While Day 2 of the NCAA Tournament wasn’t as wild and crazy as Day 1, it wasn’t without drama. But we’ll get to that in a little bit … Apparently not worried about the college competition, the NBA had an 11-game schedule that included some good matchups. Hawks/Bobcats featured the return of Joe Johnson, who’d missed a couple games with an Achilles injury. As Michael Jordan (Joe’s boss at Jordan Brand) sat courtside, Joe had only two points through three quarters, then he dropped buckets unexpectedly like bird s***, dominating the fourth and overtime. Read More »
At the time, Charlotte reportedly decided against making the move, mainly because T.J. is slated to make $8.5 million next season and then-owner Bob Johnson was hesitant to take on that much cap space on a borderline starter. Read More »
Wherever you stand on Chris Bosh’s status (or non-status) as a legit superstar in the League, he was definitely a superstar when he had to be last night. Dealing with double-teams almost every time he touched the ball against Atlanta, Bosh produced a modest 14 points (6-19 FG) and 10 boards, but in crunch time he delivered against one of the NBA’s best front lines … Toronto was down four with under a minute to go before Bosh beasted Josh Smith in the paint for a hook shot. Then after Smith missed a layup, the Raptors got the exact scenario they wanted: Read More »
Watch your head, because the LeBron Haters Street Team is gonna be out in full force today. Although LBJ posted a triple-double (29 pts, 12 rebs, 12 asts) and hit some big-time daggers down the stretch to lead the Cavs past Detroit, it’s the one blocked shot on his stat sheet that’s causing problems … With 1:30 to go in the fourth, Detroit was down three and Will Bynum was on his way in for a breakaway layup. Of course that’s when LeBron came flying into the picture to smack the ball off the backboard. Chalk up another Top-10 highlight and MVP resume-builder, right? Not quite. Read More »
Don’t get mad Cleveland fans, but it seems the media aren’t the only ones fueling the fire surrounding LeBron’s departure from your great city. In an interview with Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times, Danny Granger was asked whether or not he thought LeBron would stay in Cleveland or bolt to New York. Let’s just say Granger will be drawing some boos when the Cavs take on the Pacers at home this Wednesday. Read More »
As much as the Celtics are supposed to be struggling, and as much as I root for the Pacers, I’m just not seeing an upset special when Boston hosts Indiana tonight. The C’s have had a day to rest, an extra day to think about how they got booed by their own fans in a blowout loss to Memphis on Wednesday. Indiana is coming off a win over the Sixers, and they’re getting Danny Granger back from a one-game suspension, but still, my gut says a motivated Boston squad will make an example of the Pacers before Sunday’s potentially season-defining test at Cleveland. Read More »
30. New Jersey Nets (7-56) — Garbage in, garbage out, garbage up, garbage down.
29. Minnesota Timberwolves (14-50) — In Monday’s loss to Dallas, Kurt Rambis sat Kevin Love most of the night and played Darko in his place, claiming he wanted to have a more active big man to give Dirk some problems. You’re over-thinking it, homeboy. Play the double-double kid. Read More »
Hawks/Heat was only notable last season for being the worst playoff series of ‘09: A brutal seven-game stretch of blowouts, dead crowds, a subpar Joe Johnson, an exhausted D-Wade, and some good ol’ Pat Riley-approved ’90s Knicks prison yard basketball sprinkled in here and there. This season it’s been more of the same, as the three Hawks/Heat meetings leading up to last night had been decided by an average of 16 points. And yet Saturday’s matchup turned out to be the best game on the NBA schedule … It was nip/tuck throughout the fourth quarter. Read More »
Dwyane Wade needed a team like the Warriors on the schedule last night. In just his second game back from the calf injury that cost him four crucial games as the Heat try to stay in the playoff picture, Wade was coming off a 6-for-17 effort against Orlando; G-State’s crew of D-League call-ups running Nellie’s defensive “system” was the perfect opportunity to get back in rhythm … Wade finished with 35 points (15-23 FG) and 12 assists — throwing in crazy-angle bankers, pull-ups, finger rolls and one alley-oop from Carlos Arroyo where he had to move his head out of the way so he wouldn’t hit the rim — but the Heat still got all they could handle for a Warriors squad whose roster of injured guys would beat the healthy guys more often than not. Read More »
If you thought last Thursday’s loss to the Cavs was a sign the Celtics don’t have enough in the tank to win a championship this year, Saturday’s loss to the New Jersey Nets — yes, we said the New Jersey Nets — was all the confirmation you needed … Tommy Heinsohn and the two psychos from Celtic Pride would have a hard time coming up with an excuse here: Boston was at home, they hadn’t traveled since last weekend, they weren’t playing a back-to-back, and Kevin Garnett (26 pts, 9 rebs) and Rajon Rondo (13 pts, 17 asts) didn’t play horribly. Read More »
