A conference in parentheses next to a team indicates a team that would have an automatic bid as a conference champion.

With the 68-team format, there will be four play-in games. There will be two play-in games for the bottom four at-large teams, and two play-in games for the bottom four conference tournament winners who earned automatic bids.

In the bracket, the winner of the South Region plays the winner of the West Region, and the winner of the Midwest Region plays the winner of the East Region.

The South Region and the West Region hold the overall No. 1 and No. 4 seeds, respectively. The Midwest Region and East Region hold the overall No. 2 and No. 3 seeds, respectively.

Begin Slideshow

View full post on Bleacher Report – College Basketball

There’s a feeling of optimism among Clippers fans, as high-flying Blake Griffin and fellow All-Star Chris Paul have propelled Los Angeles to the top of the Pacific Division.

Things in Orlando aren’t quite as encouraging, with All-Star Dwight Howard pursuing a trade and the team recently enduring a rocky stretch. The Magic, however, are playing better and have rarely had problems beating the Clippers.

Griffin and Paul try to help Los Angeles avoid a 10th straight loss to Howard and the Magic on Monday night at the Amway Center.

After Thursday’s discouraging 112-91 home loss to Denver, the Clippers (14-7) took out their frustration on lowly Washington two days later. Los Angeles cruised to a 107-81 victory Saturday in the opener of a six-game road trip, outrebounding the Wizards 53-32 and finishing with a season-best 32 assists.

“We were all disappointed in our performance the other day against Denver,” said DeAndre Jordan, who had 18 points on 9-of-11 shooting and 11 rebounds. “We really wanted to jump out early and set the tone.”

Griffin, who sat out the entire fourth quarter, had 21 points, 11 rebounds and matched a season best with eight assists as the Clippers won for the fifth time in six games despite Paul’s dismal performance. Paul, named to his fifth All-Star game on Thursday, finished with two points – his fewest since 2008 – on 1-of-9 shooting, but did have seven assists.

Although Paul had an off night, the Clippers’ defense had one of its better performances, limiting Washington to 37.5 percent shooting. Los Angeles improved to 11-0 when allowing 95 points or fewer.

“When we get stops, we’re tough to guard in transition,” Paul said. “We’ve got the shooters, we’ve got the high fliers and all that. When we defend teams, we’re tough to beat.”

Their defense against the Magic in recent years, however, has been anything but impressive.

The Clippers have lost nine straight in the series by an average of 14.6 points. This is Los Angeles’ longest active losing streak against any team, and Orlando’s longest current winning streak.

The Clippers scored 85 in each meeting last season, and rarely have the games been close in Orlando, where the Magic have won the last four by an average of 23.3 points.

Griffin averaged 18.5 points on 42.9 percent shooting and 14.0 rebounds in the two games against Orlando last season, while Howard averaged 22.0 points and 14.0 boards.

Howard had 27 points and eight rebounds Saturday at Indiana to lead the Magic (15-9) to an 85-81 win, their third in a row after losing four straight and six of eight.

“We’re not really inconsistent,” said Howard, whose string of six straight double-doubles ended. “Every team has their stretches, but we haven’t allowed it to affect us.”

The Magic also didn’t seem to let a demanding travel schedule bother them. After Friday’s 102-94 home win over Cleveland, Orlando flew to Cincinnati because it was unable to reserve hotel rooms in Indianapolis due to the Super Bowl. It then flew to Indianapolis the morning of the game.

The contest against the Pacers kicked off a difficult stretch for the Magic, who host Miami and Atlanta after this visit from the Clippers.

Kenyon Martin, who agreed to a one-year deal with the Clippers on Friday to provide depth behind Griffin and Jordan, is expected to join the team Monday but likely won’t make his debut until Wednesday at Cleveland.

The 34-year-old Martin averaged 8.6 points and 6.2 rebounds last season with Denver and spent part of this season playing in China.

View full post on Yardbarker: NBA

If you listen to some people, the Chicago Bulls are destined for another winning season only to end in despair in spite of the fact they hold the Eastern Conference’s best record.

They point to recent losses to the Indiana Pacers, Miami Heat and Philadelphia 76ers and wonder whether the Bulls can win a series against such teams with the team as it’s constructed. The problem is that this ignores the team as it’s constructed. 

