On Tuesday two NBA teams have named coaches for the 2013-14 season.
The Charlotte Bobcats have hired former Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Steve Clifford and the Phoenix Suns have hired former Utah Jazz assistant coach Jeff Hornacek.
Clifford has been an assistant coach for the New York Knicks, Houston Rockets, Orlando Magic and Lakers. He has also been a head coach for Adelphi University in NCAA Division II. Clifford replaces Mike Dunlap after Charlotte was 21-61 this past year.
Hornacek meanwhile was an all-star shooting guard for the Suns in 1991 before spending seven seasons from 1994-2000 with Utah. Hornacek was also on the Jazz teams that advanced to the NBA Finals in 1997 and 1998. Hornacek replaces Lindsey Hunter.
One of the oldest teams in the National Basketball Association will now have some time to rest as they wait to see who their next opponent will be.
On Monday evening the San Antonio Spurs got 37 points from Tony Parker in a 93-86 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Spurs best quarter was the opening frame as they outscored Memphis 24-14 in the opening twelve minutes.
Just how dominant was Parker? The French point guard scored forty percent of his team’s points, and completely dominanted the Grizzlies’ point guard Mike Conley, who only scored nine points.
There was a lot of speculation that the Spurs nucleus was aging and didn’t have the youthful energy required to compete against the upstart Oklahoma City Thunder, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State Warriors and Grizzlies in the postseason. However San Antonio proved their critics incorrect and played a complete four games in the best out of seven series.
The San Antonio Spurs might not be blowing teams out in the 2013 NBA Playoffs, but at the end of the day are getting the job done.
Saturday night in Memphis, the Spurs won 104-93 to take a 3-0 series lead in the Western Conference Final. Pont guard Tony Parker led the Spurs with 26 points, while veteran center Tim Duncan registered a double double with 24 points and 10 rebounds.
The San Antonio Spurs found out they will have to play a full 48 minutes to beat the Memphis Grizzlies in the NBA playoffs.
On Tuesday night in Texas, the Spurs had a 72-54 third quarter lead, only to see the Grizzlies march back and force overtime with a great fourth quarter. The Spurs however hung on to win with a 93-89 victory to take a 2-0 series lead in the Western Conference Final.
Three-time NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Tim Duncan led the Spurs with 17 points. It wa a bounce back game for the two-time NBA MVP who will be a future first ballot Hall of Famer, as Duncan only scored six points in game one of the series.
The big news however is regarding the health of Spurs star point guard Tony Parker, who is having a MRI on his calf. The injury didn’t effect Parker’s passing ability last night as he had a career-best 18 assists.
The San Antonio Spurs were the dominant team on Sunday in the Western Conference Finals.
Five Spurs scored in double digits in a convincing 105-83 win over the Memphis Grizzlies in game one of the series.
French point guard Tony Parker led the Spurs with 20 points. The game was basically over after the first quarter when the Spurs outscored the Grizzlies 31-14. The Spurs were equally as dominant in the fourth quarter offensively when they scored 32 points.
We now know half the teams who have qualified for the National Basketball Association’s conference finals.
On Wednesday night, the Miami Heat advanced to the Eastern Conference Final with a 94-91 win over the Chicago Bulls to win the Eastern Conference semi-final series 4-1, while the Memphis Grizzlies advanced to the Western Conference Final with a 88-84 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder to win the Western Conference semi-final series 4-1 as well.
The Heat win over the Bulls I think I can safely say was expected. However the fact the Grizzlies beat the Thunder is significant. It just proves how much the Thunder were missing their point guard Russell Westbrook, who needed knee surgery after suffering an injury against the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference quarterfinal.
Three lower seeds have advanced to the conference semi-finals of the 2013 NBA Playoffs.
Last night, the fifth seeded Chicago Bulls defeated the Brooklyn Nets 99-93 in game seven of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal. Former Toronto Raptor Marco Belinelli led the Bulls in scoring with a playoff career high off 24 points. The Italian native now has 46 points in his last two games.
The Bulls will now play the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference semi-finals with the New York Knicks facing the Indiana Pacers.
In the Western Conference, the Memphis Grizzlies will face the Oklahoma City Thunder in one conference semi-final with the Golden State Warriors facing the San Antonio Spurs in the other series.
When the New York Knicks and Oklahoma City Thunder went up 3-0 in their respective series, it just seemed inevitable before they would close out the Boston Celtics and Houston Rockets respectively.
However times have changed. In the Thunder/Rockets series, Oklahoma City just seems completely out of sync without point guard Russell Westbrook, and it is clear that James Harden is feeling more and more comfortable knocking down three-pointers, as he did last night when he recorded seven shots from beyond the arc in a 107-100 win over Oklahoma City.
