"I've always believed that if you put in the work, the results will come."
Michael Jordan
Showing posts with label National Basketball Association. Show all posts
Showing posts with label National Basketball Association. Show all posts
Monday, 3 July 2017
View from the Top - Michael Jordan
"I've always believed that if you put in the work, the results will come."
Wednesday, 11 May 2016
MVP Curry Wins for Warriors in Over time
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| Steph Curry - Getty Images |
Stephen Curry nailed a three-pointer in overtime and gestured to the crowd, exclaiming over and over: “I’m back! I’m back!”
Curry returned from a sprained right knee to score an NBA-record 17 points in overtime, finishing with 40 as the Warriors rallied to take a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference semi-finals with a 132-125 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night.
And then on Tuesday, to no one’s great surprise, he was named the NBA MVP for a second year running. Curry swept all 131 first-place votes, including 130 from a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters and one from the fan vote. Curry is the 11th player to win back-to-back MVP awards.
“I love this game, I love playing and love competing. And really, really missed being out there with my team-mates,” Curry said. “To help our team get a win tonight and in that fashion, that was a good feeling in that moment to be back on the floor and playing.”
Playing for the first time since he was injured in Game 4 of the first-round series against Houston, Curry was rusty for three quarters and sensational down the stretch after the Warriors trailed by as much as 16 points.
Originally expected to play about 25 minutes off the bench, Curry picked up a heavier workload in the second half after Shaun Livingston, who had been starting in his absence, was ejected in the second quarter after arguing a call and picking up two technical fouls.
The Warriors can win the series Wednesday night at home in Game 5. A news conference announcing Curry’s award is scheduled for 5pm ET in Oakland on Tuesday.
Canada is mad as hell at Dwyane Wade, America, and we might not take it anymore
Curry was followed in the vote by Kawhi Leonard of San Antonio, LeBron James of Cleveland and Oklahoma City pair Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant. Curry’s Warriors team-mate Draymond Green was seventh.
Damian Lillard finished with 36 points and 10 assists for Portland.
Curry’s fast-break lay-up gave the defending NBA champions a 120-118 lead with 2:21 left in the extra period. He followed with a three-pointer, strutting and pumping his fist in celebration.
“You knew he’d catch his rhythm eventually,” Klay Thompson said. “He’s probably the best player in the world, the best shooter of all-time. He was getting good looks. We’ll take those all day.”
Harrison Barnes’ layup extended the lead to 125-118 and Portland couldn’t catch up. Thompson finished with 23 for the Warriors.
Curry finally made his first three of the game to give the Warriors a 103-100 lead with 4:35 left in regulation, but Portland was ahead in the final minute before Barnes tied it at 111-all with a three-pointer with 51 seconds left. Both Lillard and Curry missed to force the OT.
Curry led the Warriors to an NBA-record 73 wins in the regular season, a year after leading the team to its first NBA championship in 40 years. He averaged just over 30 points per game this season.
“Remarkable,” Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. “I mean, he looked fresh. He had his rhythm. He made tough shots, he made nice passes, he fought through screens. Obviously 17 points in overtime. It was a hell of a performance.”
The Trail Blazers narrowed the series to 2-1 on Saturday night when Lillard scored 40 points in a 120-108 Portland victory while Golden State was still without its star guard. The Blazers became the only team to defeat the Warriors twice this season.
Curry came off the bench with 5:56 left in the first quarter and Portland up 16-2. His only points in the quarter came off a pair of jumpers before he went back to the bench.
Livingston felt he was fouled just before halftime and was thrown out after arguing with referee Scott Foster. The 12-year veteran guard was averaging 12.1 points and 5.5 assists in the playoffs. He had started six of the eight playoff games while Curry nursed his knee injury.
Portland led 67-57 at the half, scoring a franchise playoff-record 41 points in the second quarter alone. Lillard led all scorers with 17 points.
Curry said his legs were sore after the game.
