eastern-conference Page 6 - 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. ...

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...

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...

Florida Atlantic proves just how quickly its tenacity can make opponents unravel
NEW YORK — Don’t let Florida Atlantic hang around. Memphis messed around and found out. Fairleigh Dickinson truly never had the legs to keep up with the Owls, but also felt the result of letting the grittiest team in the nation have time to respond. Surely a Rick Barnes-coached team from a battle-te...

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....

These NBA playoff performers have the most to prove
Every year a group of players enters the NBA playoffs with the weight of their legacy on their shoulders. And every year, all but one player exits bearing even more weight than they went in with. This season is no different, despite the unprecedented parity in the league. So we’ve pinpointed the pla...

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....

The top 18 NBA Draft prospects to watch in the NCAA tournament
We’re less than a week away from the start of the NCAA Tournament and several of the stars that will shine during March Madness will end their college careers during the showcase. While the lose-o-rama for Victor Wembanyama, the projected No. 1 overall pick, has been underway for several months now,...

Ranking all 64 NCAA Tournament teams
No more bubbles. No more first four in or out. No more teams wondering if they made the most exclusive group in college basketball. Only 68 teams of the 350+ Division-I squads have a chance to become national champions now. Before the First Four begins on Tuesday, we’ve ranked every team that hopes ...

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....

Deadspin’s 2023 Men's NCAA Tournament Automatic Bid Tracker
The Men’s NCAA Tournament is just over the horizon and as its 32 automatic bids are earned in rapid-fire over the next week, it can be too much to track on your own. That’s what this space is for. One of these 32 automatic bids from a smaller conference is likely to become a Cinderella, but first ga...

Mid-majors to watch in this year’s NCAA tournament
March Madness is just around the corner. Conference tournaments will be underway and soon enough, we’ll be down from 350-plus teams contending for a championship to 68. The high-level conference teams that’ll compete for a title have been well-documented and we’ll no doubt see some of them make it d...

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 ...

NBA Schedule: The best games to watch for All-Star Week
Did you take a puff of your inhaler? A shot of dark liquor?...

Nick Bolton cements himself as the next great young NFL linebacker
Andy Reid broke into coaching in the college ranks, spending a decade on recruiting trails and visiting high schools around America hoping to find the next great offensive lineman. His final position in the collegiate ranks was at Missouri, which wasn’t a great team during Reid’s three seasons in Co...