Those losses did not come to the team as it’s constructed. They came with the team incomplete, missing key players. Now I know about the specious argument that talking about injuries is just making excuses, but that’s just wrong. It’s flat-out, purposefully wrong to suggest that injuries don’t matter and that it’s “homerism” to make such “excuses.” 

Just ask the Indianapolis Colts if injuries matter. Of course injuries matter. Games are played by players. To argue that injuries don’t matter is to argue that who is playing doesn’t matter. So then what matters? The uniform you’re wearing? The irony is that the real “homerism” argument is the “excuse” that “injuries don’t matter.” 

There will be those that say that every team deals with injuries, and they do. However, they don’t all have equal numbers of injuries. In the table below are the top teams in the league and the number of games they’ve missed due to injury.

Teams are listed in order of winning percentage. These are the four teams who have a winning percentage over .700 and the number of games lost by both starters and key reserves due to injury. I am identifying a key reserve as a player who averages at least 15 minutes per game. 

*EricMaynor has been lost for the season due to injury. Rookie Reggie Jackson has actually put up slightly better numbers (9.9 PER to 9.4) in his place. 

As you can see, the Bulls have lost as many games due to injury to starters as the Heat, the 76ers and the Thunder combined. That makes it a pretty fair statement that the Bulls are not experiencing “just like everyone else” unless of course you mean everyone else combined. 

Nor can you arbitrarily dismiss the importance of the individual injuries. The three primary players who have lost games due to injury are Derrick Rose, the reigning MVP of the league, Luol Deng, one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA, and Richard Hamilton, the player acquired to fill up the weaknesses which cost the Bulls the Eastern Conference Finals. 

When you’re looking at these injuries there are two aspects that need to be considered: the aggregate effect and the individual effect. 

The aggregate affect is the compounded effect of missing players due to injuries. The Bulls won their first five games without Hamilton but that effect multiplies over time. The Bulls have missed about 1,211 minutes of playing time due to injuries. 

There have been 308 total minutes played by end-of-the-bench players, Brian Scalabrine and John Lucas III, as well as Mike James. If we conservatively say that about 30 minutes (10 percent) of that is due to “victory cigars” that leaves roughly 278 minutes that end of the bench players have played. 

That means there are 933 minutes filled in by the other key rotation players. That’s an average of 117 extra minutes played by each of the rotation players, or about four to five extra games worth of minutes each has individually played. 

When you’re talking about the densest January of any team in the history of the NBA, with the most road games of any team this year, that’s a fatigue factor that adds up. Fewer players play the same number of wins. Those games are coming on the road. 

The Bulls have played the most games, 26, and the most road games, 16, in the NBA this year. They also have the most back-to-backs (10) already played and that’s counting their back-to-back-to-back as only one. 

The Bulls already have 10 players with more than 300 minutes played this season. The Thunder, Heat and 76ers have eight. 

The Bulls don’t have fresh legs to come off the bench. The insane schedule, combined with the injuries depleting their rotation, combined with the quality of the opponents all factor into those three losses. 

When you look at the specific injuries, particularly those to Richard Hamilton and Luol Deng, you see the specific effects too. Combined they average 30.4 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 6.0 assists per game. Obviously, that’s an impact. 

To argue that impact has no effect on the games is an obtuse argument. Of course it has an effect on the game, and it’s direct as well as indirect. It’s offensive as well as defensive. 

The Bulls average 101 points when Rip Hamilton plays, compared to 94 when he doesn’t. That’s a difference of seven points.  

The Bulls give up 95 points when Luol Deng doesn’t play compared to 85 when he doesn’t. That’s a difference of 10 points. 

Does that mean that if they’re both in then it’s a combined difference of 17 points per game? Of course not because both players have played some games together. At the same time it sure does’t mean “nothing” either. 

It can’t be ignored the Bulls are a much better offensive team when Hamilton is in the lineup. They are a much better defensive team when Deng is in the lineup. 

These are realities and legitimate factors that need to be taken into consideration when looking at the team going forward. 

Furthermore, there’s another reason that the Bulls aren’t making excuses (or that I’m not making excuses for them). They have the best record in the Eastern Conference. They don’t need to be excused. 

They have either the second- or third-most efficient offense in the NBA (depending on whether you use basketball-reference’s offensive rating or ESPN’s offensive efficiency) and the third-most efficient defense in the NBA in spite of all those injuries. 

