nba-playoff Page 9 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Nic Claxton is a major reason why the Brooklyn Nets have played so well lately
Thursday night’s playoff rematch between the Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets will be like many big-time NBA regular-season matchups — incomplete....
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 Golden State Warriors are clutch test-takers
Boston’s league-leading winning percentage meant nothing once Golden State decides to ascend to a higher plane of basketball nirvana. Golden State’s geezers might sprint out the gates as quickly as they did in years past, but when they need to hit the thrusters, they still have the energy to tap int...
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...
The Brooklyn Nets might be giving up on Ben Simmons already
Welp, that could be it, folks. ...
Washington Wizards trying to relive glory days of mid-2000s mediocrity
The Washington Wizards of the mid-aughts will always be remembered more for how their time together ended than the actual run itself — and for good reason. The team only won one playoff series, and that was the year before it traded Kwame Brown for Caron Butler, who would make his only two all-star ...
The NBA’s Eastern Conference might see a bit of a shake-up in the standings this season
It’s October, so it’s Halloween season, but it also means the NBA is back. All the talk and some drama will be moved aside as teams return to the court, hoping to do what the Golden State Warriors did last season in raising the Larry O’Brien NBA Finals trophy....
Giannis has become the Paul Bunyan of basketball
The fake sports news on Twitter is getting a bit out of control. I’m aware that part of responsible internet usage requires users to vet sources. It’s not like people haven’t been getting burned by fake Woj and fake Schefter accounts for years, but handles like CockSources and Ballsack sports — whil...
Micah Parsons to join <i>Undisputed</i>: This has to be the ‘genius’ of Skip Bayless
Despite having won nothing on the field in 25 years, the Dallas Cowboys remain in the spotlight as “America’s Team.” They can’t get out of their own way, yet continue to dominate NFL headlines year-round. Owner Jerry Jones has a radio show in Dallas, and now another Cowboys personality will have a w...
5 players to watch at NBA Summer League
Players who were added to NBA rosters two weeks ago take the court to play against young NBA talent, and people who are still desperately clutching their professional basketball dreams. There were a handful of teams in San Francisco and Utah earlier in the week, but the big show is in Vegas for 10 d...
Joey Chestnut takes break to choke protestor en route to another hot dog contest win
Just as the Founding Fathers would have wanted, Joey Chestnut maintained his title as America’s Hot Dog King this weekend, capturing his 15th title at Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest on Monday. But he hasn’t let his continued success make him lazy or entitled — no, his instincts are sharp as ever as...
The Pistons won the draft and the last two days
There might be some fans at the gigantic Little Caesars arena, because the Detroit Pistons took some serious steps towards solidifying a young nucleus for the future of their franchise....
Jayson Tatum is not a superstar (yet)
More than in previous seasons, these playoffs exposed frauds masquerading as superstars. The list is long — Donovan Mitchell, Zach LaVine, Jimmy Butler, Karl-Anthony Towns, Devin Booker. You can add Jayson Tatum to that list. After putting on a blitzkrieg throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs, ...
It’s all smiles with the Pelicans and Zion Williamson these days, or so they tell us
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, such as another Zion Williamson injury, in the 2022-23 season expect to see the full New Orleans Pelicans team that basketball fans wish had taken on the Phoenix Suns in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. The Pelicans can offer Williamson a max contract extens...
Stop comparing viewership numbers for the NFL and NBA
Viewership for the 2022 NBA Finals is up 37 percent from last year and its ratings are the highest they’ve been since the last time the Warriors were in the Finals in 2019. That said, there are some worrisome figures. For one, while viewership is up from 2020 and 2021, Game 1 of these Finals were th...
Jimmy Butler’s superstar card got declined when Miami needed it most
Earlier this month, FS1’s Nick Wright debuted a bit called the Superstar Club. I don’t usually endorse debate show takes, but this was a solid metaphor. Jimmy Butler was depicted standing in line, waiting for entry. In this year’s Eastern Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics, he nearly cemen...