NBA Page 55 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Give us more Charles Barkley insulting Stephen A. Smith
ESPN and TNT have combined their coverage of the NBA’s In-Season Tournament, and as always, Charles Barkley kept things interesting....
'Haliburton time' doesn't quite have the same ring to it
The Pacers advanced to the championship game of the NBA in-season tournament last night after Tyrese Haliburton knocked down a 3-pointer late in the game to beat the Bucks....
The Clippers are starting to gel, but P.J. Tucker wasn’t wrong
NBA journeyman P.J. Tucker had some interesting comments about the Los Angeles Clippers earlier this week about there not being enough basketballs to fulfill the team’s needs. Of course, he’s referring to his Clippers recently adding James Harden to a roster that already included Paul George, Kawhi ...
If NBA teams can raise division-title banners, they should be able to raise a banner for the In-Season Cup
The inaugural In-Season Tournament is nearing its conclusion, which can only mean one thing: How can we find a new way to dump on it? Fortunately, a contrived controversy has been delivered on cue. The winner of this weekend’s In-Season Tournament will have to navigate the thorny situation over how ...
Why is no one screaming about the NBA’s MVP race yet?
There’s one unquestioned upside to the NBA’s In-Season Tournament. The endless promos and exhausting exposure to promote Adam Silver’s baby — and debate over if it’s working or if it matters — has overshadowed the usual topic de jour as we hit the quarter-season mark: The MVP race....
America is better at shooting people than basketballs
The United States set a record over the weekend. There were two mass shootings on Sunday, one in Texas and another thousands of miles to the northwest in Washington. Those were the 37th and 38th mass killings of 2023 — a new record. With 24 days left in the year the 2022 record of 36 has been surpas...
Anthony Edwards is salty about being called an All-Star
The next time you’re out and about and happen to run into Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards, don’t dare refer to him as an All-Star. Even though he is indeed a one-time All-Star “selection,” he won’t acknowledge this fact. He doesn’t count it since he wasn’t a first-choice selection to the...
LeBron James wants to win the NBA Cup because Michael Jordan didn't
The NBA Cup/In-Season Tournament finally concludes in Las Vegas this week. LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers outlasted the Phoenix Suns in a scrappy game Tuesday night to advance to the semifinals. James put on a show against Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, scoring 31 points, dishing 11 dimes, ...
The NBA’s top 3 rookies are tough to watch (for reasons outside of their control)
The 2023 NBA Draft was supposedly a three-team draft. The main prize was Victor Wembanyama, with Brandon Miller and Scoot Henderson in the trail positions. Regardless of which guard, wing, or big you got, each could be a franchise cornerstone. The caveat is what exactly would they be holding up? ...
Tyrese Haliburton has the Pacers skipping the NBA waiting line
There are three tiers of NBA existence: Teams stuck in the mud, teams trying to fit through a championship window and future contenders waiting their turn. Prior to Tyrese Haliburton’s first full season as a Pacer, Indiana was rudderless and stuck on a road to nowhere. Aside from Haliburton, there w...
How to hate-watch the rest of the NBA's In-Season Tournament, Part 2
Human nature drives us to dump on new concepts and the IST has inspired a whole host of reasons for the NBA Cup to receive hate. There’s a lot not to like including the scoring differentials playing a role in who advances, sneakers sliding around on the NBA’s personalized ice rinks, the 30-team fiel...
How to hate-watch the rest of the NBA's In-Season Tournament, Part I
The NBA In-Season Tournament’s single elimination stage tips off this week. Human nature drives us to dump on new things and the IST has inspired a whole host of reasons to hate it. There’s a lot not to like. The scoring differentials playing a role in who advances, the personalized courts playing l...
Ime Udoka was wrong to go at LeBron James
Everyone who works for the NBA or one of its franchises should always behave in a professional manner. That being said, the head coach is supposed to be the person in charge of the team. A head coach is like the general manager of a store. That person may not own the place, but the person does need ...
Golden State’s third quarter super powers are gone and that’s left them mortal
For the second time, this week, the Golden State Warriors went cold in the fourth quarter. Twice this week, the Warriors blew leads of 20-plus points. Against the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday, they played so frantically trying to achieve a +13 points differential in a win that would allow them to adv...
The week in random sports news: Mbappe could be gone, the Bears, well, are the Bears and what were the Yankees thinking?
In the end, the Chicago Bears screwed up what could have been something historic. Last week they managed to be the first team to lose while winning the turnover battle by three and holding the ball for 40 minutes. They had the chance to do it two weeks in a row and live forever. Instead, they’re jus...
The week in the NBA: Josh Giddey accusations drama, Ball brothers injury bug, Jason Kidd loses it for no reason
When you continue to embrace a man who reportedly impregnated a 13-year-old when he was in college, and honor that same man regularly by inviting him to marquee league events (like the 2023 All-Star Game) alongside Kareem Abdul Jabbar and LeBron James, it makes it really hard to discipline a current...
LeBron James is benefitting from a desensitized media
At the end of a journalist’s shift, we just want transparency. That’s it. We want to ask questions, and get real answers. For example, when associates of LeBron James pop up in federal investigations involving steroids or sports betting, we have questions. And to be fair, LeBron answered the questio...
The case <i>against</i> Deion Sanders as Sportsperson of the Year
We are on the brink of our last full college football Saturday slate before bowl season. So, it’s apropos that Deion Sanders’ overhype earned him Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year. After announcing Sanders as the recipient of the honor, Sports Illustrated is dodging tomatoes from the Int...
IDIOT OF THE MONTH: Defending Trevor Bauer is never a good look
Hello there, esteemed reader, and welcome to Deadspin’s IDIOT OF THE MONTH, the world-renowned series in which we mostly just make fun of Aaron Rodgers every few weeks. (Hi, Tom Laforgia!)...
Ball don't lie: NBA life not what Lonzo and LaMelo thought it would be
The NBA is Ball-less after Lamelo suffered an ankle injury earlier this week that will leave him sidelined for what sounds like at least a few weeks. Shams Charania reports that it’s a sprain of the same ankle Ball fractured last season. As the Charlotte Hornets prepare for life without LaMelo, the ...