Daily Basketball
NBA and NCAA blogging on an occasionally daily basis
Archive for April, 2006
April 26, 2006 at 3:37 pm · Filed under NBA
While there aren’t any guarantees until the award winners are officially announced, it looks like Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns will be named the NBA MVP for the second consecutive year. The Suns have overachieved again, since many people thought losing Amare Stoudemire to injury, Joe Johnson to the Atlanta Hawks, and trading Quentin Richardson would hurt them more than it has. Instead, Raja Bell and Boris Diaw (who will be named Most Improved), along with Kurt Thomas have picked up the slack. Certainly, Steve Nash had a part in the success.
Another MVP candidate that people will feel was snubbed is Kobe Bryant. Whether or not his 81-point outburst and helping lead the Los Angeles Lakers to the playoffs is enough for him to get the MVP award, there will be one difference about him next year. The Lakers informed the NBA that Bryant will wear #24 next season. Twenty-four is one of two numbers that he wore in high school, though eight was neither of them.
Lebron James nearly had another triple-double after piling up ten turnovers in the Cavaliers‘ loss to the Wizards. Drew Gooden and Larry Hughes also had decent games, but the team practically got nothing from their bench. Meanwhile, the big three from the Wizards (Arenas, Jamison, Butler) combined for seventy-points — out of the teams eighty-nine points for the night.
Kenyon Martin has been suspended by the Denver Nuggets for detrimental conduct. The team says the suspension will end after the first round of the playoffs. It’s hard to say they’ll make it past the first round against the Clippers, especially without Martin.
April 25, 2006 at 2:37 pm · Filed under NBA
Avery Johnson has won the coach of the year award. Johnson led the Dallas Mavericks to a 60-22 record, after finally getting the team to play some defense. Even though the Mavericks had the second-best record in the West, they had to settle with the fourth seed in the conference and a matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Johnson replaced Don Nelson last March, after spending time as an assistance coach and also on the roster as a player-coach.
You can expect more news to leak out about the award winners in the next few days.
April 24, 2006 at 4:28 pm · Filed under Other
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April 24, 2006 at 4:07 pm · Filed under NBA
Well, things were going pretty well for Ron Artest and the Sacramento Kings until the playoffs started. Artest went out and made comments about how the Kings were the favorites to win the series against the Spurs, which led to a blowout loss in Game One. To make matters even worse, Artest was suspended for Game Two for hitting Manu Ginobili in the head with a forearm. Just when it seemed like Artest was fitting in again…
Udonis Haslem was also suspended by the NBA for one game. Haslem was upset over a missed call, and ended up on the floor. Upset, Haslem pulled out his mouthpiece and threw it at the referee. Needless to say, Haslem was thrown out pretty quickly.
Kobe Bryant and the Lakers didn’t have enough to overpower the Suns. It seems like that series is one where we could see an upset but neither team considered the game a success.
Lebron James earned a triple-double against the Washington Wizards. On ABC, they showed a long list of awards and milestones he has been the youngest to reach, but apparently James was only the second-youngest to notch a triple-double. Still, after airballing his first shot, he (along with the rest of the Cavs) were able to dismantle the defense.
April 20, 2006 at 3:23 pm · Filed under NBA
First of all, look for our first mock draft to come out around Saturday. We’ll try to have pages up following the draft and playoffs in the next week.
There was quite the celebration during the Dallas Mavericks’ Fan Appreciation Night. All 20,000 attending the game were given a voucher for a free flight from American Airlines. The prediction is that about one third of the people will use their tickets, which means the promotion could cost almost $2,000,000. The airline is hoping that people will be bringing paying passengers with them, to offset the cost.
Apparently, Chris Webber and Allen Iverson had no idea the situation would get out of hand when neither showed up until minutes before tipoff. They both knew they would not be playing in the 76ers’ game after letting the team know they needed the rest and recovery, but apparently there was some sort of miscommunication.
Don’t be surprised if Jerry Sloan stays for another year with the Utah Jazz. It seems that every year since John Stockton and Karl Malone left that everybody assumes it will be his last year. But with the team’s success this year and Greg Ostertag retiring, he may stay another year to see what the team can do with a healthy team. Carlos Boozer, it seems, may try the same strategy. Boozer played well after his return and he won’t likely be moved over the summer, unless the team can get a lot for him.
The playoffs will tip off on Saturday with the following matchups:
#1 Detroit vs. #8 Milwaukee
#4 Cleveland vs. #5 Washington
#2 Miami vs. #7 Chicago
#3 New Jersey vs. #6 Indiana
#1 San Antonio vs #8 Sacramento
#2 Phoenix vs. #7 LA Lakers
#3 Denver vs. #6 LA Clippers
#4 Dallas vs. #5 Memphis
April 17, 2006 at 1:54 pm · Filed under NBA, NCAA
Fred Hoiberg retired as expected. It has been 10 months since his surgery and though he was cleared by doctors to play back in January, he decided it wasn’t worth risking his life to keep playing. Like he did this season, he will be working in the front office and as a special assistant coach.
Rudy Gay and Josh Boone from UConn will be entering the NBA draft. So will LSU’s Tyrus Thomas. Adam Morrison looks to make it official soon. So who isn’t going to be entering this year’s draft? Try Big Baby Blen Davis and champion Joakim Noah. Some names you may have missed who have declared for the draft are Arizona guard Mustafa Shakur, Rajon Rondo, and LaMarcus Aldridge.
Check back the see the first NBA Mock Draft coming your way in the few days.
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