Mike Cruz Articles - Page 16

Chris Paul may be on his way out of the Phoenix Suns after reports claim they informed the legendary point guard of their plans to waive him. In other reports, however, Phoenix is still exploring other options with the All-Star — which include a trade, stretching his contract, waiving and re-signing him in free agency. […]

The Phoenix Suns have reportedly informed 12-time All-Star Chris Paul that he will be waived, according to Chris Haynes of TNT. Just like that, Paul becomes one of the most coveted free agents this offseason. The 38-year-old reportedly intends to play several more seasons and wants to help a team win a championship. Despite a […]

Free agent guard Kyrie Irving is reportedly trying to recruit LeBron James to play with him and Luka Doncic with the Dallas Mavericks. Mavs fans are probably salivating at the thought of having a big three of Doncic, James, and Irving making magic together in Dallas. Of course the news sent NBA Twitter into a […]

A bomb dropped in the middle of the NBA Finals when it was reported that Kyrie Irving is recruiting Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James to come join him and Luka Doncic with the Dallas Mavericks. The news sent shockwaves across the NBA as a Doncic-James-Irving trio, on paper, would undoubtedly be up there in […]

The Minnesota Timberwolves were eliminated in the first round for the second straight season. Though the Timberwolves, on paper, boast a talented core of Anthony Edwards, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Rudy Gobert, the outlook of the franchise seems a bit murky considering their current salary situation and future draft assets. According to Bobby Marks of ESPN, […]

The Miami Heat shocked the Denver Nuggets in Game 2 with a scintillating 111-108 come-from-behind win to even the 2023 NBA Finals. The game was a rollercoaster. Miami raced off to an early lead, then Denver swung back, controlled the second and third quarters, and took a lead that went as high as 15 points. […]

The Portland Trail Blazers remain adamant about building around franchise superstar Damian Lillard despite finishing with a 33-49 record last season. The Blazers netted the 3rd overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, but it is looking likely they will trade that pick to get immediate help for Lillard. With that, Portland will also likely look […]

The Brooklyn Nets are currently in transition to their next era after they traded Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving during the 2022-23 season. The Nets did recoup some promising young studs in Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson (who is a free agent this summer) and some draft assets in the two deals. Still, we are […]

For yet another year, the Los Angeles Clippers suffered another disappointing exit in the postseason. The Clippers lost to the Phoenix Suns in the first round. They won Game 1 convincingly and stole home-court advantage, but wound up losing in five games after Kawhi Leonard went down with a knee injury and missed the rest […]

The New York Knicks made it past the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round, but fell to the eventual Eastern Conference champions Miami Heat in Round 2. Despite the second-round exit, the Knicks have plenty of reasons to feel good for next season. They can build off this campaign to get better pieces in NBA […]

The Miami Heat took the first blow in the 2023 NBA Finals as the Denver Nuggets dominated with a 104-93 win in Game 1. The Heat were simply outclassed by Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets, who showcased a masterful and efficient offensive game plan to take the series opener. Ahead of Sunday night’s showdown, we […]

The Miami Heat were outclassed by the Denver Nuggets in Game 1 of the 2023 NBA Finals, marking the first time Erik Spoelstra’s team dropped a series opener in the 2023 NBA Playoffs. The Heat looked more like the 8th seed they are. They struggled to find rhythm offensively and even looked fatigued with some […]

If there’s one thing Nikola Jokic proved in his NBA Finals debut, it was that he belonged on the game’s brightest stage. In classic Joker fashion, the Denver Nuggets superstar notched a triple-double in his first NBA Finals game with 27 points, 14 assists, and 10 rebounds. The Nuggets looked unstoppable in their 104-93 Game 1 […]

The Miami Heat lost a Game 1 for the first time in this postseason after dropping the 2023 NBA Finals opener to the Denver Nuggets, 104-93. The Nuggets were in cruise control through most of the game, while the Heat struggled to put the ball in the basket. Bam Adebayo was Miami’s best player in […]

Rumors of Kyrie Irving going to the Los Angeles Lakers have been floating around for months now after he requested a trade from the Brooklyn Nets. And yes, those rumors persisted even though the Dallas Mavericks acquired Irving in February. The noise is growing much louder now, especially with Irving making appearances at Crypto.com Arena […]

With their Game 7 Eastern Conference Finals loss to the Miami Heat, the Boston Celtics blew their shot at history to become the first-ever team to come back from an 0-3 NBA Playoffs deficit. With such a disappointing end to the season, the Celtics carry a ton of question marks and have a lot of […]

We are finally on the doorstep of the 2023 NBA Finals — a historic showdown between the Denver Nuggets and the Miami Heat. This is the first time ever that the Nuggets and the Heat are squaring off in the Finals. Yet, the two had such contrasting journeys on their way to the Finals. The […]

The Charlotte Hornets own five picks throughout the 2023 NBA Draft. They were unfortunate to come up just short of the No. 1 overall pick and miss out on the consensus top pick Victor Wembanyama, which apparently also cost Hornets owner Michael Jordan half a million bucks. But still, they were fortunate enough in getting […]

You read the headline. For Miami Heat superstar Jimmy Butler, Game 7 will be his legacy-defining game. We’ve seen him smiling on the bench; Butler is still confident that the Heat can get it done. Heck, he even eerily said this last year. JIMMY BUTLER you said this last year.. and you are INDEED in […]

