NBA Basketball Sports Fan Blog

The Spurs have won 20 games in a row. They’ve won 31 out of 33. They are currently 10-0 in the playoffs. But what is so amazing about this run is how San Antonio has managed to stay under the radar throughout it. Maybe that’s because the Spurs themselves are so quiet. While teams like the Heat, Lakers and Knicks seem to be in the news everyday, the Spurs just continue to win. Where they play certainly has something to do with it, but its more then that. It’s a head coach who is able to communicate to his players that winning is all that matters. It’s star players like Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker who understand it’s not that name on the back of the jersey that matters; it’s the name on the front.

Only three teams had ever won twenty games in a row before the Spurs recent streak: the 1972 Lakers who won an NBA record 33 in a row, the 2008 Rockets who won 22 in a row and the 1971 Milwaukee Bucks who won 20 in a row. The most the Jordan led Bulls and the Bird led Celtics ever won in a row was 18.

What’s so remarkable about the Spurs streak is when they’re doing it. The lockout shortened season crammed 66 games into 122 grueling days. It was supposed to all but eliminate veteran teams (just look at the Celtics limp their way through the Eastern Conference Finals). As if that wasn’t enough, the Spurs are doing this during the Playoffs. Sweeping a team once in the playoffs is difficult enough, winning 10 in a row? Nearly impossible. The longest win streak by a team in the playoffs is 12 (ironically by the 1999 Spurs). These Spurs still have a ways to go before this can be considered the greatest streak of all time, but at this point it doesn’t seem so far fetched.

Before the season began, this match up would have heavily favored the Thunder. But as the old sports adage goes: that’s why we play the games. This was supposed to be the year that young teams like the Thunder and Heat finally took the reigns from older teams like the Spurs and Celtics. However, it doesn’t look like the old guys are ready to pass the torch quite yet. The Spurs come into the Western Conference Finals riding an 18 game win streak including an 8-0 playoff record. The Thunder also come in hot having lost just one playoff game, but they haven’t looked quite as invincible as the Spurs.

The Thunder are familiar with this situation. Just last year they faced a similar scenario when they squared off against the “supposed to be too old” Mavericks. Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavs made easy work of the young Thunder eliminating them in five games before eventually winning the NBA Championship. The Spurs seem likely to follow the same path as the Mavs as they could certainly make quick work of the Thunder before eventually beating the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals.
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Down at the Wells Fargo Center the Sixers are officially in “Win or Go Home” mode. For the first time this playoff year the Sixers are facing elimination at the hands of the Boston Celtics. There is plenty of motivation for this Sixers club to come out firing on all cylinders and to have a sold out crowd in their corner. Kevin Garnett called all the Philly fans “Fair-weather fans” riling up a fan base that is very temperamental to begin with. There are some statistics that point to a Sixer victory and a game 7 up in Boston. The teams have alternated wins in this series with no team winning back to back games (Boston won Game 5). Philly is 4-1 at home in these playoffs with an impressive come from behind win in Game 4. The Sixers have a lot to prove tonight and there should not be a lack of motivation.

Meanwhile the veteran Celtics have every reason to end this tonight. Rondo is playing unbelievably (just ask Chris Webber) and Pierce and Garnett are both capable of having huge nights. With the Miami and Indiana series looking like it will end tomorrow night the Celtics need to win to maximize the amount of rest and be able to run with the youthful Miami Heat. All that being said I think the Sixers pull one out tonight and force a Game 7. Jrue Holliday and Andre Iguodala will rebound from an off night and put the Sixers in position to move on to the Eastern Conference Finals.

The 2011-2012 NBA playoffs are only in their second round. Yet injuries have already put a large asterisk on whoever will be named champion this year. What’s been surprising about the injuries is not necessarily that they’re happening, but who they’re happening to. Old teams like the Celtics and Spurs have stayed relatively healthy, while younger teams like the Bulls and Heat have lost key players.

This injury saga started before the playoffs when Dwight Howard attempted to give Stan Van Gundy a piggy back (just kidding) and herniated a disk in his back. He would elect to have surgery that would cause him to miss the rest of the season.

