Jalen Suggs couldn’t stop smiling after he left the court in his NBA summer league debut as a member of the Orlando Magic. The former Gonzaga star put on a show for the Las Vegas crowd. He scored 24 points, grabbed nine rebounds, had two steals, and two blocks. He led his team to a … [Read more…]
Erik Spoelstra sat in the stands inside Cox Pavilion on the campus of the University of Nevada Las Vegas looking very relaxed. He happily signed a few autographs, scribbling “Coach Spo” on one program. Life is good for Coach Spo. He’s coming off a second championship season and one day before the start of training … [Read more…]
Four games into his pro career Victor Oladipo was showered with chants of “O-la-di-po!” from a small but boisterous group of Orlando Magic supporters attending the NBA Summer League game at the Magic’s practice facility inside Amway Arena. It didn’t take long for the 21-year-old, 6-foot-5 guard out of Indiana University to get acclimated to … [Read more…]
It wasn’t quite the same venom as the time when LeBron James returned to Cleveland as a member of the Miami Heat, but Dwight Howard’s return to Orlando was still dramatic. There were plenty of boos and some fans brought vulgar signs. The worst was the “FCK D12” shirts, and the “Dwight Coward” reference was … [Read more…]
LeBron James didn’t settle for a jumper when the game and the Miami Heat’s 15-game winning streak was on the line Wednesday night. ”I had no intention of shooting another jumper,” said James, who got the ball on the wing with 12 seconds remaining in the game and Heat down by one to lowly Orlando. … [Read more…]
The road to the 2013 NBA Finals got a little easier for defending champion Miami. Dwight Howard left Orlando and headed for Hollywood and Joe Johnson left Atlanta for Brooklyn. The defections gutted the Southeast Division, leaving the Heat without a legitimate sparring partner in the division. Unless Josh Smith turns into Dominique Wilkins overnight … [Read more…]
Many people around the NBA have to be wondering what the Houston Rockets are doing. This is a team that just barely missed out on making the playoffs in the final weeks of the season. But, they seem intent on blowing it up and starting over. They have traded Kyle Lowry (understandable since he said … [Read more…]
Lost in Orlando’s 97-74 blowout loss to Indiana in Game 2 Wednesday was the excellent play of Magic forward Glen Davis. The man known as Big Baby held down the fort Stan Van Gundy’s Dwight Howard-less crew with team-leading 22 points, including an impressive spin move on the baseline for a short jumper that got … [Read more…]
For the second consecutive season, the Chicago Bulls finished with the best record in the Eastern Conference and, based on a head-to-head tiebreaker against the San Antonio Spurs, the Bulls will have home-court advantage in the NBA Finals if they get that far. Last season, the Bulls were eliminated in the conference finals by the … [Read more…]
Stan Van Gundy is a very good coach. That should not be lost in any conversation in regards to the longtime NBA coach, who has proven year in and year out that he is capable of leading a franchise to the playoffs. He has taken Pat Riley’s championship principles and successfully implemented them to his … [Read more…]