Jedd Pagaduan Articles - Page 136

The Utah Jazz are in as enviable position as any rebuilding team, apart from, perhaps, the Oklahoma City Thunder. They already have a star to build around in Lauri Markkanen, a rising star in Walker Kessler, and a few youngsters who could turn out to be quality rotation pieces for the next half-decade or so […]

The New York Knicks entered the 2022-23 season without much fanfare; signing Jalen Brunson didn’t quite sway the expectations of fans and pundits to the point where many felt like the Knicks had enough weapons to make a deep playoff run. However, Brunson has blossomed into quite the star in the Big Apple, and with […]

The Phoenix Suns are now in a win-at-all-costs scenario, after they convincingly lost Game 5 of their second-round matchup to the Denver Nuggets, 118-102, to fall behind 3-2 in the series. Devin Booker and Kevin Durant have tried their best to keep the Suns afloat amid Chris Paul’s groin injury, which forced the floor general […]

The Golden State Warriors have not put up the best title defense effort. Throughout the 2022-23 season, the Warriors have dealt with inconsistencies, particularly on the defensive end, but it never seemed like the Warriors were out of the title-contending picture at any point in the season. And their championship mettle certainly played a huge […]

Despite two dominant Nikola Jokic games on the road, the Nuggets simply did not provide their best player with the requisite help to get a win against the Phoenix Suns. As a result, the Nuggets entered Game 5 at home in sort of a must-win scenario, as they do not want to go down 3-2 […]

Good things have come few and far between for the beleaguered Oakland Athletics; under manager Mark Kotsay’s leadership, the A’s have posted a 34.1 percent winning percentage. It’s difficult to rag too much on the Athletics given their focus is on developing their young players, one of whom is Mason Miller, their third round draft […]

There’s nothing quite more gripping in the NBA than playoff basketball. After a grueling six-month regular season grind, teams now need to win just 16 games to reach the mountaintop. This is an incredibly difficult endeavor that requires the strongest of wills, and other players have even admitted to the postseason lights being too bright […]

Superstars are what makes the NBA world go around. They take on an extremely heavy burden, and the entire world expects them to bring their best on a nightly basis. Even then, basketball is a team sport, and, as the great Los Angeles Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar once said, one man cannot make a team. […]

The Utah Jazz made two franchise-altering trades during the 2022 offseason, dealing away former franchise cornerstones Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert in an attempt to pivot towards a rebuilding effort. As a result of these trades, the Jazz not only received a plethora of assets, but they gutted the core of what once was a […]

Where would the Golden State Warriors be without Stephen Curry? Out of the 2023 NBA playoffs, that’s for sure. Curry, time and time again, has led the Warriors to great heights, acting as the engine that fuels the Warriors’ championship hopes. And in Game 4, even with the Warriors suffering a crushing 104-101 defeat to […]

The Miami Heat, despite entering the 2023 NBA playoffs as the eight-seed in the Eastern Conference, are now just one win away from a return trip to the Eastern Conference Finals, their third in four seasons. They protected homecourt against the New York Knicks, and they now own a commanding 3-1 series lead, and it’s […]

The Denver Nuggets seemed to be well on their way to the Western Conference Finals after two impressive performances at home to take a 2-0 series lead over the Phoenix Suns heading into the road. But now, Devin Booker and the Suns have come storming back, tying the series at two games apiece after two […]

The Miami Heat simply refuse to die, like that piece of excrement that simply won’t go down the drain no matter how hard you press the toilet flush. With their Game 3 win at the friendly confines of Kaseya Center, the Heat are one step closer to inching to their second-consecutive Eastern Conference Finals appearance. […]

The Los Angeles Lakers are simply on an unbelievable roll as of the moment. It definitely seems like the entire coaching staff and roster are in sync, pushing on the right buttons as they stand one step closer to knocking off the reigning champion Golden State Warriors in the second round of the 2023 NBA […]

The Toronto Raptors are looking to enter a new era. Following their 2019 NBA championship triumph, the Raptors have undergone a gradual decline, and it eventually led to the departure of former head coach Nick Nurse, whose differences with the front office proved to be too far of a chasm to bridge. The pieces are […]

The New York Yankees franchise remains the standard of greatness in the MLB. Throughout its history, the Yankees franchise have won the most championships, with 27. While that in itself is a great accomplishment, the Yankees, thanks to their unlimited resources and penchant for acquiring and developing quality contributors, have not finished with a record […]

The Philadelphia Phillies had a 2022 season for the ages, even if they failed to triumph over the Houston Astros in the World Series. Led by Bryce Harper, who has been on the receiving end of plenty of criticisms over the years, the Phillies took on one challenge after another and almost conquered each and […]

The Phoenix Suns became one of the favorites to win the 2023 NBA championship when they traded for Kevin Durant. Acquiring Durant gave the Suns three Hall of Fame-caliber talents, and it seemed like all they needed to achieve the pinnacle of team success is to remain healthy. Alas, it seems like staying healthy for […]

This is still difficult to believe, but three years have passed since the great Kobe Bryant passed away in a tragic helicopter crash. Even then, it is extremely apparent that his legacy continues to live on, and will continue to do so until the end of time itself. The way Bryant approached the game with […]

Kyle Kuzma hasn’t made his desire to return to the Los Angeles Lakers someday a secret. Throughout the 2022-23 season, there have been rumors floating around that the Lakers are interested in a potential reunion with the scoring forward. Thus it hasn’t been a surprise at all that Kuzma is keeping tabs on his old […]

