Let’s face it: Montreal isn’t the best city for basketball fans. However, the Raptors’ Championship win may have spurred the genesis of basketball-fandom across the country. Thousands of first-time fans packed into the Jurassic Park on Peel Street to watch the improbable dark-horse squad headed by Kawhi Leonard thrash the[Read More…]
Tag: NBA
Growth of international basketball on display at FIBA World Cup
The 2019 FIBA World Cup concluded on Sept. 15, sending a traditionally dominant American team home with a lowly seventh-place finish. This loss came as a shock to USA Basketball and ended a 58-game winning streak dating back to 2006, leaving many fans wondering what has happened to Team USA.[Read More…]
Behind the bench: Kevin Durant’s injury shows how fans affect athletes
NBA player Kevin Durant received relentless scrutiny following his 2016 decision to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder for the Golden State Warriors. The decision came after the Thunder infamously gave up a 3–1 lead in the Western Conference Finals to Warriors, and fans have continued to express their disapproval of[Read More…]
Bay Area sports usher in new wave of fandom
This season, the Oakland Athletics will change baseball. It isn’t the first time they have done so, and, if all goes according to plan, it certainly won’t be the last. However, unlike Moneyball, their first innovation that spawned a Michael Lewis book and subsequent Brad Pitt movie, this development will[Read More…]
Power to the players: NBA stars and trade demands
Anthony Davis is still a member of the New Orleans Pelicans despite his best efforts to leave the only NBA team he has ever played for. Amid a sub-.500 season in which the Pelicans have struggled to make the playoffs, Davis joined a growing list of NBA stars demanding a[Read More…]
Carmelo Anthony: From star to slouch
The 2018-19 NBA season’s opening weeks have been exhilarating after blockbuster off-season moves and progress from the league’s youngest stars have brought in a wave of new title contenders like the Philadelphia 76ers and the Milwaukee Bucks. But, with the rise of the new guard comes the fall of Carmelo[Read More…]
NBA season preview
The past few NBA offseasons have been full of surprises and excitement, and the 2018 offseason provided much of the same. Now, it’s time to focus on the regular season. Here are The McGill Tribune’s predictions for the season ahead. Most Improved Team: Los Angeles Lakers When LeBron James makes[Read More…]
The LeBron James narrative
“The human mind is addicted to stories,” author Jonathan Gottschall said. It is for this reason, he claims in his book, The Storytelling Animal, that our minds wander and turn information into stories. Sports are one of the best examples of this tendency. A fan’s addiction to narrativization creates incredible[Read More…]
2018 NBA Finals preview
The saga continues: Starting tonight, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors will face off in the NBA Finals for the fourth consecutive season. While this matchup seemed inevitable to some, neither team had an easy path to the Finals. Both failed to secure first place in their respective[Read More…]
DeMar DeRozan, Kevin Love, and opening up about mental health in the NBA
Athletes do not often publicly expose their perceived weaknesses, physical or otherwise, for others to see. So when Toronto Raptors superstar shooting guard DeMar DeRozan tweeted about his struggle with depression during the NBA All-Star Weekend in February, his words sparked a difficult—and extraordinary—discussion. With that red-eye tweet during a[Read More…]
