes that get you fired. Think of it like this … from youth to adulthood, we all have that one or two dudes we know that if we hang out with them, nothing good happens in the end. It might be the best fun you’ll have at […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
It is true that when Pat Riley sacked Stan Van Gundy early in the 2005-2006 season, the Miami Heat went on to win the NBA championship. The brutally harsh and selfish move, drenched in ego as it was, did possess one fundamental advantage: The man who made the change was convinced that a better replacement […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
Did the Houston Rockets fire Kevin McHale too early? That’s a legitimate question, but it’s a separate conversation. Daryl Morey has already made a decision. He now has to plot his next move and, accordingly, determine the future of this organization. * The interim coach of the Rockets, taken from the pool of McHale’s assistants, […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 11/17/2015
If we’re not at a true crisis point with the Houston Rockets, 11 games into the season, we’re at least at a stage in this team’s evolution which requires careful monitoring. With the Rockets making “matador defense” look active and aggressive by comparison, coach Kevin McHale is scrambling to get his players to change their […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 10/22/2015
Coaching a Western Conference contender not named Golden State or San Antonio carries a considerable burden this season. So does coaching a team which endured the most humiliating loss in the first round of the 2015 playoffs. Then there’s coaching for James Dolan, a different matter altogether. Our roundtable panel examines the coaches with the […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 9/18/2015
In exploring the nooks and crannies of the Basketball Hall of Fame, one will find a number of unique entries. Two United States Olympic teams are in the Hall, from 1960 and 1992. The 1992 team’s impact on global basketball is readily evident. The 1960 group was clearly the most star-studded Olympic men’s basketball team […]
0 comments by Joe Mags on 8/17/2015
What makes a great NBA Finals: Seven games? Game-winning shots? Career-defining performances? Outlandish narratives? It all matters. Matt Zemek and I look back on some of the greatest NBA Finals in history. * JOE MANGANIELLO (@thatjoemags) 5 – 1969 FINALS: CELTICS 4, LAKERS 3 Jerry West waited 12 long years before finally winning a championship — on one of the […]
0 comments by Joe Mags on 8/12/2015
Having one elite player on the floor is a seismic advantage when each team can only play five at one time. However, if a pair of superstars share the floor — Shaq and Kobe; Michael and Scottie; Kareem and Oscar — that team’s likelihood of winning the NBA championship skyrockets. And in the instances where teams have had […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
In our discussion of the best same-team player trios of all time, you’ll notice that only one of the five trios reached its zenith within a relatively short time frame. Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Dennis Rodman were around long enough to win three titles, but not to build anything beyond that. The Bulls — […]
0 comments by Sean Woodley on 8/11/2015
Can’t wait for the 2015-’16 season to start? We neither. Now that most of the off-season’s major moves are complete, we’ll dive into some ludicrously premature predictions for next season. In the coming days and weeks we’ll attempt to project the standings in each conference, five teams at a time, before trying to lock down […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 8/8/2015
The center is the 5, the power forward the 4, the small forward the 3, the shooting guard the 2, the point guard the 1. The sixth man can be any of those five positions, but the defining number for this position remains “6.” Yet, we’re going to choose only five of these super-subs, not […]
0 comments by Joe Mags on 5/18/2015
Let the questions begin. Let the think pieces roll out. After the five-quarter collapse we just saw from the Los Angeles Clippers, they’ve invited every word of the negative press they’ll be getting from here on out. But let’s get one thing straight — L.A.’s no-show in Game 7 is not proof that Chris Paul was born without […]
