West finished second in the MVP voting four different times, losing out to Wilt Chamberlain in 1966, Willis Reed in '70, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in '71 and again in '72. In the '65 ballot, West finished third, behind only Bill Russell and Oscar Robertson. It's certainly no shame losing out to those na

Westbrook and Harden have broken records this year and it's possible that they may never have better individual campaigns for the rest of their careers, so this could be their best shot at hoisting the MVP tro

When he famously signed with his hometown Chicago Bulls in the offseason, the general thought was that Wade joining forces with Jimmy Butler and Rajon Rondo in Chicago would result in success in the Eastern Confere

After spending last season with the Shandong Golden Stars in China, Cole signed a contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder in March. He is now averaging 2.3 points and 1.1 assists in limited action as the team's third-string point gu

He was a walking triple-double during his outstanding 19-year career in the NBA. J.Kidd made it to 11 All-Star games with five First Team All-NBA Money Guide|Https://Nbaactioninsight.Com/ selections, but the MVP award never came his way as a result of tough competition and talent in the league at the t

While he previously controlled the ball in a primary ball-handler’s role prior to the injury, the spacing and ball movement that the team has exhibited in his absence will likely carry over after Wade retu

"Enigmatic forward Nikola Mirotic averaged 9.4 points and 5.2 rebounds in 22.9 minutes while shooting 39 percent with Wade around. Historically the Bulls’ one-man version of March Madness is contributing 16.4 points and 6.3 rebounds in 29.6 minutes while hitting 50.8 percent overa

"I look forward to that matchup," Butler said after Friday's practice . "Especially what he's done this year for that team. I know that it's going to come at some point in time. I don't know when -- but I'm going to make it tough for him. For anybody that I'm guarding. Not just me, it's going to be a team effort. I'm going to get beat at times, I'm going to need guys to be there. If not, then we'll do it over and over again 'til somebody is there if I'm beat. But I look forward to that challenge. I want th

Listed at 6’7", Butler is a full 10 inches taller than Thomas, but has the physical gifts that it takes to stick with him for a long period of the game. Despite the major height difference, Butler respects Thomas’ versatile g

The Clippers outscored the Rockets 36-12 in the third quarter and at that point, the game was essentially over. James Harden (14/7/6) only played 24 minutes and went just 2-for-9 shooting in the game. Meanwhile, the Big Three of Chris Paul (19/5/9), Blake Griffin (18/8/2) and DeAndre Jordan (14/11/2) all produced efficiently and none of the three logged 30 minutes on the court due to the blow

The Celtics moved into first place in the Eastern Conference with the victory. Led by Isaiah Thomas (27/4/3), Al Horford (19/8/4) and Avery Bradley (18/5/2), the Celtics led the Nets to 36.0 percent shooting for the game. In the loss, Brook Lopez (25/7/2) became the Nets’ all-time leading sco

That will only be the case, however, if coach Fred Hoiberg doesn’t derail what’s working in the hopes of appeasing his future Hall of Famer’s desire to have the rock in his hands as much as he did earlier in the sea

While taking Thomas out of the game with his swarming defense would be wonderful for the Bulls, Butler knows that the Celtics still would have other pieces on their roster that his teammates would need to be ready

Developing younger players like the newcomer Payne, along with some rookies and second-year players, has cut into the playing time of veterans like Wade and Rondo. And you can make the clear argument that the focus on giving the youngsters playing time has resulted in on-court struggles and los

The Blazers won on a ridiculous last-second play. All 13 Spurs players played over 12 minutes in the close battle. With their eighth seed clinched, Portland rested both Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, which opened the door for Shabazz Napier (32/6/5) to have the game of his l

"He's been that height for a long time now, so he's mastered it," Butler said . "He's really good at what he does. Coming off, pulling up, shooting shots. Getting to the rim, getting to the free throw line. 5[-foot-]8, 6-8, whatever it is, the guy knows how to put the ball in the bask

Of Sunday’s loss, he explained , "We're still experimenting. Like I said the other day, we're going to take some lumps; some of them are going to be big lumps. Some of them are going to be small lumps. Tonight was a big o

The Warriors rested Klay Thompson and the Jazz were without All-Star Gordon Hayward due to a quad contusion in this matchup. Rudy Gobert (17/18/0) and company stole the win on the road from Steph Curry (28/4/4) and his crew. Interestingly, the Jazz made 13 three-pointers compared to Golden State’s n