A day after Davis surprised the Golden State Warriors by getting out of the final season of his contract to become a free agent, the big-game point guard is on the brink of signing a long-term deal with the Los Angeles Clippers.
Though Davis would not directly confirm his agent’s declaration to The L.A. Times that they have agreed to sign a five-year, $65 million deal with Golden State’s Pacific Division rivals, he left no doubt about his upcoming move back to his homebase in Southern California.
Davis can’t sign with the Clippers until July 9, but he already was speaking about the Warriors in the past tense to the press on Tuesday night. Davis averaged 21.8 points, 7.6 assists and 4.7 rebounds while playing in all 82 games last season for the Warriors, who led the NBA in scoring and finished with 48 wins — the best record by a non-playoff team in recent league history.
One of the most legendary rivalries in sports history will be revisited in the 2008 NBA Finals, as the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers go head to head in a best-of-seven series.
The first two games of the series will be played at TD Banknorth Garden, while Games 3, 4 and 5 (if necessary) will take place at the Staples Center. If the set goes to a sixth and seventh game, Boston would host those games.
This is the eleventh time these franchises will square off in the championship round. Boston has won eight of the 10 previous matchups in the finals. The Celtics defeated the Lakers in 1959, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969 and 1984. However, LA has won the last two meetings as it beat Boston in six games in 1985 and 1987.
Some of the greatest players of all time have participated in this rivalry. Larry Bird, Robert Parish, Bob Cousy, Dennis Johnson, John Havlicek, Sam Jones, Kevin McHale, and Bill Russell are some of the great Boston players who have been part of the championship battles between these teams, while Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson,, Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, and James Worthy were there for the Los Angeles.
Boston is appearing in the NBA Finals for the 20th time and has won 16 titles.
The Celtics had the biggest turnaround in NBA history during the regular season, as they finished a league-best 66-16, a 42-win turnaround from a season ago. They had to fight in rounds one and two, needing seven games to eliminate Atlanta in the quarterfinals and Cleveland in the semifinals.
Regardless of the fact that the Detroit Pistons missed 64 percent of their shots and had a rookie filling in for an All-Star point guard, they still managed to set an NBA playoff record with just three turnovers and make enough shots to advance to their sixth straight Eastern Conference final with a 91-86 win Tuesday night over the Orlando Magic in Game 5 of the second-round series.
The Pistons are the first franchise to play in six conference finals in a row since the Los Angeles Lakers went to eight straight in the 1980s.
The Pistons will have a break before facing the Boston Celtics or Cleveland Cavaliers and that will help Chauncey Billups , who missed two straight games with an injured right hammy.
Kobe Bryant has been selected the NBA’s most valuable player for the first time in his 12-year career, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.
Bryant has won three championships with the Los Angeles Lakers and is considered the league’s best talent. But he had never come close to winning an MVP before this season.
Kobe averaged 28.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.4 assists in the regular season. Also, he led the Lakers to a 57-25 record and the top seed in the Western Conference.
Bryant, second in the NBA in scoring behind LeBron James, will be the first Lakers player to win the MVP award since Shaquille O’Neal in 2000. Other previous Lakers to win the award were Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson, who each won it three times.
Down nineteen points, DeShawn Stevenson blows on his hand as if it’s on-fire after burying a three-pointer on LeBron James. But this just adds fuel to the fire between Stevenson and the LeBron, as James immediately knocks down a three in Stevenson’s face.
Seattle SuperSonics guard Kevin Durant will be named NBA Rookie of the Year. 19 year old Kevin Durant will become the first Sonics player to win rookie of the year honors. His points per game were third-best among rookies in the last 10 years. Durant, James and Elton Brand — have averaged at least 20 points in their first season. He led all first-year players in scoring, assists and free-throw percentage,beating out Atlanta Hawks forward Al Horford to become the first Rookie of the Year in Seattle franchise history. The NBA is expected to officially announce the award on Thursday.
Durant averaged 20.3 points per game in 2007-08 — the highest scoring average for a rookie since Carmelo Anthony had an average 21 points per game and LeBron James averaged 20.9 ppg in 2003-04.
