Tag: San Antonio Spurs

Mavs’ rally among greatest NBA playoff comebacks

AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki

On Monday, the Mavericks posted one of the greatest comebacks in NBA history, erasing a 15-point deficit in the final five minutes to force the Thunder into overtime. Dallas went on to a 112-105 victory in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals at Oklahoma City.

Here is a look at some other great NBA playoff comebacks:

Getty Images/Nathaniel Butler

1986 Eastern Conference first round Game 1: Washington trails by 17 at Philadelphia with just three minutes left before going on an 18-0 run, capped by Dudley Bradley’s game-winning 3-pointer. Final: Bullets 95, 76ers 94.

AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill

2008 NBA Finals Game 4: The Lakers lead 35-14 after the first quarter – the largest first-quarter lead in NBA Finals history — at Los Angeles. They hold a 24-point lead early in the third, but the Celtics close the quarter with a 21-3 run and take the lead with 4:07 left in the game. Final: Celtics 97, Lakers 91

AP Photo/Charles Krupa

2002 Eastern Conference Finals Game 3: Celtics trail by 21 at the start of the fourth quarter at Boston, then score 41 points while holding the Nets to 16. Final: Celtics  94, Nets 90

1994 Western Conference semifinals Game 2: Houston leads by 20 at home with 10 minutes left, but scores only 8 points in the fourth quarter as the Suns close the quarter with a 24-4 run. Final: Suns 124, Rockets 117 (OT)

AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian

2000 Western Conference Finals Game 7: The Lakers are down by 15 points at home in the fourth quarter before going on a 25-4 run, highlighted by a Kobe to Shaq alley-oop to go up by 6 in the final minute. Final: Lakers 89, Trail Blazers 84

1992 NBA Finals Game 6: The Bulls trail by 15 points in the third quarter at Chicago, then score 33 and allow only 14 to down the Trail Blazers and claim their second straight championship. Final: Bulls 97, Trail Blazers 93

AP Photo/LM Otero

2011 Western Conference first round Game 4: The Mavs lead by 18 points entering the final quarter at Portland, then Brandon Roy scores 18 of the Trail Blazers’ 35 points to finish the comeback. Portland trailed by as much as 23 in the game. Final: Trail Blazers 84, Mavericks 82

Reuters/Lucy Nicholson

2006 NBA Finals Game 3: The Heat trail by 13 points in the fourth quarter at home when Dwyane Wade scores 12 points in the final 6-plus minutes. Miami scores 30 and holds the Mavericks to 19 in the quarter. Final: Heat 98, Mavericks 96

Compiled from NBA.com, ESPN.go.com, and various online wire service stories

Wrestler’s barbs body-slam the Spurs’ early playoff exit

First Jerry Lawler, then some loud-mouthed manager can’t wait to pile-drive the Silver and Black.

It seems that the Spurs and their quick exit in the playoffs are becoming an easy joke — even for those in professional wrestling.

During a taping of the WWE matches Monday night at the ATT Center, the Spurs’ loss in the Memphis series was afor some of the heels as they taunted local fans.

Take this exchange from Alex Riley, who told booing fans that they’ve underestimated the wrestler The Miz from the start of his wrestling career (hat tip ).

“Well, you people also said the Spurs (NBA team) were also going to make it out of the first round and we all know what happened with that,” Riley said.

If he was trying to incite the passion of the local crowd, it worked. Fans responded with a “You suck” chant that reverberated across the facility like Kobe Bryant, Jason Terry or Joey Crawford were there.

Maybe those soothsayers who claim the world will be ending on Saturday might be right.

After all, who would have thought that the most exciting event taking place at the ATT Center in mid-May would involve oily, pumped-up wrestlers rather than NBA playoff action.

What is the world coming to?

McHale agrees in principle to coach Rockets

Hall of Famer Kevin McHale has agreed to take over the vacant head coach job with the Houston Rockets.

The Houston Chronicle reports that . A remaining point to be settled will be for McHale and the team to agree on a top assistant coach to join his staff.

McHale was picked  by Houston owner Leslie Alexander over Boston assistant Lawrence Frank and Dallas assistant Dwane Casey.  

It’s an interesting choice considering McHale’s lack of previous success as an NBA head coach.  He has a career record of 39-55 in two previous stints with the Minnesota Timberwolves after earlier serving as the team’s vice president of basketball operations. After he was dismissed in 2009, he has been a popular NBA analyst for TNT and NBA-TV.

The Houston job will provide some unique challenges. The Rockets have a good influx of young talent, but their future is tenuous as long as oft-injured center Yao Ming is a focal point in their plans. The Rockets were the only team in the league with an above-.500  record that failed to make the playoffs this season.

And they will face a tough challenge in the Southwest Division, where all of the teams finished above .500. The balance in the Southwest is best shown by the fact that the Spurs led the division with 61 victories and two other teams from the conference — Dallas and Oklahoma City — played in the Western Conference Finals.

And it’s also a little unusual for a team to dictate assistant coaches that a new coach will hire.

Yahoo.com reports the Rockets will have much and may even dictate his style of play. Houston D-League coach Chris Finch of Rio Grande Valley will be promoted to McHale’s staff. And Memphis Grizzlies assistant coach Dave Joerger is expected to be a candidate to become McHale’s top assistant, sources told Yahoo.com.

It will also bear watching as the Rockets transition from a team directed by a coaching veteran to a relative coaching neophyte. The Rockets formerly were coached by Rick Adelman, who ranked eighth in NBA history in coaching victories. McHale’s basketball reputation is based more on his playing career after he was a member of three championship teams with Boston and was selected as an all-time top 50 player in 1996. 

Alexander will receive more buzz by hiring McHale than either of the other two finalists. But it’s uncertain if that excitement will carry over once he starts coaching the team.