NBA Blog – NBA Basketball Blog
NBA Blog: The NBA basketball news blog section of Inside Hoops
The Phoenix Suns needed a new coach, and the guy they’ve hired is a better shooter than the actual players on the team.
Despite this, Jeff Hornacek is of course expected to just stay on the sidelines.
It was reported last week that Hornacek would become the team’s new head coach, and the move became official earlier today.
Full info on the Suns hire of Hornacek is here.
The Atlanta Hawks are taking a piece of the San Antonio Spurs coaching staff, and putting him atop their organization.
The Hawks named Mike Budenholzer the team’s new head coach today, President of Basketball Operations/General Manager Danny Ferry announced. Budenholzer becomes the 12th full-time head coach in Hawks history.
Budenholzer, 43, spent the past 19 seasons with the San Antonio Spurs, including the final 17 seasons as an assistant coach. For the last six seasons, he has served as the team’s no. 1 assistant to current San Antonio Head Coach Gregg Popovich, the longest-tenured head coach in major professional sports and third-winningest coach (by percentage – .681) in NBA history behind only Phil Jackson and Billy Cunningham.
More info about the new Hawks coach is here.
 |
After the Memphis Grizzlies’ season ended Monday in a sweep from the Western Conference finals by the San Antonio Spurs, the team’s biggest free agent this summer could be coach Lionel Hollins.
Hollins’ contract with the Grizzlies ends on June 30, and the Los Angeles Clippers, Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee Bucks are expected to ask for permission to speak to him about their coaching openings, league sources told Yahoo! Sports. Hollins’ wish is to stay put in Memphis.
“I hope things get worked out quickly. I love our team and the possibilities,” Hollins texted Yahoo! Sports after the Grizzlies’ 93-86 Game 4 loss to the Spurs.
Hollins made $2.3 million this season in the last year of his contract, a source said. While the Grizzlies have interest in retaining Hollins, a contract extension has yet to be offered to him.
The Grizzlies have increased their winning percentage every season since Hollins was hired Jan. 25, 2009. He led the Grizzlies to their best record in franchise history (56-26) this season and first trip to the West finals, despite the midseason trade of Rudy Gay. The Grizzlies also have a new owner in Robert Pera.
Reported by Marc. J. Spears of Yahoo Sports
Michael Jordan felt he needed a head coach with a little more NBA experience this time around to improve his struggling Charlotte Bobcats.
The former NBA superstar and current owner believes he’s found one in Steve Clifford.
Clifford, a long-time NBA assistant, has been hired away from the Los Angeles Lakers by the Bobcats before the Milwaukee Bucks could make a play for him.
The decision comes after Jordan’s experiment with former St. John’s assistant Mike Dunlap failed miserably this past season. Jordan fired Dunlap in April after one season with a 21-61 record.
Two people familiar with the situation said Monday that Clifford had agreed to a three-year contact. They spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the announcement has not been made public.
Reported by the Associated Press
 |
It may seem as if the San Antonio Spurs are playing for an NBA title every year. Tim Duncan and Tony Parker know only too well how very long it’s been since their last chance.
Now they’re back in the Finals with their first chance at a championship since 2007, a really long time for a Spurs team that knows a thing or two – or three – about hoisting trophies.
”Honestly, it feels like it’s been forever since we’ve been to this point,” Duncan said Monday night after the Spurs advanced with a 93-86 win over the Memphis Grizzlies. ”We’ve been on the verge of kind of getting here. We still feel like we were in contention, but we can’t get over that hump. To get over that hump and get back in the Finals, it’s an amazing feeling, honestly.”
Parker scored 37 points to lead the Spurs, who finished off their second sweep this postseason for their fifth Western Conference title. The Spurs were just two wins away from a trip to the Finals a year ago before blowing that lead in six games to Oklahoma City.
Parker said he has learned just how tough it is to get there after winning his first NBA title at the age of 21.
”In 2007, we won our third one in five years and you think it’s going to keep coming,” Parker said. ”And I’m 25, and six years goes by and every year it gets tougher and tougher. Every team wants to beat you, and that’s why it makes it even more special to go back after all those years playing at a high level with the same coach, with the same big three but changing a couple pieces.”
Reported by Teresa M. Walker of the Associated Press
|
The San Antonio Spurs are back in the NBA Finals for the first time since they won their last championship back in 2007.
Tony Parker scored 37 points in his best game this postseason, and the San Antonio Spurs finished off a sweep Monday night of the Memphis Grizzlies with a 93-86 win on Monday night in the Western Conference final.
