James Quizon

Even for what was seemingly a successful stint as head coach with the Golden State Warriors, the franchise has decided to fire Mark Jackson and made the announcement official on Tuesday.

Move over, LeBron James. The NBA has a new Most Valuable Player (MVP). Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant officially won the award on Tuesday receiving 119 first-place votes for 1,232 total points in the MVP voting.

The other half of conference semifinals begin Tuesday night (Wednesday morning in Australia) with four more teams making their debut in the second round of the 2014 NBA Playoffs. In the Eastern Conference, it’s the defending NBA champions Miami Heat facing the veteran Brooklyn Nets and in the Western Conference, it’s the upstart Portland Trail Blazers against the defending West champs San Antoni Spurs.

The Brooklyn Nets’ roster was assembled specifically to challenge the Miami. They’ll have no shot at the defending champions if they can’t protect homecourt advantage on Friday night (Saturday morning Australia) when the Toronto Raptors try to close out the best-of-seven series in the first round of the 2014 NBA Playoffs.

Three teams—the Indiana Pacers, Golden State Warriors and the Oklahoma City Thunder are in danger of getting the boot on Thursday night when they face the Atlanta Hawks, Los Angeles Clippers and Memphis Grizzlies, respectively.

The Memphis Grizzlies have seen many collapses in this postseason. The good news is that they were able to pull off the victory in most games and now hold the series lead, 3-2 in this best-of-seven series.Against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the possible clincher in Game 6 on Thursday (Friday morning Australia), Mike Conley, Marc Gasol and the rest of the Grizzlies know that it’s only a matter of time before the Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and company take full advantage.

Reports are trickling in that Mike D’Antoni have resigned as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers and Lakers Nation is rejoicing with the decision.

Is this an exciting NBA Playoffs? The Houston-Portland series alone has provided more than that with three overtime games played in the last four games.

Three games are on tap on Wednesday night in the NBA as perhaps the most exciting if not shocking set of first round games continue. Save of course, for the Miami Heat’s domination of the Charlotte Bobacts, who got beat via sweep.

This Texas tiff between the San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks is now tied at 2-apiece after both squads stole one on the road with a crucial Game 5 looming on Wednesday night when the series shifts back to San Antonio.

The racism controversy by Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling is now officially a distraction to his own team days after the racist rant was exposed in a recorded private conversation.

Don’t look now but it’s the eighth seeded Texas team that has the series lead entering Game 4 in the first round of the Western Conference Playoffs. Carrying the league’s best record after the regular season, the No. 1 seed San Antonio Spurs will fall into 1-3 deficit in this best-of-seven series if they lose to the Dallas Mavericks for the third time in this match-up.

Since firing Mike Woodson at the end of the regular season, Phil Jackson has identified Steve Kerr as one of the frontrunners for the head coaching gig. After a meeting between the Zen Master and former Chicago Bulls ward, it appears that Kerr has the inside track for the position.

Adam Silver will have his first tough test as NBA Commissioner for the apparent racist acts of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling.

The Houston Rockets lost two home games to start their best-of-seven affair against the Portland Trail Blazers. Dwight Howard, James Harden and the rest of the Rockets have a chance to get back all the momentum and homecourt advantage if they can manage to get back-to-back wins on the road with a victory on Sunday (Monday morning Australia) in Game 4 of the first round series of the Western Conference Playoffs.

One of the top players in women’s tennis, Victoria Azarenka could miss the 2014 French Open because of injuries of late.

The Chicago Bulls unceremoniously lost two games at home to start their best-of-seven series versus the Washington Wizards. After a huge road win at in Game 3, the Bulls can get back the homecourt advantage in this first round series and set some semblance of order in the Eastern Conference Playoffs.

With a 2-1 series lead over the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the Western Conference Playoffs, the Los Angeles Clippers should be enjoying their advantage entering Game 4 of this best-of-seven series.

This is not the type of news the Toronto Raptors fans want to hear. According to former referee Tim Donaghy in an interview with a radio show based in Canada, the league is doing everything in their power to set-up a Brooklyn-Miami series in the next round.

With the series tied at 1-1, the Brooklyn Nets feel good about stealing homecourt advantage from the Toronto Raptors in this best-of-seven affair in the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs.

Marc Jackson’s crew are fine with settling for the 1-1 series while the Los Angeles Clippers look to build on the confidence-building victory as the series continues for Game 3 on Thursday at the expectedly-roaring Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.

So declared Floyd Mayweather Jr., who may not have a thrown a punch in the Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley bout last April 12, but continues to keep sending the hits against his rivals. In an article by Keith Idec of Boxing Scene, perhaps the best boxing in the planet today called the Filipino and American as “amateurs” and criticized both fighters’ performance at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

The Miami Heat knew the Charlotte Bobcats will be fighting despite the latter’s best player’s injury problems. They took care of business at home winning 101-97 in Game 2 on Wednesday to grab a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

If the Houston Rockets can’t contain LaMarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard, this best-of-seven affair could be a short one in favor of the Portland Trail Blazers. James Harden, Dwight Howard and the rest of the Rockets host the Blazers for Game 2 of the series hoping to bounce back and avoid a 0-2 hole before the series shifts to Portland.

For yet another great regular season, Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs was named the 2014 NBA Coach of the Year on Tuesday winning the award for the third time in his career.

Can the Atlanta Hawks achieve the improbable and steal two games away from home? Will the Indiana Pacers continue their implosion and fall into a 0-2 hole?

The Black Mamba is on the comeback trail.

The battlecry “F--- Brooklyn!” didn’t quite work for the Toronto Raptors. The Brooklyn Nets visited the North and promptly invaded it with a stirring Game One win to steal the homecourt advantage in this best-of-seven series.

Chicago Bulls star center Joakim Noah is the NBA’s 2013-2014 Defensive Player of the Year. Not a surprising choice for a defensive stalwart who anchors one of the top defensive teams in the NBA.