nba-playoff Page 2 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
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...
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...
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...
The NBA’s newest award is a better fit for MLB teams
It’s bad enough that there have been 16 NBA playoff spots since 1984. At that time there were only 23 teams in the league. It’s 2022, and still more than half of the league gets into the playoffs, and that’s not even counting the highly entertaining Play-in Tournament. Sure the New Orleans Pelicans ...
The Utah Jazz are George Costanza-ing their way to the top of the West
“What is going on in Utah?” was the Brian Windhorst query that ruled the summer as the Jazz’s CEO of basketball operations Danny Ainge jettisoned Rudy Gobert to the Minnesota Timberwolves for a boatload of first-round picks through 2029. The answer was Utah gutting their roster and Quin Snyder walki...
Those Game 7s were a dud, but that doesn’t dilute the outstanding performances from the second round that deserve recognition
That was quite an exhilarating second round of NBA Playoff action… until it wasn’t. ...
Draymond is winning in the court of public opinion and basking in it
Look who gets to be the good guy. It is hard to get ejected from an NBA playoff game, but Draymond Green figured out how to pull it off on Sunday. He got sent to the showers in the first half for clocking Brandon Clarke during the Golden State Warriors Game 1, 117-116 victory against the Memphis Gri...
The Pelicans turned the NBA’s least interesting playoff matchup into can’t-miss television
Even after the New Orleans Pelicans’ disastrous 1-12 start to the 2021-22 season, it’s not as if there was some seismic shift. Their first winning streak came in mid-December when they tallied four victories in a row. Before that, they were still only 9-21 on the season. Since that streak they have ...
Once again injuries crashing NBA Playoffs party
Curse thou, NBA playoff injury bug. Why dost thou mar a glorious display with your vile presence and wretched sting?...
Ranking the top postseason performances in Miami Heat history
Jimmy Butler had a memorable Game 4 against the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday, dropping 56 points in a 119-114 victory over the No. 1 seed....
NBA Playoff ratings were on fire opening weekend, but that’s not the only way to define the league’s success
Television ratings are one of the most archaic ways to measure what people care about. We’re more than 20 years into the new millennium. Who has time to be held to a live television schedule? I remember as a child watching an episode of Home Improvement when Tim “The Toolman” Taylor was trying to av...
Well look here, the NBA got smart and finally hired social media’s favorite sports broadcaster
Imagine attempting to run a necessary errand before the start of Monday’s first playoff game. It’s the only time that you have during the day to complete this task. You scramble, get it completed and head home safely, but also with purpose, to get home and see as much of the first game as possible. ...
NBA playoff matchups we’d love to see (and one we wouldn’t)
The 2022 NBA playoffs is an annual garden of forking paths. Teams don’t know who to expect awaiting them in the next round or when their season will end. One injury can swing momentum in the other direction. What we do know is that there are particular matchups that are more palatable than others. C...
This was better than Jason Kidd?
It’s only Game 1, so maybe Mike Budenholzer is waiting to change how he does things as this series goes along. An NBA playoff series can be moves and countermoves as it goes longer, and you don’t want to give away everything in the beginning — so we have to allow for that. But we’ve seen Budenholzer...
The Greatest Game 1 NBA Finals performances of the 21st century
And now for our second NBA Finals in about nine months....
Patrick Beverley shoved Chris Paul and Frank Kaminsky… kinda just stood there
Y’all ever heard of James Butler?...
Go against logic and believe in THESE Los Angeles Clippers
It’s easy to believe the Los Angeles Clippers can’t do the impossible....
It doesn’t matter what we think if Ben Simmons’ teammates are done with him
I admit that I fell into the trap of using every NBA playoff game as a referendum on the legacy of every NBA star. Things are never that simple, and winning a championship is hard. Especially in the NBA, where it’s an actual referendum on how your team is built. It’s not hockey where the bounces jus...