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Why Nobody Likes the Clippers: Location, Location, Location?
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?” – Marianne Williamson A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of [...]
Is Charlie Villanueva the Final Piece of the Cavaliers’ Puzzle?
Cleveland fans, hold your breath. Charlie Villanueva might be the piece that finally pushes the Cavaliers to a title. Cavs GM Danny Ferry has been busy the past few offseasons, struggling to assemble an adequate supporting cast around LeBron James. Though the team has gotten better, as evidenced by their league-leading 66 wins this past [...]
What This Lackluster NBA Draft Needed: High Schoolers
Another NBA Draft has come and gone, and this one took some serious flak for being one of the shallowest drafts in years. As the night progressed, it was increasingly compared to the 2006 Draft, in which Andrea Bargnani went first, and Adam Morrison went third, and even the bottom-of-the-barrel 2000 Draft where Kenyon Martin [...]
Why a LeBron James Injury Is What the Cavaliers Need Most
The Cleveland Cavaliers’ trade rumor mill is running on overdrive this offseason, but the real problems aren’t with their roster. What the Cavs need is for LeBron James to go out with an injury. Not a bad injury—not a season-ender. They need LeBron out of the lineup for a few weeks of the 2009-2010 season, [...]
Forget Shaq; The Lakers Won This Title Without Kobe
That’s a lie, obviously. Kobe Bryant was the clearly the biggest part and the moving force behind the Lakers’ 2009 championship run. But in the Finals, it felt like Kobe was behind the scenes. Like he was conducting the orchestra, instead of playing a solo, for five games. And perhaps it’s because of Kobe’s deference [...]
Once You’re Lucky, Twice You’re Good: Graphing NBA Finals Game Four
Derek Fisher was the Lakers’ hero for Game Four of the NBA Finals. Twice. His stat line doesn’t look like much—only 12 points, and he only made 2-7 from beyond the arc—but his two trios came at the best possible times. One tied the game to send it into overtime, and the other gave the [...]
Things That Are Smaller than Shaquille O’Neal
When Dwight Howard broke the shot clock with a monster dunk in the Eastern Conference Finals, it brought back fond memories of young Shaq. On April 23, 1993, in one of the most famous basketball plays of all time, Shaquille O’Neal brought down the basket on a dunk while playing the New Jersey Nets. He [...]
Orlando Magic Shoot Their Brains Out: NBA Finals Game Three Graphs
The Orlando Magic hosted the Lakers in Game Three of the NBA Finals, and they weren’t exactly gracious hosts. The Lakers shot an exceptional 51.3 percent from the field, and cut the Magic lead to zero within the final minutes of the game. The Magic however, shot a mind blowing NBA Finals-record 62.5 percent and [...]
Lakers Get That Boom Boom Pau: Graphing NBA Finals Game Two
Kobe Bryant didn’t score 40 points in Game 2, but he didn’t have to. Pau Gasol came to play. The game went to overtime, but by the end it didn’t feel like it—Gasol scored seven of the Lakers’ 13 overtime points, and the Lakers closed out a five-point victory to go up 2-0 in the [...]
Magic Pick on Someone Their Own Size, Lose: NBA Finals Game One in Graphs
The Lakers and Magic met in LA, and the result wasn’t pretty for Orlando fans. The Lakers had what the Cavaliers didn’t: a slew of big men to throw at Dwight Howard, and enough length to put pressure on the perimeter shooting. Now that a whole day has passed, I’ve had time to crunch the [...]
