Do Celtics, Anyone, Have a Chance Against Golden State This Year?

By Adam Lowenstein (@StatsAdam)

Why the Warriors’ Chances at 2018 Title are Still Sky High

While Carmelo Anthony and the New York Knicks dominate the current NBA news, the Warriors are readying themselves to defend their second championship in the last three years as the NBA’s heavy favorite to win the 2018 Finals.

Golden State is getting the band back together after registering the league’s best offensive efficiency, effective field goal percentage and true-shooting percentage during last year’s regular season. Although they were the Western Conference’s worst squad in terms of defensive rebounding, they were among the league’s top teams on the defensive end of the basketball.

Previewing All the NBA's Christmas Day Action

A Finals rematch between the Cavs and Warriors headlines a jam-packed NBA Christmas.

By Adam Lowenstein (@StatsAdam)

For an in-depth preview of the Celtics and Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Christmas Day, you can read my separate preview article here. Now, onto the rest of a packed Christmas Day!

2:30 PM ET, ABC: Golden State Warriors @ Cleveland Cavaliers

The long-awaited regular season rematch of the previous two NBA Finals comes to a television, phone, tablet or computer near you on Christmas Day.

The Warriors and Cavaliers represent two of the top three teams in terms of offensive efficiency and two of the four best squads in scoring differential this season. Golden State’s league-leading effective field goal and true shooting percentages have propelled the Warriors to a gargantuan lead in scoring differential this season.

LeBron & the Cavs Make History in Game 7

It was a bad night to be a LeBron hater, as the King orchestrated the first ever comeback from down 3-1 in NBA Finals history, and averaged 29-11-9 throughout the series, with back-to-back 40 point games facing elimination in Games 5 & 6, and a triple-double in Game 7. That's a mouth full, and it earned LeBron his third ever championship, and third Finals MVP, where he was a unanimous selection.

By Andy Dougherty (@AndyDougherty10)

Finally a close game! It had been over a month since the last NBA game decided by five points or fewer, but what better time for a nail-biter than Game 7 of the NBA Finals?

After 52 long years, Cleveland has won a major professional sports championship, as the Cavs edged Golden State 93-89 in front of a raucous crowd inside Oakland's Oracle Arena.

Cleveland's residents can now forget about LeBron James's infamous decision to take his talents to South Beach and focus instead on his triumphant return. James delivered on his promise to bring a championship to his home state, and he more than earned his 3rd career NBA Finals MVP. James took over, becoming the first player in any series to lead both teams in points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals.

Your NBA Western Conference Semifinal Primer

San Antonio's top-ranked defense, led by reigning DPOY Kawhi Leonard, made life miserable for Kevin Durant and the Thunder in Game 1. Can OKC make a series out of it?

By Adam Lowenstein (@StatsAdam)

Ed. Note- Yes, we know that the second round has already begun in the West, but we wanted to wait until all the NBA's playoff matchups were set to post our previews. Deal with it.

Anyways, here are Adam's breakdowns of the Western Conference Semifinals.

#1 Golden State Warriors vs. #5 Portland Trail Blazers

Those who are worried about the Warriors without Stephen Curry, have no fear, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green are here! Thompson outscored the Trail Blazers by himself in the first quarter of Game 1, as he put up 18 points to the Portland’s 17. In addition, Thompson, who finished with a game-high 37 points, accomplished that first-quarter feat on 7-for-10 shooting in just 10-and-a-half minutes.

Your NBA Playoff Primer: The West

There are plenty of quality teams out West, but all signs are pointing to a historic showdown between Kawhi Leonard's Spurs and Steph Curry's Warriors.

By Adam Lowenstein (@StatsAdam)

Ed. Note- Today Adam continues his look at the NBA Playoffs with the brutal Western Conference, led by the historic Golden State Warriors, but don't sleep on the always competitive San Antonio Spurs, who have had a regular season for the record books themselves.

If you'd like to see his Eastern Conference preview, click here. Now, onto the best of the West.

#1 Golden State Warriors vs. #8 Houston Rockets

Can the best team in NBA regular season history repeat as champions? If there is not a major Warriors injury, then it looks likely they will be raising the Larry O’Brien trophy again. The best offense in the league plays at the highest pace of any team in the playoffs, because Golden State knows that, the more possessions there are in a game, the better chance the northern Californians are happy.

Jeremy's Best- and/or Worst-Case NBA Preview

Stephen Curry took home an MVP Award and an NBA Title last season, but can he repeat?

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin)

Every year I make NBA picks. Every year I'm wrong. Like, yeah, I picked Cleveland to make the Finals last year, and yeah, I picked Miami to make the Finals in each of the previous four years. But how hard was that? The East is always super-easy to predict. I've whiffed on the West pretty much every year, sometimes spectacularly so.

