play-in-tournament Page 2 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Ten players that teams in the 'Lose-O-Rama for Wembanyama' should ship
After the matchup between Victor Wembanyama’s Metropolitans and Scoot Henderson’s G League Ignite teams earlier this month, where the projected No. 1 and No. 2 picks faced off in must-see-TV, half the NBA should have shifted into full-on tank mode. Why meddle in mediocrity if you’re the Orlando Magi...
For NBA MVP, the value bet is Zion, but who will actually win is obvious
It’s easily forgotten that NBA is actually an acronym that stands for National Basketball Association. For a casual observer that follows the league’s personalities and news breakers on social media, the league can be viewed as a multiplatform action/drama that sparks the audience’s adrenaline with ...
The NBA’s Western Conference is going to be like bumper cars with all the movement this season
It’s October, so Halloween season is upon us, but it’s also time for the NBA to return. All the talk and some drama will be shoved 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....
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....
The Pelicans have finally taken flight
Bourbon Street in New Orleans exists in a loop. Every night the street clicks back into a state of debauchery, repeated with perverse precision. Lonely men drift in and out of red neon strip clubs holding cans of Natty Light. Police on horses stroll between sleeping bums, screaming preachers, pools ...
Just can’t go all-in on Russell Westbrook anymore
The Los Angeles Lakers and new coach Darvin Ham made a grave error on Monday....
Long live Nikola Jokić, the NBA’s Most VORPable Player
The impending news that Nikola Jokić will be awarded his second-consecutive MVP award has sent the NBA community into a border war formation between respect for analytics and the eye test. Jokic’s back-to-back wins is a resounding victory for the NBA’s mathlete contingency. This isn’t a diatribe aga...
Funny how the Boston Celtics took off once Danny Ainge and Brad Stevens were out of the way
Ime Udoka is who so many fans — and media members — desperately wanted Brad Stevens to be....
This NBA season was not fantastic
The NBA ended its worst season in recent memory on Sunday. Yes, it was really that bad....
Have to admit, the Play-in is adding a lot of intrigue
Everyone’s favorite time of the year is finally here. We’re just days away from the NBA’s Play-in Tournament as eight teams battle for the right to get their spines pulled from them in the first round. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t a big fan of the Play-in when it was first introduced. I thought it water...
Three possible trade scenarios for John Collins
What the hell is happening in Atlanta? They went on a Cinderella-esque run in last season’s playoffs, reaching the Eastern Conference Finals. This year? They currently sit 12th in the East, out of the Play-In Tournament, and 22nd in the entire NBA. During the summer of 2020-21, the Hawks happily wen...
LeBron James became the oldest player to record a triple-double Sunday, but it may take a miracle to restore the King and his Lakers atop their throne
Although the Lakers have stumbled their way through the first two months of the NBA season, no one can say LeBron James hasn’t done his part in trying to keep Los Angeles afloat in the western conference. On Sunday, James became the oldest player in league history to record a 30-point triple-double ...
The NBA future is... WOWZA!
The NBA has never felt younger and more reliant on up-and-coming stars than it does today. Teams are beginning to utilize the draft more and more. We’ve seen plenty of tank-a-thons by teams in the last five years, and these efforts have panned out to varying degrees. For some, it has materialized in...
Bulls currently thriving with Alex Caruso, and the Lakers could’ve brought their defensive stalwart back at a discount
The 2019-20 NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers were a much deeper team than just two stars, LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Danny Green, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Rajon Rondo, and Alex Caruso were all key contributors on a team that finished the regular season 11th in offensive rating and third in defe...
Warriors fire warning shot to NBA by laying smack down on Lakers
The NBA season officially began Tuesday night with a doubleheader, and in the main event, the hoops world was treated to a showdown between the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Lakers. One thing I took away from the season opener is what I’ve been saying all along. The Warriors will contend...
If anybody in the Pacific is going to disappoint, it’s Golden State
We here at Deadspin sometimes have differing opinions. That might be hard to believe, but it’s true, and as we get closer to the start of the NBA season, many of us have conflicting ideas on how the season will play out. For example, my co-worker Criss Partee believes that with a healthy Klay Thomps...
Hear me out: Klay Thompson's return alone does not restore Dubs to NBA’s elite
The Golden State Warriors had a pretty disappointing season. Despite Steph Curry turning back the clock and making jaws hit the floor on a routine basis, the Dubs still couldn’t manage to sneak into the actual postseason — losing their bid for the Western Conference’s 8-seed in a 117-112 loss to the...
Run the NBA play-in tournament as a series of high-stakes gauntlet matches
The NBA wants to have an in-season tournament, and a lot of the reaction to this idea is that it’s terrible, that it’s basketball trying to be soccer, that it’s a huge waste of time....
‘Smacked in the mouth,’ LeBron and AD now need to find second gear — if bodies let them
LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers looked sluggish and shell-shocked on Sunday. In their first-round matchup against the Phoenix Suns, after squeaking past the Golden State Warriors in the Play-In Tournament, the defending champs looked anything but title-contending....
Leave Kwame Brown alone
When you poke the bear, you best be ready for the consequences. And Kwame Brown is a 6-foot-11, 290-pound bear that was in hibernation until his rest was disturbed by two of his former teammates....