Mike Cruz Articles - Page 56

After dominating the past five seasons, the Golden State Warriors now find themselves near the bottom of the league standings. Despite the pile-up of losses with more expected to come throughout the season, head coach Steve Kerr admitted that he is enjoying developing the Warriors young players, per Shaun Powell of NBA.com. Likewise, Kerr also […]

Dallas Mavericks center Boban Marjanovic arguably had his best game of the season in their 130-84 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday. The Serbian big man scored 15 points and hauled in 16 rebounds in 23 minutes for his first double-double of the season with the Mavs. After the game, Boban gave a […]

The Milwaukee Bucks faced the new-look L.A. Clippers on the same day as Giannis Antetokounmpo’s birthday in what could be a preview of the 2020 NBA Finals in June. It was all but an exciting match as the Bucks obliterated the Clippers on Friday en route to a 119-91 victory. After the game, Clippers head […]

With the game on the line and the Chicago Bulls down by two against the Golden State Warriors, the ball was in the hands of Zach LaVine. The high-flying shooting guard opted to pull-up for a semi-contested three-pointer on the left wing instead of attacking the basket or trying to fish for a foul. LaVine’s […]

December 6th is a very important day for Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart and he made sure that he played on that very special day. Last night could have the 65th birthday of Camellia Smart, who succumbed to cancer in September of last year. Smart stressed the importance of playing against the Denver Nuggets last […]

Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray is becoming one of the most exciting young stars in the NBA. The spit-fire guard has constantly improved his game every year since his rookie season. The knock on the Canadian through his three years in the league is his defense. This season, however, Murray has shown strides in that […]

The Los Angeles Lakers are sitting pretty atop the Western Conference standings with a 20-3 slate, tied for best record in the league with the Milwaukee Bucks. Head coach Frank Vogel praised Anthony Davis’ effort in their 136-113 blowout victory against the Portland Trail Blazers. He also added how the superstar big man’s chemistry with […]

The Houston Rockets squandered a huge lead in the fourth quarter and ultimately lost in double-overtime against the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday night, 135-133. The game didn’t come without controversy either. The officials did not count what was supposed to be two points from a breakaway James Harden dunk that would have given Houston […]

Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic gobbled up a career-high 18 rebounds in their 118-97 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday. Asked about his achievement, the Mavs guard simply attributed it to how the ball just found him as he just stood beneath the basket, via Eddie Sefko of Mavs.com. Luka Doncic to TNT […]

The Houston Rockets are reportedly looking to protest their recent 135-133 double-overtime loss to the San Antonio Spurs, per multiple sources. … protest might not be necessary but will prepare to file one if the league office does not take action. — Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) December 4, 2019 Rockets weighing protesting the game, source said. […]

The Chicago Bulls’ best players finally showed out in the same game. Zach LaVine and Lauri Markkanen finally hit 20 points in the same game for the first time season, per K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports. It took 21 games, but it was good enough to snap Chicago’s three-game losing skid with an impressive road […]

The New York Knicks’ downward spiral continues, and it’s just getting worse and worse. The bad news is that we’re only just around a quarter into the season. Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic detailed a laundry list of tragedies in New York’s embarrassing 132-88 loss against the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks: Bucks 132, Knicks 88The 6th-worst […]

The Chicago Bulls entered Monday night’s contest against the Sacramento Kings with three straight losses. The Kings, on the other hand, were fresh off a big come-from-behind victory over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday. With Sacramento playing in front of its home crowd and Chicago on the tail end of a three game West Coast […]

Three-time Sixth Man of the Year awardee Jamal Crawford is still roaming freely on the free agent market. According to Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson of Heavy.com, a source reportedly told him that a couple of top-tier Eastern Conference contenders were looking into bringing on the 20-year veteran. However, talks have apparently stalled in the meantime. […]

The New York Knicks are in dire need of a change, and that change might come in the form of Masai Ujiri. According to Steve Popper of Newsday, there are rumors that the Toronto Raptors are fearing that president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri could make the transfer to New York should the Knicks come […]

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports that Orlando Magic forward Al-Farouq Aminu is out indefinitely after suffering a torn meniscus in his right knee. Orlando Magic F Al-Farouq Aminu has suffered a torn meniscus in his right knee and will be out indefinitely, league sources tell ESPN. — Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 1, 2019 This is a […]

Giannis Antetokounmpo’s streak of double-doubles to start the season came to a halt in the Milwaukee Bucks’ dominant victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday. The 6-foot-11 forward fell just one rebound short of notching the double-doubles, ending his streak at 19. Antetokounmpo said he wasn’t aware that he needed just one rebound to extend […]

Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid has made quite the turn around since he had the worst game of his career against the Toronto Raptors last week. The defending champs handed Embiid a nightmare evening and held him scoreless for the first time in his career. Embiid missed all of his 11 shots from the field […]

Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo streak of double-doubles to start the season came to an end in their lopsided victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday night. With the game way out of reach but Antetokounmpo needing just one more rebound to complete his double-double, Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer opted to sit his superstar […]

Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo finished Saturday night’s game against the Charlotte Hornets with 26 points, nine rebounds, and four assists, falling just one board short of notching a double-double. That means his streak of double-doubles to start the season came to an end at 19 games. Following the game, reporters asked The Greek Freak […]

