by gordie | May 31, 2025 | NBA
The “overrated” designation attached to Indiana Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton never felt quite right. Not when The Athletic designated him as such in an anonymous poll of his peers (a few of them, anyway) on the eve of the NBA playoffs, and not as he has led...
by gordie | May 26, 2025 | NBA
One of the defining moments of Tom Thibodeau’s coaching career came on April 28, 2012. He was in his second year as an NBA head man at that point, overseeing the Chicago Bulls, the Eastern Conference’s top seed, in their playoff opener against the Sixers. And in an...
by gordie | May 22, 2025 | NBA
You wouldn’t normally mention Tyrese Haliburton and Don Nelson in the same sentence. Haliburton, the willowy Indiana Pacers guard, was recently derided by his peers as the most overrated player in the NBA (a designation that now seems silly, given the way he has...
by gordie | May 21, 2025 | NBA
The idea when defending Oklahoma City midrange maestro Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – a guy who inflicts most of his damage off the dribble, from 15 feet in – is to make him play in a crowd. And that is the exact phraseology opposing coaches use, in strategy sessions with...
by gordie | May 18, 2025 | NBA
With the Knicks advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2000 courtesy of Friday’s rout of the Celtics in Game 6 of the teams’ semifinal series, there was a reminder of another bit of Sixers ignominy, in a season rife with it. Absent from...
by gordie | May 16, 2025 | NBA
Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum shreds an Achilles tendon in one of the most harrowing scenes imaginable, ending his season and putting his team on the brink. So who comes to Boston’s rescue, one game later? Why, Luke Kornet, of course. The “Green Kornet,” as he is...
by gordie | May 14, 2025 | NBA
The Sixers earned the third pick in the June 25 NBA draft courtesy of Monday’s lottery, and that’s, I guess, good (?). Good because a scan of recent No. 3 picks shows a lot of stars, and few duds. Bad because they are, ya know, the Sixers. The years pass. The...
by gordie | May 10, 2025 | NBA
Several hours before a Sixers-Warriors game in early March, Jerry Stackhouse sat astride the court in what was then known as the Wells Fargo Center and waxed poetic about Draymond Green. Good Draymond, that is. Stackhouse, who began his playing career in 1995 as a...
by gordie | May 6, 2025 | NBA
Behold the streak shooter, who can at once be the most uplifting and confounding of basketball players, a guy capable of taking his team to untold heights and relegating it to the deepest depths. There are only two spigots with such a guy – one spewing lava, the other...
by gordie | May 3, 2025 | NBA
One of the truly glamorous aspects of sportswriting is standing in the middle of a professional team’s locker room, watching guys changing their clothes. They don’t want you there. You don’t want to be there. But you have to be, so you can be one of many to interview...