The Spurs now have won six straight in these playoffs, handing two straight losses to a team that had been undefeated on their own court in their best postseason in franchise history. Memphis finished off its best season ever swept by the very same franchise that needed four games to knock them out of their first playoff appearance back in 2004.
Parker had his best game this postseason as he hit 15 of 21 and all six at the free throw line earning the Spurs and Tim Duncan plenty of rest before Game 1 of the Finals on June 6.
”He’s been amazing,” Duncan said of Parker. ”Every year he gets better and better and better. He’s been carrying us. You can see tonight he carried us the entire game.”
Duncan hugged Manu Ginobili before heading off the court, celebrating the chance at a title that slipped away a year ago when the Spurs blew a 2-0 lead to Oklahoma City losing four straight. The 37-year-old Duncan finished with 15 points and eight rebounds. Kawhi Leonard added 11…
The Spurs shot 51.3 percent (39 of 76) from the floor and outscored Memphis 52-32 in the paint, even though the Grizzlies had a 41-34 edge on the boards. Memphis led only briefly and the last at 6-4 as the Spurs took control early.
Memphis stayed close only by getting to the free throw line, making more shots there (17 of 24) than San Antonio took (12 of 13). The Grizzlies also got a career-high 22 points from reserve Quincy Pondexter, 18 of those in the second half. Pondexter was the only player from Memphis to shoot over .500. Zach Randolph finished with 13, continuing his struggles at the line where he was 5 of 8, and Marc Gasol had 14.
Reported by Teresa M. Walker of the Associated Press
|
|
In response to the NBA’s $5,000 flopping fine on Grizzlies guard Tony Allen after Game 2 of the Western Conference finals, Memphis coach Lionel Hollins conceded the league’s anti-flopping rules were appropriate and could possibly be enforced more widely.
“Flopping isn’t a part of the game and it shouldn’t be a part of the game,” Hollins said. “That’s why we have rules in place. There are probably a few more that could be called on a lot of people still in it.”
The NBA instituted new rules to deter flopping prior to this postseason. A violator will be fined $5,000 after the first infraction, $10,000 after the second, $15,000 after the third and $30,000 after his fourth flopping offense. Any subsequent violations are subject to league discipline. Allen was the fourth player to be issued a fine for flopping during this year’s playoffs.
Derek Fisher of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Jeff Pendergraph of the Indiana Pacers and J.R. Smith of the New York Knicks were each assessed a $5,000 fine.
Reported by Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN.com
The Phoenix Suns appear close to hiring Jeff Hornacek as their head coach.
A person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on Sunday that the Suns are in contract negotiations with Hornacek, although no deal has been finalized. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because no public announcement had been made.
The comments came after azcentralsports, which includes the Arizona Republic, reported Sunday that Hornacek reached agreement on a three-year contract.
If all goes as anticipated, Hornacek would be introduced at a news conference Tuesday.
Reported by the Associated Press
Mark Cuban’s goal is to make the Dallas Mavericks a championship team again within a two-year window.
After Dallas missed the playoffs for the first time in 12 years, the owner vowed the Mavs would have a “quick rebuild.” The pending pitch to free agents this summer — including Chris Paul and Dwight Howard — is that the franchise can take a significant step forward next season and then have the salary-cap space available again in 2014 to make more major upgrades.
“We want to be a championship team. We’ve never said we have to be a championship team this year,” Cuban said Saturday on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM during his first interview since the Mavs’ season ended. “We want to be a better team, a top-seed team. If we get the top free agent, that doesn’t leave us a whole lot of flexibility to add a lot of players, but we have a good nucleus around them. We know we’ll have a good team, but we won’t know if we have a great team.
“If you look at this like a two-year plan, then we think we’re on a track to have a great team by the end of next year.”
Reported by Tim MacMahon of ESPN Dallas
|
Udonis Haslem was nonexistent offensively in the first two games of the Eastern Conference finals. He knew he was going to get an opportunity to change that heading into Game 3.
Haslem delivered in Miami’s 114-96 win on Sunday in Bankers Life Fieldhouse. scoring a season-high 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting.
“We’ve been watching film and saw some adjustments we could make,” Haslem said. “Credit my guys for finding me and I just shot it with confidence.”
Haslem made his first five shots and all four attempts in the first quarter as the Heat made quick work of the Pacers to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 series.
“When our bench and role players are playing well, we’re very tough to beat,” Miami center Chris Bosh said. “It started out with [Haslem] and he got us off to a great start.”
Reported by Brian Peloza, special to the Miami Herald