NBA Playoffs Articles - Page 261

After a deflating 101-99 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday, the New York Knicks find themselves in a three-way tie for the 4-seed in the Eastern Conference with the Heat and the Hawks and three games to go. Because of tie-breaker procedures, the Knicks would end up with the No. 6 seed […]

The merit of having the NBA play-in tournament has been a hot button topic in recent weeks. Are the expanded playoffs perfect? They are not. That said, it makes sense for the 2020-21 season. The format is as follows: the No. 7 and No. 8 seed in each conference square off with the winner claiming […]

If there’s any player who deserves some rest this season, it’s MVP frontrunner Nikola Jokic. After all, The Joker has pretty much put the entire Denver Nuggets on his back this season, especially as of late when some of his teammates dealt with serious injuries. With the regular season winding down, Nuggets head coach Mike […]

In all likelihood, the San Antonio Spurs’ path to the Western Conference playoffs goes through the play-in round. The Spurs are currently 30-29, which is good for the ninth seed in the West. In the aforementioned play-in round, the Spurs will likely see a combination of one to two of these teams: Portland Trail Blazers, […]

The NBA has instated a play-in game for the playoffs this year that has received mixed reviews. Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic and owner Mark Cuban recently criticized the idea. Cuban was on record claiming he doesn’t think it makes sense this year, but it makes more sense for 2021, as the NBA likely won’t […]

With the playoffs quickly approaching, now is the time for the Portland Trail Blazers to separate themselves from the bottom half of the league and make a strong closing push to the regular season. Much easier said than done, as the top five seeds in the Western Conference are juggernauts in the league. Portland currently […]

The postseason is coming upon us with teams in the process of wrapping up the second half of the NBA season. And so far, we’ve seen many great players rising to the occasion. But unfortunately, not all of them will make it to the playoffs. Traditionally, the postseason only accommodates the top eight teams of […]

For the second straight game, the Denver Nuggets’ season looked as if it was in jeopardy.  After building an early lead and threatening to run away in Game 6 of their first round series against the Utah Jazz, Donovan Mitchell was leading the sixth-seeded Jazz to a furious comeback in the second half.  But for […]

Back in the good old days (four months ago), NBA fans were debating trends in the sport, who would win the Eastern and Western Conference, and who should be the number one pick in the draft, among other topics. One of those talking points was resting stars, officially known as “load management.” That element of […]

The future of the 2019-20 NBA season is still in limbo, but any hopes of having a traditional postseason are long gone. According to Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated, the NBA is keenly aware that it can’t hold the playoffs as they are constructed and hope to have a reasonable end to this campaign. While […]

Since the NBA makes a lot of its revenue during the playoffs, ESPN insider Brian Windhorst claims the “last thing” the league wants to do is cancel the 2020 playoffs altogether. Windhorst believes the NBA will remain motivated to have a normal playoff schedule, even if it means shortening the end of the 2019-20 regular […]

With concerns surrounding the coronavirus pandemic continuing to grow, the NBA has decided to suspend the 2019-20 regular season until health officials deem it safe enough to resume play. For now, there is hope that this campaign will pick up at a later date, but that is not a foregone conclusion. In this piece, we’ll […]

The Los Angeles Lakers are going to have LeBron James and Anthony Davis on the floor together this season, yet some are overlooking their pairing; it’s an enormous mistake. It’s no secret that the 2018-19 NBA season was a train wreck for the Lakers. It began as a season of hope with James’ arrival but […]

The Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers are the only teams in the Eastern Conference who pose a threat to win the NBA Finals this season. Concurrently, there’s a player whose presence on the floor could help his team challenge the top dogs in the conference: Victor Oladipo. Oladpio suffered a gruesome knee injury back in […]

Loud noise can be distracting and difficult to remove from our brains. The NBA offseason exemplifies this. Numerous playoff teams in the Western Conference made immense moves to improve their rosters. Meanwhile, one of the best teams in the conference, the Denver Nuggets, didn’t, and they’ve become the forgotten contender out West because of it. […]

The Milwaukee Bucks and Toronto Raptors are locked in a fierce battle for supremacy in the Eastern Conference. The latest episode in this drama played out in Game 5 in Milwaukee on Thursday night. Though some famous fans were in attendance for the Bucks, their foes were ready to fight, and the Raptors were able […]

Kawhi Leonard gives the Raptors the biggest boom or bust potential out of any team in the NBA heading into the offseason. If he stays, the Raptors will continue to be contenders in the east, if he goes, Toronto likely heads into a rebuilding phase centered around Pascal Siakam. Even if Toronto advances to the […]

The Denver Nuggets are set to play in their second seven-game series of this postseason after falling to the Portland Trail Blazers in Thursday night’s Game 6 matchup. According to Basketball-Reference, this marks the first time in Nuggets franchise history that the team will play in consecutive seven-game playoff series’. The San Antonio Spurs took […]

On Sunday, the Philadelphia 76ers suffered a tough home loss to the Toronto Raptors. The 101-96 defeat left the second round match-up tied at two games apiece headed back to Toronto. The Sixers were likely in need of a morale boost before a pivotal Game 5 on Tuesday. Enter young point guard Ben Simmons. The […]

On Thursday night, the Toronto Raptors will take on the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 3 of their second round matchup. With the series tied at one win apiece, this game could be pivotal. The Raptors won’t be at full strength. They’ll be missing an important bench piece in guard Jeremy Lin. Via Blake Murphy of […]

