David Yapkowitz Articles - Page 63

The Miami Heat pulled off the unthinkable when they knocked off the No. 1 seeded Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the NBA playoffs. A gritty underdog, the Heat made short work of the Bucks winning the series in six games including two on the Bucks home court. That got them a second round […]

The Phoenix Suns came out of their grueling first round NBA playoffs series against the Los Angeles Clippers with questions regarding their potential to win a championship. The Clippers were missing their two stars in Kawhi Leonard and Paul George and yet they still posed a threat to the Suns. With each round of the NBA […]

The last time Brittney Griner suited up for the Phoenix Mercury, it was 2021. The Mercury reached the WNBA Finals that season but fell short against the Chicago Sky. As most WNBA players do in the offseason, Griner headed overseas to Russia as she’s done many times before. Only this time, Russia was involved in […]

The Sacramento Kings had one of their best regular seasons in a long time. They ended the NBA’s longest active playoff drought by grabbing the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference and earning home-court advantage at least through the first round of the NBA playoffs. Their reward was a first-round matchup against Stephen Curry […]

The Golden State Warriors outlasted the Sacramento Kings in their first-round NBA Playoffs series with an impressive Game 7 win on the road. The road has not been kind to the Warriors this season, but in the biggest game of the year, they came through. Since this core group won their first NBA championship in […]

The Minnesota Timberwolves were able to salvage a poor start to the season and qualify for the playoffs. They had to go through the play-in to do so, losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in their first play-in matchup and then knocking out the New Orleans Pelicans to grab the eighth and final playoff spot. […]

The Las Vegas Aces are the defending WNBA champions and there’s little reason to believe that they aren’t the preseason favorites to win it all again. They bring back essentially the same core roster as last season along with the major addition of Candace Parker who signed with the team as a free agent in […]

After three straight impressive wins in their first round matchup in the NBA playoffs against the Sacramento Kings, the Golden State Warriors had a major let-down in Game 6 at home. They had a shot to close the series out in front of their home fans and completely dropped the ball. They were outplayed and […]

The Sacramento Kings pulled off an impressive Game 6 win on the road against the Golden State Warriors to keep their season alive. They will now have the opportunity to advance to the second round of the NBA playoffs with a Game 7 on their homecourt. The last time the Kings had a Game 7 […]

The Kansas Jayhawks began the 2022-23 season as the defending national champions and with a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, they had dreams of making another strong tournament run. Their season ended though in the second round against the Texas Longhorns in one of the most thrilling games of this season’s March Madness. […]

The Miami Heat pulled off an improbable upset in the first round of the NBA playoffs against the No. 1 seeded Milwaukee Bucks. The became the first play-in team to win a playoff series since the NBA instituted the play-in during the 2020 bubble. Their reward is a semifinal matchup against the New York Knicks. […]

The Sacramento Kings are facing a must-win situation in Game 6 of their first-round NBA Playoffs series against the Golden State Warriors. The Kings were in control of this series following their home wins in the first two games to take a 2-0 lead. But the Warriors have stormed back to win three straight, including […]

The Memphis Grizzlies pulled off a dominating NBA playoffs Game 5 win against the Los Angeles Lakers to keep their season alive. While the Grizzlies still trail 3-2, Ja Morant has arguably been the best player during their NBA playoffs first round series. They’ll need more explosiveness from Morant to stave off elimination again and […]

With the WNBA draft now in the rearview, the attention now turns to the start of WNBA training camp which begins on Apr. 30. Teams are allowed a maximum of 20 players in camp and need to cut down to the regular season roster maximum of 12 players. Due to salary cap restraints, some teams […]

The Miami Heat pulled off the biggest upset of the first round of the NBA playoffs with their 4-1 series win against the No. 1 seed Milwaukee Bucks. Not only were the Bucks one of the favorites to win the championship, the Heat had to go through two rounds of play-in games to secure the […]

The Texas Longhorns had a pretty successful season after preseason turmoil that saw the firing of head coach Rick Beard. Assistant coach Rodney Terry took over and guided the Longhorns to a very good regular season and an Elite Eight appearance in the NCAA Tournament. They got some good news this week when Dylan Disu […]

The Los Angeles Lakers suffered a humiliating Game 5 defeat against the Memphis Grizzlies as they attempted to close out the series. They still hold a 3-2 lead in their first round playoff series and have a shot to close it out at home in Game 6. Even so, they gave the Grizzlies some momentum. […]

The Memphis Grizzlies kept their season alive with a dominating 116-99 win over the Los Angeles Lakers to force the series back to Crypto.co Arena. Coming into the game down 3-1, the Grizzlies needed this kind of performance to extend the series and give themselves some momentum heading into Game 6. One of the adjustments […]

There’s no question that the New York Knicks’ addition of Jalen Brunson was one of the best signings of the offseason. Although he was not named an All-Star, Brunson had an All-Star caliber season. His career year helped lead the Knicks to a playoff finish despite getting off to an inconsistent start to the season. […]

