When the lanky, uncoordinated Kelly Olynyk is the hero – and villain – of an NBA playoff series, you know things have taken an odd turnIn a sense, the Eastern Conference playoffs essentially ended last night. When the Boston Celtics beat the Washington Wizards 115-105 in Game 7 of their series, they most likely merely secured their spot as the team that LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers will beat on their way to their third straight NBA Finals. The only remaining drama in the East might be whether or not the Cavaliers will remain undefeated. It wouldn’t have been any different had the Wizards won, by the way, although John Wall is a bigger potential X-factor than anybody on...
The East’s top-seeds are already down 0-2 in their opening round series against the unimpressive Chicago Bulls, and have lost home court advantage It took the Boston Celtics the full 82 game season to secure home court advantage throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs and exactly two games to lose it. With their 111-97 loss at TD Garden on Tuesday night, the Celtics fell to 0-2 in their opening round playoff series against the Chicago Bulls. It marked only the second time a No1 seed has dropped their first two games against a No8 seed since the development of the current NBA playoff system.Things felt a lot different for the Celtics just a week ago as they secured the best record...
The New Orleans Pelicans took a step forward, the Sacramento Kings took a step back, the LA Lakers hit the reset button – and the Boston Celtics went nowhereHeading into NBA trade deadline day, there was a very real fear that the biggest move of the year had already been made. But while nothing was likely to top the New Orleans Pelicans’ deal for DeMarcus Cousins, there was still plenty of talk that either the Chicago Bulls’ Jimmy Butler or the Indiana Pacers’ Paul George could find their way to a contender before the 3pm ET deadline. Related: NBA trade deadline day: Mavericks get Noel from 76ers – as it happened ⌚️ Continue reading...