“To be expected,” he said. “I pride myself in the work I put in in the offseason to get through the 82-game schedule and be fresh for the playoffs. I was off my feet for a week and some change. You obviously lose a little bit but deep down when I got the work the last four days and broke a sweat and put the time in, that helped me get through these 38 minutes.”
Monday, 9 May 2016
No Curry for Warriors Against Portland - Game 4
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| Getty Images |
The Golden State Warriors went down to a heavy loss to the Portland Trail Blazers in their playoff series on Saturday night but it looks increasingly unlikely that their NBA MVP Steph Curry will be returning to the team for Game 4.
Curry has been out since the series against the Houston Rockets with a knee injury, and has returned to light practice sessions but Warriors coach Steve Kerr says the point guard is unlikely to play on Monday night. “I would just say he’s doubtful for tomorrow but slowly and surely making progress,” Kerr said.
The Warriors lead the series against the Trail Blazers 2-1 but have been pushed harder than many expected. However, Kerr said Curry’s return would be down to his physical condition rather than the team’s needs.
“The trainers would have to tell me he’s good to go,” Kerr said. “Steph would have to say he’s good to go. And then we would have to figure out a plan from there.
“You trust the medical staff in terms of, ‘Is there potential for more damage’? Then you trust the player with how he’s feeling. Steph has been, even when he’s lobbied like in the Houston series when he hurt his ankle, he would lobby and then admit, ‘No, it’s probably not right.’ I know I’d get a truthful answer from Steph. He’s not going to try to be a hero, and we’ll make the reasonable decision based on all the information.”
Curry averaged 30.1 points per game in the regular season but appeared in only two playoff games before his injury struck.
Cleveland Love Cavaliers Clean Sweep
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| Getty Images |
Kevin Love scored 27 points, LeBron James hit a huge shot with 39.2 seconds to go and the Cleveland Cavaliers finished off their second straight playoff sweep, beating the Atlanta Hawks 100-99 Sunday to advance to the Eastern Conference finals.
The Hawks had one last chance to extend the series after James missed a three-pointer with the clock winding down. Atlanta got the rebound and put the ball in the hands of Dennis Schroder, who led the team with 21 points.
The speedy point guard drove into the lane but was surrounded by James and Tristan Thompson. Schroder slipped and James tied up the ball, forcing a huge mismatch of a jump ball with 2.8 seconds left. With a seven-inch height advantage, James flicked the ball toward the sideline. Paul Millsap tried to get off a desperation shot, but it was after the buzzer and didn’t go in anyway.
The Cavaliers, who opened the playoffs with four straight wins over Detroit, made short work of the Hawks in a series that mirrored last year’s conference finals. In that series, the Hawks were the top seed but lost four straight to Cleveland. This time, the Cavaliers were healthy, seeded No1 and simply too much for Atlanta down the stretch in three of their four wins. They improved to 12-0 against the Hawks in the postseason.
The Cavaliers will face the winner of the Miami-Toronto series in the conference final. Toronto lead 2-1.
Schroder put the Hawks ahead 97-96 on a drive with 1:31 remaining. But James, after having one shot blocked and missing two tip-ins, got another chance when a video review overturned a call that Cleveland had knocked the ball out of bounds. Off the inbounds pass, Matthew Dellavedova found James streaking into the lane and Millsap was called for goaltending as he went for the block.
Schroder’s next shot was blocked by Thompson, and the Cavaliers isolated James on the wing against Millsap. James stepped back and hit the jumper, pushing Cleveland ahead 100-97. Schroder scored on a drive with 34.4 seconds left and James missed a potential clinching three. It didn’t matter. The Cavaliers buckled down at the defensive end and wrapped up the series.
Love carried Cleveland in the early going, hitting one three-pointer after another as the Hawks continually left him open in the corner. He went cold in the second half but still finished eight of 15 from beyond the arc. He was fouled on one long-range shot, knocking down a free throw for a four-point play, and his only basket that wasn’t a three was a jumper with his toe on the line.
