Still, the Cleveland Cavaliers have emerged as favorites versus the higher-seeded Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference Finals, which begin tonight at 8:30 p.m. ET on TNT.
This despite the Hawks’ amazing 19-game winning streak in the regular season, and despite being the only team in the regular season to beat the Cavs three times.
However, two of those wins came before the trade that landed J.R. Smith, Timofey Mozgov, and Iman Shumpert in Cleveland. After that trade, the Cavs went 34-10.
Also: LeBron.
Doesn’t it always seem to come down to that? Here’s a headline... Read More
Is the sweep a blessing or a curse? Does it let you rest or rust?
The Warriors, Wizards and Cavs have moved on to the next round with sweeps, while the Clippers and Spurs seem locked in a battle that has all the makings of a down-to-the-final-buzzer seven-game series.
For the teams that swept, there’s no way they would rather be in the kind of fight that L.A. and San Antonio are in.
Being rusty is better than being battered and bruised.
And a sweep is no guarantee that you’ll escape unscathed. The Cavaliers lost forward Kevin Love for two weeks to a dislocated shoulder. The longer Cleveland can wait tom play the winner of the Bulls-Bucks series the better.
Are LeBron James and Kevin Love really buds or not? Can’t they get it together and beat the King’s former team? Let’s keep it 100: it shouldn’t be that hard. Yet the Cavs lost in Miami the last time these two squads met.
Maybe there’s a little intrigue there but not as much as there is with the two Golden State games this week on Sling TV.
The Warriors travel to L.A. to face the Clippers on Tuesday, and while Golden State sports the best record in the league, L.A. has been on a roll recently, winning eight of its last 10 as of this writing.
Oh, but that might sound a little too hopeful because guess what? The Warriors have won nine in a row. Fancy that.
In addition to three games that pit Top 25 teams against each other, Sling TV has eight other games with squads on the bubble. Of the bubble teams, it’s hard not to have some sympathy for Texas.
The Longhorns end an extremely tough regular season Saturday at home against Kansas State. Nothing against the Wildcats, but after the run of talented teams Texas has faced—Oklahoma, Iowa State, West Virginia, Kansas and Baylor—it would be hard to imagine that the Longhorns won’t be salivating at the prospect of battling a team that is far removed from the Top 25.
After four consecutive losses to teams in the top 20, Texas won in overtime Monday against No. 14 Baylor, 61-59, giving them hope that a win against Kansas State might be enough... Read More
