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Washington tried, traded for Kristaps Porzingis, kept on trying. Portland tanked in winter and spring with swirling gusto but not before outlining playoff expectations in autumn. Indiana wanted it, so bad, but the rest of the league didn’t want to hand them a 3.4-point handicap. The Knicks pushed,
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Winner: Nikola Jokic — who never let up, ever, ever. You have to knock out the champ, you can’t win by decision. Runner-up: Joel Embiid — nobody had a tougher year, and it was his best. In any other season, Embiid brought both the MVP narrative and the goods (30.2
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NBA blogs from the 1980s0:00/2001× (Never Too Much podcast: books!) There are plenty of things to expect in the final month of an NBA season — tired legs, catty teammates, playoff posturing — yet there are some events you shouldn’t anticipate. A head coach should probably expect to keep
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JOHN SALLEY I’m never, ever, worried about John Salley. OUR BULLS Not worried, heartened that everybody understands how important Lonzo Ball was to all of that. He stayed in front, allowed everyone else to gamble, to gather cookies. Chicago boasted a badass defense for a while and I’m
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Created a bracket seeded entirely with the fun stuff that happened in the NBA this season plus a few of my favorite NCAA things. Then I made everyone play each other and came up with a Final Four. JOHN BAGLEY BRACKET 1. Ime Udoka turned out to be perfect The
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PHOENIX, PHAVORITES Ascension to an NBA throne used to feel like a left-to-right video game you had to finish without use of warp zones. You took lumps from any number of Buck, Sixer, Celtic or Piston teams before the NBA let you lose your first Finals, let alone win one.
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Baseball means a lot to me, I know everything there is to know about my favorite club. And that’s it. I could not name 20 percent of last year’s MLB All-Star team and can not recognize ten percent of it via photograph. I have not watched a beginning-to-end
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KEVIN DURANT Eventually he’ll be as potent as ever, just hope the Nets understand what Kevin Durant is up against. Durant’s thinking about a championship, about acclimation, about settling scores. The Nets have to remember what happens when Durant plays through something he shouldn’t. Take your time
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Or we will send Himself after you. THE TAKE FOUL The NBA made it an “extra” foul to stop a fast break via intentional grab 15-years ago, yet for whatever reason the league adds stupid nuance to the violation. After a whistle the refs halt action to stand under headphones
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Pamphlets, for those who need them. DETROIT PISTONS THE BAD NEWS Nothing ran clever, the Pistons didn’t sneak up on anyone, Troy Weaver didn’t pull something amazing for Jerami Grant, we’re all still just sort of here. Worst net rating in the NBA. Kelly “Lunch Lady” Olynyk