Boston Celtics at Philadelphia 76ers, Eastern Semis Game 6: Fan Playoff Preview (Yahoo! Contributor Network)
(Tue, 22 May 2012 13:14:00 PDT)
The Boston Celtics played with purpose in Game 5 against the Philadelphia 76ers knowing their season was on the line. While a 2-2 tie in a best of seven series may not seem like pressure, a win puts the team just a game away while a loss puts the team's back against the wall, especially with Game 6 to be played on the road.

76ers coach Collins enjoying renewed rivalry (The SportsXchange)
(Tue, 22 May 2012 02:01:17 PDT)
It's not surprising that the Celtics-76ers series will go at least six games and maybe longer. These franchises have seemingly been programmed for such wars as they meet now for the 19th time.

Spurs flirting with history on 18-game streak (The Associated Press)
(Mon, 21 May 2012 23:19:06 PDT)
SAN ANTONIO (AP) Eighteen wins in a row, and eight more victories to go.

NBA roundup: Orlando fires coach Van Gundy, GM Smith (The SportsXchange)
(Mon, 21 May 2012 15:30:20 PDT)
The Orlando Magic said so long to coach Stan Van Gundy and general manager Otis Smith on Monday.

Ex-NBA star, Olympian Bob Boozer dies at 75 (The Associated Press)
(Sun, 20 May 2012 17:10:05 PDT)
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) Bob Boozer was a star in college, an Olympic gold medalist and an 11-year professional who finished his playing career with an NBA championship.

Iguodala leading the way in postseason for 76ers (The Associated Press)
(Sat, 19 May 2012 20:00:49 PDT)
PHILADELPHIA (AP) Andre Iguodala is winning games for the Sixers and winning over Philadelphia with each clutch basket.

76ers stun Celtics 92-83 in Game 4 to even series (The Associated Press)
(Sat, 19 May 2012 02:59:07 PDT)
PHILADELPHIA (AP) Andre Iguodala squared up for a 3-pointer from the wing like he had hundreds of times in his career.

Philadelphia 76ers rally to beat Celtics in NBA series
(Fri, 18 May 2012 20:36:35 PDT)
Andre Iguodala finished with 16 points, seven rebounds and four assists as the Philadelphia 76ers rallied to beat the Boston Celtics 92-83 in game four of their Eastern Conference series.

NBA: Oden having surgery in hopes of reviving career (The SportsXchange)
(Fri, 18 May 2012 15:50:12 PDT)
Former No. 1 NBA draft pick Greg Oden reportedly has undergone a controversial procedure to try to kick-start his waning basketball career.

Report: Ewing has 'good chance' to be Bobcats coach (The SportsXchange)
(Fri, 18 May 2012 11:30:11 PDT)
Orlando Magic assistant coach Patrick Ewing reportedly has a "good chance" of getting the Charlotte Bobcats head coaching job.

Steve Blake, wife receive death threats via Twitter after Lakers’ Game 2 loss (Ball Don't Lie)
(Fri, 18 May 2012 08:00:45 PDT)
After scoring 19 points and hitting five 3-pointers in a huge Game 7 performance to beat the Denver Nuggets, Steve Blake was lauded for shaking off a 12-for-33 mark in the first six games and coming up big when it counted. But after missing an open corner 3-pointer that would have given the Los Angeles Lakers a one-point lead in the closing seconds of Game 2 — a game that the Lakers led by seven with two minutes left, a game they gave away in a manner befitting Santa Claus , according to their center — some fickle fans changed their tune on the backup point guard and, disgustingly, brought his family into the mix. From Dave McMenamin at ESPN Los Angeles : After the game, both the Twitter feeds of Blake and his wife, Kristen, were inundated with criticism ranging from curse word-laden rants to threats. "I hope your family gets murdered," read one tweet that Kristen Blake re-tweeted along with a single comment: "Wow." [...] Steve Blake responded to the troublesome situation after Lakers practice on Thursday. "It's pretty disappointing that there are a lot of hateful people out there, but you move on," Blake said. "I just don't appreciate it when it's toward my family. You can come at me all you want but when you say things about my wife and my kids, that makes me upset." As horrendous and regrettable as this is, it's nothing new; as long as there have been sporting matches to lose, there have been goats blamed for losing them, and pockets of disgruntled, perspective-lacking fandom whose pursuit of doling that blame out ventures far beyond the pale of reason and decency. (And let's be clear about this: "Lakers fans" aren't to be blamed for death threats and hate speech lobbed uncaringly at the Blakes; "awful, lunatic-fringe idiots" are. Several bad apples don't spoil a gigantic, passionate bunch.) What is relatively new, though, is how social media outlets — primarily Twitter, since more pros actually seem to use and manage Twitter accounts themselves than handle, say, their own Facebook pages or write their own blogs — and the immediate connections they afford fans to the objects of their obsession can factor into this mix.

Spurs rip Clippers for 16th win in a row
(Thu, 17 May 2012 22:59:43 PDT)
Tony Parker celebrated his 30th birthday by scoring 22 points to lead San Antonio over the Los Angeles Clippers 105-88, stretching the Spurs' win streak to 16 games.

Andrew Bynum after 9-0 Thunder run beats Lakers: ‘We’re better than Santa Claus’ (Ball Don't Lie)
(Thu, 17 May 2012 10:20:58 PDT)
After an Andrew Bynum bucket with 2:08 remaining in the fourth quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers looked to be sitting pretty. They held a seven-point lead over the Oklahoma City Thunder thanks to nearly 46 minutes of gritty ground-and-pound that made the postseason's best offense — yes, the Thunder entered Wednesday night averaging more points per 100 playoff possessions than even the San Antonio Spurs — look disjointed and stale. OKC had hit just 39.7 percent of its shots en route to 68 measly points two nights after scoring 119 in Game 1 , and didn't appear to be anywhere near getting well against a Laker team that had held it to just 20 second-half points. Unfortunately for the Lakers, appearances can be deceiving. Whether you'd like to laud Kevin Durant for the win, damn Kobe Bryant for the loss, do neither or choose both, the fact remains that Oklahoma City went on a 9-0 run in the final 128 seconds to score a 77-75 Game 2 win , take a 2-0 lead in their Western Conference semifinal series and deliver a serious haymaker to L.A.'s spirits as it heads home for Friday night's Game 3. The Lakers blew this one, and their center knows it. Bynum (20 points on 8-of-19 shooting and nine rebounds in the loss) said as much with a sharp, somewhat curious postgame turn of phrase that was shared by the Lakers' Twitter account and later expounded upon by Sekou Smith at NBA.com's Hang Time blog : The Lakers led 75-68 with two minutes to play with the game seemingly in hand. But instead of the veteran Lakers salting this one away with Kobe Bryant finishing the deal, the Lakers lost control of the game and basically gave it away. "We're better than Santa Claus giving out gifts," said Lakers center Andrew Bynum. "We like giving out gifts. We give out games, contracts and rings." "We give out games, contracts and rings." What's that about?

Kobe Bryant's late mistakes doom Lakers in their Game 2 loss to Thunder
(Thu, 17 May 2012 02:54:59 PDT)
Kobe Bryant helped give away what appeared to be a near-certain victory for the Lakers.

Kevin Durant rallies Thunder by Lakers with defense and a clutch shot
(Thu, 17 May 2012 00:29:39 PDT)
Kevin Durant is a three-time scoring champion, but his defense on Kobe Bryant helped key the Thunder's Game 2 win.