Posts Tagged ‘D.J. Augustin’

Pacers Beat The Knicks With Offense

May 5, 2013  ·  10:54PM

g

NEW YORK – The Indiana Pacers aren’t nearly the best offensive team in the NBA. But they’re a lot better than the Boston Celtics, a painful lesson learned by the New York Knicks on Sunday.

Defense was the Pacers’ calling card this season. And behind the exceptional rim protection of Roy Hibbert, Indiana kept a great offensive team at bay in Game 1 of the conference semifinals. The Knicks shot just 12-for-28 in the restricted area as Hibbert blocked five shots and contested countless others.

But it was the other end of the floor that really determined the 102-95 outcome, giving the Pacers their first win at Madison Square Garden this season, as well as home-court advantage in this series.

The Knicks looked like a pretty good defensive team against the Celtics. They pressured Avery Bradley and swarmed Paul Pierce, and there was nothing that Boston could really do about it, because they didn’t have anyone who could create shots or make something out of nothing.

The Pacers have that. They have Hibbert and David West in the post. They have George Hill in the pick-and-roll and Lance Stephenson on the break. And they have a jack-of-all-trades in Paul George. Throw in some hot shooting from D.J. Augustin (4-for-5 from 3-point range) and Indiana had six guys in double figures on Sunday, even though neither George (5-for-14) nor Hill (5-for-17) shot well.

It was a balanced attack in more ways than one, because there was no real offensive set or action from which Indiana got a lot of production. It was a real mixed bag of early offense, pick-and-rolls, post-ups, random plays made late in the shot clock, and second-chance points.

“If you’re going to score the ball offensively in the playoffs, especially in an environment like this, teams are going to take away your first option, your second option,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel said afterward. “Random action is a huge, huge part of playoff basketball on the offensive end. And our guys did a great job of just playing the game.”

After some early struggles (10 points on their first 15 possessions), it was a couple of offensive rebounds (from Hibbert and Tyler Hansbrough) that produced five second chance points and got the Pacers going. And it was in the second quarter when they hit their stride, scoring 30 points on just 20 possessions and turning a seven-point deficit into a six-point lead that they continued to build on in the second half.

The Pacers’ spacing was good, they shared the ball, and they didn’t force anything. They played smart. They had 16 turnovers, but only four of them were live balls, keeping the Knicks from getting out in transition.

“I thought we didn’t have a careless turnover,” West said. “We took our time tonight. I thought guys did a good job of putting them on their heels, attacking and being aggressive.”

The Knicks weren’t awful defensively (meaning that they weren’t nearly as bad as the Nets were in the first half on Saturday night), but going from the Celtics to the Pacers (or any other team, really) is an adjustment. New York tried applying pressure on the ball like they did against Boston, but unlike the Celtics, the Pacers have real NBA point guards who are able to handle that pressure, as well as more guys who can make plays once the defense is compromised.

So the Knicks have some things to figure out. Because the Pacers scored from all directions, there’s no obvious defensive adjustments to make. They may just have to work harder and longer defensively.

You can point to the offense and that Carmelo Anthony (10-for-28) and J.R. Smith (4-for-15) shot a combined 33 percent. And make no mistake about it, the efficiency at which the Knicks were scoring at the end of the regular season has been completely lost.

But with Hibbert staying back to protect the rim, Raymond Felton was again productive in the pick-and-roll on Sunday. Overall, the Knicks did score 95 points on 90 possessions, a solid output in a playoff game against the league’s top defense.

The Knicks themselves ranked 16th defensively this season. They looked much better in the first round, but if Game 1 of this series is any indication, that was more about the Celtics than the Knicks.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in 2013 Conference Semis: Knicks-Pacers, 2013 NBA Playoffs, HT News / Comments (27) /

Pacers’ Vogel Hits First Speedbumps

December 8, 2012  ·  2:56PM

 

No one ever told Frank Vogel this NBA head coaching stuff would be easy. But he could have been forgiven had he started to think that way, given the arc of his first 22 months on the job.

Vogel landed the job on Jan. 30, 2011 when he took over for fired Jim O’Brien. He steered a team that had played 10 games under .500 to a 20-18 finish and a playoff berth, and that – coupled with the Pacers’ feistiness in their first-round series against Chicago – shook the “interim” tag loose from in front of his title.