Sunday night’s Game 1 between the Houston Rockets and the Golden State Warriors is surrounded by controversy. After the Warriors’ 104-100 victory, many Rockets players and fans voiced their complaints about the game’s officiating. Voices on both sides weighed in over the following days. But on Tuesday, the league released its 48 minute report on […]

The Portland Trail Blazers are set to face a tough second round opponent in the Denver Nuggets. After a lackluster first round showing, Portland will need Enes Kanter. Luckily, Kanter is returning just in time for Monday night’s Game 1. According to T.J. McBride of Mile High Sports on Twitter: Enes Kanter WILL PLAY vs […]

The Detroit Pistons’ 2018-19 season came to an early end on Monday. Their 127-104 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks completed the sweep and officially ended their postseason run. Not much was expected from the eighth-seed Pistons. But with just their second postseason appearance in the past ten seasons, their season as a whole can only […]

The Golden State Warriors are no strangers to closeout games. The team is in the midst of its seventh consecutive postseason run. They have even made it to the NBA Finals in each of the last four years. After their infamous collapse against the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016, the Warriors know that the fourth win […]

Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson has always been different. Surrounded on the court by flashy superstars like Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, Thompson is more on the quiet side. He goes to work and gets the job done, usually without making much noise. So it comes as no surprise that he handles the stress […]

LOS ANGELES – The L.A. Clippers and Golden State Warriors each had two days off between Games 2 and 3. Patrick Beverley’s defensive effort on Kevin Durant the last few days led to a lot of talk about the 6-foot-11 Durant being stopped a 6-foot-1 Beverley. Durant let everyone know that he was Kevin Durant […]

LOS ANGELES – The L.A. Clippers shocked everyone when they overcame a 31-point 3rd quarter deficit to defeat the Golden State Warriors in Game 2 of their first round matchup. Kevin Durant fouled out of the game late and Landry Shamet hit the go-ahead three-pointer in one of the most historic nights in the NBA. […]

Shaquille O’Neal (along with Charles Barkley) provide endless laughs on NBA on TNT as their antics are known far and wide, and on Wednesday night, Shaq was caught taking notes on the pronunciation of Indiana Pacers small forward Bojan Bogdanovic’s name. Shaq needs a little help pronouncing Bojan Bogdanovic's name 😂 pic.twitter.com/JZiCh6MCNN — NBA on […]

The Boston Celtics defeated the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of their eastern conference first round series with a final score of 94-84. Throughout the first half, the Pacers controlled the game allowing them to go into the halftime break with a 45-38 lead. Yet, the third quarter would be the turning point, as the […]

The San Antonio Spurs are currently locked in a battle in the Western Conference playoffs against the Denver Nuggets. The Spurs, who are the #7 seed in a stacked Western Conference, soundly defeated the second-seeded Nuggets in the first game of this series on the back of a balanced scoring attack and solid team defense […]

OAKLAND, CA – Lou Williams and the L.A. Clippers, fresh off of a 17-point loss to the Golden State Warriors in Game 1, did the impossible on Monday night when they stunned the back-to-back defending NBA Champions by overcoming a 31-point deficit on the road. Yes, you read that correctly, and even the morning after, […]

OAKLAND, CA – Game 1 of the L.A. Clippers and Golden State Warriors first round series went to the heavily favored Warriors. In what was essentially a replay of last week’s game at Oracle Arena, the Clippers hung around in the first half until they were blown out of the water in the second half. […]

The NBA playoff matchups are set and so are their respective schedules. Nothing left to do but to mark those calendars, sit tight for a couple of days, and set up everything from friends to booze for that thrilling playoff experience. The 2019 NBA Playoffs first-round schedules: pic.twitter.com/bJqcmwKosT — Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) April 11, 2019 […]

J.J. Barea, the diminutive point guard that has played with the Dallas Mavericks for 9 out of the 12 years of his career, has also logged 592 career games alongside NBA legend Dirk Nowitzki. Tonight, in what was likely Nowitzki’s final regular season game in Dallas of his career, the crowd and franchise rolled out […]

As the 2018-19 NBA regular season comes to a close, the Western Conference playoff picture is still largely undecided. While the eight best teams have already clinched a postseason spot, specific seeding is still very much up in the air. The only team whose spot is definitively locked down is the first-seed Golden State Warriors. […]

The Brooklyn Nets have officially ended their playoff drought after clinching a spot in the postseason with a hard-earned 108-96 win against the Indiana Pacers on Sunday at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The win against the Pacers was their 41st victory this season against 40 defeats. It placed them in a good position […]

As the NBA’s regular season winds down and the calendar flips over to April, teams have a bit of a better understanding of where they’ll be seeded and who their first round matchup will be. That isn’t really the case for the 2018-19 season. Only four or five games remain for most teams and the […]

LOS ANGELES – If you ask L.A. Clippers center Ivica Zubac about his time with the Los Angeles Lakers, he’ll truly have nothing but good things to say about his teammates, the coaching staff, and the front office. Considering the struggles to put together wins as well as his involvement in trade talks over the […]

The NBA’s regular season has only three weeks left, and most teams are down to their final 10 games. As the regular season winds down, March Madness begins as teams compete for the National Championship. Zion Williamson and Duke are the favorites to win the title, but which team would be the best fit for […]