Jedd Pagaduan Articles - Page 120

It just keeps on getting better for the nascent Oklahoma City Thunder. With their backs against the wall in a win or go home matchup against the New Orleans Pelicans, a team that made the playoffs last season via the play-in, the young Thunder squad managed to squeak out a 123-118 victory, thanks in large […]

It will be a very interesting offseason for the Dallas Mavericks, especially after they finished with a disappointing 38-44 record, missing the play-in tournament entirely. How the Mavs front office decides to build around Luka Doncic will be fascinating. They know they will be on the clock as it is simply inexcusable for a team […]

It’s a bit confusing how the Memphis Grizzlies (and to a greater extent, the Sacramento Kings) still fail to command the respect a top-seeded team in the Western Conference deserves, but here we are. There’s been talk that the 3/6, 2/7 route to the Western Conference Finals is an easier path, and there’s certainly an […]

Some teams simply perform better while playing with house money, and the Atlanta Hawks seem to be the epitome of that kind of team. Not many fans and pundits expected the Hawks to beat the playoff-tested Miami Heat in the 7/8 play-in tournament game, but they did so in convincing fashion, proving the naysayers wrong […]

Not many people outside the team’s most loyal fans believe that the Los Angeles Clippers are capable of taking down one of the heavy favorites to win the 2023 NBA championship in the Phoenix Suns. And as much as fans believe in the Clippers’ ability to mount a stunning upset, it will be an extremely […]

Picking the 15 players who are the most deserving of becoming part of the illustrious 2023 All-NBA teams is a thankless task, especially when millions of dollars in real life money are on the line for players based on whether they make it or not. In today’s NBA, that task is even more difficult given […]

The Los Angeles Clippers may not have had the most impressive 2022-23 regular season campaign, finishing 44-38 despite all the championship prognoses they received during preseason. While the Clippers are one of those teams that many expect to turn it on when the playoffs begin, they have an extremely steep mountain to climb in the […]

There’s plenty of drama to be had in the first-round series between the Phoenix Suns and the Los Angeles Clippers. Russell Westbrook will have the time of his life trying to get back at Kevin Durant for leaving him in free agency in 2016, the Clippers will have another opportunity to defeat old pal Chris […]

Not many expected the Oklahoma City Thunder to challenge for a 2023 NBA Play-In tournament spot to begin the year. Those doubters were certainly justified in their low expectations for the Thunder, especially when they were coming off a 24-win campaign and their reward for their putridity, Chet Holmgren, injured his foot before the season […]

The 9/10 matchup in the 2023 NBA Play-In tournament between the Chicago Bulls and Toronto Raptors will be a contest between two teams that almost sold off their All-Star level pieces, but chose to stand pat in the hopes of turning things around. And to an extent, the Bulls and Raptors, did, indeed, turn their […]

Damian Lillard is everything an NBA franchise wants from its star man — loyal, doesn’t “run from the grind”, and most of all, vocal of his desire to win it all for the franchise he’s spent the last 11 seasons playing for, the Portland Trail Blazers. However, Lillard is already 32 years old, and it […]

The New Orleans Pelicans, after weeks of such strong play, faltered when it mattered most. Instead of capitalizing on the Minnesota Timberwolves’ self-destruction, the Pelicans instead imploded en route to a 113-108 defeat. And now, they find themselves in a win or go home situation in the 2023 NBA Play-In Tournament against the nascent Oklahoma […]

Of all the junctures in the 2022-23 season to self-destruct, doing so just before the postseason begins is arguably the worst time to do so. This is the point of the campaign where the team needs to lock in to achieve the goal of, at the very least, making a deep playoff run. However, the […]

For the 14 teams that would miss the postseason, the 2023 NBA Draft looms as a beacon of hope to look forward to as they try to wash away the stench of their defeated past and build a sustainable contending squad for years to come. Thankfully for teams, life in the NBA functions differently as […]

The NBA churn never stops. At the conclusion of the 2023 NBA Finals, it will be time for every team–whether rebuilding, buying, or contending–to look for ways to improve their team, or, at the very least, mold their team into one that makes more sense given their timeline. And one way for teams to do […]

Preventing some of the most talented basketball players from putting the ball through the hoop has always been a thankless task. The old adage may say that “defense wins championships”, but at the end of the day, elite offense always beats good defense — especially in today’s NBA, where defenders seem to get whistled for […]

It may not be the most successful season for the Toronto Raptors, but at the very least, they still have a shot at making the playoffs via the play-in tournament despite their uneven start to the 2022-23 regular season campaign. But that may necessitate going up against two former franchise icons in the process, as […]

Following such a dismal start to the 2022-23 season, LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers have managed to turn things around. Entering their Friday night contest against the Phoenix Suns, the Lakers hold their playoff fates in the palm of their hands, as they still have a puncher’s chance to clinch a top-six berth […]

The Sacramento Kings, despite having little to play for in the dying moments of the 2022-23 NBA regular season, will want to end the season on the right foot and carry over some strong momentum into their first playoff appearance since 2006. It will also help that they still have a slim chance at stealing […]