The day has finally arrived. The Miami Heat and Boston Celtics will clash for a historic winner-take-all in Game 7. The world just witnessed perhaps one of the craziest NBA playoff games in the history of the sport in Game 6, and we could be in for another doozy on Monday night. As we dust […]

The Utah Jazz have the most picks in the first round of the 2023 NBA Draft, as they are the only team in the league with three such selections. The Jazz will be picking with the ninth pick (their own), the 16th pick (acquired from Minnesota), and the 28th pick (acquired from Philadelphia via Brooklyn). […]

Marcus Smart warned us. Jaylen Brown did, too. Somehow, some way, the Boston Celtics’ green heart is still beating—and they needed every tenth of a second to stay alive. With their miraculous 104-103 victory over the Miami Heat, the Celtics finds themselves on the brink of NBA history by becoming the first team ever to […]

The Miami Heat will unfortunately need to take the hardest of roads to get that one more win they’ve been craving since taking a 3-0 lead earlier in these Eastern Conference Finals. The Boston Celtics managed to pull off the impossible and win three straight to force a Game 7 on their home floor Monday […]

The 2023 NBA Eastern Conference Finals between the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics will feature the two best words in sports: Game 7. Boston miraculously pulled off the Game 6 win on the road thanks to the heroics of Derick White’s game-winning putback to force the decider. Ahead of Monday night’s epic Heat-Celtics clash, […]

The Miami Heat blew a golden opportunity to make the NBA Finals with a heartbreaking 104-103 loss to the Boston Celtics in Game 6. Derrick White’s epic game-winner is undoubtedly the main story of the game, but Miami’s loss goes much deeper than White’s heroics. Despite the devastating defeat, the Heat remain confident they can […]

The San Antonio Spurs secured their next franchise cornerstone in French phenom Victor Wembanyama when they landed the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. However, ESPN cooked up some mind-boggling trades that San Antonio may want to consider, including one with the Oklahoma City Thunder. The hypothetical Spurs-Thunder swap involves Wembanyama, of […]

Victor Wembanyama is set to become the next franchise cornerstone of the San Antonio Spurs after the ping pong balls went in the Spurs’ favor in the 2023 NBA Draft lottery. Still, that did not stop ESPN from putting out an absurd list of hypothetical trades involving the prized top overall pick. That list included a […]

After a successful 2022-23 season, the Sacramento Kings may consider using their No. 24 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft to add more win-now pieces to their promising core led by De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis. The Kings took the 2022 NBA Champion Golden State Warriors to seven games and came close to knocking them […]

After making the Western Conference Finals, the Los Angeles Lakers might just look to trade their No. 17 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft to add more pieces to give LeBron James and Anthony Davis a chance of winning another championship. Despite finishing 7th in the Western Conference standings, Los Angeles landed the 17th overall […]

Heat Nation, do not panic. The Miami Heat aren’t just about to pull off a historic choke versus the Boston Celtics despite two straight clunker performances. All the talk right now is how Boston could potentially pull off the greatest comeback in NBA history. No team has ever overcome a 0-3 deficit in the playoffs. […]

The Miami Heat fumbled another opportunity to return to the NBA Finals by losing Game 5 to the Boston Celtics, 110-97. Boston dominated on its home floor with some hot 3-point shooting, with six triples coming from Derrick White and four treys coming from Marcus Smart. The margin for error for Miami has dwindled in […]

LeBron James is unquestionably the best player of this generation, and he continues to make his GOAT case by breaking Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s all-time scoring record. It goes without saying that LeBron has accomplished a lot since he came to the NBA as teenager from Akron, Ohio. LeBron breaking Kareem’s record immediately becomes one of the greatest […]

The Brooklyn Nets underachieved incredibly this past 2021-22 season. Entering as the pre-season favorites to hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy in June, the Nets were swept in the first round by the eventual Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics in the 2022 NBA playoffs. In this post, though, we’re going to be looking at some Nets […]

The Boston Celtics were two wins away from winning the franchise’s 18th NBA championship. Unfortunately, they were stifled by a Golden State Warriors team destined to reclaim their throne atop the NBA. The 2022 NBA Finals revealed that this Celtics squad isn’t quite there yet to etch itself into basketball immortality. Turnovers were the most […]

Fresh off a 2022 NBA championship win over the Boston Celtics, the Golden State Warriors further reloaded their youth core by selecting three rookies in the 2022 NBA Draft. In fact, they even acquired a pick (no. 44 from the Atlanta Hawks) and used it to draft guard Ryan Rollins. The Warriors picked swingman Patrick […]

The Toronto Raptors struck gold in last year’s draft when they took Scottie Barnes with the No. 4 overall pick. Barnes eventually won the 2021-22 Rookie of the Year award and will be a huge centerpiece for the Raptors for many years to come. Unlike last year, Toronto will not have a high draft pick […]

The Golden State Warriors reclaimed their throne by beating the Boston Celtics, 4-2, in the 2022 NBA Finals. This marked Golden State’s fourth NBA championship in eight years. It was certainly an emotional victory for Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and co. as the Warriors went through a grueling three-year journey to climb back […]

After winning two of the first three games of the 2022 NBA Finals, the Boston Celtics lost three in a row and watched the Golden State Warriors hoist the NBA championship right on their home turf. The Celtics must have wondered what went wrong in those last three losses and how they can get over […]

The Orlando Magic had the luck of the draw when they landed the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft. There is no consensus No. 1 pick, but Auburn’s Jabari Smith, Gonzaga’s Chet Holmgren, and Duke’s Paolo Banchero are all slated to go in the top three. That top pick will arguably be […]