Category Archives: Basketball News
We’ve all been beaten by “old man game,” just ask the Clippers what it’s like. But this is ridiculous.
Rookie of the Year Kyrie Irving teamed up with Pepsi Max to do a video where he dresses up like an old man, “Uncle Drew,” goes to the playground, gets in a game then just abuses people. Does it look staged? Yes. Who cares, this is funny stuff.
He should totally do this at like Venice Beach in LA this summer.
AP
It’s obvious — painfully obvious — that Paul Pierce’s sprained knee is bothering him. He’s not moving the same, he has no lift, he’s shooting 5-20 in the last two games, he’s just not the guy who carried the Celtics at stretches in the first round.
Except, don’t tell him that.
Pierce clearly got tired of being asked about his knee and snapped back a little to Jackie MacMullan of ESPN:
As he walked out of the Garden on Monday night, I saddled up next to him and offered, “It’s got to be frustrating.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” he said, in uncharacteristically brusque fashion.
“Your knee,” I said. “It’s limiting you … “
“There’s nothing wrong with my knee,” he said.
Right.
The Sixers know he is hurting, reserve and former Celtic Tony Battie said as much.
“I know he’s hurt,” Battie said, “but Paul’s definitely not going to ever admit that to anyone. You can see it. His shot is a little flat. His knee is bothering him, and he’s had some foot problems, and his lift isn’t 100 percent. But he’s still the heart and soul of that team. We know Paul. We know he can get it going.”
Which is why the Sixers are not treating Pierce as hurt — they are focused on not letting him get going. Hobbled or not they are treating him as the Celtics biggest threat. It’s working. Look at what they told CSNNE.com.
Reuters
The Los Angeles Lakers contained the Oklahoma City Thunder offense in Game 2 — Russell Westbrook shot 5-17, the Thunder shot just 42 percent as a team, they averaged just 90.6 points per 100 possessions in the game, and the Lakers slowed the game down to 85 possessions.
And the Lakers still lost. That should scare Lakers fans.
Lakers center Andrew Bynum is spinning the positive out of that for his team — they can defend what was the league’s second best offense during the regular season averaging 107.1 points per 100 possessions. Here is what Bynum said, via the Los Angeles Times.
“I don’t think we have many pieces to pick up,” center Andrew Bynum said. “We know exactly how to defend them now and offensively making them pay for just being over-aggressive.”
The question becomes was that the Lakers defense or was it an off night for the Thunder offense? More bluntly, can the Lakers do it again?
The Thunder will make adjustments to the Lakers doing things like cutting off Kevin Durant’s curls off picks and the like. The Thunder have counter moves. The Thunder can also just shoot the ball better than they did that game. What’s more, they have athleticism that will not take a night off — when the Lakers make mistakes like turnovers the Thunder make them pay a price. For evidence, see the last two minutes of Game 2.
Bottom line, knowing exactly how to defend them and executing it are very different things. The Lakers are going to have to play better Friday night to have a chance.
Getty Images
Dwyane Wade just had the worst playoff game of his career.
Thursday night the Heat ran some sets just for Wade early yet he was scoreless in the first half and eventually finished the game 2-13 shooting with five turnovers to one assist. He was frustrated, which led to him jawing some at coach Erik Spoelstra. His meltdown was the front wave of the Heat’s Game 3 collapse.
Part of his performance was because the lower leg injury that had him missing games earlier this season has returned, reports Michael Wallace at ESPN.
Wade is dealing with lingering injuries that forced him to miss several games late in the regular season, and the Miami Heat guard required treatment in recent days for knee and leg soreness, sources told ESPN.com on Thursday.
Wade wouldn’t discuss the injury, nor would he discuss the incident with Spoelstra (saying he didn’t even remember it).
That said, it is clearly impacting his play — that was not the normal Wade out there Thursday. He wasn’t attacking with his regular abandon, rather he settled for jumpers. Indy is doing a nice job of throwing different defenders and looks at Wade, but he is still one of the game’s elite scorers. He can get his. Well, he can when healthy.
Wade’s poor performance combined with the now threatening Miami elimination in the second round had some fans Friday suggesting Wade should be traded. Fortunately Heat management would never do something so idiotic. First off, there just are not enough players of his quality on the planet and you could never get equal value back. Second, this is the guy who stuck with the Heat through some very lean years and helped recruit the talent they have now — and you’ll coldly dump him after one playoff series? That’s how you end up with Isiah Thomas’ Knicks roster.
