the-nba Page 27 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
The Miami Heat kicked the Celtics in the head, teeth, calf, and everyone else in Game 3
I have seen some ass-whuppings administered in my lifetime. I remember in the fifth-grade baseball playoffs beating the top overall seed by about 20 runs. To put a championship cap on Alabama’s 2012 football season the Tide ran through Notre Dame so viciously, that their opponents lost the desire to...
The Denver Nuggets are no longer the playoff wallflower
Before this series, if you’d asked most people who would advance to the NBA Finals between the Lakers and their nameless opponents, they would have responded with a rhetorical question. “Do you know who they’re playing?” Not literally. The Denver Nuggets aren’t in witness protection, but just a few ...
The NBA All-Star game will never again be as competitive as we’d like
So, the NBA is considering changing the All-Star game format yet again. According to a report by Shams Charania and Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic, this has been a topic discussed recently among the Board of Governors (team owners) and general managers. The Association wants to increase the competiti...
Jimmy Butler completely sonned Grant Williams, Boston Celtics in Game 2
Forget what you’ve heard. The Miami Heat’s Jimmy Butler is the most dangerous weapon left in the NBA playoffs. Boston Celtics forward Grant Williams found that out the hard way during game two of the Eastern Conference Finals Friday night. Williams chose the trash talk route and, of all people, chos...
These 10 NBA teams have the brightest futures
There are many elements to consider when predicting who will succeed in the future of the NBA. To tank the 10 teams with the brightest futures, we focused on three to five years in the future while thinking about each team’s draft capital, promising young players, cap flexibility, and free agent des...
LeBron James flat-out fumbled his way through Game 2 in Denver
Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James is a rare breed, unlike anything we’ve ever seen. It is unreal how well he continues to play at age 38, having logged 20 seasons in the NBA. He’s one of the greatest hoopers of all time, but in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals against the Denver Nuggets, w...
James Harden wants to escape the NBA title rat race
In his prime, James Harden was the star of the show. His ball dominance was unparalleled. Harden’s expression of basketball is a sublime experience. His ball handling and passing artistry are one of a kind. During his penultimate season in Houston, Harden’s 40.3 usage rate in 2018-19 nearly set an N...
Jamal Murray’s excellence forces Lakers into a must-win Game 3
In an NBA playoff series, Game 2 is usually the forgotten game. A series usually needs a location change before bold predictions are made. After dominating the Los Angeles Lakers for most of Game 1, the Denver Nuggets’ fourth-quarter performance left much to be desired in a victory that they almost ...
Carolina and Florida engage in the playoff tradition of venturing into hockey of the absurd
Let me tell ya something about multiple overtime games when you’re emotionally involved with one of the teams. Somewhere with around five minutes left in the second OT, you make a deal with yourself. You won’t say it out loud of course, but deep within you know that you’ve crossed the threshold wher...
YouTube TV’s ECF Game 1 debacle gave NBA cord-cutters an excuse to switch back to cable
The only Americans more upset with Disney than Ron DeSantis sycophants for one night were NBA fans watching The Little Mermaid instead of the Eastern Conference Finals on YouTube TV. But that anger is misplaced. YouTube TV was the culprit in Wednesday night’s Eastern Conference Finals streaming deba...
Playoff Jimmy Butler is Miami's most important player, but Kyle Lowry is proving to be the Heat’s X factor
Heat culture is a thing and something we’ve heard about for years. Despite Jimmy Butler’s denial, “Playoff Jimmy” is also a thing we’ve witnessed over the past few years in May and June. Another phenomenon that’s becoming clear is the resurgence of Kyle Lowry. Lowry, 37, had to put forth the effort ...
After winning the Victor Wembanyama lottery, San Antonio’s work is only just beginning
The conventional thinking is that Victor Wembanyama will be in safe hands with Gregg Popovich in San Antonio. But there’s no guarantee that the Wembanyama era will be anywhere as fruitful as Pop’s last dynasty or that he’ll have the best career out of any prospect in this draft, but I wouldn’t bet a...
Good effort JJ, but invoking America’s gun problem is not the way to defend Ja Morant
JJ Redick is correct that there is a macro issue in this country with politicians using firearms as campaign posters. A majority of Americans would agree with him on that. In one space of that mass of plutocracy, policy, and posturing is Ja Morant posing with one of this country’s most polarizing an...
This cast of the Lake Show is as triggering as it is good
I’m finding it increasingly difficult to cope with America’s ongoing nightmare. No, not COVID, though I did just go to a wedding and got the “Hey, heads up, it was a super spreader” text today. That said, I’d let an infected cough in my mouth right now if it meant a Los Angeles Lakers playoff exit a...
ESPN spent millions on Pat McAfee in the middle of company-wide layoffs
You have to spend money to make money. But you can’t save money if you keep spending — unless you’re ESPN....
Is Victor Wembanyama’s size a gift or a curse? Let's debate
The following conversation is based on real-life arguments and was conducted by two professionals. Please, don’t attempt to replicate any discussion as takes of these temperatures should be handled with gloves and safety glasses and under the care and supervision of adults. Today’s social experiment...
Tempe voters put an end to the Arizona/Glendale/Phoenix Coyotes sideshow
It was a bad idea from the start. When Gary Bettman enacted his Great Southern Strategy for the NHL, the original Winnipeg Jets, and the Phoenix area never quite fit into it. Phoenix wasn’t a captive market like Tampa or Nashville were, with the hockey teams being the only games in town during the w...
Boston and Miami battle to see who's the Beast in the East
In a rematch of last year’s Eastern Conference Finals, the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat are set to square off for the third time in four years to crown the Beast in the East. While the Celtics remain the No. 2 seed, the Heat have been forced to defy the odds of returning to the ECF as the No. 8 see...
![WNBA sends strong message with Becky Hammon suspension [Update]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/e0fcb4b06f9f1bf146858cced61c23ea.jpg)
WNBA sends strong message with Becky Hammon suspension [Update]
It makes sense now that Becky Hammon, head coach of the Las Vegas Aces, sought permission from her bosses to interview for a head coaching position with the NBA’s Toronto Raptors. Less than a calendar year removed from the confetti, champagne, and parade of bringing the Aces franchise its first WNBA...
LeBron James vs. Nikola Jokić, and the other Lakers-Nuggets Western Conference Finals storylines
We did not get Kevin Durant vs. Stephen Curry in the Western Conference Finals. Instead, the participants in the series are the best teams in the conference — the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Lakers....