NBA News 2012: Irving named NBA's rookie of the year

Kyrie Irving (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving was named the National Basketball Association's (NBA) rookie of the year in a landslide victory after leading all first-year players in scoring, the league said on Tuesday.

The 20-year-old Irving, taken first overall in the 2011 NBA Draft, averaged 18.5 points and 5.4 assists in 51 games playing for a Cavaliers team that went 21-45 last season and finished with the fourth-worst record in the league.

"It was a great season, I had such an amazing time," the Australian-born Irving said at a news conference.

"All our guys on this team worked hard, whether we came out with wins or loses it was just about us competing every single day and I know this (team) is going in the right way."

Irving received 117 first-place votes from a panel of 120 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. Minnesota's Ricky Rubio finished second with 170 points and Denver's Kenneth Faried was third with 129 points, including one first-place vote.

Irving is the first member of the Cavaliers to win the award since LeBron James was named rookie of the year in 2004.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/cavaliers-irving-named-nbas-rookie-201711849--nba.html

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NBA News 2012: Clippers advance, knock out Grizzlies

Los Angeles Clippers Blake Griffin during a game against the Washington Wizards at the Verizon Center in Washington on March 12, 2011. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Chris Paul played with an aching right hip and Blake Griffin's sprained left knee stiffened up during the game. If the Clippers were truly a two-man team, then they would have been in trouble facing elimination by the Memphis Grizzlies.

Good thing the guys on the Clippers' bench want to keep playing.

Kenyon Martin's 23-footer put the Clippers ahead to start a fourth quarter in which backups scored 25 of their 27 points, helping Los Angeles' other NBA team beat Memphis 82-72 Sunday and advance to the Western Conference semifinals.

''Our bench was our MVP,'' Clippers guard Randy Foye said. ''They realized what they had to do. We had a lot of guys hurt, so we just continued to grind.''

The Clippers reserves outscored Memphis' bench 41-11 to help Los Angeles clinch its first playoff series since 2006 and only the franchise's third overall. They also helped the Clippers avoid becoming the ninth NBA team to blow a 3-1 lead in a best-of-seven series and now they head to San Antonio for a second round starting Tuesday night.

Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said they will regroup Monday and focus on the Spurs then. He wanted his team to enjoy the series win for a little bit.

''But obviously another big challenge for us,'' Del Negro said.

Chris Paul scored 19 points despite his strained right hip flexor, and he was the only starter to score in the fourth quarter. Paul was so confident of victory he bought plane tickets for his wife and son to San Antonio on Saturday.

''I felt like we should have won earlier,'' Paul said. ''But it doesn't matter. As long as you win, I think it is a step in the right direction for our franchise.''

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/clippers-advance-knock-grizzlies-82-093909995--nba.html;_ylt=AoarG_rP9qkn_bUN_8zN.ww5nYcB

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NBA News 2012: Bosh Suffers Abdominal Strain, Return Date Unknown

Chris Bosh (Photo credit: Keith Allison)
Chris Bosh suffered what the Heat termed a lower abdominal strain during the second quarter of Miami’s 95-86 Game 1 victory over the Pacers.

Bosh did not return to the contest and is scheduled for an MRI to determine the extent of the problem.

"We don't know what Chris' status is," Spoelstra said. "We won't know until we get an MRI, move on from there."

The initial sense was not encouraging.

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/221034/Bosh_Suffers_Abdominal_Strain_Return_Date_Unknown

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NBA News 2012: LeBron James is the NBA’s Most Valuable Player

NBA player LeBron James answers questions during a press conference after a preseason practice session Sept. 28, 2010, at the Aderholt Fitness Center at Hurlburt Field, Fla. The Miami Heat used the fitness center for their week-long training camp. James is a forward for the Heat. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
All apologies for making this so stupidly simple, but this truly is a simple award. You give the Most Valuable Player award to the player that has played the best basketball during the regular season, and LeBron James clearly played the best basketball of any player in the NBA this year. This is why, according to the Associated Press, he will be awarded the MVP trophy on Saturday. Gotta get it in before the Indiana Pacers sweep LeBron's Miami Heat out of the playoffs, y'know.

To consider any other candidate was to be charitable to that runner-up at best. Other NBA players have had MVP-level seasons in terms of production, and there certainly have been several players this season that have been just about invaluable to their respective franchises, but James was so far and away the best player in the NBA that even L.B.J. fatigue -- James has won the award three times in four years -- couldn't sway the vote.

James averaged 27.1 points this season on just 18.9 shot attempts a game, which is nearly (by .1 of a shot) a career-low. To put that in perspective, Kevin Durant averaged 28 points on 19.7 shots a night, and Kobe Bryant managed 27.9 on 23 shots a contest — and we don't want to hear about Heat helpers in comparison to teams that feature Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. James also contributed 14.1 rebounds/assists and 2.7 steals/blocks, numbers that far outpace his contemporaries in whatever the hell position James plays these days.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/lebron-james-nba-most-valuable-player-033257767.html;_ylt=Agkqkyow8RZYr8MCnS9RVSm8vLYF

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NBA News 2012: Is Mike Brown's Job on the Line in Game Seven?

LOS ANGELES, CA - DECEMBER 25: Head coach Mike Brown talks with Metta World Peace #15 of the Los Angeles Lakers during the game against the Chicago Bulls at Staples Center on December 25, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)Mike Brown's future with the Lakers could well depend on his ability to find solutions by Saturday night. I don't think the front office would make a coaching change even if they lose Game Seven. Brown is owed a lot of money under the deal he signed last summer, and for an organization already in cost-cutting mode, having to pay a second head coach while Brown's still on the payroll is an unattractive option. But I'll assure you of this: if the Lakers do fall in Game Seven, some nasty shit is going to come raining down. Bynum might demand a trade. Kobe might demand to be amnestied. Either guy might point to Brown and say, "It's him or me." If the Lakers don't advance, one of the Brown-Bynum-Kobe threesome will be gone next year. Maybe more than one. There's way too much talent making way too much money for a first-round exit, and how much more of Kobe's amazing career are people willing to see go to waste?