So, I'm just taking a wide lens this year. I'm making no official predictions, whether with regards to win-loss records or who's going to win which conference or the title. If I'm just going to be wrong anyway, what's the point? So, like I did with my NFL preview back in September, I'm going to take a look at every team's best-case scenario, every team's worst-case scenario, and finally, a middle-ground look that (I suppose) will serve as my unoffically official prediction (but again, I'm not going to explicitly say a win total or an exact finish).

As I sometimes do, I've arranged the teams in a random order, so please don't spend time worrying about why I picked the order that I picked, or searching for hidden meaning. There isn't any. Also, it is long (in total, it runs a cool 8800 words), so feel free to skip ahead and just find your favorite team. I won't be offended.

Are the Hawks Building an NBA Power in Atlanta?

He may not get much love from All Star voters, but Atlanta's Paul Millsap has combined scoring, rebounding and elite defense to help push the Hawks to the top of the East.

By Adam Lowenstein (@StatsAdam)

Are the Atlanta Hawks for real?

With their Spurs-like style under longtime San Antonio assistant Mike Budenholzer, the team has an Eastern Conference-best 28-8 record, their best 36-game start to a season ever.

To put the Hawks’ performance into perspective, just 65 teams have performed this well through 36 contests over the last half-century. No wonder Budenholzer was recently named the December Eastern Conference Coach of the Month.

As the only team in their conference with both offensive and defensive efficiencies in the top eight in the league, the Hawks own the NBA’s longest current winning streak and longest current road winning streak.

The Official (Way Too Long) SuiteSports 2014-2015 NBA Preview: Part IV - The Playoff Contenders

Stephen Curry has Golden State ready for the season. But are they ready for the Finals?

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin)

With the season starting tomorrow, we're really getting down to the nitty-gritty. Part III on Friday covered the first stretch of Eastern Conference playoffs teams and the last stretch of Western Conference lottery teams, which means every team left is one I'm picking to make the playoffs.

Through the first three sections, the teams have been sequenced in ascending order based on record. This is the section that will start to deviate from that. While each team listed here in this section will have more wins than the team listed before it, there will be teams in tomorrow's final section (the six Finals contenders) who have fewer wins than some of the teams listed here. But we'll get to them tomorrow. Let's just focus on the playoff teams for now.

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Houston Rockets
2014 Record: 54-28
Over/Under Wins: 49.5
Odds To Win Championship: 30-1

It’s a bit tough to place Houston this season because of two factors that would generally be considered to be in conflict with each other. They are:

(A) With the losses of Chandler Parsons, Jeremy Lin, and Omer Asik, the team is undoubtedly less deep than it was last year.
(B) A team with James Harden and Dwight Howard is going to be pretty good regardless of players 3-12.

With how closely-knit teams 4-10 in the Western Conference might be this year, any step backwards could send the Rockets tumbling out of the playoffs. But on the other hand, it’s really hard to imagine a team with two top-10 players in the league missing out.

I Like This Team - A Glass Half-Full NBA Preview (Part III)

LeBron has Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love thinking Championship

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin)

This is the third and final installment of the positive half of our extreme NBA previews. Last Week, I told you why all 30 teams are terrible. Friday and Monday, I told you why 20 teams are great. Here are the last ten, featuring some of the best teams from a season ago (plus the new-look Cavaliers).

As with the first two sections, I've included each team's best-case scenario for the season. With most of these teams, the talent level is close enough that everyone's best-case scenario is to win the title. As such, I've tried to be as specific as possible as to how and why those best-case scenarios might manifest themselves. Put on a pair of rose-colored glasses and look on the bright side. 

Your NBA Team Sucks - A Glass Half-Empty Season Preview (Part III)

Kevin Durant's foot injury could de-rail Oklahoma City's season before it even starts.

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin)

Ready for one more round of bad feelings? I know I am. Let's throw our stink on the last ten teams in the league. If you missed Part I (the ten worst teams from last year), it's here. For Part II (with the last few lottery teams and the first bunch of playoff teams), it's over there. And this is Part III, covering the best of the best. Well, the worst of the best. These teams suck.

Miami Heat

In case you didn’t hear, LeBron isn’t playing for the team any longer.

The team completely and totally fell apart in the playoffs last year whenever LeBron wasn’t on the floor. How are they going to survive a whole season without him? Dwyane Wade is pretty much guaranteed to break down. The last time Chris Bosh carried a team, the 2010 Raptors went 40-42. At least they can take solace in the fact that everything bad going on is Mario Chalmers’ fault.

Worst-Case Scenario: Wade’s knees fall apart as he tries to shoulder a greater load. Bosh can’t step up, Luol Deng and Danny Granger are washed up, Josh McRoberts never fits in, and the Heat lose 55 games.