When you’re looking at the Bulls and what they’ve done this season it’s not “taking away” from anything the Heat, Sixers or Pacers have done to acknowledge this. No one is suggesting putting asterisks next the numbers in the win column. They fairly won those games, but they didn’t win those games against the Bulls roster as constructed.

When you’re looking at the Bulls going forward, which is what you should be looking at when you’re talking about potential trades or the Bulls prospects in the postseason, you have to consider the roster as constructed. 

When the Bulls finish their current road trip they will have already played almost two-thirds of their road schedule before the All-Star break. The Heat so far have played 11 road games and 12 home games. The Sixers have played 9 road games and 15 home games. 

The thing is that from there on out things even out in the Eastern Conference. The Bulls will have a lighter schedule with more home games. The Heat and Sixers will have more road games and more games period. 

Things get easier for Chicago, particularly as they get healthy. Things get harder for the other guys. 

More importantly though, as time goes by, the Bulls also will start getting healthy. We’ll actually see what happens when they are playing together as constructed. Then we’ll be able to judge the team based on what they’ll like in the postseason, better rested and healthy. 

Until then, step away from the panic button. The Bulls are doing just fine, and things are going to get even better. 

Read more NBA news on BleacherReport.com

View full post on Bleacher Report – NBA

If you listen to some people, the Chicago Bulls are destined for another winning season only to end in despair in spite of the fact they hold the Eastern Conference’s best record.

They point to recent losses to the Indiana Pacers, Miami Heat and Philadelphia 76ers and wonder whether the Bulls can win a series against such teams with the team as it’s constructed. The problem is that this ignores the team as it’s constructed. 

Those losses did not come to the team as it’s constructed. They came with the team incomplete, missing key players. Now I know about the specious argument that talking about injuries is just making excuses, but that’s just wrong. It’s flat-out, purposefully wrong to suggest that injuries don’t matter and that it’s “homerism” to make such “excuses.” 

Just ask the Indianapolis Colts if injuries matter. Of course injuries matter. Games are played by players. To argue that injuries don’t matter is to argue that who is playing doesn’t matter. So then what matters? The uniform you’re wearing? The irony is that the real “homerism” argument is the “excuse” that “injuries don’t matter.” 

There will be those that say that every team deals with injuries, and they do. However, they don’t all have equal numbers of injuries. In the table below are the top teams in the league and the number of games they’ve missed due to injury.

Teams are listed in order of winning percentage. These are the four teams who have a winning percentage over .700 and the number of games lost by both starters and key reserves due to injury. I am identifying a key reserve as a player who averages at least 15 minutes per game. 

*EricMaynor has been lost for the season due to injury. Rookie Reggie Jackson has actually put up slightly better numbers (9.9 PER to 9.4) in his place. 

As you can see, the Bulls have lost as many games due to injury to starters as the Heat, the 76ers and the Thunder combined. That makes it a pretty fair statement that the Bulls are not experiencing “just like everyone else” unless of course you mean everyone else combined. 

Nor can you arbitrarily dismiss the importance of the individual injuries. The three primary players who have lost games due to injury are Derrick Rose, the reigning MVP of the league, Luol Deng, one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA, and Richard Hamilton, the player acquired to fill up the weaknesses which cost the Bulls the Eastern Conference Finals. 

When you’re looking at these injuries there are two aspects that need to be considered: the aggregate effect and the individual effect. 

The aggregate affect is the compounded effect of missing players due to injuries. The Bulls won their first five games without Hamilton but that effect multiplies over time. The Bulls have missed about 1,211 minutes of playing time due to injuries. 

There have been 308 total minutes played by end-of-the-bench players, Brian Scalabrine and John Lucas III, as well as Mike James. If we conservatively say that about 30 minutes (10 percent) of that is due to “victory cigars” that leaves roughly 278 minutes that end of the bench players have played. 

That means there are 933 minutes filled in by the other key rotation players. That’s an average of 117 extra minutes played by each of the rotation players, or about four to five extra games worth of minutes each has individually played. 

When you’re talking about the densest January of any team in the history of the NBA, with the most road games of any team this year, that’s a fatigue factor that adds up. Fewer players play the same number of wins. Those games are coming on the road. 

The Bulls have played the most games, 26, and the most road games, 16, in the NBA this year. They also have the most back-to-backs (10) already played and that’s counting their back-to-back-to-back as only one. 

