Eastern Conference Page 3 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
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. ...
Can we just skip the Eastern Conference play-in tournament this year?
As the NBA regular season nears its end, teams continue to jockey for playoff and play-in tournament positions producing some wild races heading toward the finish line. The race in the West is setting up for a photo finish over the last few days, with both playoff and play-in implications on the lin...
The new-look Los Angeles Lakers are peaking at just the right time
What appeared to be a lost Los Angeles Lakers season six weeks ago has sprouted wings in the final home stretch before the postseason. After missing countless weeks mending injuries in 2023, Anthony Davis and LeBron James returned to a lineup terraformed on the go....
The Hornets have replaced the Kings as the NBA’s most beleaguered franchise
The Sacramento Kings Beam season isn’t over yet, but success is relative. The Kings finally ended the NBA’s longest playoff drought. All it took was De’Aaron Fox straightening out his jumper, an offseason for Domantas Sabonis to get fully integrated into the offense, trading for Kevin Huerter and Mi...
The best NBA games on this week’s schedule
This is the time of year in which sports fans should be primarily focused on the Men’s and Women’s college basketball postseason tournaments. The “amateurs” have put on quite a show that deserves attention this week....
Is Shaq gonna get served on TV?
It’s not too shocking that athletes or celebrities in general don’t know much about whatever they’re getting paid to promote. If the check clears is about as much thought as they have to put into it. No one thinks Steve Martin drinks Pepsi in his free time. Or that Brie Larson is tooling around in a...
All the NBA action you'll want to catch this week
This week is the first of the NCAA basketball tournaments, and freak injuries have befallen both Kevin Durant and Luka Dončić. Some sports fans might believe this is a good week to step away from the NBA....
NBA Schedule: Make some time to watch the Knicks
Bing-bong, bang-bang, pick whatever onomatopoeia you desire to properly emphasize the 2022-23 New York Knicks, as long as you acknowledge that this team is for real. They have won nine games in a row and are 4.5 games ahead of a play-in tournament appearance....
Ime Udoka, who? Joe Mazzulla is coaching in the NBA All-Star Game
When Joe Mazzulla was announced as the Boston Celtics interim head coach in September, many had no idea who the 34-year-old was. But, I did. Back in 2008, his 13 points, 11 rebounds, and eight assists performance in 31 minutes off the bench sent my Duke Blue Devils home in the second round of the NC...
2023 NBA Anti-All-Stars: The dregs of the East
The NBA All-Star Game is an honor bestowed upon the most distinguished hoopers every season. Unfortunately, that’s not what we’re doing here. Their time will come. However, the NBA’s worst rotation players deserve to receive their dead flowers too. Stare into this dark void with me and commemorate t...
![Alex Ovechkin’s leave of absence does little to change his chase of Gretzky [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/1e4b9aa0deb3010df4dbc9e365b5cd20.jpg)
Alex Ovechkin’s leave of absence does little to change his chase of Gretzky [Updated]
Alex Ovechkin has transcended hockey since he entered the league officially in 2005. He had to wait an extra year because of that pesky canceled season after he was drafted the year prior. He also missed three months due to another lockout in 2012. Not to mention the coronavirus pandemic disrupting ...
The best games on the NBA schedule the week of Feb. 6 — the NFL season is over, get used to it
Sunday is the season finale for NFL 2022. All that is left until post-Labor Day is free-agent signings, trades, the NFL Draft, and position battles in practice. Sure some of you are looking forward to the speculation, but that can’t possibly compare to seven hours of actual game action. For those of...
The best games on the NBA schedule this week — only one back-to-back
Don’t let anyone tell you the NBA schedule during the regular season is a poor entertainment product. Of course, a single game does not impact a team’s overall record the same way that it does an NFL team. In the NBA teams play multiple games per week. That is not changing anytime soon, especially w...
Best games on the NBA schedule this week: The West is rising
Don’t let anyone tell you the NBA schedule during the regular season is a poor entertainment product. Of course, a single game does not impact a team’s overall record the same way that it does an NFL team. In the NBA teams play multiple games per week. That is not changing anytime soon, especially w...
Was the Cavs’ ‘random’ PED test just fateful coincidence after Mitchell scored 71?
In one of the NBA’s more conspicuously timed sequences, the Cleveland Cavs were “randomly” drug tested just hours after Donovan Mitchell’s 71-point performance Monday night. It feels all too convenient for the association to “randomly” test the Cavs for performance-enhancing drugs one day after Mitc...
Who is the NBA’s most clutch player of the season?
The first-ever Jerry West Clutch Player of the Year will be awarded this season. Arguing over clutch players has become a staple of sports shout-talk TV, so it was probably only a matter of time until the NBA introduced an official award hoop heads could scream about. This wasn’t a thing we wanted, ...
Which NBA title contender will Jae Crowder join?
Championship NBA teams have always revolved around star players, but the glue guys/role players make it possible for franchises to become title contenders. There are stars all over the Association, but only those with the best supporting casts can make deep runs into the postseason year after year. ...
Hey Adam Silver, glossy new trophies won’t fix the NBA’s regular season
They say millennials are obsessed with trophies, but our elders have been expanding the ones propping up that industry. Commissioner Adam Silver’s quest to revitalize the regular season’s infrastructure has been his pet project for almost his entire eight-year stint. One day after Kawhi Leonard expr...
A decade-plus of Eastern Conference mediocrity can’t be easily forgotten
It’s weird how much energy goes into debating which conference is the NBA’s best. It makes sense in college football because schools can’t play all 100-plus teams each year, and strength of schedule determines playoff spots. But in basketball, with all 30 organizations facing each other at least twi...
Dejounte Murray has been better than advertised to start the season
Following last season’s disappointing journey and final destination, the Atlanta Hawks are off to a blazing start to this season. They are 7-3 and not only look like the clear best team in the Southeast division, but also like one of the better squads in the Eastern Conference....