Last season, Indiana won 16 of its first 22 games, chased the Bulls in the Central Division with a 42-24 mark and put a scare into the eventual champs from Miami by grabbing a 2-1 lead and homecourt advantage in the second round.

Everything seemed to be onward and upward again this season after the Pacers re-signed free agent center Roy Hibbert, committed to George Hill as starting point guard, brought back talent czar Donnie Walsh and added pieces they valued such as D.J. Augustin, Ian Mahinmi and Gerald Green.

What has followed, though, has been the first hiccup of the Vogel era. Indiana sputtered to a 3-6 start. At the season’s quarter pole, things have perked up somewhat, but 10-10 still is well below expectations. The Pacers hardly have seized control of the weak NBA Central.

“We’re trying to get a feel,” forward David West said the other night on a stop in Chicago. “We’re trying to pick up wins and put together complete games. We’re just going through the everyday ups-and-downs of the NBA season. Y’know we believe in what we have.”

The defense has been strong – Indiana ranks first in defensive field-goal percentage (40.9) and second in defensive rating (99.6) – but then, it has needed to be considering the Pacers’ offense. They are shooting just 41.5 percent with an offensive rating of 99.1 (both stats rank 28th). They’re not getting to the foul line much and turnovers have been a problem.

Yes, Indiana misses forward Danny Granger, its most potent scorer who is in the midst of a three-month layoff (left knee injury). And it has played 12 road games already, seven of its setbacks coming away from Indy.

But it’s been more than that. Augustin – averaging just 3.2 points and 2.4 assists – has been low impact, generating low confidence from Vogel or teammates and not nearly the dream backup imagined when the club jettisoned Darren Collison. The whole bench has been disappointing, as in the 92-89 loss to Denver Friday. The Pacers subs managed just 12 points, eight rebounds and three assists in nearly 71 combined minutes.

Tyler Hansbrough‘s scoring is down, beyond his dip in minutes. Ditto for Green, sputtering to play within Vogel’s system in ways he didn’t last season in his NBA return with the Nets. Mahinmi has been fine in relief of Hibbert, but Pacers fans bemoan the loss not just of Collison but of A.J. Price, with some lobbying for rookie Ben Hansbrough to get a shot at Augustin’s role.

Among the starters, West has been close to his former All-Star form, but Hibbert, Paul George and Lance Stephenson have been inconsistent.

Then there is Vogel, who has kept a calm about him but hasn’t been shy about changing up plenty during these doldrums. Defensively, he doesn’t ask Hibbert to show as much on pick and rolls, content to keep him as a paint factor. The Pacers have tried to pick up their pace, too, and to get away from iso plays for Hibbert, West or others; with Granger and his shooting out, defenses are more effective sagging or digging in such situations.

“Dramatic shift in philosophy,” Vogel called it. “A work in progress.”

The key for the Pacers is to keep seeing progress while, in themselves or in their head coach, not seeing too much stress. The education continues Sunday in Oklahoma City.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in HT News / Comment (1) /

Pacers Stick To Underwhelming Deals

July 13, 2012  ·  2:26PM

Few in the executive offices around the NBA command more respect than Donnie Walsh. Likewise, few GMs from generation-next created more buzz than Kevin Pritchard, both when he got hired and unceremoniously dumped in Portland.

But trusting in the wisdom of the men making the deals isn’t the same thing as trusting one’s own eyes when assessing personnel moves. That’s why the Indiana Pacers’ latest maneuvers triggered so much head-scratching among the team’s fans and here at Sekou’s Hang Time hideout.

Darren Collison, a legitimate starting point guard but one who finished last season coming off the Pacers bench, is gone. So is wing defender Dahntay Jones, reserve scorer Leandro Barbosa and off-the-bench big Louis Amundson. They’ve been replaced by D.J. Augustin, Gerald Green, Ian Mahinmi and rookie center Miles Plumlee – well, replaced might not be the best word, so let’s say their roster spots have been taken by those newcomers.

Doesn’t seem like much, as judged here at HTH. Not even a push, never mind an upgrade to the Pacers’ roster. And that’s what Indiana was hoping for, wasn’t it, a surgical move or two to vault it into close-second status in the Eastern Conference this season behind the Miami Heat?

