Championship contending windows in the NBA typically close a lot sooner than anyone thinks. Take the Indiana Pacers, for example. Entering last season, Indiana was considered an elite team perhaps still a year or two away from hitting its prime as a true title contender. The Pacers started out hot, became the early season championship favorites, bought into their own hype, made a couple of short-sighted trades and eventually fizzled. In the following months, Roy Hibbert went from All-Star center to meme extraordinaire,
Bernucca: Looking For a Championship Outlier? Try the Mavericks
One of the common complaints about the NBA – and a somewhat legitimate one at that – is that there are only a half-dozen teams or so that can truly win the championship. Think about it: Who do you have winning it all this season? Chances are it’s one of the “Fab Five” – Cleveland, Chicago, San Antonio, Oklahoma City or the Los Angeles Clippers. And you’re not off base, either. One of those teams is my pick – our staff’s
Sheridan: Predictions for the 2014-15 NBA Season
The New York Times brought the front page news recently that more people watched The Walking Dead and NCIS; New Orleans last week than Game 1 of the World Series. Which leads me to Prediction No. 1 for the 2014-15 NBA season: Commissioner Adam Silver is going to take on the national pastime, move up the start of the season by a week and see what happens. Which leads us to prediction No. 2: When Silver does this, his league will outdraw the
Hubbard: Lakers are Worthy of, ahem, Prime Time
During the short amount of time I listened to Jeanie Buss on ESPN Radio last week, I saw great possibilities for the Lakers, but only if creators of TV series like Scandal and Nashville are willing to take up additional projects. Jeanie made it clear that as team president, she is the ultimate decision-maker for the Lakers. She admitted she was upset when her brother Jim, who is head of basketball operations, did not hire her fiancé Phil Jackson as coach, but that she
Levi: Who will win NBA’s Sixth Man Award? Handicapping the field
Every year, one of the more entertaining conversations around the NBA surrounds the race for the Sixth Man Award. While it’s never about the most shimmering and glamorous of superstars, the talk always turns to the most precious of commodities – a guy who can come off the bench and consistently inject life into his team. The award has gone to characters such as J.R Smith and Anthony Mason, stars such as James Harden and Kevin McHale, and champions such as Toni
Bucks rookie Jabari Parker strives to become total package player
Things did not start out particularly well for young Jabari Parker. Just 2:49 into the first quarter on Monday night, the 19-year-old Milwaukee Bucks rookie and second overall draft pick was called for a questionable charge on new Knicks point guard Jose Calderon. It was his second personal foul of the game and would normally earn a player a quick trip to the bench. But on this night, a preseason battle meant for learning experiences and deciding teams’ final roster slots, new
Celtics and Nets largely unaffected by experimental 44-minute game
Adding some small degree of excitement to what would have been a dull, mundane preseason game at the Barclays Center, the league conducted an experiment with the Celtics and Nets playing 11-minute quarters on Sunday. In addition to the one fewer minute per quarter, there were two media timeouts in the second and fourth quarters instead of the normal three. The shorter 44-minute long game, the first one in NBA history, ended in a pleasant one hour and 58 minutes with the Celtics
Hubbard: 44 Minutes? What Would Wilt Say?
If it were possible to detect a belly laugh from the hereafter, I’m sure there would have been something bordering on a thunderclap last week when the NBA announced Sunday’s Brooklyn-Boston preseason game would be 44 minutes instead of 48. On second thought, it might have been closer to a booming “WTF?” Wilt Chamberlain has been dead for 15 years, but I can guarantee the mere suggestion of reducing the length of games still irritates him. “Forty-four minutes,” Wilt would bellow. “You
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