tim-duncan Page 1 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Big men are back in style in the NBA
The 1995-96 season was the end of the golden era for big men in the NBA. Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, and Shaquille O’Neal were stuffing opponents into lockers with their unstoppable back-to-the-basket games. They were the superstars in the paint, but Alonzo Mourning, Rik Smits, a...
The ghost of Golden State is starting to make some noise
Steph Curry’s high-arcing game-winner to sink the Phoenix Suns on Saturday night only strengthened his runaway case as The Association’s Most Clutch Player of the Year. An ensuing win over Utah on Monday positioned the Warriors back above the .500 mantle for the first time since Dec. 23. ...
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s MVP heist is nearly complete
Joel Embiid’s departure from the MVP race while he undergoes minor surgery to repair a displaced flap in his meniscus has created a vacancy. His coronation has now become a vastly different two-man heat. With due respect to Luka Doncic’s gaudy numbers, he’ll be a long shot as long as the Dallas Mave...
The case for — and against — Joel Embiid for MVP
Joel Embiid, the world’s best regular-season player, is closing in on his second consecutive MVP if he remains upright. When active, Embiid is a force of nature, bending defenses to his whim and simultaneously wielding an unduly influence over Philadelphia’s defense....
Magic's return and the NBA All-Star Game's most memorable moments
The 2024 NBA All-Star Game tips off in Indianapolis in just a few weeks, with starters being named tonight. Whoever makes it, they’ll have some big shoes to fill. The All-Star Game is full of some of the most iconic moments in NBA history. Here are some of the performances that make the weekend so s...
Blame Michael Jordan for Krause widow disgrace; Rudy Gobert trade finally paying off; Lakers need Zach LaVine
Michael Jordan won a widow getting booed. My colleague Stephen Knox covered this yesterday, the booing of Jerry Krause’s widow Thelma during the Chicago Bulls’ Ring of Honor ceremony on Friday, and he isn’t wrong. It’s another “feather” in the “cap” of Jerry Reinsdorf, though he wouldn’t have been i...
Alperen Şengün has a chance to be as good as Nikola Jokić
Every other generation, a player changes how his position is taught, scouted and played. For the current generation of players entering their prime years, that dude is Nikola Jokić. The “Joker” has taken the passing acumen of former bigs Vlade Divac, Yao Ming, Bill Walton and Arvydas Sabonis and com...
Here's to Golden State learning to age gracefully
Golden State is probably permanently entrenched as a middle-of-the-pack team. There are no renovating crumbling support beams around their Big 3 pillars because they are the source of deterioration. All they can do now is continue their reign as the most well-adjusted teammates ever cobbled together...
The Warriors hear the sound of inevitability
When Rome was burning, there wasn’t a definitive moment when it all collapsed. A definitive “BOOM” where everyone can say, “Well, that’s it for the Romans. Good run.” Had there been, it might have sounded like this:...
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is ascending into the MVP conversation
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the NBA’s dullest superstar, which has allowed him to sneak up behind the league while they sleep on his ascendance. On Tuesday night, SGA propelled the Oklahoma City Thunder to their latest signature win. After a two-week stretch in which they’ve made mincemeat of the NBA...
The 2023 Basketball Hall of Fame class represents 40 years of growth in the sport
The way that the NBA game is currently played — the spacing, position fluidity, the resting of stars during the regular season — all of that and more has been in the works for 20 years. Prioritizing 3-point shooting to maximize room for drivers and post players did not start and end with Mike D’Anto...
KAT talk places target square on Timberwolves' backs
Basketball has changed a ton over the past 25 years. It’s gone from NBA teams looking for the next great big man to change the game and dominate inside to finding the next mega star wing player or guard to get them over the hump. Back in the day, people drooled over the idea of a “twin towers” duo t...
Where should expectations be set for Victor Wembanyama’s summer league dress rehearsal?
Victor Wembanyama’s career prologue is almost as long as he is. It already feels like Wembanyama’s in his second NBA season doesn’t it? It feels like just yesterday, when he was in the (French) Finals at the exact same time as Nikola Jokic. According to Marc Stein, Wembanyama’s scheduled NBA debut h...
The Spurs like to mess with us, but it would have been unwise to use Victor Wembanyama to do so
Look at the San Antonio Spurs doing their part to properly sell the NBA. For a time there was a chance that Victor Wembanyama might be making his handful of NBA Summer League games in Sacramento and not during the league’s big event in Las Vegas....
Are no-trade clauses still needed in the NBA?
It’s like the holy grail of professional sports contracts. The elusive no-trade clause. This stipulation is preserved for a select few, but they almost seem pointless in the NBA. Last week Bradley Beal waived the no-trade clause in his deal with the Washington Wizards to clear a path to Phoenix. He ...
NBA Draft: From No.1 pick to the Hall of Fame
Tonight is the 2023 NBA Draft, which is taking place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Some years the No. 1 pick is up for debate. This year, it’s almost certain that the San Antonio Spurs, winners of the Draft Lottery, will take French prospect Victor Wembanyama first....
Victor Wembanyama’s French Cup pursuit is a preview of future NBA Finals marquees
Victor Wembanyama is rail-thin, but with hefty expectations on his shoulders across two continents simultaneously. It’s a testament to Wemby’s precocious readiness that he hasn’t wilted under the pressure already. During the Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat’s NBA Finals pillow fight, Wembanyama is hoop...
We still can’t have normal conversations about Nikola Jokić
SBNation writer Mat Issa tweeted out an observation following Game 1 of the NBA Finals. He noticed that the Denver Nuggets were able to get a defensive stop because of something that Nikola Jokić did at the free-throw line....
Is Doc Rivers about to squeeze his way into another primo job with the Phoenix Suns?
Anytime an upper-echelon NBA team is in need of fixing, you can always bet there will be a basketball exec standing over their roster bellowing for a Doc in the house. He’ll give your team a tracheotomy when you were just choking on a bone, but for the umpteenth time, Doc Rivers is in a position to ...
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...