It is yet another offseason of heartbreak for the Los Angeles Clippers, but approaching Year 5 of the Kawhi Leonard and Paul George era, this is certainly not the time to feel sorry for themselves. Sure, suffering one major injury after another to their top dogs is a tough pill to swallow. But at the […]

The Charlotte Hornets surprisingly found themselves in the middle of an upheaval during the 2022-23 campaign. What seemed like a team that was on the rise just couldn’t string together the fortune necessary to sustain a winning outfit, and as a result, the Hornets, after two straight seasons of making the play-in tournament, find themselves […]

Anthony Davis was exceptional during the Los Angeles Lakers’ Game 1 victory. He tallied 30 points and 23 rebounds, and his defensive impact was, once again, otherworldly, as he prevented the Golden State Warriors from even thinking about entering the paint. With Davis playing like he did in Game 1, the Warriors will have plenty […]

Not many would have thought that the Los Angeles Lakers would make it this far in the season, what with their brutal 2-10 start to the season, but here they are. After a resounding Game 1 win in their second-round matchup against the reigning champion Golden State Warriors, LeBron James and the Lakers showed that […]

The 2022-23 season was supposed to be some sort of turning point for the rebuilding Detroit Pistons. After all, they decided to give Cade Cunningham, the first overall pick of the 2021 NBA Draft, a reliable floor-spacing veteran in Bojan Bogdanovic. However, it’s clear that with the youth of the Pistons’ roster, rising above the […]

The Philadelphia 76ers’ Game 2 performance against the Boston Celtics may have been the stuff of nightmares. But make no mistake about it, they will be heading back home to Philadelphia pleased with a 1-1 series split. And now with Joel Embiid back from what seemed to be a serious knee injury that threatened to […]

The Miami Heat, despite their plethora of injury woes and aging core, simply refuse to die. With the series heading back to South Beach for Game 3, the Heat have a golden opportunity to take a commanding series lead over the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Here, we’ll be making a few […]

Funnily enough, it looks like what the Los Angeles Clippers need to succeed is to find one of these two things. They must locate a friendly witch who won’t insert pins on the voodoo doll equivalents of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George come postseason time, or replace their two stars’ knees with bionic inserts to […]

Who knew that trading four unprotected first-round picks, in addition to three helpful role players and a high-potential rookie (Walker Kessler), for another center when you already have Karl-Anthony Towns on the roster isn’t the best idea? The Minnesota Timberwolves apparently didn’t. In a league trending towards two-way versatility brought forth by skilled size, pairing […]

Has there been a more unlucky franchise in NBA history than the Los Angeles Clippers? It definitely seems like every time circumstances begin to break right for them, one major development threatens to derail everything they had built to that point, perhaps even for good. And in the 2023 NBA playoffs, it certainly seems like […]

Joel Embiid could not pass up the opportunity to suit up for Game 2 of the Philadelphia 76ers’ second-round battle against noted rivals Boston Celtics. After all, he recently just won the 2022-23 NBA Most Valuable Player honors, and he was eager to prove that he, indeed, was deserving of such a prestigious acclaim. However, […]

The Golden State Warriors, despite entering their second-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers as slight favorites, know better than to underestimate a LeBron James-led squad. Even with James struggling, this Lakers squad, which has emerged as one of the best teams in the NBA since the trade deadline, is more than capable of going […]

The Golden State Warriors appeared to be dead in the water late in Game 1 of their second-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers. They were down by as many as 14 points with less than six minutes left, but Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Jordan Poole came roaring back with one timely shot after […]

One of the distinct advantages the Golden State Warriors had over the Los Angeles Lakers entering their exciting second-round playoff matchup is their ability to stretch the floor. Led by Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, the Warriors have revolutionized the game by weaponizing the 3-point shot unlike any other, which has led to plenty of […]

For stretches of the 2022-23 regular season, the Milwaukee Bucks seemed almost disinterested, struggling for a bit in late 2022 as their best players missed time consistently due to injuries. But as the calendar flipped to 2023, Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks turned things around. Starting in mid-January, the Bucks went on to win 16 […]

Nikola Jokic has continued to play at an MVP-level for the Denver Nuggets throughout the entirety of the 2022-23 season. Jokic seemed to drop one insane stat line after another on a nightly basis, breaking records belonging to the greatest stat-sheet stuffer of all time in Wilt Chamberlain. Thus, for a while, it seemed like […]

The second-round battle between the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers is one defined by the sheer star power helming both teams. Watching Stephen Curry duke it out against LeBron James once more will pique the interest of even the most casual fan, while Klay Thompson, Anthony Davis, and Draymond Green are always capable […]

In mid-February, plenty of pundits grew concerned over the Los Angeles Clippers’ interest in Russell Westbrook after such a disappointing tenure with the Los Angeles Lakers. Even then, Paul George, Westbrook’s teammate back with the Oklahoma City Thunder, went to bat for his friend, lobbying for the Clippers front office to add the former MVP […]

There was considerable, justifiable doubt surrounding the Denver Nuggets entering the 2023 NBA playoffs. They did not end the 2022-23 regular season on the best foot, with the MVP discourse surrounding Nikola Jokic turning toxic, and as a result, some pundits believed that the Nuggets may end up being the casualty of a first-round upset. […]