nba-playoffs Page 18 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Introducing The Steph Curry Seth Curry Power Rankings
Two games into the Western Conference Finals, it’s time to unveil the Steph Curry Seth Curry Power Rankings. The Warriors beat the Blazers 114-111 on Thursday night, and both Currys played hard. Seth stole the ball from his big brother four times and added 16 points. Steph had 37-8-8. ...
Andre Iguodala's Hands Are Still Crazy
I’m not saying it’s a good thing that one of the top five basketball players in the world isn’t healthy enough to play in the Western Conference Finals, but without Kevin Durant (or DeMarcus Cousins, to a lesser extent), the Golden State Warriors lose a lot of the baggage they’ve picked up as the vi...
Trail Blazers Solve Many Of Game 1's Problems, Still Narrowly Fall To The Warriors
The Portland Trail Blazers made a real contest out of Game 2 of their Western Conference Finals series against the Golden State Warriors. After getting blown out in Game 1, head coach Terry Stots rejiggered his lineups and—thank God—his defensive approach, and the result was a 15-point halftime lead...
We Have Exceeded The Recommended Dose Of NBA Excitement
Sometimes there are Deadcasts where Drew and I spend twenty minutes saying, like, “soup is canceled” back and forth to each other. It’s just going to happen sometimes, because even though we enjoy talking about sports and all that, there are also just many more weeks in a year than there are good sp...
Brook Lopez Leads The Bucks Over Kyle Lowry And The Raptors, Just As We All Saw Coming
In an epic matchup of global basketball superstars, Brook Lopez led his top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks over Kyle Lowry and the second-seeded Toronto Raptors, 108–100, in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Lowry led the Raptors to an early lead and kept them in front for the first three quarters, b...
Pascal Siakam Reduces "Splash Mountain" To Rubble With Savage Dunk
Seems like Bucks scrapper Ersan Ilyasova thought he’d have more help in the paint when he overplayed the right hand of Raptors forward Pascal Siakam, in the first quarter of Wednesday night’s Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. In an unfortunate coincidence, it seems like Bucks center Brook “Sp...
Terry Stotts Has To Do Better Than That
There is no great shame in losing to the Golden State Warriors and Steph Curry, and no matter how the Western Conference final shakes out, the Blazers should be proud of their season. But if there’s one thing that should have them feeling a bit embarrassed in the aftermath of their 116-94 Game 1 los...
Steph Curry Reminds The Trail Blazers Just How Terrifying He Can Be
Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals had a familiar look for anyone who’s watched many Golden State Warriors home games during the Steph Curry era. The Warriors held the tough and determined Trail Blazers at a comfortable arm’s length for most of the night, and then just sort of cruised out of vi...
Kawhi Leonard And Joel Embiid Co-Starred In The Greatest Photo Of The NBA Season
Experienced live, Kawhi Leonard’s Game 7 buzzer-beater was an agonizing bounce-bounce-bounce-bounce. As a still image, all the drama on the floor could be frozen in time. Toronto-based photojournalist Mark Blinch masterfully captured the full spread. This shot appears to have been taken at some poin...
Do The Blazers Have A Chance Against The Warriors?
Now that we have entered the dog days of the Western Conference playoffs, it is incumbent upon us to find ways to caricature the Portland Trail Blazers to keep up our interest in what most folks fully expect to be a desultory series against the Golden State Warriors....
The Raptors' Defense Was Outrageous In The Clutch
The Sixers hit their last field goal in the half-court—a long, and-one leaner by J.J. Redick—with 3:29 remaining in Game 7. Then the Raptors put the clamps on. Philly would only even hit the rim one more time, off a heroic Jimmy Butler transition play. As stagnant and deferential as the Raptors have...
C.J. McCollum's Older Brother Is The Blazers' Best Hype Man
After the Blazers came back from 17 down to knock out the favored Nuggets, Portland hero C.J. McCollum told reporters that his 37 points, 9 rebounds, and game-saving chase-down block was fueled in part by a text from his brother Errick: “He told me not to settle, told me to get to the midrange, get ...
Kawhi Leonard Wins Game 7 With Insane Buzzer-Beater, Sends Joel Embiid Home Sobbing
The Toronto Raptors and Philadelphia 76ers just got done with a ragged and at times infuriating Game 7 to end the Eastern Conference semi-finals. The Raptors won the game, 92-90, thanks to this buzzer-beater from Kawhi Leonard. Hooooooooly shit, wait until you see this shot:...
The Trail Blazers Tried And Succeeded, Jennifer
Playoff games have a way of allowing narratives to fully bloom in the best possible ways. The latest example of this came on Sunday, when the man who almost single-handedly dragged the Portland Trail Blazers kicking and screaming into the franchise’s first Western Conference Finals appearance since ...
Rodney Hood Leaves Game After Injuring His Knee On A Screen From Torrey Craig
About halfway through the third quarter, Denver’s Torrey Craig set a screen on Rodney Hood to free up Jamal Murray. The screen caught Hood with his legs in an awkward position and he immediately went down clutching his knee. Portland staff members were able to get to Hood once play was stopped a few...
Which Humiliating Rockets Elimination Loss Was Worse?
For the second year in a row, the Houston Rockets’ efforts to try and defeat the Golden State Warriors in the playoffs came up just short. Normally, a postseason loss to the greatest team of this generation wouldn’t mean much more than “the significantly better team won four games before we did.” Ye...
Losing-Ass Rockets, At Long Last, Please Remove Yourselves To The Fraud Bin Immediately
I’m sure most Rockets fans are lovely people. The Rockets have a fine basketball organization, as creative and nimble and determined as any in the NBA. And James Harden genuinely is one of the most unstoppable offensive players in modern basketball history. Now. Can that team please get all the way ...
Ben Simmons Finally Showed Up
After four straight games of curious anonymity, Ben Simmons finally arrived—and just in time, as the Sixers desperately needed their Aussie weirdo to make like Joel Embiid’s ass and stop spewing diarrhea everywhere. Thanks to Simmons’s 21 points and bevy of rebounds and assists, Philadelphia lived t...
Jusuf Nurkic Wears T-Shirt With List Of Combatants Who Died In Bosnian War
Jusuf Nurkić, Portland’s excellent but injured big man, has been occasionally spotted supporting his team from the sideline during the playoffs. This support sometimes makes use of fashion. During the Blazers’ Game 6 win on Thursday, the big man wore a t-shirt with a list of 10 names. Here are those...