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…]
For the Miami Heat, the key to winning their Eastern Conference finals best-of-seven series against the Boston Celtics is simple: Stop Rajon Rondo. “Boston creates so many challenges, you can’t key on just one guy. But I think the biggest challenge is Rondo,” Heat forward LeBron James said of Rondo, who had a major hand … [Read more…]
Oklahoma City Thunder guard James Harden is the reigning Sixth Man of the Year, but Manu Ginobili showed Sunday night why he’s the best sixth man of all time. The San Antonio Spurs’ future Hall-of-Famer — yes, Manu is that good — put on a clinic on how to spark a basketball team as he … [Read more…]
ESPN basketball guru Stephen A. Smith — also known as Screaming A. or Stephen Naismith, whichever you prefer — says the San Antonio Spurs are unbeatable and doesn’t think any of the teams left in the NBA playoffs, including the Oklahoma City Thunder, can knock them off. “They don’t have a weakness,” Screaming A. says … [Read more…]