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NBA History Being Made During 2013 Postseason
The NBA playoffs are the best show on Earth. Each year, things that have never happened before happen. Records are broken, milestones are hit and benchmarks are created...
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Most Useless Scorers in the 2013 NBA Playoffs
Scoring isn't everything. A great defender can have as much of an impact on winning as a scorer can. The goal is to finish with more points than the opponent, so it works both ways—neither ...
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How Every NBA Playoff Team Still Alive Was Built
When the Boston Celtics traded for Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen in the summer of 2007, it changed the game. The two future Hall of Famers, combined with longtime Celtic Paul Pierce, created a "Big Three...
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Ranking Best Shooting NBA Backcourts of Last 10 Years
Making shots wins games. That may seem obvious, but as Bill Russell tells Uncle Drew in that Pepsi commercial , "This game has always been, and always will be, about buckets." If you can shoot, you can win...
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Crystal Ball Predictions for LA Lakers' Franchise-Defining Offseason
The Los Angeles Lakers ' 2012-13 season was among the craziest in modern NBA history. It started with a franchise-altering trades for Dwight Howard and Steve Nash...
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Ranking Best Potential NBA Fits for Phil Jackson
Among non-players who aren't Michael Jordan, Phil Jackson is arguably the biggest name in the NBA . Since he isn't even in the NBA right now, that statement speaks volumes to just how much buzz his name still garners across this league...
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2013 NBA Playoffs: Players with the Most Inspirational Stories
March Madness is supposed to be the time for human-interest stories. When kids emerge triumphant after turmoil, it is all the more gripping...
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The Psychology of an NBA Champion
Michael Jordan has left his huge fingerprints upon every square inch of the NBA . Before him, there were few, if any, psychological prerequisites for an NBA champion. Leaders came in all shapes and sizes...
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The Rise and Fall of the Basketball Jersey as Mainstream Fashion
There was a time when players were the only people in arenas wearing jerseys. Check the photos of basketball games from the 1950s and '60s...
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NBA Playoff Youngsters Finding Their Big Boy Pants
Kobe Bryant says the darnedest things. Earlier this year, when Pau Gasol was struggling to perform and adapt to new coach Mike D'Antoni's system, Kobe had some advice: "Put your big-boy pants on," said Bryant, according to ESPN Los Angeles ...
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Arguments for and Against the 7-Game NBA Playoff Series
I used to think March Madness was the best thing in sports. Then, for a while, in my late 20s while trying to seem worldly, I walked around spouting the grandeur of the World Cup...
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NBA Playoff Teams Living and Dying by the 3 This Postseason
The three-point shot has become more critical than ever in the NBA . With such large defenders manning the interior, teams that can't spread the floor face serious spacing issues...
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Upset Meter for Every First-Round NBA Playoff Series
The NBA playoffs are far different from March Madness. Upsets are rare, and the better team almost always wins in a seven-game series. On occasion, a lower seed—like the the 2007 "We Believe" Golden State Warriors—will shock the world...
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Expectations for LeBron James and Miami Heat Are Higher Than Ever
At this time last year, mainstream NBA playoff coverage was unbearable. Media outlets seemed to focus less on actual play on the court than what was going on inside the head of LeBron James ...
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Breaking Down the Clutch Statistics of 2013 NBA Playoffs' Go-To Scorers
When Kobe Bryant ruptured his Achilles tendon, the NBA lost its most prolific clutch scorer from the 2012-13 regular season...
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The Kevin Durant Case: Does Regular Season Fatigue Impact Playoff Performance?
This year, Kevin Durant joined the 3,000-minute club for a third time. It isn't a very exclusive club. Since 1990-91 there have been 346 individual seasons of players logging 3,000 minutes, which is the equivalent of playing 36...
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NBA's Most Relentless Offenses and What Keeps Them Moving
The best offenses in the NBA move. They move the ball, they move players and—most critically—they move defenses...
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NBA Players with Most to Prove Down Season's Final Stretch
With just a week left in the regular season, every team's motivation is different. T he Miami Heat have been resting their stars for the playoffs, yet they still managed to secure home-court advantage throughout the playoffs...
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2012-13 NBA Season: The Year of the Streak
Like Will Ferrell in Old School , a lot of NBA teams are going streaking this season. The Miami Heat dominated headlines by winning 27 straight games, the second-longest streak in NBA history...
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Can an NBA Team Win a Title Living and Dying by the 3?
The three-point shot was so irrelevant during its first year in the NBA that the Los Angeles Lakers made just three shots from behind the arc on their way to a title in 1980...
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Is NBA Greatness Nature or Nurture?
It's a question as old as time: Are great basketball players born or made? Scottie Pippen may be the best example of someone whose professional "upbringing" elevated him into a stratosphere he likely never would have reached otherwise...
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Kevin Durant and LeBron James Are More Alike Than You Think
After LeBron James signed with the Miami Heat, he became the villain. It was a role that was imposed upon him by the backlash to The Decision, and he embraced it. At least he tried to...
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Comparing Kobe Bryant vs. LeBron James in the Clutch, by the Numbers
Statistically, Kobe Bryant is having his best season in years, while LeBron James is having one of the best seasons of all time for any player. In many ways, this translates to crunch time as well...
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When NBA Playoff Teams Should Rest Stars
The San Antonio Spurs and Boston Celtics are two teams that have prioritized health over late-season victories in recent years. But NBA teams rarely have the luxury of resting their best players down the stretch...
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Tightest 2013 NBA Playoff Races Down the Home Stretch
Making the playoffs is the initial goal of most NBA teams. But while a squad's overall talent level is the biggest factor in how long it stays alive in the postseason, whom and where it plays can be critical...