Beat-writer extraordinaire Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star tried to explain the moves to a fan base growing increasingly restless:

Fans don’t like what they’ve seen so far. Some already want Walsh to retire and Pritchard to go somewhere else.

Have the moves been flashy? Not even close.

Are the moves good enough to catch Miami in the Eastern Conference? Not as long as the Heat have LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.

But it’s all about progression for the Pacers.

They had no choice but to trade point guard Darren Collison…

Wells then explains that Collison, though he said he would be willing to continue as George Hill’s backup, really wasn’t happy in that role. Well, that shouldn’t have bothered the Pacers one bit – would they prefer a backup who doesn’t burn to start? Even then, Collison figured to have trade value in excess of Mahinmi – that deal withDallasseemed to gift the point guard and Jones to the Mavericks. Augustin doesn’t have nearly the juice, and can leave next summer as a free agent anyway.

Moving out some of the other players while trusting the latest mature version of Green, compared to all his previous incarnations, might not be the most sound decision either.

There’s a tendency to rely on Walsh and Pritchard, based on the basketball bank accounts both have amassed in their careers. But for a team that had the Heat down 2-1 in their best-of-seven East semifinals, for a club that was thinking about an Eric Gordon signing as this offseason’s signature move – as well as retaining center Roy Hibbert and point guard George Hill – the Pacers’ approach of one step forward, maybe two back, is hard to embrace.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Free Agency 2012, HT News / Comments (6) /

New Deputy Needed In San Antonio

March 13, 2012  ·  9:47AM





As it stands now, there’s only one team in the West with a real shot at keeping the Thunder from reaching the NBA Finals, and it’s the Spurs, winners of four trophies and still moving along with the nucleus of Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker.

In a seven-game series, where half-court basketball rules, you’d have to give the Spurs a decent chance, especially given their veteran leadership and championship experience. Plus, this could be Duncan’s last ride; he becomes a free agent this summer and it would not be a big surprise if he just decided to retire.

Given T.J. Ford’s sudden retirement yesterday, shouldn’t the Spurs seek insurance in the backcourt, where they’re somewhat thin? Well, if you believe in Gary Neal, then maybe not. However, this isn’t the time to take a chance on Ginobili’s body. Maybe the Spurs should take a serious look in getting some relief help; someone who comes to mind is D.J. Augustin, the former University of Texas star who’s being shopped by the Bobcats and has the attention of the Blazers, perhaps.

Running the point is a bit of a twist for Neal, whose chores were mostly restricted to knocking down open jumpers. He spoke with the Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News about a potential new rold:

(Gregg) Popovich said Neal will continue to get some time at shooting guard, as he did in Monday’s 112-97 victory over the Washington Wizards. He attempted only two 3-pointers in the game, making one.

Neal knows his primary focus must be learning to run the team from the point.

“It changes my whole role,” he said. “My position, the shots I was accustomed to getting, the way I have to play, all of it changes.

“The biggest thing is the mental approach changes. As much as I would love to be a 42 or 43 percent 3-point shooter, which is how I’ve been judged since I got here and how I judge myself, shooting 3-pointers at the point guard position is totally different. As far as I can tell, there’s only two guys in the league who shoot 40 percent from the point guard position, and that’s Chauncey Billups and Steve Nash.

“You just have to change your mentality and your understanding that your value to the team has changed. Once you accept that, I think the rest of it comes pretty routinely.”

This is a point guard’s league right now, with stars or potential stars lining almost every team. In the West, the Spurs could ultimately face Russell Westbrook at some point in the playoffs; do they have enough in Parker to reduce worries about the position? Besides, there isn’t enough practice time left in the season for Neal to “learn” to play the point. The Spurs would be wise to keep their options open, in case a point guard is available by Thursday.


Tags: , , , ,
Posted in 2012 Trade Deadline, HT News / Comments (55) /

Lob City No. 1 In Alley-Oops? Think Again

January 19, 2012  ·  12:21PM

Lob City. Lob Angeles. We get it. It’s the all-above-the-rim, all-the-time excitement about the Los Angeles Clippers, driven by consummate point guard Chris Paul and eminent throwdown finishers Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan.

