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LOS ANGELES The conversation between Thunder coach Scott Brooks and star pupil Kevin Durant that led to the lanky, “6foot9” forward checking the 66 Kobe Bryant down the stretch was a short one. Mostly because it wasn’t so much a discussion as it was an order.
“He said, ‘You get ‘em,’” Durant recalled. “I had to go guard him [laughs]. I couldn...
ESPN True Hoop (12 hours ago) |
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Noah GrahamNBAE via Getty Images
The Spurs clamped down on Chris Paul again, limiting him to 5for17 shooting in another Clippers loss.
LOS ANGELES The dais here in the bowels of Staples Center has lately served more as a stage for a budding standup routine than a postgame news conference.
In each of the Clippers’ two home wins in their firstround series against the Memphis Grizzlies, Blak...
ESPN True Hoop (18 hours ago) |
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LOS ANGELES It’s almost as if the basketball universe is baiting us. Begging us, daring us to bring it up one more time.
Who should get the ball in the clutch
For the Oklahoma City Thunder, the answer for better or worse, despite the other budding star players at their disposal has often been a simple one: Kevin Durant.
Although James Harden has recently emerged as a lategame shotcrea...
ESPN True Hoop (1 day ago) |
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LOS ANGELES Laker Sentimentalists weren't happy about it. Shipping Derek Fisher and a draft pick to Houston for Jordan Hill seemed like an unceremonious sendoff for the man who enshrined "0.4" into the storied history of the franchise.
Hardbitten realists countered that clearing a slot for a younger, more able point guard like Ramon Sessions was the right move for a team that had ...
ESPN True Hoop (1 day ago) |
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Jesse D. GarrabrantNBAEGetty Images
People, economists tell us, misunderstand no phenomenon as badly as chance. Faced with random events, sheer naked happenstance, we concoct elaborate and unnecessary posthoc explanations for what’s happened, what we’ve seen. We reject truth in favor of narrative.
We're inventors of meaning.
So, when faced with a basketball team that went 18 in ...
ESPN True Hoop (1 day ago) |
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Nathaniel S. ButlerNBAEGetty Images
Dwyane Wade was uncharacteristically hesitant in Game 3.
There's been lots of speculation as to why Dwyane Wade was so painfully ineffective in Game 3 including reports that he may actually be in pain.
On the NBA Today podcast, Bucks forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute attributed some of the Heat star's struggles to the absence of Chris Bosh.
Later in ...
ESPN True Hoop (1 day ago) |
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ESPN True Hoop (1 day ago) |
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Andrew D. BernsteinNBAEGetty Images
Jimmy Goldstein says he hates to fit in, which is why he's so noticeable courtside.
The NBA's most distinctive super fan says he uses different tricks to get good seats in every city. Most of the tricks have to do with who he knows, Jimmy Goldstein says in GQ.
In San Antonio, Goldstein tells Myles Brown (whom you may know from the TrueHoop Network...
ESPN True Hoop (1 day ago) |
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Michael HickeyUS PresswireThe Pacers starting five has given LeBron James and the Heat fits in the first three games.The longer the Indiana Pacers can keep their starting five on the court, the better chance they have to eliminate the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Indiana’s starting five of Paul George, Danny Granger, Roy Hibbert, George Hill and David West has been the ...
ESPN True Hoop (1 day ago) |
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Andrew D. BernsteinNBAEGetty Images
The Grizzlies established control of the series when they reacquainted themselves with the paint.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. What was once indifference between the Los Angeles Clippers and Memphis Grizzlies has descended into hostility over six games. These teams actively dislike each other. The Clippers have made light of Memphis' "Grit 'n' Grind"...
ESPN True Hoop (7 days ago) |
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Nathaniel S. ButlerNBAE via Getty ImagesLeBron James has won the KIA NBA MVP award three times in four seasons.
LeBron James became the eighth player in NBA history to win three MVP awards Saturday, earning the honor after leading the Miami Heat in points, rebounds and assists this season.
