Category Archives: NBA

NBA articles

Durantula > Black Mamba: New Era for NBA

by Jim Bearor

I’ll say that I consider myself a “casual” basketball fan.  I follow the highlights during the regular season, and occasionally tune in if the matchup piques my interest.  I watch enough to know that the Oklahoma City Thunder can drop 120 points effortlessly when they are rolling on all cylinders.  I also know that Lakers fans (and some players) are unhappy how Mike Brown is handling his aging team.  So going into this series, I had a feeling that we would be watching a large part of the power shift in the NBA.

Similar things are happening in the East as well, as the young Philadelphia team poses a legitimate threat to the geriatric Celtics, especially after stealing Game 1 in Boston.  This changing of the guard is something that everyone saw coming eventually, but it’s hard to believe that its happening now.  Nobody wants to be the first one to say that the sun is setting for Kobe Bryant and the entire core group of the Celts, but I think this is as good a time as any.  After watching the Lakers get absolutely hammered by the Thunder last night, I really don’t think ther is any denying it.  Oklahoma City is no longer the future of the NBA – they are the present.  Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook dominated for the 3 quarters that they played, and made Los Angeles look older and feebler than they actually are.

Westbrook completely outplayed Kobe on both ends of the court, and even pulled off a couple huge steals early on.  The game was never a contest, and it made me realize how grudgingly everyone held on to the Lakers because of their success in the recent past.  Sometimes you have to take a step back and actually pay attention to what is happening on the court, as opposed to giving Kobe and his squad the benefit of the doubt.  Everyone should recognize and appreciate how great they have been in years past, but nothing lasts forever.

Looking back on these playoffs in a few years, everyone will remember it as the season where the Durantula stole the crown from the Black Mamba.  The young guns are growing up before our eyes, and the stars of yesterday are starting to fade.  Oh, the times, they are a’changing.

Follow Jim on Twitter: @JimBearor

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Putting a Fork in Indiana

For a while now, I haven’t been posting as much as I would like to on this blog, but haven’t done anything about it.  The problem is not that I don’t have enough material or desire to write, but its more because of I didn’t know how I wanted to write.  As I constantly read stories and article written by guys like Rick Reilly and Adam Schefter, I felt inspired to offer my point of view on whatever interested me at the time.  But instead of using that as a starting point, I tried too hard to emulate the structured and formal work that they did.  I realize now that isn’t what I wanted to do.  I found myself sitting in front of my computer for hours on end just thinking of something that people wanted to read about – usually whatever was headlining on ESPN that day – and how I was going to voice my thoughts in a way that was similar to the writers on the major sports networks.  That was mistake, and I’m going to give this another try.  From here on out, I won’t be spending hours at a time researching statistics just so I can spit them right back out and tell you what they mean.  This blog is going to be an outlet for my thoughts on sports – as outlandish and brutal as they may be – and if you don’t enjoy that, I completely understand if you stop coming here.  If you’re going to stick around, you’re obviously very intelligent and I appreciate the support.

Now that I have that off my chest…

Does anybody really think that the Pacers even have a fighter’s chance against Miami?  It’s understandable to say yes only if you’re associated with one team or the other, but I really don’t want to hear the same old cries of “It’s not over ‘til it’s over” or “It’s a seven game series.”  Save your breath.  Even without Bosh, they should bully Indiana and end the series in 4 or 5 games.  Beyond that is a different story, as they have nobody down low to match up against the Tim Duncans or Andrew Bynums that lie ahead.

LeBron James eats Danny Granger for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  He has done this his entire career, and I don’t expect it to change. When LeBron was in Cleveland, he played defense on Granger 4 times a year, and locked him down every single time.  The matchup isn’t any better on the other end of the court; all you have to do is look at LBJ’s stats in Game 1.  Using this argument alone, I feel like I can rest my case.  There is nobody on the Pacers that can stop the best player in the world from completely taking over the game – not to mention D. Wade – and that’s why their season ends right now.  Mark it down.

Seeing this series go the other way would be one of the more ridiculous things I have seen in sports.  I don’t doubt that Indiana is a very good team, and I understand that they had the 3rd best record in the east, only 4 games back of the high-and-mighty Heat.  This doesn’t change my opinion at all.  They played out of their minds for the last six weeks of the regular season, and used their physical nature to win games (against a weak conference).  I can’t fathom Miami being outmuscled; Wade and James won’t let it happen.

I’m willing to listen to arguments, although I doubt there will be many.  The general public knows that a Heat victory is almost a certainty, but they are not so hasty to consider the Pacers dead.  I am.

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Woodson Proving His Worth


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When Mike D’Antoni resigned as the Knicks head coach on March 14th, there was immediate buzz about who would be coaching the Knicks next year. The general public put a fork in New York and began discussing possible suitors for next season. For some reason, the only name seemingly not in the mix was Interim head coach Mike Woodson. Now, a little over a month after D’Antoni left this team for dead, Woodson has led the Knicks back into the playoffs with a 16-6 record as the lead man. He has a team that lost 8 of its last 10 games under D’Antoni feeling confident that it can win again. In fact, in the 22 games that Woodson has been at the helm, they have not lost consecutive games. What once seemed like a temporary way to stop the bleeding may turn out to be the cure.
As soon as D’Antoni resigned, experts were saying the Knicks needed a big name coach to take the reins, most projecting Phil Jackson as the lead candidate. Woodson was considered a dark horse, if even that. But what have big names done for poor teams in the recent past? Continue reading

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