Tag: sb nation
Michael Jordan ruining the Cavaliers needs a deep rewind | CHOSEN: Chapter 2
To fully appreciate the Cleveland Cavaliers' pursuit of the 2016 NBA championship, we must go back to the second chapter of Cavs history. In the '80s, new ownership saved the franchise from leaving Cleveland. New management brought in the right people to...
The Doc Rivers-Bill Simmons beef is what happens when the media are fans
Before he became a media mogul, Bill Simmons was a Celtics fan. While Simmons was getting super famous, the Celtics weren't very good. The man overseeing that not-very-goodnesss was coach Doc Rivers. So Bill's problems became Doc's problems, and vice vers...
Shaq's beef with Stan Van Gundy exploded when his former coach accused him of flopping
Pat Riley was the GM who brought Shaquille O'Neal to Miami, and the coach who led Shaq's Heat to a title, but ... not immediately. For a moment there, young Stan Van Gundy was Shaq's coach. It didn't end well, and a few years after their divorce, a seemin...
How the Rockets turned back-to-back champions into a bunch of fed-up, beat-up, washed-up stars
From Choke City to Clutch City, the Houston Rocket of the mid-nineties were so cool. They took the '94 title and everyone was like "that's just cuz Jordan switched sports!" So, they clawed their way up from the 6th seed to win it all again in 1995.
Shaq and Olajuwon’s Game 1 battle in the 1995 NBA Finals deserves a deep rewind
The 1995 Finals had a ton of star power - a very young Shaq and Penny for the top seeded Orlando Magic, Hakeem and Drexler having a mini Phi Slama Jama reunion in Houston, and Horace Grant's extremely awesome rec specs. And while the series didn't deliver...
Kevin Garnett: risky draft pick, unsung rookie ... NBA Icon
Before Kevin Garnett was an MVP, a DPOY, a champion, and a Hall of Famer, he was considered far from a sure thing. Garnett's difficult high school journey, his complicated college recruitment, and his remarkable decision to forgo college entirely all worr...
Chris Paul and Rajon Rondo envy each other, hate each other, and almost got traded for each other
When Rajon Rondo and Chris Paul got into it with each other very early in the 2018-19 season, lots of us wondered what the source of their beef was. Old Olympic team selection grudges? Frustration over perceived slights? Jealousy? Or maybe it's a little b...
How the Knicks' terrible leadership turned a contender into 20 years of misery
Two important things happened to the mighty New York Knicks in 1999: First, after years of contending and one very strange regular season, the 8th-seeded Knicks made an incredible run to the NBA Finals. Second, noted rich person James Dolan inherited cont...
How the Milwaukee Bucks scrapped a contender, refused to rebuild ... then somehow turned out great
Okay, so this Collapse has a punchline, which is that the Milwaukee Bucks won it all in 2021. But that outcome only makes the era preceding it more compelling. The prior very-good Bucks team took the league by storm in 2001. They almost made it to the Fin...
Patrick Ewing never won an NBA championship. Here's what left him empty-handed.
This one stings. A surface-level summary of 1990s NBA history is basically: “Michael Jordan won the championships he was around to win, and Hakeem Olajuwon got the other ones in the middle.” Part of the reason the series Untitled exists is to better expla...
How the Trail Blazers imploded into the Jail Blazers
Who's ready for a wild (albeit ultimately sad) ride? The very deep Portland Trail Blazers came extremely close to beating the Kobe-Shaq Lakers in game 7 of the 2000 Western Conference Finals. They were up 15 in the fourth! Buttttt LA went on a 15-0 run...
How the Nets wasted a prime championship opportunity, then fell apart and left the state | Collapse
In the mid-2000s, the NBA's Western Conference faltered a bit, allowing for the Eastern Conference to swoop in and win a couple championships. Heading into that mini era, anyone would have picked the New Jersey Nets to snatch at least one of those trophie...
How the Thunder failed to win a title after drafting three MVPs in a row
The Oklahoma City Thunder had Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden on the same team under the age of 24. They made a run to the 2012 NBA Finals before losing to LeBron James and the Miami Heat. From there, it was all downhill for OKC.