James also led his team in total points, rebounds and assists when he won his first MVP award with the Cava...
ESPN True Hoop (7 days ago) |
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ESPN True Hoop (7 days ago) |
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Buck Harvey of the San Antonio ExpressNews: Coaches torture themselves over success, and Gregg Popovich has been lately. He’s been wondering out loud among his staff that, well, wouldn’t it be better to lose a game “That’s why,” one of his assistants kidded him, “you are coach of the year.” Popovich wasn’t laughing. He’s felt the winning streak...
ESPN True Hoop (2 weeks ago) |
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Steve DykesGetty ImagesFollowing a sweep, Tim Duncan and the Spurs left Salt Lake City with bigger goals in mind.
SALT LAKE CITY Against a backdrop of unrelenting execution and impressive team play in a firstround playoff sweep by the San Antonio Spurs, the Utah Jazz reprised their entire season in 48 minutes.
A nervous start evened out into an exciting second act followed by an intermission fe...
ESPN True Hoop (2 weeks ago) |
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Pop quiz: Which NBA team had the best offense in the NBA this season, by a healthy margin Answer. John Hollinger is a little salty (Insider) about how the Spurs have been ignored: "Don't let San Antonio's 273 mark in its past 30 games with the Big Three and nearcertain homecourt advantage for every remaining series distract you. And by all means, feel free to ignore the fact the Spu...
ESPN True Hoop (2 weeks ago) |
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Raptors coach Dwane Casey says of Kobe Bryant: "In the flow of the game, he's a willing passer. But in crunch time, he is looking to get his. He's not looking to pass, and I tell my team that."
Watch Ty Lawson in the clip above, on the play that ends with a Steve Blake 3pointer. It starts at about the 55second mark. Bryant makes Lawson look entirely foolish for having left Bla...
ESPN True Hoop (2 weeks ago) |
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Andrew D. BernsteinNBAEGetty ImagesChris Paul, Zach Randolph, Rudy Gay and Reggie Evans all have a different definition for physicality.
LOS ANGELES There was a moment toward the end of the first quarter in Game 2 between the Grizzlies and the Clippers when Memphis walked the ball upcourt after getting beat in transition. As Mike Conley tried to deliver the ball to Rudy Gay on the wing, Zach Rand...
ESPN True Hoop (2 weeks ago) |
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Garrett W. EllwoodNBAEGetty ImagesDanilo Gallinari couldn't convince the officials at the end of Game 4.
HoopIdea wants to #StopTheFlop. To spotlight the biggest fakers, we present Flop of the Night. You can help us separate the pretenders from the defenders details below.
Forget Flop of the Night. For the Denver Nuggets, this is the Flop of the Year.
Assuming it was a flop at all because ...
ESPN True Hoop (2 weeks ago) |
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Harvey Araton of The New York Times: Knicks fans will wait three days with bated breath. They will interpret Wade’s inability to exploit the defensive switch that left the vulnerable Stoudemire on him — “I lost control of the ball and had to take it out for 3,” Wade said — as a sign of something, anything, that might bring them back to the Garden on Friday night...
ESPN True Hoop (2 weeks ago) |
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David Butler IIUS PresswireRajon Rondo (right) has doubledigit assists in each of his last three playoff games.Rajon Rondo is making it clear how important point guard play is in the NBA playoffs.
20 PTS, 16 AST, FEWER THAN 2 TOIN PLAYOFF GAME LAST 25 SEASONS
Rondo is the first player with at least 20 points and 16 assists with no more than one turnover in a playoff game since Tim Hardaway fo...
ESPN True Hoop (2 weeks ago) |
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Jesse D. GarrabrantNBAE via Getty Images
Jrue Holiday was at the center of a win that gave Philly a 31 series lead on topseed Chicago.
What’s the thing that allows a player let’s say a babyfaced 21yearold with a tissue thin rsum who’s languishing on the biggest stage of his young career to miss all but one of his first 14 shots and still take a 15th What’s the thing that ...
