finals Page 36 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Kevin Durant: Solo artist
We’ve never seen Kevin Durant do it on his own. It’s often felt like he needed a complementary piece to excel — or at least that’s the prevailing stigma. In Oklahoma City, he had Russell Westbrook and James Harden. In Golden State, he was second to Steph Curry. Sure, he has his ring (for which most ...

NYC should appreciate and take notice of what’s happening in Brooklyn
To: New York NBA fans ...

CP3 looking like the Cinderfella of these playoffs
Who would have thought that Chris Paul would turn into the main character of an NBA fairy tale story?...

Stop the Bubble slander
The Denver Nuggets are down 3-0, meaning no team who reached the NBA’s Final Four in The Bubble has won a game past Round 1, and one of them didn’t even do that. But these four teams — the Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, and Boston Celtics — shouldn’t be diminished for accomplishing what th...

There will never be another game like MJ's ‘Flu Game,’ and that’s a good thing
Twenty-four years ago today, Michael Jordan played in Game 5 of the NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz while being — as the band Disturbed would say — down with the sickness after getting food poisoning from a pizza delivered to his hotel room the night before by five randos. ...

Pandemic hockey giving us something to build on
The cool fact about the NHL’s semifinal round is that while the Islanders and Lightning are meeting for a trip to the Stanley Cup Final for the second straight year, the other series pits the Canadiens against the Golden Knights, a matchup featuring the largest gap between inaugural seasons in leagu...

What happened to all the NBA’s best playoff heel teams?
The NBA playoffs have featured excellent basketball as players who have been on the rise as stars in the league have battled to grab the spotlight....

Kendrick Perkins and Quavo are apparently still beefing
This is probably what Migos meant by, “You don’t get shit straight if you don’t straighten it.” ...

Nikola Jokić will no longer be overshadowed by a burrito
It’s safe to say that Nikola Jokić is no longer an afterthought to some tasty Mexican fare. ...

Can the Clippers benefit from a quick turnaround against the well-rested Utah Jazz?
Fresh off the apparent re-emergence of Kawhi Leonard following a worrisome Game 5, the Los Angeles Clippers find themselves in Salt Lake City, and not Cancun, tonight....

Old man CP3 just keeps proving the haters wrong
Chris Paul deserves every single one of his flowers. ...

Is Brooklyn's rout of Milwaukee meaningful?
The Bucks lost by 39 points in Brooklyn on Monday night, and it felt like something of a denouement for this current Milwaukee team, which has gone 162-65 over the past three seasons but disappointed in the playoffs....

Step aside Lakers, L.A. is Clippers Country now
The worm has turned in L.A....

With Harden knocked out early, Nets remind Bucks they’re still stacked
James Harden left Game 1 of the Nets-Bucks series in the first minute, after aggravating the hamstring injury that cost him 21 games during the regular season. Steve Nash doesn’t know whether Harden will be available for Game 2 — either way, the former MVP’s health coming into question reshapes ever...

Road warrior Kawhi Leonard joins NBA elite with season-saver in Dallas
If you were watching Game 6 of Clippers-Mavericks on Friday night, you heard about a hundred times how there’s never been a series in the NBA where the road team won the first six games — until now, since Los Angeles notched a 104-97 victory behind 45 points from Kawhi Leonard....

LeBron’s gone, and the NBA did him no favors with short offseason
I grew up in Chicago, which means I grew up in a basketball atmosphere that was convinced the league was always rigging things for the Knicks. Even though the Bulls would go on to win six titles — beating the Knicks along the way for most of them — Bulls fans were always insistent that they had to o...

Will we actually see an NBA Finals without LeBron?
We might be in store for something very rare in the NBA — a Finals that doesn’t include LeBron James. With the Lakers down 3-2 to the Phoenix Suns, the possibility is becoming more and more likely that the defending champs won’t make it out of the first round. Not seeing Lebron making a deep playoff...

HEAR ME OUT: The Lakers need to sit Anthony Davis tonight
Anthony Davis should NOT play in the Los Angeles Lakers’ biggest game of the season....

Danny Ainge and Brad Stevens are done — Boston should hire a Black coach – they do well there
Potential is a sly word, as it’s just a nice way to say someone hasn’t done anything yet. It’s a label we attach to people and things that we believe will be able to achieve a certain level of success. Potential is great to have until you don’t do anything with it....

L.A.’s Game 5 performance puts Laker nation in full meltdown mode
Laker Nation is in turmoil — and it’s absolutely hilarious. ...