James and Kyrie Irving finished with 21 points apiece. Millsap had 19 for the Hawks.
Sunday, 8 May 2016
Portand Blaze Trail Over Warriors
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| Getty Images |
Damian Lillard had a playoff-best 40 points and the Portland Trail Blazers avoided a fourth-quarter slump to beat Golden State 120-108 on Saturday night, cutting the Warriors’ advantage in the Western Conference semifinal to 2-1.
The defending NBA champion Warriors were still without reigning MVP Steph Curry, who sprained his right knee in Game 4 of the team’s first-round series against Houston.
Al-Farouq Aminu had 23 points and 10 rebounds, and CJ McCollum added 22 points for Portland. The Trail Blazers led 58-46 at the half and stretched the lead to as many as 20 points in the fourth quarter.
Draymond Green had 37 points, and Klay Thompson added 35 for the Warriors, They had had won four straight against the Blazers. Game 4 is Monday night in Portland.
Harrison Barnes’ three-pointer and Leandro Barbosa’s long jumper closed the gap to 105-92 for the Warriors with six minutes left. Lillard’s three-pointer with 2:47 made it 114-97, but Green answered with his own three. McCollum’s three-pointer pushed Portland’s lead to 120-106 with 1:22 left and the Warriors couldn’t catch up.
Avoiding a fourth quarter letdown was key for Portland. The Blazers led 87-76 going into the fourth quarter of Game 2, but were outscored 34-12 in the fourth quarter by the Warriors. Portland managed just six points in the final 5:21. Lillard, who finished with 25 points including 17 in the third quarter, was held scoreless in the fourth.
Lillard battled a chest cold in the first game of the series then was held scoreless in the final quarter of the second. But Lillard tends to respond to adversity: After he was snubbed for an All-Star bid this season he scored 51 points, including nine three-pointers, in a 137-105 victory over the Warriors in February. It was one of just nine losses for the Warriors in a record-setting 73-win season.
The Blazers came back from a 2-0 deficit in the opening round against the Los Angeles Clippers, who were hurt when both Chris Paul and Blake Griffin went down with injuries.
Thompson, who averaged 32 points in the first two games, had three three-pointers as Golden State built an early 16-9 lead despite four turnovers. Another three pushed the lead to 22-16 and Thompson led all scorers after the first quarter with 18 points. He also had 18 points in the first quarter of Game 1 against the Blazers.
Al-Farouq Aminu and Lillard each made three-pointers in the final minute and Portland went up 58-46 at the break. Lillard finished off the half with 25 and Thompson had 24 for Golden State.
The Blazers stretched the lead to 63-48 early in the second half, and Golden State’s Andrew Bogut got into foul trouble with five. Draymond Green hit consecutive three-pointers to close the gap to 63-56. Gerald Henderson’s wide open corner three-pointer put Portland up 75-60.
Curry returned to practice on Friday with a brace on his knee. The team did not scrimmage, but Curry ran through an extensive post-practice shooting routine.
Curry, who averaged over 30 points per game in the regular season, worked in a 2-on-2 drill on Saturday before Game 3. Coach Steve Kerr said he expected him to go 3-on-3 on Sunday, but would not speculate on his availability for Game 4.
Thursday, 28 April 2016
All Golden as Warriors Keep Winning
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| Klay Thompson - Getty Images |
Klay Thompson knew Golden State had to come together, that every player needed to raise his game with Stephen Curry sidelined. “None of us can do it alone,” Thompson had insisted hours earlier.
Thompson did his part, scoring 27 points with seven three-pointers as the Warriors rolled into the second round of the playoffs without their injured superstar, thoroughly embarrassing the Houston Rockets 114-81 on Wednesday night in Game 5.
“Urgency of the game and we did not want to go back to Houston — it’s a long flight,” Thompson said of his extra motivation.
