Bernucca: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of the NBA Season

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Carmelo AnthonyNow that the regular season is over, it is time to review the best and worst it had to offer.

If you read my weekly column (usually Mondays, sometimes Sundays), you know that we have a number of items highlighting the best and worst efforts of the week. Some come from boxscores. Others comes from game stories, sidebars and off-day stories.

But every week, I make a concerted effort to read (a) every player’s line in every boxscore, (b) every AP game story and (c) as many NBA stories, tweets and posts as possible without being disowned by my family.

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Bernucca: Ouch! Many Teams Banged Up as Playoffs Draw Near

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Gallinari injuryDanilo Gallinari’s season-ending injury this week put the Denver Nuggets in a club whose membership seems to get larger every day.

Playoff teams missing key players.

There are very few teams who will be at full strength when the playoffs start two weekends from now. But two of those teams are last year’s NBA Finals combatants, which could make for a relatively mundane postseason.

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Bernucca: Rooting for the Celtics to beat Heat, preserve an “unbreakable” record

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Jeff GreenI will be rooting for the Boston Celtics against the Miami Heat tonight.

Having been a Philadelphia 76ers fan for nearly four decades, that’s a pretty big deal. Usually there are only three circumstances that can get me to throw my allegiance behind a team I have despised for as long as I’ve watched the NBA.

1. By winning, the Celtics would beat a team whose loss would help the 76ers.

2. By winning, the Celtics would get a tougher playoff opponent.

3. By winning, the Celtics would prevent a zombie apocalypse.

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Bernucca: West playoff picture pointing to Lakers-Clippers

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Kobe BryantLess than three weeks ago, the Los Angeles Lakers were mourning the death of owner Jerry Buss, refuting rumors that Dwight Howard would be traded and staring down the draft lottery.

With his team mired in ninth place in the Western Conference, Kobe Bryant defiantly told Sports Illustrated, “It’s not a question of if we make the playoffs. We will. And when we get there, I have no fear of anyone – Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Denver … whoever. I have zero nervousness about that.”

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Bernucca: Why the Lakers have to trade Dwight Howard

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Dwight Howard is the best center in the NBA. Yes, still.

He also is (a) incapable of making an elbow jumper, (b) unreliable at the free-throw line, (c) susceptible to long-term injury, (d) hypersensitive to criticism from teammates and coaches, (e) more interested in becoming the next Bill Murray rather than the next Bill Russell and (f) wondering why no one has handed him the icon status he desperately craves.

But the worst thing Howard is – and unlike the items above, this is a temporary condition – is a square peg in a round hole.

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