But the No. 1 alley-oopingest team through Wednesday’s schedule plays on the opposite coast, in a town and building whose basketball traditions have been a lot less gaudy and a lot more fundamental. Back in the day, anyway.

The New York Knicks have the most successful alley-oop dunk plays with 20. Center Tyson Chandler tops all individuals with 12, according to my anonymous stats guru/compiler.

The Clippers and their Staples Center roomies, the Lakers, are tied for second with 18 such plays. Miami (15), Washington (13), Minnesota (12) and Atlanta and Portland (10 each) line up after that.

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in HT News / Comments (28) /

Season Of The Point Guard?

January 9, 2012  ·  9:48AM

***
HANG TIME HQ, ATLANTA — It’s a big man’s game, always has been and always will be, and if you doubt that, just check out the number of zeros on Kwame Brown‘s paycheck.

And yet: The season of the point guard is taking shape quite nicely. With few exceptions, the majority of championship contenders and playoff hopefuls are getting strong play from the point and in some cases, two point guards. This isn’t a surprise, though; we all saw this coming, because of the number of point guards taken recently in the Draft who have developed quickly and efficiently.

Let’s take a quick sampling:

  • The Wolves are flourishing with Luke Ridnour starting and Ricky Rubio finishing games. Coach Rick Adelman is doing the right thing by bringing Rubio along slowly and keeping all pressure to a minimum. The kid’s going to be special, why rush it?
  • Ty Lawson has come into his own in Denver, and the quality of play at the point doesn’t suffer when he’s replaced by Andre Miller. The Nuggets are getting 12.5 assists a game from the duo and are off to a credible start.
  • While they aren’t challenging for a title anytime soon, the Bobcats are giving heavy minutes to both D.J. Augustin and rookie Kemba Walker, who often are on the floor together; arguably, they’re the Bobcats’ best hope for the future. That is, if Charlotte doesn’t trade one of them (Augustin most likely) in the future.
  • Chauncey Billups and Chris Paul have been the starting backcourt for the Clippers all season. This is an ideal situation because the Clippers are loaded with finishers, primarily Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, so it helps to have a pair of guards who know how to deliver the ball. Lob City, you know.
  • Oklahoma City has Russell Westbrook in contract drive, and then with Eric Maynor lost for the season with a torn ACL, Reggie Jackson had 11 points and four assists off the bench against the Spurs on Sunday.
  • In Miami, rookie Norris Cole has been a big discovery, and he has lit a fire under Mario Chalmers, who was big (29 points, eight assists, seven rebounds) without LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in Atlanta last week.

Of course, there’s also the returning MVP, Derrick Rose; Rajon Rondo and Steve Nash are among the league leaders in assists and Kyle Lowry is having a career season in Houston. And we should mention the No. 1 pick in last summer’s draft, Kyrie Irving, is beginning to blossom with the Cavs.

Interestingly, point guard was a big topic Sunday in D.C., where Rubio had 14 assists and outplayed John Wall, the No. 1 pick a few years ago. This was a curious case because the Wizards gave Minnesota the No. 1 pick that became Rubio. Here’s how it happened: Back in 2009 the Wizards were in the lottery, but when they drew the No. 5 pick, they decided to ship it to new Wolves GM David Kahn for immediate help. Kahn sent Randy Foye and Mike Miller to the Wizards, who figured Foye (the No. 7 pick in 2006) was ready for a breakout and would be better than anyone available at No. 5.

Kahn then took heat for drafting two point guards, Rubio and Jonny Flynn, back-to-back. And Rubio’s people were very hesitant to send him to the Wolves, a perennial loser; Rubio subsequently re-signed with his team in Spain. Meanwhile, the Wizards were expecting a big 2009-10 season, with Gilbert Arenas back from knee surgery and ready to regain the form that made him dangerous at both ends.

Well, we know what happened. Gilbert brought his guns to the arena five months later and the Wizards crumbled. At least they grabbed the No. 1 pick in the next lottery, and Wall had a promising rookie year. But Wall has regressed, especially his shooting. He made only 3-of-10 against the Wolves and two of those were dunks. Plus, the Wizards fell to 0-8. Rick Kamla of NBA TV had an interesting question: If you were starting an NBA team today, would you want Rubio or Wall?

