As NBA players age and their bodies and athletic capabilities change, the best players adapt their approaches to remain the best. Whether that means adding new skills to their game or leaning more heavily into lesser-used abilities, the need comes for every player who lasts long enough in the league. Adaptation, though, doesn’t necessarily mean […]
The 2020 NBA bubble was, for many reasons, unlike just about anything else in the history of pro sports. After an abrupt pause in the season that meant putting their skills on the shelf for almost five months, players had to quickly ramp back up to peak form while also isolating from their families, miles […]
In recent years, the Miami Heat have been a quality team but not considered a member of the NBA’s heavyweight contender class. Jimmy Butler has a knack of turning his individual weaknesses into team strengths, but the Heat have had a few too many team weaknesses to join the class of title favorites, despite a […]
The runners-up in the NBA Finals over the past few years have started the following season in a deep malaise. After falling in the 2018 Finals, the Cleveland Cavaliers lost 16 of their first 20 games to start the 2018-19 season. Likewise, after dropping the 2019 Finals, the Golden State Warriors opened the next season […]
chris.herring (Chris Herring, senior sportswriter): So almost an entire year after we started this bizarre season, we now potentially head into the final game of it. The Miami Heat, coming off a desperate Game 3 victory, were within striking distance of tying the series during a pivotal Game 4. But the Lakers closed the door […]