western-conference Page 7 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Devin Booker is staking his claim for the crown of best shooting guard in the NBA and he’s got a damn good argument
Phoenix Suns shooting guard Devin Booker is following in the footsteps of his mentor, Kobe Bryant, staking his claim as the best at his position in the NBA. Like Bryant, it’s taken Booker a few years to scale that mountain of elite two-guards, but I think we can say he has arrived at the peak....
Suns keep rising, maybe now you’ll notice
So, you look up one day, and the Phoenix Suns have won 16 straight games....
Darryl Sutter might look like Sam the Eagle but he’s doing that thing again
Merely by looking at him, and certainly when you hear him talk, it’s easy to dismiss Darryl Sutter as the hilt of old-school NHL coaches. Throw in the fact that he was nothing more than a bottom-six grinder in his playing career, and you’d be forgiven for concluding that he would send his teams out ...
The WNBA unveils new playoff format
The WNBA announced a new playoff format today that will increase the number of potential games in the tournament and completely get rid of single-elimination games. It will remain an eight-team playoff, with teams seeded based on overall standings over a 36-game regular season, but the first- and se...
Western Conference beware, Nikola Jokić and the Denver Nuggets have a new weapon in their arsenal
The Denver Nuggets have struggled a bit to start the 2021-22 season. Following three consecutive campaigns with a win percentage of .630 or better, they are .500 following a 108-106 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night. Still, there is encouragement for Nuggets fans, both from this game ...
The Blackhawks are forced to face their reckoning, 11 years too late
The details are always worse than you can imagine, even if the overall arc of the story is exactly what we all expected. And so it proved as the Chicago Blackhawks released the findings of their internal investigation into how the organization handled accusations of sexual assault and harrassment by...
Dwight Howard in another Hollywood disaster? It’s too soon to tell, but yikes
If only the NBA season were the Colecovision game that the Lakers roster grew up playing, they could unplug it, and plug it back in....
Success won’t be so easy for the Utah Jazz this time around
The NBA is back, and the Western Conference is looking even more stacked than last year. The glamour division of the Pacific looks to be the standout of the association, with a strong possibility of sending four teams to the postseason. The second-best division in the west this year will be the Nort...
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...
What are the Warriors thinking?
The Golden State Warriors are straight tripping....
Kawhi Leonard is stealthy
One of the biggest storylines in recent memory around the NBA has been the Los Angeles Clippers’ lack of leadership on the court. ...
Life Without Lauri: The other side of the Markkanen deal
As part of yesterday’s Lauri Markkanen deal, there were other players routed to different organizations who are also worth discussing....
NBA Free Agency doesn’t wait around
We always expect the dawn of NBA free agency to be on the bonkers side, and yet are always surprised with how bonkers it gets. With the offseason once again crunched as the league desperately claws back an 82-game season from players who will barely be able to stand at the end of it, teams are proba...
Deadspin fixes NBA free agency, Part V: Centers
Centers. You can’t live without these guys, even though some teams try their hardest to. They damn near all need a three-point shot if they’re not an ideal rim-runner to have on the floor. ...
Win or lose, Torrey Craig can get a ring
Torrey Craig is in a rare win-win situation....
The Phoenix Suns’ Finals trip reeks to high heavens
The Phoenix Suns’ run to the NBA Finals is fugazi....
Jason Kidd's hiring in Dallas totally won’t backfire
What has Jason Kidd done to earn a third opportunity as head coach of an NBA franchise? I’m legitimately curious. All he did in his one year with the Nets and three and a half with Milwaukee was win one playoff series while consistently underperforming and failing to win a single division title. The...
Candace Parker still got it, and she got her coach, too
Candace Parker’s own peers voted her the most overrated player in the WNBA in 2019....
Basketball gods, please give us a Young-Booker NBA Finals
I’m not sure if the Atlanta Hawks won the series or if the Philadelphia 76ers lost it, but either way, the Hawks and Trae Young have surprisingly made it into the Eastern Conference finals. On the other side of the bracket, the Phoenix Suns and Devin Booker are surging. Dreams are forming in my head...