Post to Post: The NHL’s Balance of Power Has Shifted from West to East
December 21st, 2016 by Jonathan Willis No comments »
For years, the NHL’s balance of power rested in the West. In the regular season, Western teams dominated their Eastern rivals. In the playoffs, the Stanley Cup headed West with shocking regularity.
Then, last spring, the Pittsburgh Penguins became the first Eastern team in five years to win the Cup and just the third in the last decade. This came on the heels of a 2015-16 regular season which had seen the two conferences move to near-parity, with the West winning 221 games and the East triumphing in 217.
Even that was a remarkable achievement. Only a year earlier, the West had been 26 games over 0.500 when playing the East, and as Matt Larkin of The Hockey News noted this wasn’t a short-term trend. By his math, between 2010 and 2015 the West as a whole won 126 more games than it lost.
Yet we’re well past parity now. This year, the ...
DeMarcus Cousins vs. Trail Blazers: Stats, Highlights and Reaction
December 21st, 2016 by Scott Polacek No comments »
Fans in the Golden 1 Center on Tuesday got the entire DeMarcus Cousins experience.
The Sacramento Kings big man led his team to a 126-121 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers with a dominant performance. He finished with 55 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks and hit 17-of-28 shots from the field, 5-of-8 from three-point range and an impressive 16-of-17 from the free-throw line.
However, it was a sequence near the end of the game that drew the most attention.
Cousins scored and drew a foul with less than one minute remaining to put the Kings ahead, 121-119, but he spit his mouthpiece during the celebration and was temporarily ejected with a second technical foul. He sprinted off the floor in frustration but was later summoned back when the officials overturned the ejection.
Cousins hit the free throw to increase the lead to three and then blocked Damian Lillard down the stretch to help the ...
Tuesday NBA Roundup: Why Isn’t Anyone Talking About the San Antonio Spurs?
December 21st, 2016 by Dan Favale No comments »
Every year, like clockwork, a large sector of NBA fans and pundits doubt (or forget completely about) the San Antonio Spurs.
And every year, without fail, San Antonio proves them wrong.
Let's all agree to skip that dance this year and just accept the Spurs as overlords, shall we?
If it helps, you needn't act like this epiphany comes out of nowhere. Use San Antonio's 102-100 victory over the Houston Rockets as your trigger.
This was, after all, a win worthy of pivoting perception. The Spurs trailed by as many as 13 points inside five minutes to play but rattled off a 19-4 run to close the game...on the road...against the third-best team in the Western Conference...that was riding a 10-game winning streak.
That's a significant feat, as ESPN Stats & Info illustrated:
San Antonio pulled off this comeback without a trademark effort from Kawhi Leonard. He finished with 21 points, reached the charity stripe at will ...
J.R. Smith Injury: Cavaliers SG to Undergo Surgery on Injured Thumb
December 20th, 2016 by Alec Nathan No comments »
Cleveland Cavaliers shooting guard J.R. Smith suffered a fractured right thumb Tuesday against the Milwaukee Bucks and will undergo surgery to repair the damage.
The Cavaliers confirmed the diagnosis, saying "a treatment and return-to-play timeline will be established following the surgery." Prior to the confirmation, Brian Windhorst of ESPN reported Smith will be out an "extended period" after the procedure.
Smith was forced to leave Cleveland's Dec. 5 game against the Toronto Raptors with a left knee injury, but he avoided a major absence after testing revealed no structural damage. He missed just two games and returned Dec. 10.
A year after he averaged 12.4 points per game and shot 40.0 percent from three during the Cavaliers' championship campaign, Smith is averaging 8.6 points on 33.7 percent shooting from the field and 36.2 percent from beyond the arc as he's struggled to gain a comfortable rhythm.
Despite Smith's troubles in the shooting department, the Cavaliers are a more potent team when he's on ...
Spurs vs. Rockets: Score, Highlights, Reaction from 2016 Regular Season
December 20th, 2016 by Scott Polacek No comments »
Not even the red-hot Houston Rockets with a double-digit lead late in the fourth quarter could stop the San Antonio Spurs on the road.
San Antonio turned a 96-83 deficit with less than five minutes remaining into a 102-100 victory Tuesday at the Toyota Center thanks to a 19-4 run to end the game. The Spurs improved to 23-5 overall and 15-1 on the road and snapped Houston's 10-game winning streak.
Danny Green drilled a three-pointer with less than a minute left, and Patty Mills hit what proved to be the game-winner from deep with 12.9 seconds to play. Eric Gordon and James Harden each had a chance to win it on the other end, but they misfired from long range, and the Rockets dropped to 21-8.
The Spurs received a balanced offensive effort, with six players scoring in double figures. Kawhi Leonard led the way with 21 points and four assists to ...
