Joel Embiid and James Harden of the Philadelphia 76ers are diametrically opposed as player types. Harden has averaged more than 10 assists a game for two seasons in a row and led the league in isolations per possession every season since at least 2015-16, while Embiid has led the league in post-ups per possession every […]
For a little while, it looked like the Philadelphia 76ers would get all of the good and none of the bad. James Harden’s opening run in a Sixers uniform, after his deadline-day trade out of Brooklyn, was a rebuttal to the gripes that have lately attended his here-and-there career. Can’t coexist with a franchise big […]
The Minnesota Timberwolves entered this season with a preseason over/under of only 35.5 wins, eighth-lowest in the NBA, after finishing the 2020-21 season at 23-49. They had made the playoffs only once since the NBA expanded to 30 teams in the 2004-05 season, and the FiveThirtyEight forecast gave them just a 39 percent chance of […]
When the Golden State Warriors take the court in Game 1 of their series against the Denver Nuggets on Saturday, it won’t be quite the same group we saw when the team last played in the postseason. Nor would we expect it to be: A lot has changed for the franchise since the end of […]
“The game slows down in the playoffs.” It’s an old NBA adage that has persisted into many modern circles. With focus and energy levels so much higher possession by possession, the thinking goes, playoff basketball becomes more of a grind. Teams that thrive on pace and athleticism don’t hold the same edges they would over […]