The Bulls already have 10 players with more than 300 minutes played this season. The Thunder, Heat and 76ers have eight. 

The Bulls don’t have fresh legs to come off the bench. The insane schedule, combined with the injuries depleting their rotation, combined with the quality of the opponents all factor into those three losses. 

When you look at the specific injuries, particularly those to Richard Hamilton and Luol Deng, you see the specific effects too. Combined they average 30.4 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 6.0 assists per game. Obviously, that’s an impact. 

To argue that impact has no effect on the games is an obtuse argument. Of course it has an effect on the game, and it’s direct as well as indirect. It’s offensive as well as defensive. 

The Bulls average 101 points when Rip Hamilton plays, compared to 94 when he doesn’t. That’s a difference of seven points.  

The Bulls give up 95 points when Luol Deng doesn’t play compared to 85 when he doesn’t. That’s a difference of 10 points. 

Does that mean that if they’re both in then it’s a combined difference of 17 points per game? Of course not because both players have played some games together. At the same time it sure does’t mean “nothing” either. 

It can’t be ignored the Bulls are a much better offensive team when Hamilton is in the lineup. They are a much better defensive team when Deng is in the lineup. 

These are realities and legitimate factors that need to be taken into consideration when looking at the team going forward. 

Furthermore, there’s another reason that the Bulls aren’t making excuses (or that I’m not making excuses for them). They have the best record in the Eastern Conference. They don’t need to be excused. 

They have either the second- or third-most efficient offense in the NBA (depending on whether you use basketball-reference’s offensive rating or ESPN’s offensive efficiency) and the third-most efficient defense in the NBA in spite of all those injuries. 

When you’re looking at the Bulls and what they’ve done this season it’s not “taking away” from anything the Heat, Sixers or Pacers have done to acknowledge this. No one is suggesting putting asterisks next the numbers in the win column. They fairly won those games, but they didn’t win those games against the Bulls roster as constructed.

When you’re looking at the Bulls going forward, which is what you should be looking at when you’re talking about potential trades or the Bulls prospects in the postseason, you have to consider the roster as constructed. 

When the Bulls finish their current road trip they will have already played almost two-thirds of their road schedule before the All-Star break. The Heat so far have played 11 road games and 12 home games. The Sixers have played 9 road games and 15 home games. 

The thing is that from there on out things even out in the Eastern Conference. The Bulls will have a lighter schedule with more home games. The Heat and Sixers will have more road games and more games period. 

Things get easier for Chicago, particularly as they get healthy. Things get harder for the other guys. 

More importantly though, as time goes by, the Bulls also will start getting healthy. We’ll actually see what happens when they are playing together as constructed. Then we’ll be able to judge the team based on what they’ll like in the postseason, better rested and healthy. 

Until then, step away from the panic button. The Bulls are doing just fine, and things are going to get even better. 

Read more NBA news on BleacherReport.com

View full post on Bleacher Report – NBA

The relentless chants of the jam-packed Madison Square Garden crowd resonated throughout the arena, as the disgruntled fans finally had a reason to cheer.

Coming into Saturday night, the New York Knicks were desperate for a win.

Coach Mike D’Antoni’s job security was shaky, Carmelo Anthony‘s jumper’s been raggedy and Amar’e Stoudemire’s been the focal point of several trade rumors.

But things were bound to change, and from an unlikely source.

Harvard graduate and second-year PG, Jeremy Lin, had career-highs all across the board, putting up 25 points (10-19, 5-7 FT), seven assists, five rebounds and two steals in 36 minutes of play, leading the Knicks to a 99-92 home victory in the third game of a back-to-back-to-back, Saturday night.

Lin entered the game with just over eight minutes remaining in the third quarter and never saw the bench again.

Anthony, who played with a wrist injury, shot a poor 3-of-15 from the field for 11 points, and Stoudemire got into early foul trouble, but it was Lin’s ability to penetrate the lane and finish at the basket that helped the Knicks get a desperately needed victory.

With Lin on the floor, the N.Y. Knicks looked like a completely different basketball team. No longer were they pushing the tempo and taking early, ill-advised shots.

Lin ran the Knicks offense beautifully. He moved the ball around, sliced and diced to get into the lane and even ran the extremely rare pick-and-roll with STAT and Tyson Chandler…successfully!