ESPN True Hoop (2 weeks ago) |
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ORLANDO, Fla. There’s a chance Stan Van Gundy just coached his last game in the Amway Center as coach of the Orlando Magic.
But while he’s here, he’s coaching his tail off for the overmatched, undersized Magic and his team nearly tied its series with the Indiana Pacers on Saturday thanks to a pivotal lineup adjustment and inspired play from a team with a builtin excuse to qu...
ESPN True Hoop (2 weeks ago) |
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Getty ImagesBulls point guard Derrick Rose (left) and Timberwolves point guard Ricky Rubio (right) each suffered a torn ACL.Ricky Rubio and Derrick Rose both tore their ACL’s this season. Rubio did so March 9 against the Lakers after the Timberwolves entered the day tied with the Rockets for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Rose went down with 1:10 remaining in Game 1 of the...
ESPN True Hoop (2 weeks ago) |
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Jesse D. GarrabrantNBAE via Getty Images
In a gritty win over the Bulls, the young Sixer found a way into coach Doug Collins' heart.
More than anything, Doug Collins wanted to talk about one play:
"I honestly believe that the single biggest play of the year for us was Evan Turner. The play he made under the basket ... Evan just fought, fought, fought, got fouled and made those two free t...
ESPN True Hoop (2 weeks ago) |
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Brian BabineauNBAE via Getty ImagesRajon Rondo’s tripledouble helped the Celtics take a 21 series lead over the Hawks.Rajon Rondo made plenty of history in the Boston Celtics’ 9084 overtime win over the Atlanta Hawks.
Rondo became the first player in NBA history with at least 17 points, 14 rebounds, 12 assists and four steals in a playoff game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
E...
ESPN True Hoop (2 weeks ago) |
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Danny BollingerNBAEGetty Images
Not even a welltimed flop could get Jason Terry and the Dallas Mavericks going last night.
HoopIdea wants to #StopTheFlop. To spotlight the biggest fakers, we present Flop of the Night. You can help us separate the pretenders from the defenders details below.
The Mavericks, the oldest team in the league, pulled all the old man maneuvers out of their bag of tricks ...
ESPN True Hoop (2 weeks ago) |
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Harry HowGetty Images
Nobody who scores as easily as Andrew Bynum gets the ball so seldom.
With 54.3 seconds left in the Lakers' Game 2 win over the Nuggets, Kobe Bryant was looking to inbound the basketball.
Andrew Bynum put his butt into the skinny Nugget JaVale McGee and won lovely position in the paint, a bounce pass away from Bryant.
A close examination of the game tape reveals that, u...
ESPN True Hoop (2 weeks ago) |
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Ethan J. Skolnick of the Palm Beach Post: On a night like this, you simply want to sully yourself less than your opponent, and the Heat managed that much, taking Game 3 by an 8770 count to grab a 30 lead in the firstround Eastern Conference series. That extended the Knicks' playoff losing streak to a record 13, which wiped the Memphis teams of Shane Battier and Mike Miller out of the record b...
ESPN True Hoop (2 weeks ago) |
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NBAEGetty ImagesChris Paul and Reggie Evans brought the flop in Game 2.
HoopIdea wants to #StopTheFlop. To spotlight the biggest fakers, we present Flop of the Night. You can help us separate the pretenders from the defenders details below.
We're going to single out Chris Paul and Reggie Evans here, but really, today this is a team award. The crowd in Memphis quickly caught on to the Clippe...
ESPN True Hoop (2 weeks ago) |
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Joe MurphyNBAEGetty Images
Chris Paul tries to maintain control against the Grizzlies.
There was plenty of time to come. Down seven points with seven minutes left That’s a lifetime for Chris Paul, who radiated a whitehot focus as crunch time approached.
Watching the game, you just knew the Clippers would make a push. After all, Paul has proven time and again that he is a basketball magician...
ESPN True Hoop (2 weeks ago) |