West Round 1 Preview: (3) Los Angeles Clippers vs. (6) Golden State Warriors

DeAndre Jordan improved by leaps and bounds in 2014.

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin)

By the Numbers

Los Angeles:
57-25 (34-7 Home; 23-18 Road)
PPG: 107.9 (1st); 101.0 (14th)
+7.0 Average Scoring Margin (2nd)
Off Rating: 109.4 (1st); Def Rating: 102.1 (7th)
+7.3 Net Efficiency Rating (2nd)

Golden State:
51-31 (27-14 Home; 24-17 Road)
PPG: 104.3 (10th); PPG Allowed: 99.5 (10th)
+4.8 Average Scoring Margin (T-4th)
Off Rating: 105.3 (12th); Def Rating: 99.9 (3rd)
+5.4 Net Efficiency Rating (6th)

Season Series: Tied 2-2
Los Angeles 126, Golden State 115 (October 31)
Golden State 105, Los Angeles 103 (December 25)
Golden State 111, Los Angeles 92 (January 30)
Los Angeles 111, Golden State 98 (March 12)

NBA Trade Deadline Recap

The Pacers added Evan Turner, but will he be enough to put them into the Finals?

By Bennett Corcoran

After J.J. Redick was the prize last February, it appears this unfortunate trend continues; another year under the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, another unbearably slow NBA trade deadline. Luckily, the last minute Evan Turner-Danny Granger swap has serious playoff implications, so it wasn’t a total flop. Let’s take a look at each trade and see which teams are stockpiling for a playoff run.

NBA Christmas Day Viewing Guide

Look away from the Christmas Tree for a second and plop down on the sofa for some Holiday Hoops. (flickr)

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin)

As per usual, the NBA is gearing up for a slate of five games on this lovely Christmas day. Each game has a few different things to watch for, so use this as your guide to navigating the labyrinth of basketball viewing with family-obligation roadblocks.

Injury Bug Biting Western Conference Contenders

The Grizzlies have missed Marc Gasol's presence on the defensive end, but do they have other issues?

By Bennett Corcoran

Despite the horrendous performance so far this season by the Eastern Conference, the West is doing just fine, sporting ten teams above .500 and two more teams (Lakers and Timberwolves) almost there.

It will be interesting to see which teams emerge as bona fide playoff contenders and which teams plummet as the season continues. With plenty of games remaining on the schedule, anything can happen but, at least for now, it appears that injuries are playing a significant role in the Western Conference playoff race.

One surprise this season has been the inconsistent Memphis Grizzlies, who last season used their toughness and grit to get all the way to the Western Conference Finals, but now sit at just 10-12. New coach David Joerger initially attempted to implement too many new plays and concepts, straying away from the true identity of the team; playing sound defense while running the offense through Marc Gasol on the high post and Zach Randolph on the block. With Gasol sidelined four to six weeks with a knee injury, the defense has declined rapidly.

I Like This Team - A Glass-Half Full NBA Preview (Part III)

Miami is the favorite in the East, but they still have to go through Paul George and the Pacers. (Flickr)

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin)

This is Part III (the last one!) of I Like This Team. It was the only fair thing to do after slinging fistfuls of mud around last week. Parts I and II of my nice version can be found here and here.

As you might have noticed, at the end of each team's section, I've been offering a best-case scenario prognosis for the season. Going from team to team, the outcomes outlined in those best-case scenarios could vary greatly. However, now that we've reached the 10 best teams from last year's regular season, one might expect that the best-case scenario for each (or at least, the majority) of these teams is an NBA title. Given that as the case, I've made a point to be as specific as possible as to what exactly would lead them to said NBA title, at least in the instances where that really is their best-case scenario.

In any event, let's kick things off with one of the more intriguing teams this coming season:

Golden State Warriors

In the realm of NBA dork-ery, the Warriors made the biggest move of the offseason when they swiped Andre Iguodala away from Denver. Iguodala is like LeBron-lite, in that he’s a tall, lanky swingman with great ballhandling and passing skills who can defend up to four positions. He’s the NBA’s version of a Swiss army knife because his flexibility allows his team to utilize him in so many different ways. With Iguodala on the roster, Golden State can play small (Curry, Thompson, Iguodala, Barnes, Lee/Bogut), standard (Curry, two of the Thompson/Iguodala/Barnes trio, Lee, Bogut), or even a ridiculous big lineup (Iguodala at point guard, Thompson, Barnes, Lee, Bogut). When you throw Draymond Green into the mix, the Warriors can basically assemble lineups by pulling names out of a hat. It’s that level of depth and flexibility that led to Denver winning 57 games last season with no central “star.” With Curry on board for Golden State, 57 wins might not just be realistic, it may be easy.