Even more importantly, Lin only turned the ball over once and held Deron Williams scoreless in the fourth quarter, limiting him to 21 points on 7-of-19 shooting from the field, along with 11 assists.

Jared Jeffries also had his best game of the season, dropping nine points and 11 rebounds, as well as playing physical defense and taking charges when his team needed them.

The New York Knicks (9-15) are still searching for answers, but this kind of production from a bench player is a ray of sunlight on a cloudy day.

While anything done to the Nets defense should be taken with a grain of salt, seeing someone finally step into the limelight that is New York City is a breath of fresh air for Knick fans.

Read more NBA news on BleacherReport.com

View full post on Bleacher Report – NBA

Anthony Davis couldn’t believe all the Kentucky blue he saw around South Carolina’s home court, so he and the No. 1 Wildcats put on a performance that would’ve drawn several standing ovations at Rupp Arena. Davis had 22 points, eight rebounds and eight blocks to lead top-ranked Kentucky to its 15th straight victory, 86-52, over the Gamecocks on Saturday night.

View full post on Yahoo! Sports – NCAA Men’s Hoops News

In a game that was back and forth for most of the night, the black and gold prevailed in the final minute to secure a first-place tie with their neighbors to the west.

Here are five lessons from Mizzou’s huge win over Kansas.

Begin Slideshow

View full post on Bleacher Report – College Basketball

View full post on Yahoo! Sports – NBA News

View full post on Yahoo! Sports – NBA News

This game was everything you would expect in an NBA game and more.

The game came down to the wire and the fourth quarter was jam-packed with excitement. Each of the final few possessions for each team became incredibly important with the game on the line.

The Knicks had two chances to win the game; unfortunately, those big shots were taken by Landry Fields and Steve Novak, both of whom bricked their shots. And in the end, the Celtics held on to win 91-89.

This game had even more of the makings of an instant classic, though.

There were stars that shined in this game—but the matchup of Paul Pierce and Carmelo Anthony stole the show.

Pierce continued his dominance and played perhaps his best game of the whole season. He scored 30 points, grabbed seven boards (including three offensive) and dished out five assists.

His counterpart Carmelo Anthony, although not as dominant as of late, played one of his best games as well with 26 points and six assists.

But what is a great game without drama and controversy?

Well, this game was filled with that as well. With just 12 seconds left, it seemed that Pierce had converted on a play that would forever endure in his highlight reel and live on in legend to put the Celtics up by four and essentially put the game out of reach.

He had recovered the ball stripped from him with just one second on the shot-clock and, while falling backwards, threw up a three that somehow found the bottom of the net. It was initially ruled a good basket and Pierce even gave a vintage Jordan shrug.

However, the refs had different plans, and upon review it was overturned. Those refs must have had the best vision possible because that call was so close and hard to see that I have no idea where conclusive evidence could have been found.

The Celtics obviously would win anyway, but that play, as amazing as it was, will forever be forgotten.

But to me, that wasn’t even Pierce’s best play of the game. 

In my opinion, his best play of the game was when he rushed a three to try to take the lead for the first time since the opening minutes, but when it was clear he was going to miss he did something unheard of in the NBA and followed his shot.

And when he and another Knick fought over the ball and it went over half court and nearlly out of bounds, Pierce sprinted there, tracked the ball down, helping the Celtics tie the game on that possession.

That kind of hustle that is refreshing to see in the NBA was evident in this game on both sides, and it was made clear how much each team wanted this win.

Even that desire to win resulted in some chippiness, which along with hustle and desire to win is necessary for a great game. There were four technical fouls in the game, one on each coach and one on Amar’e Stoudemire and Brandon Bass.

Overall, this was one of the best games of the season and a great win for the Celtics, who appear to have turned things around.

And for the captain, Paul Pierce, this was just another sign that age is just a number for him and no hindrance to his play. He can still lead this team and will do so on a consistent basis.

On top of all this, this game was also a great precursor to the Super Bowl. It got the juices flowing in the New York-Boston rivalry and was probably an indication of what will come in the Super Bowl.

Like this game, the Super Bowl is expected to be quite exciting and come down to the final possessions. Hopefully, the Super Bowl will be able to deliver like this Boston-New York game did.

Read more NBA news on BleacherReport.com

View full post on Bleacher Report – NBA