All of a sudden, the Rockets are only down 3-2 in the series and have the momentum heading into Houston for game six.
Meanwhile in the New York/Boston series, the Celtics beat the Knicks 92-86 last night to pull within one game in that series (3-2 Knicks). The Celtics are showing great experience at the moment. Kevin Garnett does not seem like a player who is about to retire. Garnett delivered a double double last night (16 points and 18 rebounds).
The Edmonton Oil Kings are one win away from returning to the Western Hockey League’s Championship Final. On Sunday, the Oil Kings will play the Calgary Hitmen at the Scotiabank Saddledome in game six of the Eastern Conference Final, leading the series 3-2.
On Friday night in Edmonton, the Oil Kings had a similar start in game five of the series to what they had in game four. Complete dominance. The Oil Kings scored three first period goals en route to a 5-1 victory. Game six can be seen on Sunday afternoon on Shaw at 4:00 p.m.
In a head scratching deal, the Toronto Raptors have acquired forward Rudy Gay from the Memphis Grizzlies in a blockbuster trade also involving the Detroit Pistons.
Gay, was the Grizzlies leading scorer (17.2 points per game) on a team that was fourth in the Western Conference at 29-15.
Gay was traded from Memphis to Toronto with Hamed Haddadi for Jose Calderon and Ed Davis. The Grizzlies then traded Calderon to Detroit for Tayshaun Prince and Austin Daye.
By the Raptors acquiring a proven scorer, General Manager Bryan Colangelo is not giving up just yet on the 2013 season and is trying to tell fans they can still make a push at the Boston Celtics, even though they are 6.5 games back of them for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
This week on the show we’re talking World Juniors, the NHL lockout (of course!), Adrian Peterson’s big season & we take a look at Wildcard Weekend in the NFL.
In the GABBYs: The London Knights, the LA Clippers, Adrian Peterson, US customs, the Atlanta Braves & Avery Johnson. The Punchline this week is the Memphis Grizzlies!
This week on 15 Minutes of Fame we get into NHL lockout mode, discuss players heading off to Europe & the big contracts handed down pre-lockout and take a look at a disappointing loss by the Edmonton Eskimos on the weekend.
In the GABBYs: the Baltimore Orioles, Shannon Eastin, JJ Watt, Panama soccer, Napoli and the Denver Broncos. The Punchline this week is the Memphis Grizzlies!
LeBron James of the Miami Heat has been named the Most Valuable Player of the National Basketball Association.
On Saturday, the announcement was made official.
James was third in scoring with 27.1 points per game, and second in overall points with 1683. My pick was Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Durant meanwhile had 1850 points, almost 200 more points than James.
My other arguments for Durant is that Oklahoma City (47-19) had a better record than Miami (46-20), play in a stronger conference and if you take Durant out of the lineup the Thunder are nothing. If you take James out of Miami’s lineup, they still have Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
In other NBA news, the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Denver Nuggets 96-87 last night. Pau Gasol led the way with 23 points after playing poorly in game six. The Lakers now play the Thunder in the second round. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Clippers play the Memphis Grizzlies this morning.
The only upset on paper in the first round was Philadelphia’s series win over Chicago. But I saw that coming as soon as Jalen Rose tore his ACL in game one.
Three game sevens (and possibly a fourth) will dominate my sports viewing this weekend.
In the NHL, there is a game seven in the Eastern Conference Semi-Final between the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. This will be a battle of Alexander Ovechkin versus Henrik Lundqvist. Despite limited ice time, Ovechkin leads the Capitals in scoring with nine points, but will have to get by Hart Trophy nominee Lundqvist to move on to the Eastern Conference Final for the first time in his career. The game can be seen on CBC tonight at 5:30pm.
In the NBA, there are two game sevens, both involving the Los Angeles teams. Tonight the Los Angeles Lakers host the Denver Nuggets in game seven of the Western Conference Quarterfinal tonight (TSN2, 8:30pm). Questions are surrounding the health of Lakers star Kobe Bryant who played with the stomach flu in game six on Thursday. Afterwards, he was not happy with Pau Gasol for his lack of effort and had no problem telling him so.
Then tomorrow the Memphis Grizzlies host the Los Angeles Clippers (ABC, 11am) in game seven of another Western Conference Semi-Final. Like the Nuggets, the Grizzlies were once down 3-1 in the series but have clawed their way back to force a game seven. Last night in Los Angeles, the Grizzlies won game six 90-88 on Marc Gasol’s 23 points.
On Tuesday two NBA teams have named coaches for the 2013-14 season.
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