In New York City, fans of local professional sports have always had plenty of options, With two franchises in each of the major team sports, there are increased odds, at least in theory, that a competitive team will emerge from so many entries. So here we are in late September … Read more
The National Basketball Association’s 2020-21 campaign has been full of surprises. The Phoenix Suns and the Utah Jazz finished the regular season with the top two records in the Western Conference. The defending champion Los Angeles Lakers had to survive a play-in game to qualify for the postseason. The Knicks … Read more
That’s right. The 2021 NBA Play-In Tournament is now over, and it’s time to assess. If pundits can grade a team’s draft performance on the very next day and before any draftee suits up for a game at the professional level, there’s no problem with handing out grades for the … Read more
For its 2020-2021 campaign, the ever-evolving National Basketball Association has decided to revamp its postseason format to include more teams. As a result, they’ve added some hurdles to playoff participation for some and offered playoff possibilities for others where they didn’t exist before without changing the number of playoff qualifiers, … Read more
It wasn’t too long ago that the NBA’s Golden State Warriors were the talk of the basketball world. Over the five seasons commencing with the 2014-15 campaign, the Warriors won 79 percent of their regular-season games, 75 percent of their postseason games, reached the NBA Finals all five years, and … Read more
Basketball fans will reminisce about the semifinal game of the 2021 NCAA Men’s Division 1 Tournament between the UCLA Bruins and the Gonzaga Bulldogs for decades. The fiercely-contested game that featured multiple lead changes and clutch shots appeared destined for a second overtime period before freshman — and soon-to-be millionaire … Read more
We saw this coming, but the signature move in basketball today is launching a three-point shot attempt. Amazingly, an inanimate, painted object that gets stepped on hundreds of times during a basketball game is now a central part of game strategy. It has totally changed how the sport is taught … Read more
I’m old enough to remember when the annual NBA Draft ran for 10 rounds. Things have changed over time, and now the draft runs for only two rounds, still giving 60 NBA hopefuls from college and international squads the chance to hear their names called on that special night. What … Read more
When a college basketball team scores over 100 points in a game, it raises some eyebrows. When we hear of a college team finishing a game with less than 25 points, we check for accuracy. When both rarities occur during the same contest, it’s time to dig a little deeper. … Read more
One of the more insignificant impacts of the current global pandemic is the jacked-up 2020 sports calendar. Over time, the sports fan is conditioned to associate certain times of the year with a particular sport, but the events of 2020 have shaken us loose from those norms. We’ve seen our … Read more
