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 »
By now you don’t need a Clyde Frazier pimp poem to tell you the Knicks probably wish they would have drafted Brandon Jennings — or Terrence Williams, or Tyler Hansbrough, or Ty Lawson — over Jordan Hill in last year’s NBA Draft.
Two-thirds of the way through his rookie year, Hill has played in less than half of New York’s games, and hasn’t done much (4.1 ppg, 2.5 rpg) when he does see the court. The 6-10 power forward out of Arizona appears every bit like just another left-too-early Draft bust. Read More »
About 17 hours ago from UberTwitter, Terrence Williams (@TheRealTWill) tweeted something that got the Twitter world in an uproar. Lost by most people because either A) They were watching the Super Bowl, or B) They don’t follow T-Will on Twitter, a seemingly innocent tweet could have huge ramifications this weekend. “Finding out tomorrow if I’m in the dunking contest.” While I’m not quite sure what the dunking contest is, this got me thinking: Who’s out? Read More »
The All-Star reserves were announced last night, and as expected, every writer, NBA analyst and fan had something to say about the coach’s selections. Among the biggest snubs that people have been fuming about are: David Lee, Josh Smith, Chauncey Billups, Chris Kaman, Aaron Brooks and Monta Ellis (For me personally it was Kaman and J-Smoove). Read More »
Regrouping is never easy after losing your team’s best player, let alone your franchise’s three big stars. Even so, Aaron Brooks has the Houston Rockets gunning for the postseason once again this season. With his team currently in 8th place in the West, Brooks (18.7 ppg, 5.0 apg) is getting serious All-Star consideration. In the current issue of Dime, he talks about setting himself up for this breakout campaign.
ROCKET SCIENCE
It would have been all too easy to write off the Houston Rockets as Lottery bait heading into this season. Read More »
On NBA TV last night, the studio crew was talking about Blake Griffin’s season-ending knee surgery and its long-term effects (if any) on the 2011 Rookie of the Year candidate’s career.
After Eric Snow mentioned that Randy Foye came back from a similar injury to regain his college form, Kenny Smith admitted that he doesn’t pay enough attention to Foye — who spent the first three years of his career in Minnesota before going to Washington — to speak on the topic. Read More »
30. New Jersey Nets (3-34)
Last week: Lost to Milwaukee; lost at Atlanta; lost at New Orleans; lost at San Antonio.
There’s no good reason to bury Terrence Williams on the bench right now. T-Will’s minutes began declining sharply in mid-December, and this month he’s been clocking only five minutes a night. The Nets aren’t going anywhere anytime soon; forget Trenton Hassell and Jarvis Hayes and get the rookie some experience.
29. Detroit Pistons (11-25)
Last week: Lost at Dallas; lost at San Antonio; lost to Philadelphia; lost at Chicago.
The 13-game losing streak is clearly making the Pistons’ announcers go crazy. During Monday’s loss to the Bulls, Greg Kelser described a basic one-hander by Chris Wilcox as “dunking history.” Read More »
Almost like it was scripted by our friends at Nike, just as the Kobe and LeBron “MVPuppet” ads begin to resurface, the brand’s two showcase guys are on hot streaks and look like they could be headed for an NBA Finals matchup … The Lakers won their ninth straight on Sunday, 20-piecing the Suns behind Kobe’s 26 points and an overall dominant performance on both ends of the floor. It’s this simple: PHX doesn’t have a single defender who can really give Kobe trouble (although Grant Hill tries) while L.A. has enough horses to withstand the Suns’ speed and are significantly taller and more talented in the post … Read More »
Sports media lately has been hit by cupid’s Italian love arrow with an over saturation of all things Brandon Jennings. We all know by now what Young Money and fellow rookies Tyreke Evans and Ty Lawson are capable of. But quietly, the rest of the rookie pile is exceeding many people’s expectations of their class prior to last June’s draft. Across the board, there are numerous rooks making an impact with their respective teams. Here are a few young guys whose play should demand more minutes and attention. Read More »
The New Jersey Nets are making a run at the wrong side of history. After starting 0-12, Lawrence Frank’s squad is inching closer to tying the ‘88-89 Heat and ‘98-99 Clippers for the worst start in NBA history. No doubt about it, the Nets are horrible. They have been playing without star Devin Harris, who has been out with a groin injury since Oct. 30, and have been forced to rely on a roster filled with young players. While more losses are definitely in the cards for this Nets team, the question remains will they go 0-18? We took a look at their upcoming schedule to find out. Read More »
