They’re panicking in Los Angeles. Or something close to it. While you could reasonably write off Friday’s blowout loss in Denver to tired legs from a back-to-back and the high altitude, there aren’t many excuses the Lakers can make after the Rockets (who were supposed to stink this year, remember?) went into Staples and thoroughly outplayed the champs … Trevor Ariza was the main story going into the game. He received his ‘09 championship ring in his first trip back to L.A. and was playing in front of his hometown crowd, but by the end it was all about Aaron Brooks. Read More »
From worst to first, ranking the NBA through the first couple of weeks…
30. New Jersey Nets (0-7) — They’re dropping like panties at R.Kelly’s house in Jersey, with starters Devin Harris, Courtney Lee, CDR and Yi Jianlian all missing games with injury and/or illness.
29. Minnesota Timberwolves (1-6) — The only bright spot of this past week was Jonny Flynn outplaying Brandon Jennings head-to-head. And the Wolves still lost that game. Read More »
If you’re purely interested in the best interest of Allen Iverson, you’re glad the Grizzlies had one of their business-as-usual losses against the Clippers last night. Having gone 0-3 since A.I. joined the lineup earlier in the week, for Memphis to win after Iverson had left the team for undisclosed personal reasons — even if it was against the Clips — would have brought up all the same criticisms of Iverson you saw in Detroit and at various points throughout his runs in Philly and Denver. Mainly, that A.I.’s team is better without him, and that certain young stars (i.e. O.J. Mayo in this case) are better off when he’s not in the picture … Instead, the Grizzlies did what they typically do with or without Iverson, putting up a lot of points while giving up even more. Read More »
Even with Vince Carter’s ankle keeping him sidelined for his latest return to Toronto (where he could get booed in an Orlando uniform this time), there were more than enough ready-made story lines going into Magic/Raptors: Hedo Turkoglu’s first game against his old squad, the next chapter in the Dwight Howard vs. Chris Bosh rivalry (quietly and consistently more exciting than Deron Williams vs. Chris Paul), and the intrigue of seeing which players would be visibly sleep-walking for a 1 p.m. EST tip-off the day after Halloween. So you can understand why nobody was ready for J.J. Redick to become the headliner. Read More »
Even with seven new faces on the roster, the Orlando Magic have been playing like they’ve been together for years. After posting a perfect 8-0 preseason record and dominating Philly 120-106 in the home opener last night, the team is showing why they were the Eastern Conference Champions last year.
One member of the Magic that could have a bigger role in the team’s quest to return to the Finals is fourth-year guard J.J. Redick. With a 5.5 ppg career average, it’s fair to say the former Duke All-American and lottery pick has not lived up to his billing so far. Read More »
Last year we debuted the “Highs and Lows” system — previewing the NBA season by predicting the respective ceiling and basement for each team. Same theme, different season…
Added:Vince Carter, Brandon Bass, Matt Barnes, Ryan Anderson, Jason Williams
Lost:Hedo Turkoglu, Rafer Alston, Courtney Lee, Tony Battie, Tyronn LueRead More »
Last season, the Orlando Magic kind of snuck up on the rest of the league. While everybody knew that they had a solid roster, not many expected them to come out as Eastern Conference Champions. This time around, Orlando is not only one of the favorites to win the East again but is right there in the mix to compete for a title as well. This time around, the path will be a little different. Read More »
You know the only way a preseason game between the Knicks and a team that isn’t even in the NBA would crack the sports highlights shows on an NFL and baseball playoffs Sunday is if something crazy happened. And in the third quarter of New York’s game against Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel), things got appropriately insane. After Maccabi head coach Pini Gershon got himself ejected thanks to a couple of techs, he refused to leave the court — if you saw the Season 2 premier of “Tool Academy,” he pretty much acted like the dude who got kicked off that first week. The refs wouldn’t re-start the game until Gershon left, so it turned into a standoff. Read More »
Whether you’re spending your valuable TV time or your valuable ticket money, when you settle in to watch an NBA preseason game, you hope everybody — or at least somebody — on the court treats it like Jason Terry did last night. In the Mavs/Pistons game that aired on NBA TV, Terry almost had you thinking something important was at stake. It seemed at every dead ball he was trying to hype up the Dallas crowd, raising his arms and screaming or doing his little “Jet” dance, and then between the lines he was locked in like it was a playoff game. Read More »
You should never read too much into stats when it comes to the preseason. Because coaches haven’t figured out rotations yet, players aren’t getting their normal minutes and quite frankly, they aren’t playing at 100 percent even when they do get in games. But there are still signs you can pick up by watching teams and players during the preseason. So far, the Raptors have been average at best coming out of the gates. Toronto is 2-3 in the preseason and have already displayed a couple areas of concern. Read More »
