Whenever something in sports doesn’t go according to plan, we as fans are quick to place blame. The easy way to explain why the Oklahoma City Thunder couldn’t get back to the Western Conference Finals, much less the NBA Finals, would be to blame Kevin Durant for not being able to carry his team to the next round. Let’s take a deeper look before placing blame.

What became of the Thunder the second Russell Westbrook‘s meniscus tore falls on many parts of the organization. Read More »

Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski was adamant last August that his second Olympic gold medal as Team USA head coach would be his last. Essentially everyone took him at his word, until a report three weeks ago by ESPN said that his Team USA boss didn’t Read More »

Before the season started, the Oklahoma City Thunder were relegated by many to a tier just below the Los Angeles Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs for supremacy in the Western Conference. Even though they defeated the mighty Borg that is San Antonio to come out of the Western Conference in last season’s playoffs, the offseason was generally considered unkind to the young upstarts from Oklahoma City. But things certainly changed over the season’s first quarter, and the Thunder are playing superb basketball right now. Read More »

There are established patterns to winning NBA Coach of the Year. You either guide a team with high expectations to its expected goal, stun with an eye-popping turnaround out of the Lottery or take a team from the playoff fringe into a team no one wants to face in the opening round by catching fire. We’ll call them the Excellence’s Status Quo, Out Of Nowhere, or Next Step plans to earning respect, respectively. With the curtain being drawn on the 2012-13 season tonight, Dime is projecting the major awards all week, and today we look at the top coach. Read More »

We thought it, too. When the Lakers bowed out of the Western Conference Semifinals in 2011 in acrimonious fashion against the Mavericks, it was at the front of our mind: Phil Jackson can’t go out like this, can he? Jackson, with his children in the stands wearing hats commemorating his 11 NBA titles as a coach, had dominated with cool precision in Chicago and Los Angeles. But now the Lakers were frustrated, knocking over J.J. Barea and turning any thought of playing D in Big D into a joke. Read More »

The last time USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo wanted to secure a coaching commitment from Mike Krzyzewski, he had a pizza and a bottle of wine with the Duke coach. After winning gold in 2008 in Beijing, Colangelo needed to get Coach K to coach again in 2012 to mirror the commitments many of the players had made. Colangelo joked with reporters that he’ll try the same meal again after London regarding 2016′s head coaching spot, but don’t think it’s a formality the 65-year-old will accept. Read More »

Talk about an awkward triangle. Rumors have it that Phil Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy are next in line for the Oklahoma City Thunder job if Scott Brooks doesn’t get the new contract he wants. Brooks’ deal runs out at the end of the month, and some think he could parlay an NBA Finals coaching job into a fat new deal no matter where. Some even might think that group includes coaches looking for new jobs, but here’s what’s wrong: This whole rumor rests on the assumption Brooks would bolt for more money anywhere. Read More »

We can at least thank the lockout for this much: It pushed the season back and now that the Finals are over – even if they ended much quicker than any of us expected – the NBA Draft is literally right around the corner. And the first round promises are flowing. We already know about Dion Waiters. There are reports Royce White has one from the Celtics. Now, the agent for West Virginia’s Kevin Jones says he has a promise among the first 30 selections, that someone has committed to him in the first round. We can’t say we expected that. Jones was a solid college player, even if his numbers this year made him out to be a beast (20.1 points, 11.1 rebounds) but perhaps he turns into another Taj Gibson. Read More »

These NBA Finals have twisted the narrative and archetypes we thought we knew going in like a double helix. We thought the notions of what the Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder are were entangled deeply within them just like a strand of DNA. The pressure-cooker of these Finals has changed those so far. Miami has a 2-1 lead after the 91-85 win Sunday night at home, the first of its three there. Dwyane Wade (25 points, 7 and 7), Chris Bosh (10 points, 11 boards) and LeBron James (29 points, 14 boards) combined to score the final 15 points for Miami, which brought this thing back from the brink of a nine-point deficit. Read More »

This series is tied, 1-1, and after Game 2, we have no complaints for how entertaining it’s been. Until later in this post we’ll abstain about a no-call on KD with the game on the line. Until then, it’s time to realize this thing is far from being swept away like the wind across the midwest prairie. The Heat just made difficult plays late to hold on, 100-96. LeBron James got a fading jumper off glass over Oklahoma City’s best defender (Thabo) that he couldn’t hit if you made him “prove it” in HORSE. Dwyane Wade (24 points) had a tough drive before a feed to Chris Bosh for a dunk. After a very un-veteran-like turnover in the open court by Wade led to a three by Kevin Durant to cut it to two, James hit two free throws — 12 of 12 on the night — to ice this thing as it heads back to the heat of Miami. Read More »