Draymond Green added 15 points, nine rebounds and eight assists for the Warriors, who will face the winner of the Clippers-Trail Blazers series. Portland lead 3-2. “Everybody, they think Steph goes down and the entire series changes. But we thought otherwise,” Green said.
Without the MVP, Curry’s fellow Splash Brother set the tone from the opening tip. Thompson became the first player in NBA history to make at least seven threes in consecutive playoff games, while Shaun Livingston scored 16 points for his third double-digit performance in three games while starting in Curry’s place this series.
“We’re blessed, we are really lucky. You lose your point guard, you lose the MVP, and to be able to throw Shaun Livingston out there, he’s a fantastic basketball player, a great team-mate,” coach Steve Kerr said.
Curry, in a brown sport coat on the bench and nursing his sprained right knee, emphatically bobbed his head, clapped and bowed to Thompson during starter introductions. He even worked the officials during a timeout, and gestured with hand signals to celebrate big plays.
James Harden scored 25 of Houston’s 37 first-half points on the way to 35 points, but the Rockets had no chance with a one-man show against the deep defending champions.
So much for Jason Terry’s guarantee there would be a Game 6 back in Houston. “The season, from the beginning, wasn’t going our way. Just had too many distractions,” Harden said. “It’s just been like a bumpy road this entire season.”
Thompson hit a way-back, Curry-like three from 31 feet at the top of the arc with 5:37 left in the third. He shot seven of 11 from long range, 10 for 14 overall.
Curry could only grin, cheer and enjoy every second of seeing his team do so well without him. “He was just joking around and having a lot of fun. It was a game with a lot of joy,” Kerr said. “Steph was having a great time.”
The NBA’s leading scorer is sidelined for at least two weeks with a sprained MCL that happened when he slipped awkwardly on the final play of the first half of Sunday’s Game 4 and his legs split apart.
A day after Kerr was voted NBA Coach of the Year, his team took the first step toward a repeat title by following up its record 73-win season by so confidently handling Houston. Thompson started things off with a quick three-pointer, igniting the yellow-clad, “Strength in Numbers” sellout crowd at Oracle Arena. Green also hit from long range and Houston called a quick timeout.
Harden scored 14 early points on six-of-seven shooting, but the rest of the Rockets were 0 for 16 before Patrick Beverley’s follow shot with 11:26 left in the second quarter following Michael Beasley’s shanked alley-oop dunk try.
From the moment Curry went down, the Warriors took their game up a notch with a spectacular second half in Game 4, finishing the 121-94 victory with a playoff-record 21 three-pointers and 38 assists on 46 field goals.
Terry guaranteed a Game 5 win, telling the Houston Chronicle, “That’s going to be a long flight for them to come back to Houston.” Amused, Golden State just shrugged it off.
Dwight Howard capped his awful series with eight points on three-for-13 shooting and 21 rebounds, remaining on the floor long after the rest of the starters were finished. “He wanted to stay, he wanted to finish,” interim Rockets coach JB Bickerstaff said. “He didn’t want to quit. He didn’t want to lay down and bail out of the fight. ... That’s the image he wanted to leave people with.”
Elsewhere, the Blazers capitalised on the absence of injured Chris Paul and Blake Griffin to beat the Los Angeles Clippers 108-98 in Game 5 of their first-round series.
CJ McCollum led the Blazers with 27 points. They are up 3-2 and could close it out Friday in Portland. If Game 7 is needed, it would be Saturday back at Staples Center.
“We’ve got a unique opportunity to play an elimination game at home, and now we want to make sure we take full advantage of it,” McCollum said.
In Miami, Courtney Lee’s three-pointer with 25.2 seconds left put Charlotte ahead to stay, and the Hornets beat the Heat 90-88 in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference first-round series.
The Hornets have won three straight games in the series, and will take a 3-2 lead into a potential Game 6 clincher on Friday night.
