NBA Finals 2019-2020 Preview

by

Bubble Ball really is different.  The Miami Heat, a pretty solid team, has thoroughly dispatched two teams, who seemed much better on paper.  Can they do it again?  The honest answer is I don’t see it but I didn’t see them smacking around the Bucks, so what do I know?  Generally, Vegas agrees with this take.  Odds makers already have the Lakers as five-point favorites in Game 1 and the general bend seems to be in favor of LeBron James and Los Angeles.  Putting all … [Read more...] about NBA Finals 2019-2020 Preview

Q&A With Jeff Pearlman on Three-Ring Circus, Kobe, Shaq, and More

by

On September 22, 2020, Jeff Pearlman released “Thee-Ring Circus: Kobe, Shaq, Phil and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty.”  Jeff is a prolific sports writer who has written books on the 1986 Mets, Walter Payton, the 1990s Cowboys, Brett Favre, Barry Bonds, and Roger Clemens.  On the basketball side, he wrote the well-received “Showtime” in 2013 about the Magic Johnson Lakers, for which he sat down with me for a fun interview.  The book was a fascinating and detailed account of … [Read more...] about Q&A With Jeff Pearlman on Three-Ring Circus, Kobe, Shaq, and More

Eastern Conference Finals Preview: Celtics/Heat

by

In the season that has lasted forever, we are finally to the Eastern Conference Finals.  Oddly, the teams playing are the three seed (Boston) and the five seed (Miami).  As an initial note, it looks like Boston is the slight favorite, even though the Heat is 8-1 in the playoffs, and convincingly beaten the best team in the NBA last round.   Shouldn’t Miami’s excellent play in the bubble mean something more?  Maybe.  I thought we could breakdown the series and see … [Read more...] about Eastern Conference Finals Preview: Celtics/Heat

Steve Nash and Newbie Coaches

by

How do we assess the Steve Nash hire in Brooklyn?  Nash was a great and smart player but he has no direct coaching experience.  By Nash’s own admission, he jumped the line due to his great playing career.  Is that fair?  There are a couple issues to unwrap here.  Let’s delve into a few of them: Does Nash’s getting a coaching gig under these circumstances constitute white privilege? Before getting into a long conversation as to the term white privilege and when it’s … [Read more...] about Steve Nash and Newbie Coaches

Q&A With Paul Knepper, Author of “The Knicks of the Nineties”

by

In October 2020, Paul Knepper is releasing his first book, The Knicks of the Nineties, a comprehensive look at the characters and stories that made a great era of New York hoops.  Paul did exhaustive research of old articles and interviewed scores of the people who were there, to revisit some of the crazy moments from the second best period in Knicks history.  Paul also fills in some of the gaps in the story that we didn’t have at the time.  Previously, he covered the Knicks for … [Read more...] about Q&A With Paul Knepper, Author of “The Knicks of the Nineties”

Playoff Quick Thoughts

by

1.            The Boycott:  Before getting into the substance of the NBA playoffs so far, we would be remiss if we didn’t comment on the NBA players’ decision to sit out a few games in protest of the shooting of Jacob Blake.  It’s hard to really coherently write about this issue in brief but here are a few undercooked observations: -Protests are typically more symbolic than substantive but symbolic gestures do matter.  The … [Read more...] about Playoff Quick Thoughts

©2025 Hoops Analyst // Website by Webstuff