nba-playoff Page 52 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
The Spurs Made The Mistake Of Thinking LeBron Had Something To Prove
LeBron James is, if nothing else, hyperaware of expectations. Some players use that for individual motivation, others fail under the pressure, but James, on occasion, twists it into a game plan. You saw that last night down the stretch, as the Spurs appeared convinced James would seek personal redem...
Actually, LeBron James Was Drinking Gatorade Last Night
Brand fights are the worst of all fights, Gatorade's sustained trolling of LeBron James's cramps due to a supposed lack of proper hydration lacked some pretty key context: James had been drinking Gatorade all night....
Why Do NBA Playoff Games Take So Long?
While it's common knowledge (and a common complaint) that the NBA playoffs as a whole take a long time to complete, it's often the case that the games themselves take a long time as well. Part of this is due to overtimes being (slightly) more frequent in the playoffs than in the regular season—6.0 p...
NBA Players' Union Calls Lack Of A/C "Completely Unacceptable"
About midway through the third quarter, Spurs Sports & Entertainment released a thoroughly unsatisfying statement about the broken air conditioning at the AT&T Center. It read:...
The Thunder Will Want To Forget That Overtime Ever Happened
The Thunder lost to the Spurs 112-107 in overtime and, good lord, was overtime a disaster for Oklahoma City. Look at the tidiness of San Antonio's overtime shot chart, compared to OKC's. Russell Westbrook—who had an otherwise great game, with 34 points, eight assists, seven rebound, and six steals—w...
This Is Lance Stephenson Blowing On Kevin Durant And Forcing A Turnover
And I can't stop watching it. Someone edited Lance Stephenson blowing into LeBron's ear into a sequence at the end of the fourth quarter when Kevin Durant stumbled and turned the ball over, with Oklahoma City down by two, and it's perfect. Look how mischievous he is!...
Spurs And Thunder Head To Overtime Thanks To Blown Goaltending Call
The officials missed a goaltending call with 44 seconds left in the game and the score tied 97-97. Though clearly a goaltending, this was deemed a block and the Spurs were shorted two points. Whiled tied 101-101, Manu missed a jumper from the elbow at the buzzer, so now we get five extra minutes bef...
This Spurs Basket Is Like A Pinball Game
Even though they lost Tony Parker to a barking ankle, the Spurs are still real [removes glasses] Pinball Wizards....
Paul George On Bringing Lance Back: [Longest Pause Ever] "I Don't Know"
Lance Stephenson is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer and he's going about it in just about the worst way possible. He has definitely been fun to watch, like a court jester, but he's probably cost himself some serious cash with all the extracurriculars. And, when he finally does g...
Lance Smacks Norris Cole In The Face, Pacers Bench Reacts
Lance Stephenson was assessed a flagrant 1 for face-palming Norris Cole and, judging by his reaction, teammate Chris Copeland probably agrees with that assessment. ...
Boris Diaw Kicking Ass Is What The Playoffs Are All About
When Gregg Popovich shoved Matt Bonner into his starting lineup last night, it seemed clear he was making a decision in strategy and trying to shift the tenor of the series. But in perfect Popavellian fashion, Bonner turned out to be more decoy than secret weapon. The real genius of the lineup chang...
Tim Duncan Gets Kicked In The Nuts, Wants Everyone To Know About It
Whoa, Tim Duncan, did Russell Westbrook really just kick you in the nuts?...
These Animated NBA Playoff Highlights Are Cool As Hell
Richard Swarbick is an artist who's been turning sports highlights into awesome animations for a long time now, and now he's working his magic on cool moments from this year's NBA playoffs. ...
Last Night Belonged To Crazy-Ass Lance Stephenson
Aside from Paul George's second-half explosion and its madcap ending, last night's game between the Heat and Pacers was pretty damn unwatchable. That's what happens when the best player in the universe has to spend most of the game on the bench with the foul trouble and the Pacers decide to do... wh...
Heat Fan Grandma Is A Pretty Great Grandma
This grandma is a really big fan of the Miami Heat, and so her grandson decided to record her while she watched Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals. Based on the video evidence, watching a game with this lady is probably be a lot of fun....
Here's A New Attempt At Gauging The Defensive Impact Of NBA Players
The defensive impact of individual NBA players is hard to measure, as it's so intertwined with their teammates' performance. Austin Clemens, undeterred, has taken an ambitious shot with his new Adjusted Impact by Court Location model, which attempts to parse out individual impacts on opponent shot s...
Even When The Spurs Lose, Gregg Popovich Wins
The Spurs may have lost to the Thunder last night, but Gregg Popovich continued to win his war against reporters who dare to ask him questions. ...
The Thunder Are The Thunder Again, And This Is A Brand New Series
I suppose we can go ahead and forget about the first two games of the Western Conference finals, which saw the Serge Ibaka-less Thunder getting swallowed whole by the Spurs while Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant did their best to fight off the inevitable. We can forget those two games because Ser...
The Thunder Got Back Serge Ibaka, May Have Gotten Back Into This Series
Now this is more like it. When the Thunder announced they'd lost Serge Ibaka for the remainder of the playoffs to a calf injury, it seemed like we'd all miss out on another classic clash of age vs. youth, savvy vs. athleticism, creative offense vs. "dribble around, then someone shoot!" Ibaka's retur...