Marvin Williams led the Hornets with 17 points, while Al Jefferson and Kemba Walker each had 14 for Charlotte — who got their first road playoff win in 14 years. Jeremy Lin added 11. Dwyane Wade scored 25 for Miami, while Luol Deng scored 15, Joe Johnson added 13 and Hassan Whiteside finished with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
Monday, 25 April 2016
Byron Scott Fired by LA Lakers
Byron Scott will not return to coach the Los Angeles Lakers next season, the team announced late Sunday night.
Scott coached the Lakers for the two worst seasons in the 16-time NBA champion franchise’s history, going 38-126. The Lakers are making another break from the Kobe Bryant era by firing the coach who shepherded the superstar guard’s farewell season, but couldn’t coax many wins out of an otherwise dismal roster.
Los Angeles finished with the NBA’s second-worst record at 17-65 this season, losing four more games than in its previous franchise-worst season in 2014-15.
“We would like to thank Byron for his hard work, dedication and loyalty over the last two years, but have decided it is in the best interest of the organization to make a change at this time,” general manager Mitch Kupchak said in a statement.
Scott understood that his job was in jeopardy last week. He won three NBA titles as the shooting guard for the Showtime Lakers of the 1980s, playing alongside Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy on some of the greatest teams in league history.
“This is my dream job, and obviously you want the opportunity to turn it all around,” Scott said. “But I understand the business of basketball, and it’s all about wins and losses.”
Scott received praise from Kupchak last week for his handling of the final months for Bryant, who was Scott’s teammate during his rookie season with the Lakers 20 years ago. Bryant scored 60 points in his final game April 13, a win over Utah.
But the Lakers struggled to play competent defense or to put together coherent game plans over the past two seasons with a roster of youngsters and unimpressive veterans.
Scott also didn’t seem to connect with the Lakers’ young players. His old-school mentality generated little positive effect in Julius Randle, Jordan Clarkson or D’Angelo Russell, the second overall pick whose playing time was curiously limited by Scott early in the season.
Although the Lakers acknowledged that Bryant’s season-long showcase took precedence over winning this season, Kupchak and owner Jim Buss still apparently expected more than Scott provided.
“Guys that know me know I’m not happy with the way we played as a basketball team,” Scott said last week. “I think we could have been a lot better if we had really honed in on some of the things we needed to hone in on early. But that’s kind of the price you’ve got to pay with young guys, too. It takes some young guys a bit longer to develop, but the bottom line is the record, and that’s what you judge guys by.”
Scott had two seasons with team options left on his contract.
The Lakers are now looking for their fifth head coach since Phil Jackson left in 2011. Mike Brown and Mike D’Antoni were fired before Scott, with interim coach Bernie Bickerstaff also getting a short run.
Scott is a veteran head coach with previous tenures at New Jersey, New Orleans and Cleveland. He led the Nets to two NBA Finals in his first head job, and he won the NBA’s Coach of the Year award with the Hornets in 2008.
The Lakers waited to fire Scott while two top candidates for head coaching positions took other jobs. Tom Thibodeau landed in Minnesota, and Scott Brooks was hired by Washington.
Lakers fans have been intrigued for months by the prospect of hiring Luke Walton, the championship-winning Lakers forward who is an assistant coach on Steve Kerr’s staff at Golden State. The 36-year-old Walton, who played nine seasons in Los Angeles, coached Golden State to a 39-4 start to the season while Kerr was sidelined by a back injury.
The Lakers’ new coach will inherit a young, patchwork roster with a core of intriguing talent. Russell, Randle and Clarkson are all solid players, and the Lakers will keep their high draft pick if they finish in the top three of the NBA draft lottery next month.
The Lakers also will have more than $40 million in salary cap room to offer free agents, and Scott’s absence could help there as well.
The once-glamorous franchise has been incredibly unsuccessful in attracting or keeping marquee free agents over the past four seasons, even losing Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol to other teams for relatively modest contracts. But the departures of Bryant and Scott with the installation of a credible head coach could prove more enticing to stars interested in the added benefits of playing in the Hollywood spotlight.
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