For its 2020-2021 campaign, the ever-evolving National Basketball Association has decided to revamp its postseason format to include more teams. As a result, they’ve added some hurdles to playoff participation for some and offered playoff possibilities for others where they didn’t exist before without changing the number of playoff qualifiers, … Read more
Yes, the New York Knicks and the Brooklyn Nets collided at the sold-out Barclays Center in the 2019-20 NBA season’s second contest for both teams, both teams were cheered and both teams were booed, the fans in the building were split in their allegiances and traded taunts, and the players … Read more
The second round of the 2019 NBA Playoffs was every bit as good as the first round was bad, with two stirring Game Sevens and two other series many thought would go seven. I have to admit to being very surprised at three of the four surviving teams, as evidenced … Read more
After the Golden State Warriors’ Kevin Durant went down with a calf injury in Game Five of the 2019 Western Conference semifinal series against the Houston Rockets, a lot of basketball pundits instantly declared the Houston Rockets favorites to win the series. This was the case even after the Warriors’ … Read more
There’s a basketball cliche that states “a playoff series doesn’t start until the home team loses a game.” While I’m not down with that one, it’s become clear that “the NBA Playoffs don’t start until the first round ends.” After a mostly lackluster first round of action where only the … Read more
Remember the 1990s when the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls were all the rage in the midst of their dynasty? Regardless of which town you were in, you didn’t have to go far to see someone wearing Bulls’ paraphernalia of some kind. If you had an extra ticket to a Bulls’ … Read more
When we plop down in front of a giant screen to watch our favorite detective show, we know going in the perpetrator(s) will be apprehended within an hour or two. And we watch anyway. When we used to wake up early on Saturday mornings to watch Wile E. Coyote chase … Read more
Let’s try this again. In this space 12 of the 16 playoff participants were accurately predicted and five of those teams were correctly seeded. However, the Orlando Magic were picked here to finish dead last in the Eastern Conference but ended up qualifying for the post-season as the 7th seed. … Read more
The National Basketball Association, like all of the major professional sports leagues, has its own set of challenges. One of the more pressing ones involves the perception, at least, that more than a few of its teams go into the regular season with the goal of winning as few games … Read more
For the fourth consecutive year, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors will represent their conferences in the NBA Finals. It’s a safe bet that the two combatants are every bit as weary of playing against each other on this stage as many fans are of the matchup, but … Read more