Houston Rockets superstar James Harden continued his magnificent 2019-20 campaign with a season-high 60 points in just 31 minutes. In the process, he also tied Michael Jordan for the third most 60-point games in NBA history and now trails just Kobe Bryant and Wilt Chamberlain on the all-time list. Asked about the accomplishment in his […]

On Saturday, TJ McConnell made his first visit to the Wells Fargo Center in a different uniform as part of the Indiana Pacers. The Philadelphia 76ers showed some love to their the former Sixers guard with a touching video tribute in the first quarter. Footage of the scene in Philadelphia can be seen below, via […]

The Atlanta Hawks were absolutely blown out of the Toyota Center by the Houston Rockets, losing by 47 points on a night where James Harden dropped 60 points in three quarters. Despite the embarrassing 158-111 loss, the Hawks still found a consolation prize in Trae Young’s personal accomplishment tonight. Per NBA on ESPN, Young officially […]

Alex Caruso has been a pleasant surprise for the Los Angeles Lakers this season. In fact, he is already starting to become a fan favorite for the Purple and Gold faithful. The 25-year old guard also recently drew praise from head coach Frank Vogel for his elite defense. Vogel called him a “star defender” and […]

LaMelo Ball is starting to make a name for himself in the international scene. The Illawara Hawks guard recently made history by becoming the first player in the NBL 40-minute era to notch back-to-back triple-doubles. 🚨 BACK-TO-BACK TRIPLE-DOUBLES 🚨 LaMelo Ball posted 25 Pts, 12 Reb and 10 Ast to become the first player in […]

The Milwaukee Bucks notched the first double-digit winning streak of the season with a 119-110 road victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers. Per the Bucks Twitter account, this is Milwaukee’s first 10-game win streak since the 1985-86 season. Longest Bucks WIN streak since 1985-86.#FearTheDeer — Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) November 30, 2019 Sidney Moncrief and Terry Cummings […]

The Los Angeles Lakers rattled off the second double-digit winning streak of the season, hours after the Milwaukee Bucks notched their 10th straight win, with a 125-103 beat down of the Washington Wizards last night. Speaking about their 10th straight victory, Lakers superstar forward Anthony Davis admitted he is “not surprised” with their performance so […]

After a surprising campaign last year, in which they made the playoffs as the no. 8 seed, the Detroit Pistons have struggled out of the gates this 2019-20 season. Pistons star Blake Griffin isn’t happy with his club’s lack of “fight”, acknowledging that they’re not going to win if they continue to play the way […]

Kristaps Porzingis had a rough night on Friday in the Dallas Mavericks’ 120-113 road win over the Phoenix Suns. In 34 minutes, Porzingis failed to convert on any of his eight shot attempts – including six from beyond the arc – and finished with just two points on the evening. Even with the cold shooting […]

Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic dropped 42 points and 11 assists against the Phoenix Suns last night. The Suns were one of the three teams that passed on selecting the Slovenian Sensation on draft night. According to Marc Stein of The New York Post, the Suns, which then had the first overall pick, apparently had […]

Many would say that Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James is arguably the greatest athlete the world has ever seen. Everyone would probably say he is in the top three, at the very least. However, for former Laker and NBA champion Metta World Peace, The King did not make the cut on his top-five list: […]

Rajon Rondo just made his season debut for the Los Angeles Lakers a couple of weeks ago. Just five games into his 14th NBA season, the feisty playmaker was already ejected in a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday. Likewise, the NBA gave Rondo a hefty $35,000 fine for his actions. Rondo pointed to […]

Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN recently reported that the Memphis Grizzlies have no intentions to buy out veteran forward Andre Iguodala, per Kurt Helin of NBC Sports. They reportedly made it clear that they want something in return – particularly a first round draft pick – for the former Finals MVP. This means that teams like […]

Chicago Bulls head coach Jim Boylen had plenty of praise for Zach LaVine after his magnificent performance against the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday night: “I’ve always said Zach is a really good guy, and a good person and he wants to do well,” Boylen said, per Richard Walker of The Associated Press. “He wants to help […]

When the Oklahoma City Thunder acquired Chris Paul this past offseason, many thought that this would just be a quick stopgap for the veteran point guard. The Thunder are in a rebuilding situation after trading Paul George and Russell Westbrook, and this kind of situation doesn’t fit an aging guard whose main focus at this […]

The Philadelphia 76ers stopped the surging Miami Heat on its tracks with a 113-86 obliteration of the South Beach squad on Saturday night. This prompted Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press to ask about Miami’s worst loss since last night, two which Heat legend Dwyane Wade answered: Game 2 of the 2011 NBA Finals‼️ https://t.co/3zssoEx9Lp […]

Ray Westbrook, the brother of Houston Rockets star Russell Westbrook, was reportedly escorted out of Staples Center after he allegedly had a post-game spat with L.A. Clippers forward Montrezl Harrell on Friday night. Former player and TV analyst Kendrick Perkins gave his take on the situation and defended Ray on the accusations thrown at him: […]

San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich recently gave his two cents on the concept of “load management” and dismissed it is a normal thing around the NBA, per Michael Pina of SB Nation. Gregg Popovich: “Load management is whatever you want load management to be…Everyone does it to some degree.” — Michael Pina (@MichaelVPina) […]

The NBA is mulling on incorporating some changes that will affect the landscape of the Association. Asked about the possible developments, San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich said that he would rather not stick his nose on that matter and would leave it to the league office to do what they do. Pop on […]