Before Tim Duncan walked off Chesapeake Arena Wednesday night he took the time to hug Kevin Durant and whispered something in his ear. Durant said Duncan basically congratulated the 23-year-old Thunder star for reaching the NBA Finals and wished him good luck. It was a typical Duncan move. His whole NBA career has been one … [Read more…]
What a difference a week makes. Last week the San Antonio Spurs were on a historic roll, winning 20 in a row and were a perfect 10-0 in the postseason. Seven days later the unbeatable Spurs are going fishing after dropping four consecutive games to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Spurs’ season ended Wednesday night … [Read more…]
There’s a commercial running on ESPN and NBA TV during the playoffs showing Ray Allen launching countless jumpers. He takes shot, after shot, after shot but the elbow stays the same. The message: unbroken habits lead to broken records. That motto is the very reason why Allen is considered the best 3-point shooter in NBA … [Read more…]
The San Antonio game plan for Game 4 of the Western Conference finals was simple. Crowd Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden and put the onus on the offensively challenged Oklahoma City big men. In theory it’s an excellent well-conceived idea by Gregg Popovich and the Spurs coaching staff. But what Popovich didn’t anticipate … [Read more…]
Orlando Woolridge passed away at his parents home late Thursday night in Louisiana at the age of 52. He had a chronic heart condition. Woolridge was a high flying athletic player during 13 seasons spent with seven different teams over the course of his career. He was drafted sixth overall by the Chicago Bulls and … [Read more…]
The New Orleans Hornets own the top pick in this week’s NBA draft and will most likely use it to select consensus college player of the year Anthony Davis of Kentucky. But after Davis is anyone’s guess. OneManFastBreak.net predicts who teams will pick in the first 14 slots. 1. New Orleans Hornets Anthony Davis: PF, … [Read more…]
The Detroit Pistons founded the “Jordan Rules” in the late 1980s and early ’90s, while former Dallas Mavericks coach Don Nelson came up with the “Hack-a-Shaq” more than a decade ago. Now, the Miami Heat are employing the “Rondo Rule” in the 2012 Eastern Conference finals. On a night when Rajon Rondo carved his name … [Read more…]
Forget about who is going to the NBA Finals. The bigger question is “can anyone win a playoff game against the San Antonio Spurs?” In case you hadn’t looked it up, the last time the Spurs lost a game was on April 11 against the L.A. Lakers. That’s more than a month ago and the … [Read more…]
The biggest mistake Oklahoma City head coach Scott Brooks made in the Game 1 loss to San Antonio was his decision to play “small ball.” Instead of sticking with his normally rotation, Brooks tried to match the lineup Spurs coach Gregg Popovich went with in the fourth quarter and it totally backfired. The nine-point lead Oklahoma … [Read more…]
The Los Angeles Lakers need to fix their team on the fly. For the second straight year they got bounced out of the NBA playoffs in the second round by a better team. They played better than they did last year in getting swept by the Dallas Mavericks, but it still isn’t good enough for … [Read more…]