basketball Page 42 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
The play-in is butt and the NBA is laughing at all of us
Let’s not bury the lede here. The last five to eight minutes and overtime between the Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves was some of the worst basketball on offer this season, and certainly a contender for worst fare offered up in what is supposed to be an important game. Between the Lake...
When Rajon Rondo retires, no one will remember him like my mom will
Love is a mysterious thing. It can’t always be explained. It involves a certain kind of alchemy. Sometimes the people you love are widely adored. Other people hear about your love for them and think, “Gee, that’s only natural.” Other times, the people you love are misunderstood, overlooked, or even ...
Gregg Popovich isn't here for your thoughts and prayers
Before the NBA’s regular season wrapped up, before his San Antonio Spurs beat the Dallas Mavericks in the finale, Gregg Popovich didn’t want to talk about his future. The 74-year-old Hall of Famer brushed off questions about his retirement. Instead, during his pregame media availability, the all-tim...
Might be time for the Hawks, Mavericks to pull the plug on the stars they traded for in 2018
Zoom out on the Atlanta Hawks and Dallas Mavericks 2018 draft-day trade and the results appear positive. Both franchises made a trip to the conference finals and were competitive against the eventual NBA Champion. Trae Young is a two-time NBA All-Star and was named third-team All-NBA last season. Lu...
Battle of the bottom of the Eastern Conference barrel
The Eastern Conference hasn’t been as wide open as the West this season, so their play-in race wasn’t nearly as exciting. There isn’t much expected from the play-in participants in the east, even though the Miami Heat were in the Eastern Conference Finals last postseason. In the east, the Milwaukee ...
Who will win as the Lakers, Timberwolves, Pelicans, and Thunder battle for play-in spots?
The 2022-23 NBA regular season has come to a close, and it’s time again for the league’s newest tradition, the play-in tournament. This year the Western Conference had the race to watch down the stretch as it was tighter than spandex in the wrestling ring. In fact, the west was close for most of the...
After 26 years, the WNBA finally gets chartered flights — kinda
It’s easy to spot a basketball player in the airport. Their height and attire usually give them away. And if you’ve ever seen them board a flight, you’ve probably been in awe of the way they can fold their limbs into non-first class seats. Well, that’s pretty much what the women of the WNBA have bee...
Treat Rudy Gobert worse than Draymond Green — at least his punch was behind closed doors
It’s not about what was done, it’s about who did it. And if you don’t believe that, this week will be a sports debate-off on the events from the final day of the NBA’s regular season — which included Minnesota Timberwolves star center Rudy Gobert taking a swing at teammate Kyle Anderson on the bench...
The Mavericks give away the game
Well now it’s pretty obvious what NBA teams really think of the play-in tournament. The Dallas Mavericks spent the weekend doing everything they could to drop right out of the 10th seed and into the draft lottery, which they successfully did. Mavericks fans are probably most excited about the season...
Don’t be so quick to count out the Western Conference's top-seeded teams
A large swath of NBA media is out on the top seeds in the Western Conference — and it makes sense, because, for the first time since the 1996-97 season, the East is far and away superior....
Mark Cuban is not who we thought he was going to be
This past week has been the dried-out cherry on top of an expired whipped cream sundae of a 2022-23 season for the Dallas Mavericks. They entered it one game out of the play-in tournament a shade under two months after trading for Kyrie Irving. It would be easy to blame him for Mavericks’ fall, but ...
Redefining what it means to be a unicorn
“Unicorn” is up there with “new normal” and “positionless basketball” as far as terms I would love to see removed from my brain. Any big man with guard skills is dubbed a unicorn, and we’re led to believe the NBA is a mythical universe populated by elves, dragons, and wizards. Well, technically the ...
The Atlanta Hawks have been the definition of mediocrity
The Atlanta Hawks season has been a Sisyphean quest to remain above .500. They came, they saw, and they Even Stevened for most of the season. If you ever wondered what a wedgie between the rim and the hoop personified this season was, it would be the 41-39 Atlanta Hawks. ...
Charles Oakley tells Isiah Thomas: MJ doesn't 'want to be your friend'
Former NBA star Charles Oakley has never been one to bite his tongue. After all, he played in the Association during a time when basketball was much different, and it wasn’t uncommon for teams to have multiple enforcers. In fact, while playing in Chicago with Michael Jordan, some would call Oakley M...
If the NBA had a Dunk of the Year award, Ja Morant would be the winner
As we enter the final weekend of the NBA season, there are only a few regular season awards yet to be wrapped up. The most notable is the MVP race, but you’re delusional if you think I’m going to write about that. What I’m here to talk about today is the Dunk of the Year. It’s not an official award ...
UConn has 5 national titles — but their championship game TV ratings suck
When three different coaches have combined to win five national championships at one men’s college basketball program since 1999, it means they’re one of the sport’s blue bloods. But, you know that question that goes, “If a tree falls in the forest, and there’s no one around to hear It, does it make...
The Isiah Thomas-Michael Jordan beef still going strong decades later
I guess if Michael Jordan gets to remain bitter about events from 40 years ago then everyone else from that time should be granted the same courtesy. In 2021 it was Scottie Pippen — promoting his bourbon and book — who was publicly critical of Jordan. Since the NBA 75 Greatest Team gathered at the 2...