Then came Derrick Rose whose injury was reminiscent to that of Boobie Miles from the movie Friday Night Lights. In Game 1 of their series vs. the 76ers, the Bulls led by twelve with 1:20 to go. It’s not over until it’s over. But this game was over. Rose drove to the basket to attempt to extend the lead to fourteen and fell awkwardly on his knee tearing his ACL. The Bulls were the only team that could challenge the mighty Heat so the Eastern Conference had an asterisk on it from Game 1. As if that wasn’t enough, the Bulls would go on to lose Joakim Noah to an ankle injury and then become the 5th number one seed to lose in the first round.

Then came the Knicks slew of injuries which included Iman Shumpert doing his best Rose imitation by tearing his ACL and Amar’e Stoudemire showing he is in fact capable of crashing the glass. While the Knicks posed no real threat to the Heat, they at least could have momentarily slowed them down.

Finally, two days ago Chris Bosh went down with an abdominal strain that will sideline him indefinitely. Bosh has often been referred to as the half man in Miami’s “Two and a Half Men” but his absence was clearly noticed as the Pacers beat the Heat in Bosh’s first game out.

Many fans are glad to see something bad happen to the Heat, but at least they made things exciting. Just wait until we’re watching Indiana play San Antonio in the NBA Finals.

The much anticipated 2011 NBA Finals finally got underway Tuesday night, as the Miami Heat took Game 1 at home behind yet another strong performance by the Big-3, who racked up 65 points, 28 rebounds, and 14 assists. There was a lot to talk about pre and post game on Tuesday, and a lot of early questions about the Heat-Mavericks match-up got answered in Game 1, so let’s look at some quick reactions/notes from the opening chapter in the 2011 NBA Finals. (Which by the way TNT is trying to sell us as the apocalypse or something, and I’m not going to lie, it’s kind of working. Some of their promos/intros have been nothing short of epic. Like this one.)

—Boy was that first half ugly. 17-16 at the end of the first quarter? 27-26 with 5 minutes left in the first half? I guess it was to be expected with players’ nerves and both teams trying to get a feel for each other in the early goings. Both defenses obviously played a part in the low score — which I’ll get to later — but that was still a brutal half of basketball. When Shawn Marion is making the prettiest plays and shots early on you know things aren’t going well.

—It’s crazy to think that Game 1 was played at exactly the tempo Miami wants the game to be played at, and yet the Heat, who clearly have the better athletes, only had 7 fast break points. It’s also crazy to think that two of the Heat starters, Joel Anthony and Mike Bibby, combined for 0 points. So as much as the talk after Game 1 was about how “the Heat played the perfect game and completely dominated tempo,” let’s keep in mind that this Miami team can beat you in more than one way, and actually played far from a perfect game. So before you go ahead and think that if Game 2 is won in the 110-115 point range the Mavs are golden, remember that Miami has a few guys that aren’t too shabby in an up-and-down track meet type game. Even if only 4 Heat players score and Mike Bibby can’t make an open jump-shot for his life.

—Hate him or love him, LeBron James does things no one else in basketball today can do. That ridiculous fall away  three-pointer at the half-time buzzer was inhuman. While any other player taking that kind of shot looks like they’re trying to heave a bowling ball 40-feet through the air, James looks like he’s taking a free-throw during warm-ups. Fact.

—Before I get crucified by the Mavs fans, let me say that Dallas is far from out of it. Everyone will want to jump all over the Heat and crown them champions (sorry they already did that after the Celtics series), but it’s still very early in this series, and as Wade would tell you from leading the Heat back from a 2-0 hole against these very same Mavericks, it’s not over till the fat lady sings. Or in his case it’s not over till the 40,000 people living in Miami who just this year started calling themselves “Heat fans” sing. That being said, the Mavs have a tough task ahead of them. Dirk Nowitzki’s finger injury on his left hand surely won’t make things any easier, and Dallas badly needs to find a way to crack Miami’s defense and get some better match-ups on the offensive end. Having Jason Terry going up against LeBron James is just cruel.

