Community Picks: Phoenix Suns 0% vs Atlanta Hawks 0%

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April 05, 2016 3:52:am EST

Through all the uncertainty surrounding the Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron James and Kyrie Irving continue to insist they're ready for the postseason. It may be tough for some to believe, especially given Irving's recent injury, though the Cavaliers can inch closer to securing the Eastern Conference's top seed with their third straight win over the host Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night. A couple days after Irving said the Cavaliers (55-22) were the "team to beat" - not really clarifying if he meant in the East or the entire league - James issued his own concise postseason statement following Sunday's 112-103 win over Charlotte. Continue to Article

April 04, 2016 4:27:pm EST

After their momentum was halted by back-to-back losses to the Eastern Conference's top teams, the Atlanta Hawks are looking to regroup in what appears to be a less-challenging matchup. Kent Bazemore says he'll play Tuesday night when the host Hawks try resume their push for the third seed and avoid their longest skid in six weeks. X-rays were negative after Bazemore suffered a left wrist injury in Friday's 110-108 overtime home loss to Cleveland. Continue to Article

April 04, 2016 3:16:pm EST

Let's face it — the best and most powerful teams in the NBA don't really change from week to week. A handful of results in the middle of winter can only mean so much to a franchise's championship hopes. What does shift regularly, though, is how much interest a squad can hold over the course of a season. Every week, BDL's Most Interesting Power Rankings track the teams most worthy of your attention. THE TOP 15 1. Golden State Warriors (69-8; last week : 1): It's admittedly a little insane to suggest a team operating at this level might be struggling. And yet, watching the Warriors work last week — through the dominate-only-in-fits-and-starts  win over the Washington Wizards, through the overtime white-knuckler over the Utah Jazz and, most notably, through the home loss to the Boston Celtics, snapping an record-setting 54-game regular-season unbeaten streak by the Bay — they did look a little run-down , a bit ragged. Head coach Steve Kerr saw it, too, suggesting after the Boston loss that "maybe all the talk and all the focus on the record" — on trying to become the first NBA team ever to go a undefeated at home during a single season and, more broadly, on trying to topple the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls' all-time wins record — "has gotten us away from the process of who we are." Well, they got back to who they are Sunday. Golden State shot a blistering 57 percent from the floor, dished 30 assists on 50 field goals and hung 136 points on the Portland Trail Blazers — who, you might remember, torched the Dubs after the All-Star break — behind characteristically monstrous performances from Stephen Curry (39 points in 35 minutes on 21 shots, 9-for-13 from 3-point range, seven assists, six rebounds, two steals, one block): ... and Draymond Green, who picked up his 13th triple-double of the season while once again proving his value as a small-ball center, changing the game with his two-way work at the five spot in downshifted lineups that outscored Portland by 24 points in about 14 minutes of floor time: The win offered a bracing reminder of just how violently the Warriors bounce back after losses: The Warriors are now 8-0 in the first game after their losses and they've won those bounce-back games by an average of 15 points. — Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) April 4, 2016 It also kept them one win ahead of the '95-'96 Bulls' record-setting pace. The Warriors — who just got reserve center Festus Ezeli back (and in the nick of time, with starter Andrew Bogut out Sunday with a rib injury) and who could see Andre Iguodala return as soon as Tuesday — need four wins in their final five games to become legendary. They'll welcome the young and exciting but not-ready-for-prime-time Minnesota Timberwolves to Oracle Arena on Tuesday, and they've got two more coming against the Memphis Grizzlies, whose pets' heads are falling off . Getting to 72, then, seems like it's all over but the shoutin'. Reaching 73, though, will require at least one win in two tries against ... 2. San Antonio Spurs (64-12; LW: 8): ... a team with its own patch of rarefied air to reach. If it's interested in reaching it, that is. Continue to Article

April 04, 2016 12:40:pm EST

Jared Johnson breaks down the fantasy fallout from the Brook Lopez and Thaddeus Young shutdown, and highlights some of the top performers from Sunday's 11-game slate. Continue to Article

April 04, 2016 2:48:am EST