Making Brown's job easier in some respects but harder in others will be the return to action of Metta World Peace. He's done his time for clobbering James Harden. Now he returns to the lineup to replace the out-of-his-depth Devin Ebanks. MWP will finally give the Lakers someone to check Danilo Gallinari, who's been killing them on isolation plays. He'll have the freshest legs on the floor. And along with Kobe, he'll give Mike Brown a second player he can count on to compete with fire. But Metta hasn't seen game action in a couple weeks, and he's such a flaky dude you can easily imagine him looking totally out of sorts in his first game back. I can see him infusing the Lakers with much-needed defensive backbone. I can also see him shooting 1-for-7 with four turnovers.

All season long it's been impossible to get a read on this Lakers squad. At times they're the best team in the league. But just when you start believing in them, they become an unfathomable mess. Which version will show up Saturday? Your guess is as good as mine, and probably Mike Brown's as well.

http://www.silverscreenandroll.com/2012/5/10/3013625/is-mike-browns-job-on-the-line-in-game-seven

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NBA News 2012: Andre Iguodala hits 76ers’ series-winning free throws: ‘I thought of my son’

Andre Iguodala on November 23, 2010 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
After Omer Asik missed the second of two potential game-icing free throws with Chicago up 78-77 and seven seconds left in the fourth quarter, Iguodala grabbed the rebound and barreled down the center of the floor, an arrow pointing straight at both Asik and the rim. Asik fouled Iguodala on his layup attempt, putting him on the foul line with 2.2 seconds left and a chance to win the game and the series. He hit 'em both, Philadelphia celebrated its first trip to the second round since 2003, and he got to have a postgame chat with NBA TV's Cheryl Miller.

After telling Miller about his thought process as the Bulls big man stepped to the line ("Well, Asik's a bad shooter; I knew I'd have a chance to get the rebound") and on his end-to-end push, Iguodala — a 73.7 percent career free-throw shooter who has seen his stroke fall off over the past two years and posted a career-low 61.7 percent from the stripe this year — talked about stepping to the line himself with a chance to win it, and how a teammate's words stuck in his head.

"On the free throws, Tony Battie gave me some advice," Iguodala said. "He said, 'Think of something that you love when you're shooting free throws,' because I've been struggling all year. I thought of my son, and it was easy after that."

Last month, Iguodala and his 76ers teammates were the subject of a great feature by Sports Illustrated's Lee Jenkins, a story that delved into the difficult position in which Iguodala has found himself in his time in Philly. He's a perfect complimentary player — an elite athlete and defender, a tireless worker, good leader and solid citizen, just a monstrous collection of gifts — whose greatest crimes in the eyes of many fans have been saying yes to an $80 million contract and "not being a max player" ... which is to say, not being a 30-point-per-game scorer. (Or, more to the point, not being Allen Iverson.)

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/andre-iguodala-hits-76ers-series-winning-free-throws-041054760.html;_ylt=AtpuqNBaZFFCK3255kamosI5nYcB

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NBA News 2012: Rajon Rondo, cameraman clash over post-Game 5 filming

BOSTON, MA - MAY 06: Paul Pierce #34 of the Boston Celtics has a word with Rajon Rondo #9 of the Boston Celtics in the second half during a game against Atlanta Hawks in Game Four of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2012 NBA Playoffs on May 6, 2012 at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)
The Boston Celtics missed an opportunity to close out the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night, dropping an 87-86 road affair that gives Atlanta the chance to knot their first-round series in Boston on Thursday night. Near misses like the one Boston had at Philips Arena tend to stick in a player's craw, especially when the player singlehandedly got his flagging team back into the game and conjured a chance to win it out of thin air, only to see it end in a trap, a turnover and a loss, extending a series that player felt his team already had won.

So, yeah, Rajon Rondo — whom NBA fans know to be a quiet, reserved and occasionally volatile sort as it is — was a little bit salty when he spotted a cameraman filming him after Boston's Tuesday night loss:


While waiting to take the podium for his postgame media session, Rondo noticed a cameraman filming his idle chatter. The point guard pointed at the cameraman (which, if I was the cameraman, would probably have me thinking, "Oh, crap") before walking over to voice his displeasure.

"Listen — how many times I'mma tell you?" Rondo asks. "You are not filming me. I told you to quit filming. Do not film me. I'm not doing an interview right now. I just told you."

The progression is simple — Emotional Dude fresh off a tough loss wants to have a couple of moments with some people close to him before he steps up to the podium and talks about not having his best performance and his team dropping a winnable playoff game; Emotional Dude sees a camera encroaching on those moments; Emotional Dude responds in an emotional fashion; Emotional Dude comes off looking like kind of a jerk, especially after "Inside the NBA" host Ernie Johnson tags the encounter with a terse "Whatever."

You can understand Rondo's frustration, and he didn't escalate the hostilities beyond a reasonable level — any reasonable person sees the difference between this and stuff like the run-ins that guys like Randy Johnson and Kenny Rogers had with cameramen — but he's pretty clearly in the wrong here.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/rajon-rondo-cameraman-clash-over-post-game-5-161311234.html;_ylt=AhDy.3OoO_DUWzJqNCAcCOu8vLYF

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