Category Archives: General Stories
Roundball Direct’s All-Time One Hit Wonders
Kevin Durant, Credit AP
By Jesse Moore
The 2006 NBA Draft was the first year where eligible players had to be at least one year removed from high school. This forced the top high school players in country to attend college for at least one year (unless you’re Brandon Jennings and play overseas) before they could contemplate forgoing their remaining collegiate eligibility and enter the NBA Draft. Since this rule was implemented there have been 39 “one and done” players, some being great decisions and others not so much. Here are the ten best “one and done’s” of all-time:
Pass The Rock
By Michael Almonte
The San Antonio Spurs lead the 2013 NBA Finals 2-1 over the Miami Heat with Game 4 Thursday night in San Antonio. The Spurs took Game 1 92-88 and the Heat used a 33-5 run in the last few minutes of the third quarter and early fourth, rolling to a 103-84 win and evening the series. The Spurs returned the favor in Game 3 Tuesday night making an NBA Finals record 16 three-pointers in route to a 113-77 win. Since 1985, when the NBA went to the 2-3-2 format, when the series is tied at 1, the winner of Game 3 has won the series 12 out of 13 times. The 2011 Heat were the only team to win Game 3 and lose the series, dropping the last three games to the Dallas Mavericks.
The Detroit Pistons hired former Oklahoma City Thunder assistant coach Maurice Cheeks to be their next head coach. This will be Cheeks third stint as a coach after coaching the Portland Trailblazers (2002-2005) and the Philadelphia Sixers (2006-2008). He owns a 284-286 record, while reaching the playoffs three times in 2002, 2003 and 2008. Cheeks won an NBA championship as a player with the Sixers in 1983, while reaching the Finals in 1980 and 1982. The Pistons have not made the playoffs since 2009.
Timberwolves Proving Their Worth
Ricky Rubio, Credits NBA
By Matthew Woodruff
Since Kevin Garnett left the Target Center the Minnesota Timberwolves have been perennial underdogs. Love, the team’s new Kevin franchise player has been around since 2008-2009 and is yet to taste playoff action. However Minnesota’s victory yesterday evening against Western Conference favorites Oklahoma City Thunder may have announced the arrival of a playoff bound team.
Minnesota fended off a fierce finishing Oklahoma City Thunder 99-93, ending a juggernaut twelve game winning streak from the NBA’s best team. The Wolves frontcourt of Nikola Petkovic and Kevin Love were instrumental accounting for 24 and 28 points each along with 21 boards between the pair.
Pass the Rock
Kevin Durant
By Michael Almonte
The Oklahoma City Thunder are rolling at the moment winning their last 12 games leading the NBA with a league best 21-4 record. The Thunder are coming off a dominating performance Monday night at home avenging an earlier lost to the San Antonio Spurs winning 107-93. The Thunder have one more game on the road the rest of the week before heading to Miami next Tuesday on Christmas day for a NBA Finals rematch with the Heat. The 12 straight wins match the longest streak in franchise history going back to 1996, when they were the Seattle Supersonics recording a 14-game winning streak reaching the NBA Finals that season before losing to the Chicago Bulls in six games.
The Harlem Renaissance – Not Just Art
The Harlem Rens
By Tim Donohoo
The NBA season is underway. Focus is on the Miami Heat – can they repeat as
Champions in 2013?
Long Live the League
David Stern
By Joseph Kolodziej
King James is Finally Crowned
Credit Forbes
By Joseph Kolodziej
The Miami Heat are the 2011-12 NBA Champions and all is right with the world—well for one organization maybe and even then for only a moment—then it’s back to the drawing board to dish out another recipe for success in the fast-paced, fast-moving world of professional sports. Call it unfair or call it a relief—it’s both of these to the winners and losers of the championship each year; it might be unjust and even disheartening but the line of time keeps on moving as we ride along imagining where it might take us next.