Your NBA Team Sucks - A Glass-Half-Empty Season Preview (Part III)

These guys think they're so cool. They're wrong. They suck. (Flickr)

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin)

In case you missed the first two installments of Your NBA Team Sucks, Part I can be found here and Part II can be found here. In Part III we cover the 10 best teams from last season (by regular season record), and while all of them made the playoffs last season, not all of them will this season. 

Golden State Warriors

Everyone is tripping over themselves to talk about how good the Warriors are going to be this year but ignoring a few key points.

First, David Lee is healthy again. The Warriors went on an impressive playoff run after he got hurt and they were forced to play small out of necessity. Harrison Barnes at power forward awarded the Golden State offense ample space with which to work, which they translated into a dynamite offensive performance (especially in Round 1). With Lee in the lineup, that spacing suffers.

The Expendable All-Stars

Expendable All-Star Luol Deng launches a jump shot. Sylvester Stallone not pictured. (flickr)

By Jeremy Conlin  @jeremy_conlin

Under the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, teams around the league seem to be tightening their belts. Even the best, most profitable teams in the league – Miami amnestied Mike Miller, the Lakers amnestied Metta World Peace, Oklahoma City let Kevin Martin walk in free agency, etc. It’s basically everyone but Brooklyn.

Teams are generally more afraid of the luxury tax than they ever have been before. For one, the tax is more punitive starting this upcoming season – what used to be a dollar-for-dollar tax is now a $1.50-per-dollar tax at a minimum, and can escalate to as high as $3.75-per-dollar, depending on how far above the tax a team is. More importantly, perhaps, is the “repeater” tax rate that will go into effect for the 2014-2015 season. If a team has paid the tax in each of the last three seasons, the minimum tax rate jumps from $1.50-per-dollar to $2.50-per-dollar and the maximum tax rate jumps from $3.75-per-dollar to $4.75 per-dollar.

In layman’s terms – a team $20 million over the tax line in 2013 would have paid a $20 million tax. A team $20 million over the tax line in 2014 would pay a tax of $45 million. In 2015, if they had paid the tax in each of the previous three seasons (and thus qualified for the “repeater” tax rate), they would pay a tax of (gulp) $65 million.

Taking You To School Podcast: Dwight Howard Signs With Houston

Dwight Howard ditched the Lakers for the Houston Rockets. What does that mean for his future?

By SuiteSports Staff

This week on "Taking You To School," Joe Parello and Jeremy Conlin break down all the big free agent signings from the last week. Dwight Howard signed with Houston, Andre Iguodala with Golden State, and Josh Smith with Detroit. Jeremy and Joe discuss whether or not these moves are as good as advertised. Also, Lenny from New York calls in to discuss Dwight Howard's future with the Rockets.

Listen to internet radio with RF Sports Radio on BlogTalkRadio

Studs and Duds: Flipping Out

By Jeremy Conlin and Joe Parello

Studs and Duds is a weekly feature on Suite Sports. Who had a good week? Who had a bad week?

Studs

Filomena Tobias

This Florida woman, now famous for violently flipping off Chicago's Joakim Noah after he was ejected from game two of the Bulls' playoffs series against the Miami Heat, is all kinds of awesome. First of all, she captures the essence of a very particular kind of South Floridian: The Rich Trash.

Yeah, she has money, but you have no idea how she got it (Well, according to Deadspin she married four different rich dudes, and was accused of killing one of them). And, instead of being classy with her money, she throws it in everyone's face and just generally acts like she's better than you, despite the fact that she has done nothing in her life to earn said money. And just look at that guy she's with, he's clearly miserable and trying to convince himself that he's happy. Awesome.

Does she give some of that money to charity, or at least use it help out friends and family? Nope, looks like she spends it all on jewelry, pants that should only be worn by someone 20 years younger, pills and Heat tickets.

The craziest thing about this is the pride it gave my fellow native South Floridians. Instantly, memes were made showing her as a sign of Miami's attitude and toughness. Seriously, this is the way we want the rest of the country to view us. Like, for reals.

Man, I miss South Florida.

-JP

Idiot's Guide To The 2013 NBA Trade Deadline

You ain't gone trade us, right Doc?

 By Jeremy Conlin

The NBA trade deadline sucks. I hate everything about it. The one thing I hate even more than the trade deadline is writing about the trade deadline during the week of the trade deadline. By the time you're done with the first draft of whatever it is that you're writing, half the guys you wrote about have already been traded, and the other half end up not moving at all.

So instead of focusing on specific deals that may or may not happen, here's an idiot's guide to the 2013 trade deadline.

1. Teams That Clearly Need To Make A Deal Usually Don't