Mark Nilon Articles - Page 7

The Los Angeles Clippers may be the lower seed in their best-of-seven quarterfinals series against the Phoenix Suns, but Game 1 certainly didn’t play out like it as Ty Lue and company pulled out a down-to-the-wire 115-110 win. With this triumph, the Clips have gone up 1-0 and, in turn, have stolen homecourt advantage away […]

The 2023 NFL Draft is just over a week away and, heading into the festivities, it appears the Indianapolis Colts are interested in taking a swing at a new, young signal caller. Based on recent rumblings, it appears Florida’s Anthony Richardson could be their guy. Already having met with the Gators quarterback during the early […]

The Minnesota Timberwolves were absolutely crushed in Sunday’s Game 1 matchup against the top-seeded Denver Nuggets, and forward Kyle Anderson didn’t mince words when discussing their performance. Following the contest, the veteran suggested that the Wolves were on a far lower level as far as production is concerned, though noted that they have the capability […]

The Minnesota Timberwolves took care of business Friday evening and punched their ticket to the NBA Playoffs with a triumphant Play-In Tournament win over the OKC Thunder. Now, they find themselves gearing up for a best-of-seven quarterfinals matchup against the Denver Nuggets. Considering the Western Conference’s top seed mainly runs their offensive scheme through two-time […]

The Golden State Warriors fell to the Sacramento Kings by a final score of 126-123 in Game 1 of their 2023 quarterfinals matchup Saturday night. Though the game was truly exhilarating from start to finish, the third-seeded “Beam Team” ultimately wound up pulling away victorious and Dubs power forward Draymond Green seems to have a […]

The Golden State Warriors may currently be looking to defend their title as reigning NBA Champions, but the organization should also have one eye looking toward the future as they find themselves heading into an offseason where a few key contributors will become eligible for a new contract, with Klay Thompson serving as the most […]

Perhaps the most exhilarating game from opening day of the NBA Playoffs came during its finale when the Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors played 60 minutes of intense basketball. Coming into the outing, there were quite a number of storylines revolving around this bout, though, for the Dubs, the most noteworthy was that it […]

After a long 16 years of agonizing patience, Sacramento Kings fans have once again tasted NBA Playoff action. Perhaps even sweeter, they’ve done so while attaining a huge win over the defending champion Golden State Warriors in Game 1 while playing host on their home court. The energy at Golden 1 Center was otherworldly electric, […]

It’s officially do-or-die time for the Minnesota Timberwolves. After dropping their first game of the 2023 Play-In Tournament to the Los Angeles Lakers, Chris Finch and company have one more shot at clinching a postseason berth in a home game Friday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Unfortunately, heading into the pivotal outing, it appears […]

Los Angeles Clippers cornerstone Paul George made headlines this week with some controversial comments made on his podcast “Podcast P with Paul George.” Asked by NFL superstars Travis Kelce and Jason Kelce if “any NFL player can play in the NBA and also whether NBA players can play in the NFL,” the eight-time All-Star gave […]

After months of speculation and agonizing patience, Marc Lasry has officially executed the sale of his stake in the Milwaukee Bucks organization. The co-owner and Jimmy Haslam, along with Haslam Sports Group, have completed the long-awaited transaction that holds a value of $3.5 billion, as reported by The Athletic’s Shams Charania via Twitter on April […]

The Brooklyn Nets finished as the sixth-seed in the Eastern Conference standings and, in turn, have a round-one date scheduled against Joel Embiid, James Harden, and the Philadelphia 76ers in the upcoming postseason. While the Sixers certainly are viewed as the favorites to come away from the series victorious, head coach Jacque Vaughn is seemingly […]

Despite the tremendous efforts put forth by point guard Fred VanVleet, the Toronto Raptors’ up-and-down season came to its bitter end Wednesday evening, as they were bested in a win-or-die Play-In Tournament matchup by the Chicago Bulls. The contest was decided by a mere four points, with a final score reading 109-105. Following the club’s […]

The Oklahoma City Thunder pulled out a triumphant 123-118 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans Wednesday to keep their hopes of clinching a 2023 postseason berth alive. Despite being the less experience and lower seed whilst playing on the road, OKC managed to keep their composure down the stretch of their down-to-the-wire matchup against NOLA […]

The Toronto Raptors’ 2022-23 campaign ended in devastating fashion Wednesday evening, as they ultimately fell to the Chicago Bulls in what, for the majority of the night, was a game controlled by Nick Nurse and his ball club. After taking the lead at around the five-minute mark in the fourth period, the Bulls never relented […]

The Oklahoma City Thunder managed to scrape out a 123-118 win over the New Orleans Pelicans in round one of the Play-In Tournament to keep their 2022-23 season alive. While the club’s all-around efforts were certainly impressive to bear witness to, perhaps the most noteworthy part of the night was the controversial late-game matchup between […]

The New Orleans Pelicans’ 2022-23 season ended with a loud thud Wednesday evening, as they were bested by the Oklahoma City Thunder 123-118. The final score alone indicates that this Play-In bout was tightly contested till the end, but, by watching the game, one will know that the outcome was a Brandon Ingram-favored foul call […]

After a three-year drought that spanned from 2019-2021, the Minnesota Timberwolves are in a position to punch their ticket to their second consecutive postseason berth with just one win in the 2023 Play-In Tournament. Tuesday night, they’ll be finding themselves squaring off against the seventh-seeded Los Angeles Lakers in the first game of the Western […]

The Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves are gearing up to play each other in Game 1 of Tuesday’s Play-In Tournament. A win for either party would officially clinch a postseason berth while a loss would have them suit up for one final try against the winner of the OKC Thunder and New Orleans Pelicans […]

