Category: NBA (Page 579 of 595)

The New York Times is reporting that the Knicks are close to finalizing a trade that would bring Orlando guard Steve Francis to New York.

The current proposal, according to the source, would send guard Jamal Crawford, forward Maurice Taylor and possibly the swingman Trevor Ariza to Orlando. The Knicks would obtain Francis and forward Pat Garrity.

Francis and the Magic have been on the outs since the team suspended the guard for two games last month for refusing to enter a game. Francis later apologized, but since the incident several teams have inquired about his availability.

This is really a Crawford for Francis swap, and the Knicks would be getting the better end of the deal talent-wise. Whether a Stephon Marbury/Francis backcourt would work better than a Marbury/Crawford backcourt is uncertain. Marbury and Francis are two of the most talented guards in the league, though I’m not sure I’d want either guy on my squad. I prefer Francis to Marbury, but both are shot happy and it is unclear that the two could co-exist successfully in the league’s biggest, most intense market. One possibility is that this is a precursor to a second deal that would send Marbury out of town.

Since the NBA went to a six-division format, the top three seeds in each conference have gone to the three division winners. If the playoffs were today, the two best teams in the West, Dallas (41-11) and San Antonio (40-12), would potentially face each other in the second round of the playoffs. The league is considering its options to avoid such a situation in the future.

“I think the one thing there may be some interest in … would be to maybe look at how you seed the top four teams,” deputy commissioner Russ Granik said Saturday. “One thing that we have kicked around is whether you might say, all right, those same four teams are going to get the top four seeds, but maybe you do it in accordance with their records.”

I hear the argument that the Mavs, if they’re going to reach the NBA Finals, are going to have to beat the Spurs eventually, whether it’s in the second round or in the West Finals – so why bother changing the format? Well, for two reasons: (1) the playoffs should be set up so that the two best teams in each conference meet in their respective conference finals – that’s the marquee matchup that the fans want (2) if the Mavs have the #1 seed they should be rewarded by not having to face the #2 seed until the conference finals – the Spurs could lose their second round series.

In the end, you don’t want a second round series to be the biggest matchup in the conference playoffs. It’s too bad that the league won’t be able to avoid that this year.

Tracy McGrady scored 36 points but LeBron James took home the All Star Game MVP after helping the East overcome a 21-point third quarter defecit en route to a 122-120 win Sunday night. LeBron dropped 29 on 12-21 shooting while Dwayne Wade and Shaq chipped in 20 and 17 respectively and four Detroit Pistons — Chauncey Billups, Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace and Rip Hamilton — contributed some much-needed defense.

Billups had 15 points and seven assists as one of four Pistons off the East’s bench. When they returned in tandem in the third quarter, they continued the comeback and flashed some of their trademark defense to hold the West to 50 second-half points….

The Pistons…continued the rally with some defense. Ben Wallace had consecutive blocks on Pau Gasol of Memphis and Richard Hamilton flipped in a shot to make it 96-94.

The quartet scored the East’s first 11 points of the fourth quarter before O’Neal threw in a hook for a 107-101 lead with 7:38 remaining.

At 21, LeBron is the youngest ASG MVP in league history.

Dirk Nowitzki outshot Ray Allen and Gilbert Arenas in the finals to win the 3-Point Shootout. The problem is – he shouldn’t have been there in the first place. His final shot in the first round, a 2-point “Money Ball,” gave him 14 points and put him in the finals. But the replay showed that he didn’t get the shot off in time, and his teammate Jason Terry should have advanced. Apparently, the contest rules don’t allow for use of replay during the contest. What?

In the Slam Dunk competition, 5’9″ Nate Robinson outlasted Andre Iguodala in the contest’s first ever dunk-off to win the title. Robinson’s best dunk was in the final round when he brought Spud Webb out of the audience. Also vertically challenged, Webb won the title in 1986. Webb donned one of his throwback jerseys and tossed the ball up for Robinson, who jumped over Webb to throw down the dunk. But it took 14 tries for Robinson to complete his last dunk in the final round, and that is what’s wrong with the dunk contest these days. The contest grinded to a halt as Robinson tried his dunk over and over. If a contestant can’t complete a dunk in three or four tries, then they should be penalized.

The most impressive dunk came from Iguodala, who enlisted help from teammate Allen Iverson. Iguodala started out behind the basket as Iverson tossed the ball off the back of the backboard. Iguodala caught the ball in mid-air, ducked his head, and completed a reverse two-handed dunk. It was a close contest, but Iguodala, who won the MVP of the Rookie Challenge on Friday, should have won the title.