No Manu, No Win

Forget the non-foul call on Brent Barry in the final seconds – seriously, when was the last time you saw that call made in that situation – the Spurs role players and spark plug lost this game. That they stayed as close as two points midway into the fourth quarter amazed me way more than [...]

TNT-NBA Live Stream Not Ready for Primetime

Credit the NBA and TNT for taking the huge leap of faith by streaming a nationally televised playoff game on the Internet. Another sign the future of digital media is now. This particular partnership, after completing a groundbreaking television contract that included digital rights earlier this year, and building a dedicated Internet video portal during [...]

Spurs Give One Away

San Antonio had a myriad of excuses heading into this game. A tough seven game series ended with a draining road win only two nights earlier, the lack of rest, the wear and tear on the aging team, then throw in the airplane debacle that cost them a good night’s sleep before a cross-country flight. [...]

Kobe Bryant Grab First MVP

Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant officially won his first NBA Most Valuable Player Award, confirming reports that leaked out late last week. Commissioner David Stern will present the Maurice Podoloff Trophy to Bryant prior to Wednesday’s Western Conference Semifinal Game Two against Utah at the Staples Center.

Bryant finished the season averaging [...]

Western Playoff Stampede

San Antonio, Utah, and New Orleans have a chance to end the most lopsided Western Conference playoff round in recent memory. Bad enough the lower seeds have only won three games, six of the 12 games have been decided by double figures – three happen to be in the Utah-Houston series. So much for the [...]

For the Record: NBA Playoff Picks

This year’s NBA playoffs has it all – except the Knicks. Los Angeles and Boston at the forefront, All-Stars galore, to go along with the most competitive conference in league history. Lakers-Celtics is the NBA’s dream matchup, David Stern TV ratings and dollar signs float through his head just thinking about it. Unfortunately for the [...]

NBA Trade Deadline Winners

What a difference a year makes. 2008 proved anything but quiet at the deadline with a flurry of past and future All-Stars, a hall-0f-famer, big contracts, and championship contenders all involved. Needless to say it impacted the playoff landscape. With the phones silenced for now, time to assess the damage. We’ll focus on the teams [...]

Kobe About to Earn Stripes

Last week doctors diagnosed Kobe Bryant with a complete ligament tear in his right pinkie finger, an injury he first sustained on February 5th in New Jersey. Since then, after one dud in a loss at Atlanta, Kobe has reeled three 30+ point games, a 29-point performance, shot over 40% and played over 40 minutes [...]

Western Conference Arms Race

Pau Gasol, Chris Webber, and now Shaquille O’Neal. In one week, the Western Conference leaders imported three potentially impact big men to make a run at the title. GM’s finally see the light, run and gun leads to regular season supremacy, not NBA rings. Outside of Detroit, each champion in the post-Bulls era had a [...]