Anyway, here’s the account from Minnesota:

Afterward, Wolves coach Rick Adelman was asked when Rubio — who has started the season by playing every second of every fourth quarter — was going to be promoted to starter.

“I get real tired of answering that,” he said. “He’s doing just fine.”

Fine enough that one Verizon Center press room wag commented on how Rubio, at first glance, makes his teammates better while Wall doesn’t. The Wolves, by the way, have seven players on their roster who were top-six lottery picks. The Wizards’ only other player chosen that high is last summer’s No. 6 pick, Jan Vesely.

“If it had been Rubio, who knows, John Wall might not have been here,” Washington coach Flip Saunders said, referring to that 2009 trade the Wizards hoped would bolster a team that at the time included Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison. “There were a lot of things that went into the whole equation.”

Rubio said Sunday he is happy where he is.

“I don’t know, Minnesota was the team that drafted me and I don’t think anything else,” Rubio said. “They were the ones who trusted me and I’m so glad they did.”

And Washington:

Rubio is only a month younger than Wall, but he was just 17 when he started for the silver-medal-winning team from Spain in the 2008 Olympics. He also won a Euroleague title with FC Barcelona in 2010 and won the Spanish League title last season. Rubio didn’t put up great numbers in Europe or in the European championships last summer, but he has found an NBA game that is more compatible to his style of play.

“Here, you can find more space to penetrate and for passes,” Rubio said. “I don’t want to say I played bad last year. My team won almost everything, so I did something well, right? So that’s teamwork and sometimes you don’t need to shine for your team to win.”

Oh, and speaking of teams off to a poor start, the Nets are still optimistic about re-signing Deron Williams next summer, when he becomes a free agent. And if Williams does sign up, would Dwight Howard follow? That’s a good bet, because while this is a big man’s league, Howard wants and needs a point guard to make him look even better.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized / Comment (1) /

Bobcats clawing way back

January 21, 2011  ·  6:12PM

Few talk about the Bobcats, and judging from attendance figures in Charlotte, few watch them as well. But if you look now, these ‘Cats are giving us reason to jabber.

Interim coach Paul Silas has turned around this crew, which is 8-5 since the Larry Brown‘s (forced) resignation. Michael Jordan‘s squad is seventh in the Eastern Conference playoff race and its modest two-game winning streak includes an impressive victory at Chicago earlier this week.

That the Bobcats are even in this position is impressive enough after the Brown meltdown. Silas is holding players accountable and they’ve responded by playing with passion and energy again, and that’s often all you need to get one of the lower playoff seeds in the East.

It won’t be easy in the months ahead. Not only are Stephen Jackson and Gerald Wallace going to be the subject of plenty of trade speculation going into the Feb. 24 deadline, but the Bobcats are without Tyrus Thomas for eight weeks after knee surgery.

“It’s unfortunate that he’s out, but life goes on and we just have to play through it,” Silas said after last night’s win over Philadelphia.

Charlotte gets another crack at a team above it in the standings Saturday night at home against the Hawks. After that it’s a five-game Western Conference trek.

“The game against Atlanta is going to be big,” point guard D.J. Augustin told bobcats.com. “The Hawks are a great team, and it would be a big win going into this long road trip we’ve got coming up.”

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized / Comments (2) /

Camby To Orlando Intrigues

December 29, 2010  ·  10:49AM

HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – When I made the joke to NBA TV analyst Brent “Bones” Barry Tuesday during The Jump about this being a great time for NBA trade rumors, he reminded me of the flip side.

“It’s not a great time for player to hear their names in all these rumors,” Barry said.

Count Trail Blazers center Marcus Camby among those players that don’t seem terribly excited about being in the trade-rumor mix these days. The pre-Christmas chatter had Camby and veteran teammates Andre Miller going to Charlotte in a deal for D.J. Augustin and Gerald Wallace — a scenario (rumored, mind you) that apparently outraged the 15-year veteran to the point that a source told ESPN The Magazine’s Chris Broussard:

“If he was traded to Charlotte, he would think about retiring,’’ the source said. “He’s made plenty of money. He’d rather play, but he’s at the point in his career where he doesn’t want to get bounced around from team to team. If he’s traded, it would have to be to a contender.’’