Will Barton Trade Rumors: Latest News, Speculation Surrounding Nuggets Guard
December 20th, 2016 by Joe Pantorno No comments »
Denver Nuggets shooting guard Will Barton has seen his name crop up among trade rumors throughout 2016, though the previous rumors never gained any traction. Just days before the new year, those rumors haven't stopped.
Continue for updates.
Pelicans, Wizards Inquired About Barton
Tuesday, Dec. 20
On Tuesday, his name popped up again when Chris Haynes of ESPN.com reported that the Washington Wizards and New Orleans Pelicans have "reached out" to "gauge [the] availability" of Barton.
The 25-year-old has only played in 16 games this season, missing 12 due to an ankle injury. During that healthy span, he averaged 13.8 points and 4.7 rebounds per game while shooting 42.5 percent from the field.
He makes some of his biggest impacts near the rim, though, thanks to his highlight-reel athleticism:
It's made him a compelling target to try to trade for, as his name was originally included in what would have been a blockbuster deal had it actually ...
Where Do Los Angeles Clippers Go from Here After Latest Blake Griffin Injury?
December 20th, 2016 by Josh Martin No comments »
PLAYA VISTA, Calif. — Through all their years together, and all the twists and turns therein, the Los Angeles Clippers have, like Liam Neeson in Taken, acquired a particular set of skills, for better or worse.
Running pick-and-roll sets for lob after lob? Check.
Crumbling during the playoffs? Check.
Surviving without Blake Griffin? Check, check and check again.
"We don't want to get used to [playing without Griffin], I can tell you that," head coach Doc Rivers said.
That comment came a week before Griffin went back under the knife, this time to have "loose bodies" removed from his right knee. The latest procedure is expected to shelve him three to six weeks. In scheduling terms, that leaves the Clippers absent an All-Star for as few as 12 games but as many as 20.
For most teams, losing a player of Griffin's caliber for any period of time might be a crushing blow. But this Clippers ...
Ian Mahinmi Injury: Wizards Center to Miss 6 Weeks While Undergoing PRP on Knees
December 20th, 2016 by Joe Pantorno No comments »
Washington Wizards center Ian Mahinmi will undergo platelet-rich plasma (PRP) treatment on both of his knees, which will hold him out for "approximately six weeks," the team announced on Tuesday in a release, via Candace Buckner of the Washington Post.
Mahinmi has been limited to just a single game this season due to his knees and decided to undergo the PRP treatment after consulting with a team physician and Dr. James Andrews.
On Oct. 14, two weeks before the start of the regular season, the 30-year-old underwent surgery on his left knee but "aggravated patellar tendinitis in his right knee" along with suffering a bone bruise on his left knee during rehab, per the release.
The frustration continues to mount for Mahinmi and the Wizards, who are in their first year together. Over the summer, he inked a four-year, $64 million deal with the team after four seasons with the Indiana Pacers.
It was ...
Craig Sager Celebrated at Memorial Service in Atlanta
December 20th, 2016 by Mike Chiari No comments »
Five days after his death from acute myeloid leukemia at the age of 65, former Turner Sports broadcaster Craig Sager was honored at a memorial service Tuesday in his adopted hometown of Atlanta.
According to the Associated Press (via ESPN.com), the sports world was well-represented at the service, as San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich was present, as were fellow Turner Sports NBA broadcasters Ernie Johnson and Reggie Miller.
Ben Rohrbach of Yahoo Sports tweeted a photo of Popovich, who attended despite the Spurs' having a game Tuesday night:
Johnson was among those who spoke about Sager and the impact he had both on himself and everyone who worked with him or near him during his lengthy career, via NBA on TNT:
Sager's former colleague vowed to make the most of every day in order to best remember and celebrate his life:
Johnson's uplifting eulogy came on the heels of a video he narrated highlighting Sager's ...
Quarter-Season Grades for Each Oklahoma City Thunder Player
December 20th, 2016 by Vytis Lasaitis No comments »
Having crossed the quarter-season mark of the 2016-17 NBA season, the Oklahoma City Thunder have firmly established themselves as serious playoff contenders with a 16-12 record, ranking seventh in the Western Conference.
Oklahoma City tipped off Russell Westbrook's revenge tour in style, leading the West seven games into the year. But even amid his heroics, the Thunder's young and promising core still lacks consistency. Since that start, OKC is 10-11, going through the expected growing pains of an inexperienced roster.
The Thunder are dead even in net rating, according to NBA.com, ranking 12th in the league. That figure proves that OKC is certainly holding its own against most opposition, but it also further substantiates the label of an average team. The balance to consistently beat inferior teams simply isn't there yet.
With plenty of talent to develop, Oklahoma City is naturally inclined to provide its youngsters with crucial experience, but certain veterans remain in the ...