Miami has a lot of problems, starting with the fact the Pacers are good. Miami was going to have to play well to beat them, and they sorely miss Chris Bosh’s size and ability to pull bigs out of the paint with his jump shot. Now add to that a hobbled Wade and it may be too much for Miami to overcome.
We will find out Sunday because if the Heat don’t win then and go down 3-1 the Heat’s problems will become insurmountable.
The Heat know how bad Game 3 went. They know how much trouble they are in. Whether they can do anything about that is another question.
Here is what LeBron James and coach Erik Spoelstra said after the game, both basically saying they have to regroup. They do. The Heat had a team meeting Friday before their film and practice. Miami needs to get help from its supporting cast (which has been terrible this series), it needs to get Dwyane Wade healthy, It needs to get some points in transition, and it’s got to find a way to slow Roy Hibbert.
It’s a lot to figure out by Sunday.
AP
UPDATE 9:05 pm: Bradley returned in the second half and was playing key minutes in the fourth quarter.
8:13 pm: Celtics starting two guard Avery Bradley has been battling left shoulder dislocation issues all season including in Game 3 against the Atlanta Hawks.
It happened again in Game 2 of the Celtics and Sixers series, and Bradley had to leave the game. It happened on a play where he drove the lane and tried to go up for a layup but ran into Elton Brand.
TNT’s David Aldridge said on the broadcast they were trying to let the pain subside a little then they would try to pop the shoulder back into place. That’s about as much fun as it sounds like. When this happened against the Hawks in the first round Bradley did not return for that game but was back and ready to go next game.
Less Bradley means more Ray Allen for Boston. which comes with its own challenges as he tries to play through ankle pain. Boston leads 38-36 at the half.
Getty Images
Blake Griffin’s defensive rotations have not exactly been lightning quick all season, but in Game 2 he seemed to be moving even slower while the Spurs pass the ball around like it’s a Globetrotter’s game.
I assumed it was the sprained left knee he has been playing through since last series. Or the ankle he tweaked in Game 1 against the Spurs. Or the variety of other bumps and bruises he has suffered this season.
But it also could be the hip flexor he suffered in this game, reports the San Antonio Express-News. Griffin was grabbing his hip at points in the game.
The Clippers defense has been exposed this series. Griffin, DeAndre Jordan and the entire Clipper front line seem to be chasing. Not sure how that is going to change before Game 3 Saturday.
That was the play that made the difference.
Evan Turner‘s impressive scoop layup with :40 left gave the Sixers a 76-75 lead over the Celtics, a lead that they would never relinquish. (Ray Allen would miss a jumper for Boston, Turner would sink a couple free throws, then Kevin Garnett would get called for an illegal screen and it was ballgame.)
Turner has been up and down at times these playoffs (like is short NBA career), but he seems to be taking steps forward the last couple games. A lot of the Sixers have. And that has to concern Boston a little because their opponents are gaining confidence by the day.
Reuters
The anonymity of the Internet can lead people to be real… jerks. And some people don’t need the anonymity.
The Lakers Steve Blake missed a good-look three in the final seconds of Game 2 that would have given the Lakers a win in Oklahoma City. That shot is not why the Lakers lost — they blew a 7 point lead in the final two minutes and Kobe Bryant, Mike Brown and others deserve a share of blame. For some context here, Blake himself isn’t really active on twitter but his wife is.
And after the miss — despite his fantastic Game 7 against Denver and despite basic human decency — threats came pouring in on twitter. ESPNLA.com has the details.
After the game, both the Twitter feeds of Blake and his wife, Kristen, were inundated with criticism ranging from curse word-laden rants to threats.
“I hope your family gets murdered,” read one tweet that Kristen Blake re-tweeted along with a single comment: “Wow.”
“It’s pretty disappointing that there are a lot of hateful people out there, but you move on,” Blake said. “I just don’t appreciate it when it’s toward my family. You can come at me all you want but when you say things about my wife and my kids, that makes me upset.”
I’m not sure I really need to say this, but I will — if you threaten a player through twitter (or your media of choice, social or otherwise) after a game, you have issues. Serious issues. This is entertainment people, it’s a diversion. We all feel passionate about it, and there are many serious lessons we can learn through it, but let’s not start to confuse it with anything actually important.
To paraphrase a Bob Costas line, things like these ridiculous threats should not put sports in perspective for you because you shouldn’t lose that perspective in the first place.
Because you want to get prepared for the looking Chris Paul vs. Tony Parker point guard battle coming up Tuesday night, we bring you NBA.com’s 10 best crossover moves of the season. Paul is in here, along with Russell Westbrook, Jameer Nelson and others.
I remember watching No. 1 on television at the time and my jaw dropping. Just classic.