Surely, Orlando qualifies as just that, a contender.

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized / Comments (63) /

An Early Look at Most Improved

December 7, 2010  ·  12:56PM

Through Monday, the NBA season is exactly 25 percent done. The quarter pole is a great time to evaluate a lot of things, but here we’re going to look at early candidates for the Most Improved Player award.

There isn’t clear criteria for the award, as indicated by the 13 different players who received first-place votes last season. Personally, I thought that Kevin Durant, who went from non-All-Star to MVP candidate, was the only choice, but only 17 of the 123 voters agreed with me.

Statistically, there are a few different ways you can compare performance from one year to the next. And I’ll probably explore all of them by the end of the season. But for now, since it’s still early, I’ll keep it simple.

To see whose production has taken the biggest jump from last season to this one, I looked at efficiency per game. Efficiency is a stat that’s been used here on NBA.com for a while now, and it’s fairly simple to understand. You just add up a player’s positive stats (points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks) and subtract turnovers and missed shots (both from the field and from the line). So the formula is this:

Pts. + Reb. + Ast. + Stl. + Blk. – Turn. – (FGA-FGM) – (FTA-FTM)

Here are the season leaders, and here are the most improved players, according to efficiency per game…

Most Improved: Efficiency per Game
Player Team 2009-10 2010-11 Diff.
D.J. Augustin CHA 6.0 16.2 10.2
Reggie Evans TOR 4.9 14.3 9.5
JaVale McGee WAS 8.6 17.1 8.5
Kevin Love MIN 19.7 27.0 7.4
Paul Millsap UTA 15.6 22.7 7.1
Russell Westbrook OKC 18.1 25.1 7.1
Raymond Felton NYK 14.8 21.5 6.8
Tyson Chandler DAL 10.3 17.0 6.6
Daniel Gibson CLE 6.0 12.6 6.6
Jrue Holiday PHI 9.4 16.0 6.5

D.J. Augustin probably isn’t one of the first guys you think of when it comes to Most Improved. But he’s clearly a step ahead of the field (especially since Reggie Evans is out for two months with a broken foot), having stepped into Raymond Felton‘s role as the starting point guard in Charlotte.

None of the other names on the list are real surprises.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have the 10 players who have regressed most in terms of efficiency per game…

Most Regressed: Efficiency per Game
Player Team 2009-10 2010-11 Diff.
David Lee GSW 27.0 18.8 -8.2
Reggie Williams GSW 16.2 8.0 -8.2
Brendan Haywood DAL 16.1 7.6 -8.5
Erick Dampier MIA 12.2 3.7 -8.5
LeBron James MIA 32.4 23.8 -8.6
Corey Maggette MIL 18.6 9.3 -9.2
Jermaine O’Neal BOS 15.8 6.6 -9.3
Anthony Randolph NYK 14.3 3.2 -11.1
Earl Barron PHX 17.0 2.7 -14.3
Troy Murphy NJN 20.5 6.1 -14.4

The name that stands out here, of course, is LeBron James. We all knew that his statistical production would fall off, but maybe not this much. People talked about him averaging a triple-double with the Heat, but his rebounds have gone down from 7.3 to 5.7 per game, and his assists have gone down from 8.6 to 7.3.

Last year, James led the league in efficiency at 32.4 per game, which was more than four points better than the next player on the list, Durant at 28.0. It’s obviously not easy maintaining those numbers when you’ve got to share the ball with two other All-Stars.

***

John Schuhmann is a staff writer for NBA.com. Send him an e-mail or follow him on twitter.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized / Comments (45) /

About Last Night: Hornets Stung

November 16, 2010  ·  7:06AM

HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – Sorry New Orleans, we know you hate to turn on the lights at a party but that hot start wasn’t going to last forever.

It’s official, no one is going to run the table in the NBA this season.

The Dallas Mavericks made sure of that Monday night when they knocked off the Hornets at home with a late rally.

The Jazz saw their hot streak come to an end, on their home floor of all places, last night as well. But that’s what happens when you invite Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and the Thunder to dinner after a long road trip. (more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized / Comments Off /