The Houston Rockets are in a full-blown youth movement and, in turn, are prioritizing the development of their bevy of rising talents. While the likes of Jalen Green, Kevin Porter Jr., Jabari Smith, and Alperen Sengun all seem guaranteed to be built around for years to come, the same expectations are not as assured when […]

Jalen Carter’s reputation has plummeted a bit since his late-January off-field situation, but that doesn’t mean his stock heading into the 2023 NFL Draft has completely vanished. In fact, Mel Kiper still views him as a guaranteed top-10 talent. The ESPN analyst recently constructed a two-round mock draft and, with the fifth overall selection, he […]

The Golden State Warriors head into the playoffs as the league’s reigning champions. Over the better part of the past decade, this has become a rather common occurrence for the franchise. Now, as they look to defend their crown, Dubs star Draymond Green has sent a message to the rest of the association. The big […]

With the 2023 NFL Draft just a few weeks away, this year’s top prospects’ schedules are seemingly filled to the brim with team visit after team visit. For highly-touted receiver Jordan Addison, this sentiment certainly rings true as he’s gearing up for yet another string of meetings after having attended a bevy of them this […]

Though head coach Nick Nurse’s future with the Toronto Raptors has been in question for some time now, his current focus still seems to be set on the club’s upcoming Play-In Tournament run. Following their Easter Sunday blowout over the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks, Canada’s lone ball club locked themselves into the ninth seed out in […]

The Boston Celtics closed out their 2022-23 regular season on Easter Sunday in exhilarating fashion, as the title favorites pulled out a hard-fought 120-114 win over the play-in-bound Atlanta Hawks. No Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown proved to be no problem for Joe Mazzulla’s squad, as they were guided to victory by the heroic efforts […]

Beloved Miami Heat veteran Udonis Haslem played his final regular season game on Easter Sunday and went out with a blaze of glory. Seeing a whopping 24 minutes of action against the Orlando Magic, the big man put forth a tremendous showing, finishing with a game-high 24 points to go along with 3 rebounds and […]

After a rather successful 2022 NFL season, the Detroit Lions are looking to build off their accomplishments and, hopefully, inch themselves closer to breaking their current six-year playoff drought. For most teams, strong quarterback play is the difference between a mediocre finish and a meteoric rise. While current starter Jared Goff had a solid campaign, […]

The Los Angeles Lakers officially punched their ticket to the play-in tournament Sunday afternoon with a decisive 128-117 win over the Utah Jazz. Through ample adversity, the club managed to extend their 2022-23 campaign and give themselves a chance at clinching a playoff berth should they collect just one more win. However, the Lakers still […]

The Minnesota Timberwolves still find themselves fighting for their postseason fate heading into their regular-season finale against the New Orleans Pelicans Sunday afternoon. With just one win separating them from the sixth-seeded Los Angeles Lakers, the ninth-seeded Wolves should be looking at their upcoming bout as a must-win contest. Rudy Gobert popped up on the […]

The Dallas Mavericks received some serious criticisms from both NBA fans and personnel alike recently, as the club seemingly decided to wave the proverbial white flag and purposefully lose their recent matchup against the Chicago Bulls. The loss officially eliminated the Mavs from playoff contention and, subsequently, improved their odds of keeping their 2023 first-round […]

The Dallas Mavericks may have just increased their odds of retaining their 2023 NBA Draft pick after officially being eliminated from the postseason Friday night but their sights may be set on bigger things that are beyond draft day. Should the Mavs’ selection fall out from the top 10 picks in this year’s draft, they […]

The Denver Nuggets may be locked in as the number one seed in the Western Conference standings, but their performance against the Utah Jazz Saturday evening drew some strong criticisms from head coach Michael Malone. The head coach was fired up at his post-game media session, as he publicly called out his Nuggets in front […]

The Wolves may have just walloped the San Antonio Spurs to the tune of a 151-131 win Saturday evening, but they’ll need to pull out a second-consecutive victory Sunday afternoon if they wish to have a fighter’s chance of officially securing a top-six seed in the Western Conference standings. With how tightly contested the 2023 […]

After having made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals just a season ago, with two games remaining in 2022-23, the Dallas Mavericks find themselves fighting to punch their ticket to simply participate in the league’s play-in tournament. With this, Friday night’s matchup against the Chicago Bulls is a must-win scenario for the […]

The Chicago Bulls have already punched their ticket to participate in this year’s play-in tournament and are locked into the No. 10 seed in the Eastern Conference. For their Friday night bout against the Dallas Mavericks, star guard Zach LaVine was initially listed as questionable. So, is Zach LaVine playing tonight vs. the Mavs? *Watch NBA […]

Though the Atlanta Hawks may have already clinched a position in the 2023 play-in tournament, where they may wind up falling in the standings is still something that is up in the air. With just a couple of games remaining on the docket and one game separating them from the ninth-seeded Toronto Raptors, winning out […]

The New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers are officially locked into a first-round playoff matchup, with Game 1 slated to tip-off during the second week of April. While the Knickerbockers handily won the regular season series against their Eastern Conference foe three games to one, shooting guard Quentin Grimes is already scheming up ways to […]

The Utah Jazz will not be clinching a playoff berth in 2022-23, but this outcome certainly isn’t the result of a lack of trying. After losing to the Oklahoma City Thunder Thursday evening, Will Hardy’s club shut the door on any possibility of taking part in the upcoming postseason while simultaneously adding ping-pong balls into […]

Though the Philadelphia 76ers may already be postseason-bound, as the club clinched the third seed in the Eastern Conference following the Boston Celtics’ win over the Toronto Raptors Wednesday, this is not to say that they wish to now coast on through the postseason with several games remaining on the schedule. Their matchup Thursday evening […]