The Arizona Wildcats had a very disappointing NCAA Tournament showing with a first round upset loss to the No. 15 seeded Princeton Tigers. They then got hit with a couple of key departures following leader scorer and top player Azuolas Tubelis’ decision to enter the NBA draft and Kerr Kriisa’s decision to transfer to West […]

The Golden State Warriors made a little bit of a surprising decision prior to Game 4 of their first round playoff series against the Memphis Grizzlies. They decided to bring Draymond Green off the bench following his return from a one game suspension. Green was 100 percent on board with the decision and he had […]

The Los Angeles Lakers held their breath during their Game 4 win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday when Anthony Davis took a hard fall in the second half and was slow to get up. Davis was able to remain in the game and provided crucial defensive stops to help seal the win. After the […]

The Golden State Warriors evened their first round playoff series against the Sacramento Kings at two games apiece on Sunday, and they did so by doing the same thing they did in Game 3. That was to keep the exact same starting five. It’s as the old saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix […]

The Los Angeles Lakers have taken a surprising 2-1 series lead in their first round playoff matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies as the No. 7 seed. But for all the talk of having LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the star of the show has arguably been Rui Hachimura who is appearing in the postseason for […]

Denver Nuggets wing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope suffered an apparent shoulder injury in the opening moments of Game 4 of the Nuggets first round playoff series against the Minnesota Timberwolves. The injury happened when Caldwell-Pope was hit on the shoulder by Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards. While he seemed to be in pain, he was up off the […]

The Golden State Warriors defended their homecourt winning both Games 3 and 4 to even up their first round playoff series against the Sacramento Kings at two games apiece. They got a major boost in the return of Draymond Green from his one game suspension following his foot stomp on Domantas Sabonis. Green’s defense proved […]

The Golden State Warriors have carried their bewildering home/road dichotomy from the regular season into the playoffs. After dropping Games 1 and 2 on the road against the Sacramento Kings in their first round playoff series, they’ve come back to win both games at home and even the series at two games apiece. The Warriors […]

After the Milwaukee Bucks pulled off a dominating win in Game 2 to tie their first round playoff series against the Miami Heat at 1-1, the Heat responded in Game 3 with an impressive win of their own to take control of the series at 2-1. The first three games have not been without turmoil […]

Miami Heat guard Victor Oladipo left Game 3 with an apparent knee injury in the fourth quarter against the Milwaukee Bucks during their first round playoff series. Oladipo attacked the basket and seemed to hurt his knee on the drive causing him to fall and slide out of bounds. The Heat would go on to […]

The New York Knicks pulled off an impressive Game 3 win in their first round playoff series against the Cleveland Cavaliers to take a 2-1 series lead. They stole homecourt advantage with their Game 1 win and they now have the opportunity to take a commanding lead in the series. Game 4 is scheduled for […]

The Athletic dropped a bombshell on the NBA world this week with an anonymous NBA player poll in which their thoughts on various things such as who is the favorite for MVP, who is the league’s best defensive player and who would you pick to start a franchise, among other topics, were revealed. One of […]

The Milwaukee Bucks powered through Game 2 in their first round playoff series against the Miami Heat in impressive fashion. Facing a must win game after dropping Game 1 at home, the Bucks responded with a dominant performance. After Giannis Antetokounmpo suffered a tailbone injury in the first half of Game 1, he was placed […]

Back on Feb. 9, Cole Swider started a game for the South Bay Lakers as he’s done so many times this season. It was an early morning weekday game, not uncommon for the G League. What he probably didn’t expect, however, was getting rushed onto a plane and flying halfway across the country to Milwaukee […]

The Toronto Raptors finished the 2022-23 season in disappointing fashion. Their entire season was an uneven and inconsistent journey but they managed to somewhat salvage it with a top-ten finish and a chance at the playoffs. Instead, all they’ll be remembered for is DeMar DeRozan’s daughter whom they witnessed grow up only to have her […]

The Memphis Grizzlies nabbed a much needed win against the LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 2 of their first round playoff series. Even without Ja Morant, they still could not afford to fall into an 0-2 hole. They got an assist in the form of Dillon Brooks’ antics and a huge […]

The Memphis Grizzlies pulled off a must-win in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series against the Los Angeles Lakers thanks to some clutch shooting from Dillon Brooks on Wednesday. Brooks has relished the role of the villain this season, and they needed his competitive edge in this game. Brooks spent the game chirping back […]

The UCLA Bruins 2022-23 season ended on a bittersweet note after a very successful regular season. A team that looked like a national championship contender suffered key injuries and ended up falling to Gonzaga in the Sweet 16. It appears as if this season might have been UCLA’s best shot at a title as next […]

The Philadelphia 76ers have gotten out to a commanding 2-0 lead in their first round playoff series against the Brooklyn Nets. As hard and scrappy as the post-Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving Nets play, the talent difference can be a little too much to overcome in the playoffs. One of the key contributors to the Sixers […]

Coming into the Phoenix Suns first round playoff series against the Los Angeles Clippers, their depth was questionable. Sure enough, the Suns bench has been outplayed by the Clippers bench and that was big reason for their Game 1 loss and losing homecourt advantage. One of their most glaring needs right now is a backup […]