No Derrick Rose. No Dwight Howard. No Dwyane Wade. No Chris Bosh. Is USA Basketball in trouble? Hardly. The talent pool is still very deep and whomever the U.S. sends to London they will be heavily favored to win an Olympic gold medal. The team convenes in Las Vegas on July 5 to start training … [Read more…]
Kevin Durant’s Twitter handle is @KDTrey. The Oklahoma City superstar lived up to that name in a playoff game against the L.A. Lakers. With the game tied 98-98 and 40 seconds remaining in the game, Durant put on his MJ cap and lifted the Thunder to victory. He stepped into the passing lane and picked … [Read more…]
Speed and quickness vs. size and strength. That is the heart of the matchup between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the L.A. Lakers. The soul of this series lies in the stat no coach wants to see: turnovers. The Thunder flashed their speed in Game 1 to the tune of a 29-point blowout in Oklahoma … [Read more…]
Kobe Bryant is still universally recognized as the best clutch player in basketball, but Kevin Durant is closing fast. Oklahoma City pulled out an improbable 77-75 victory over Kobe’s L.A. Lakers in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals series all because the Thunder’s All-Star forward and franchise player refused to let his team go … [Read more…]
George Karl summed up Saturday’s thrilling Game 7 playoff battle between the Lakers and Nuggets at Staples Center. The Denver coach said the Lakers’ size proved to be too much for the Nuggets’ speed. Size over speed. That was the difference between the Lakers advancing to the next round and the Nuggets going home. And … [Read more…]
Andrew Bynum’s mouth may have cost the Lakers a victory in Game 5. Prior to Los Angeles’ potential close-out game against the Denver Nuggets, the Lakers All-Star center said close-out games are “actually kinda easy” because teams “tend to fold in you come out and play hard in the beginning.” Well, well, well. Guess who … [Read more…]
The NBA’s compressed 66-game schedule was the epicenter of discussion in the NBA after what happened to Chicago Bulls All-Star guard Derrick Rose and New York Knicks rookie guard Iman Shumpert Saturday when they tore their ACLs within hours of each other. A lot players feel the frenetic post-lockout pace is to blame for the … [Read more…]
There is no clear cut front-runner in the race for the most valuable player award, which creates a real interesting finish this month. Five candidates have surged in the forefront (in no particular order): Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Love, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. With the exception of Love, each MVP contender is in … [Read more…]
Kobe Bryant is not the same superstar that could carry a team by scoring 40 points over a 10- or 12-game stretch. Father Time is slowly starting to catch up to him, as evidenced by the third-lowest shooting percentage (43%) of his 16-year career. Sure, he is playing with torn ligaments in his wrist and … [Read more…]
The biggest news of the NBA trading deadline didn’t come from Orlando. In fact, the much talked about Orlando deal didn’t happen as All-Star center Dwight Howard finally put down his flip-flops and decided to stick with the Magic for at least one more season. With the Dwight Howard sweepstakes on hold until next … [Read more…]