There is always something riveting in the unknown. And in the NBA, there are no greater unknowns than rookies, tantalizing as they may be given the players they could become once they flesh out their games. It’s always exciting to watch the best young players figure out the ropes of the professional game, proving to […]

The Dallas Mavericks, following a late-season collapse, need everything to go their way just so they could make the play-in tournament. Missing the play-in tournament entirely will be such a disastrous outcome for a team that traded for Kyrie Irving two months ago. What the Mavs must do to give themselves a chance at staying […]

The Indiana Pacers are definitely one team to watch for the 2023-24 campaign. After all, not many pundits expected the Pacers to remain semi-competitive for much of the season, but they did, thanks to the strong play of All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton. Even Myles Turner and Buddy Hield enjoyed plenty of stretches of inspired […]

The Phoenix Suns stand as one of the favorites to take home the 2023 NBA championship, by virtue of their blockbuster trade deadline move to add Kevin Durant alongside their Devin Booker-Chris Paul core. Nevertheless, the Suns, despite already clinching a playoff berth, aren’t resting on their laurels, playing their stars heavy minutes in a […]

Some of what the Charlotte Hornets must to do to improve when the offseason kicks off have been covered extensively on this space. While there will be no easy fixes for a team that owns a 26-54 record at the time of writing, one area the Hornets will need to bolster in a huge way […]

The Utah Jazz, after such a strong start to the 2022-23 season, have fallen way off the playoff pace en route to a lottery pick in the stacked 2023 NBA Draft. With an eye towards the future, the Jazz are evaluating which members of the current roster can contribute to their quest of building a […]

For a while, it seemed like the Denver Nuggets were going to run away with the number one seed in the Western Conference. But over the past few weeks, the Nuggets definitely made that race a bit interesting, falling into bad habits and suffering a few uncharacteristic losses along the way. During this stretch, it […]

Memphis Grizzlies franchise point guard Ja Morant has been the subject of plenty of controversy over the past few months, hitting a low point when he received an eight-game suspension after he brandished a gun in an adult club for the entire world to see on his Instagram Live. Since then, the Grizzlies star appeared […]

Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid is taking over the NBA MVP race by sheer brute force, punctuating his efforts to win the newly-named Michael Jordan award with a 52-point effort against the Boston Celtics on Tuesday night. Even with the stiff competition provided by reigning two-time MVP Nikola Jokic, Embiid appears to be swaying the […]

The Dallas Mavericks appeared to be on the fast track to success, as evidenced by their run to the 2022 Western Conference Finals that eventually ended in a five-game series defeat to the Golden State Warriors. With Luka Doncic in town, there was no reason to expect the Mavs to fall off a cliff anytime […]

With the San Antonio Spurs having an eye towards their future, it’s difficult to envision them being strong players for the best players in free agency this coming offseason. The Spurs have plenty of areas they must improve for them to come close to being a playoff-caliber team once more, as evidenced by their groan […]

The Charlotte Hornets may have had a terrible 2022-23 campaign, but they have pieces in place that should help facilitate a quick turnaround, especially if they fill their roster’s biggest need in the offseason. After all, they aren’t beginning from scratch in their rebuilding efforts, as they will still boast the services of LaMelo Ball […]

A playoff berth would have been nice, but the Indiana Pacers’ miserable finish to the 2022-23 season shouldn’t put too much of a damper on what was such a promising season for them. To begin the year, the Pacers looked like they were on a steep upward trajectory, with a Tyrese Haliburton-named rocket strapped behind […]

There may be plenty of growing pains yet to come for such a young squad led by promising youngsters Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, but things are on the up-and-up for the Orlando Magic, a 34-45 record at the time of writing notwithstanding. In fact, rarely has a rookie looked as good and NBA-ready from […]

Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks will need everything to break right for them to have even a puncher’s chance at making the play-in tournament. They will need to finish with more wins than the Oklahoma City Thunder to squeak into the play-in tournament, and their efforts to do so will continue on Wednesday night, […]

It truly is difficult for an NBA franchise to get over the hump when the city they’re based in isn’t exactly a marquee free agent destination. That difficulty only ratchets up even further when that team refuses to bottom out, which prevents them from getting a pick at the top of the draft and the […]

The Golden State Warriors had to overcome a surprise absence from Klay Thompson en route to a 136-125 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder, but it wasn’t an easy endeavor. After all, head coach Steve Kerr didn’t seem to possess the right answers to this conundrum at first when he decided to roll with a […]

The Boston Celtics face a quick turnaround, as less than 24 hours after suffering a heartbreaking defeat to the Philadelphia 76ers, they will be facing the Toronto Raptors. The Raptors will be motivated to perform as well as they can to usurp the Atlanta Hawks for the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference. Nevertheless, it […]

The New York Mets have not particularly been off to the strongest of starts during the 2023 campaign. Through six games, they have gone 3-3. Of course, there is plenty of baseball left to be played. But after getting shut out in two consecutive games by the Milwaukee Brewers, the last thing the Mets will […]

Clearly, the NBA wants the players to start taking regular season games more seriously, as they instituted a 65 games played minimum for players to become eligible for the regular season awards. Even then, Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green, who has achieved almost everything there is to achieve in his NBA career, believes that one […]