More than 30 years ago, Bob McAdoo moved teams to win a title. He doesn’t understand the spite his fellow MVP has received after joining the WarriorsMore than three decades before Kevin Durant became a Golden State Warrior, another 6ft 9in high-scoring, former NBA MVP joined the league’s most explosive team in the hope of winning a title. Bob McAdoo was not scorned for this. In fact, no one seemed to think it was a bad idea.Instead, McAdoo – a three-time NBA scoring champion – signed with the Los Angeles Lakers from the New Jersey Nets before the 1981-82 season, embraced a secondary role to stars such as Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and gleefully scored 16 points in the...
Golden State have swept through the playoffs so far but too many days off can affect a team’s sharpness at the most important stage of the seasonThe Golden State Warriors entered the 2016 NBA finals under-rested and overwhelmed. Plagued by questions about Stephen Curry’s dodgy knee and Draymond Green’s kicks to the groin, they had just two days off before the finals. Did a lack of rest ultimately play a role in their breakdown? Perhaps this year’s Warriors will answer that question. In a remarkable reversal of fortune, after finishing their jog to the 2017 NBA finals 12-0, this year’s Warriors were given nine days to rest and recuperate before Warriors-Cavaliers III. Related: Ruthless Warriors complete sweep of Spurs to...
The Celtics’ surprise run to the No1 seed and the Eastern Conference finals was more than any of their fans could realistically ask for. Now the real work beginsThere’s a saying that sounds like an ancient bit of received wisdom but probably originates with the justly maligned Tom Cruise vehicle Cocktail that goes “everything ends badly, otherwise it wouldn’t end”. Like many clichés that only seem meaningful if you don’t think about them too hard, it doesn’t really apply it to real life but it works wonders when talking about sports. In sports, only one team or player is guaranteed a happy ending, while every other participant’s quest ends ends in a loss, usually a painful one that effectively invalidates all of...
The San Antonio coach has led the team to five NBA championships but taking a team depleted by injuries and a retirement to the Conference finals was something else The San Antonio Spurs’ season is over eight wins short of the franchise’s sixth championship, swept by the Golden State Warriors and outscored by 84 points over the final three and one half games of the Western Conference Finals. So concludes the finest coaching performance in Gregg Popovich’s 21 seasons leading the Spurs. San Antonio’s line-up for their Game 4 defeat showed how little Popovich had to work with at the end. Patty Mills, Danny Green, Jonathon Simmons, what’s left of LaMarcus Aldridge and then Manu Ginobili getting an honorary start...
To many the father of one of the NBA’s top prospects is a charlatan. But he can change a business in which African Americans often fail to get a fair deal UCLA point guard Lonzo Ball had a lot invested in Tuesday night’s NBA draft lottery. Ball, whose court vision and playmaking ability have drawn rave reviews, is a consensus top-three pick. Getting picked by the right team in next month’s draft sets him up for a bright future although a poor fit or dysfunctional franchise could derail his career. The draft is equally important from a business standpoint, as a player’s salary for at least his first seasons is determined entirely by draft order. Related: Top NBA prospect Lonzo...