I’ll leave it at that for today, as I could very easily write a book or two on Game 1 and what we can expect to see the rest of this series. Make sure you tune in to Game 2 on Thursday at 9:00 PM Eastern on ABC, and order your jerseys and memorabilia before it’s all over so you can impress your friends and family and show them how you are a huge fan of whoever wins. And yes, that’s a direct stab at Heat “fans.”

The Boston Celtics sent LeBron James and the Cavaliers back to Cleveland to admire all of their regular-season accomplishments and ponder their future.

It’s the Celtics who are still in the chase for an NBA title.

Kevin Garnett scored 22 points and added 12 rebounds, and Rajon Rondo had 21 points and 12 assists to beat Cleveland 94-85 in Game 6 on Thursday night and advance to the Eastern Conference finals. They’ll play the Orlando Magic, who are undefeated in the playoffs.

“Winning is gratifying,” Garnett said. “You’re playing the best team in basketball; the challenge is there; you don’t have to dress it up. One thing we don’t lack is confidence. We’re a veteran team and we understand when it’s time to lock in as a group. I think we did just that. I think the experience is taking over.”

Despite his sixth career playoff triple-double, James is headed for another early offseason after winning a second MVP award and leading the Cavs to an NBA-best 61 wins and a home-court advantage they never got to use.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPNBoston.com

Kobe Bryant sometimes thinks the Los Angeles Lakers are an orchestra in need of a conductor. He picked up the baton in Game 5, driving the lane aggressively and defending Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook with zeal.

The result was a businesslike blowout that showed exactly what Bryant meant when he said the upstart Thunder had captured the mighty Lakers’ attention.
Pau Gasol had 25 points and 11 rebounds, Andrew Bynum added 21 points and the Lakers vigorously rebounded from back-to-back losses with a 111-87 victory over Oklahoma City on Tuesday night, taking a 3-2 lead in their first-round playoff series.

Gasol and Bynum followed Bryant’s no-nonsense lead, relentlessly scoring inside while giving up no easy buckets on the other end. Even Ron Artest shaved off his goofy blond dye job before playing another standout defensive game against Kevin Durant in support of Bryant, who volunteered to guard Westbrook.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

The result of the Dallas Mavericks’ first-round series with the San Antonio Spurs will not affect the job security of coach Rick Carlisle, owner Mark Cuban said Tuesday night.

“I mean, it’s not something we’ll evaluate now,” Cuban said before the Mavericks’ 103-81 victory in Game 5. “It’s not something we’ll evaluate this summer. I don’t see what would change anything.”

The Mavericks trail 3-2 in the best-of-7 series. Game 6 is Thursday night at San Antonio.

The Mavericks have a 105-59 record in two seasons under Carlisle, extending the franchise’s streak to 10 consecutive 50-win campaigns. In 2009, Carlisle guided the Mavs to their first playoff series win since they advanced to the 2006 NBA Finals.

Click here to read the full article – By Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com

The Boston Celtics have a few days off to prepare for the second round of the NBA playoffs and a matchup with LeBron James.

Dwyane Wade has all summer to recruit him.
Ray Allen scored 24 points, making five 3-pointers in the second half to help Boston beat Miami 96-86 on Tuesday night and eliminate the Heat in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series. The Celtics will play James and the Cavaliers in a seven-game Eastern Conference semifinal series that will open Saturday in Cleveland.
“I think it’s a great matchup. It’s great for basketball — such a classic series,” said Paul Pierce, who scored 21 points on Tuesday. “They’re the team to beat right now. They showed it through the course of the season the way they played. We know this is going to be a tough series, another really, really tough series.”

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPNBoston.com

LeBron James seemed to reinjure his right elbow in the Cleveland Cavaliers’ series-clinching victory over the Chicago Bulls.

James scored 19 points — 16 in the second half — and added 10 rebounds and nine assists as the Cavs finally saddled the stubborn Bulls to win the series 4-1.

James doesn’t know when he injured the elbow, which he said bothered him the entire second half. TNT showed replays of James landing on the elbow and grimacing after trying to block a shot early in the second half.

James revealed after the game that he underwent an MRI and X-rays on Monday. Results came back clean, according to the Cavaliers.

Click here to read the full article – By of ESPN.com