2018–19 NBA Season
The 2018–19 NBA season was the 73rd season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The regular season began on October 16, 2018, and ended on April 10, 2019. The 2019 NBA All-Star Game was played on February 17, 2019, at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The playoffs began on April 13, 2019 and ended on June 13 with the Toronto Raptors defeating the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors in the 2019 NBA Finals. Transactions Retirement * On May 10, 2018, Nick Collison announced his retirement from the NBA. Collison played all his 15 seasons with the Seattle SuperSonics/Oklahoma City Thunder franchise. * On May 25, 2018, after playing 13 seasons in the NBA for seven teams, Mo Williams announced his retirement from the NBA to take the assistant head coaching job at Cal State Northridge. * On July 17, 2018, after playing 9 seasons in the NBA for four teams, Roy Hibbert announced his retirement from the NBA. * On August 27, 2018, Manu Ginóbili announce ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada and is considered the premier professional basketball league in the world. The league is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan. The NBA was created on August 3, 1949, with the merger of the Basketball Association of America (BAA) and the National Basketball League (United States), National Basketball League (NBL). The league later adopted the BAA's history and considers its founding on June 6, 1946, as its own. In 1976, the NBA and the American Basketball Association (ABA) ABA–NBA merger, merged, adding four franchises to the NBA. The NBA's regular season runs from October to April, with each team playing 82 games. The NBA playoffs, league's playoff tournament extends into June, culminating with the NBA Finals championship series. The ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous states border Canada to the north and Mexico to the south, with the semi-exclave of Alaska in the northwest and the archipelago of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. The United States asserts sovereignty over five Territories of the United States, major island territories and United States Minor Outlying Islands, various uninhabited islands in Oceania and the Caribbean. It is a megadiverse country, with the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, third-largest land area and List of countries and dependencies by population, third-largest population, exceeding 340 million. Its three Metropolitan statistical areas by population, largest metropolitan areas are New York metropolitan area, New York, Greater Los Angeles, Los Angel ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Seattle SuperSonics
The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly shortened to Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Division (1967–1970), and later as a member of the Western Conference's Pacific (1970–2004) and Northwest (2004–2008) divisions. After the 2007–08 season ended, the team relocated to Oklahoma City, where it now plays as the Oklahoma City Thunder. Sam Schulman owned the team from its 1967 inception until 1983. It was then owned by Barry Ackerley until 2001, when it came under ownership of Basketball Club of Seattle, headed by Starbucks chairman emeritus, former president and CEO Howard Schultz. On July 18, 2006, Basketball Club of Seattle sold SuperSonics and its Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) sister franchise Seattle Storm to Professional Basketball Club LLC, headed by Oklahoma City businessman Clay Bennett. The NBA Board of Governors ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nick Collison
Nicholas John Collison (born October 26, 1980) is an American former professional basketball player who is a special assistant for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He spent his entire career with the organization originally known as the Seattle SuperSonics, which became the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2008. Collison was drafted by the SuperSonics in the first round of the 2003 NBA draft and retired as a member of the Thunder in 2018. As a college player, he went to two Final Fours as a member of the Kansas Jayhawks. Early life Collison was born in Orange City, Iowa and grew up in Fort Dodge and Iowa Falls. He attended Iowa Falls High School and was a McDonald's All-American in 1999. College career Teaming with fellow Iowan Kirk Hinrich to form one of the best duos in college basketball, Collison helped the University of Kansas reach two consecutive Final Fours (2002 and 2003). Collison finished his college career as the leading scorer ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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2019 NBA Finals
The 2019 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 2018–19 season and conclusion of the season's playoffs. In the best-of-seven playoff series held from May 30 through June 13, 2019, the Eastern Conference champion Toronto Raptors defeated the two-time defending NBA champion and Western Conference champion Golden State Warriors, , earning the franchise its first NBA championship as well as the first win by an NBA team based outside the United States. Acquired by the Raptors via a trade during the off-season, Kawhi Leonard was named the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) for the second time in his career. This was the first NBA Finals appearance for the Raptors, and the league's first finals with games played outside of the United States. Home-court advantage was awarded to Toronto, who finished the regular season with one more win (58–24) than Golden State (57–25). This was the first time in five consecutive NBA Finals a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Golden State Warriors
The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Founded in 1946 in Philadelphia, the Warriors moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1962 and took the city's name before changing its geographic moniker to Golden State in 1971. The team plays its home games at Chase Center. The Warriors won the inaugural Basketball Association of America (BAA) championship in 1947, and won again in 1956, led by Hall of Fame trio Paul Arizin, Tom Gola, and Neil Johnston. After the trade of star Wilt Chamberlain in January 1965, the team finished the 1964–65 season with the NBA's worst record (17–63). Their rebuilding period was brief, however, as they drafted Rick Barry four months after the trade. Barry, along with Jamaal Wilkes, powered the Warriors to their third championship in 1975, widely considered o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Toronto Raptors
The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games at Scotiabank Arena, which it shares with the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL). The team was founded in 1995 as part of the NBA's Expansion of the NBA, expansion into Canada, along with the Vancouver Grizzlies. Since the 2001–02 NBA season, 2001–02 season, the Raptors have been the only Canadian team in the league, as the Grizzlies Vancouver Grizzlies relocation to Memphis, relocated from Vancouver to Memphis Grizzlies, Memphis, Tennessee. As with most expansion teams, the Raptors struggled in their early years, but after the acquisition of Vince Carter through a 1998 NBA draft, draft-day trade in 1998, the franchise set league-attendance records and made the NBA p ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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2019 NBA Playoffs
The 2019 NBA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 2018–19 season. The playoffs began on April 13 and ended on June 13 with the Eastern Conference champion Toronto Raptors defeating the two-time defending NBA champion and Western Conference champion Golden State Warriors in 4 games to 2 to win their first title in franchise history. Kawhi Leonard was named the NBA Finals MVP for the first time since 2014. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this was the last postseason until 2022 to be played in its traditional April through June schedule. This was also the last NBA Finals featuring coaches wearing formal business attire, as the business attire for coaches was completely abandoned following the 2020 pandemic. Overview Western Conference *The Denver Nuggets made the playoffs for the first time in six years. *The Golden State Warriors entered the postseason for the seventh straight year, a new franchise record. This was also their final ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making Charlotte the List of United States cities by population, 14th-most populous city in the United States, the seventh-most populous city in Southern United States, the South, and the second-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast behind Jacksonville, Florida. Charlotte is the cultural, economic, and transportation center of the Charlotte metropolitan area, whose estimated 2023 population of 2,805,115 ranked Metropolitan statistical area, 22nd in the United States. The Charlotte metropolitan area is part of an 18-county market region and combined statistical area with an estimated population of 3,387,115 as of 2023. Between 2004 and 2014, Charlotte was among the country's fastest-grow ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Spectrum Center (arena)
The Spectrum Center is an indoor arena in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. Located in Uptown, it is owned by the city of Charlotte and operated by its main tenant, the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The arena seats 19,077 for NBA games, but can be expanded to 20,200 for college basketball games. History The arena opened in October 2005 as Charlotte Bobcats Arena. The name was changed to Time Warner Cable Arena when the naming rights were purchased in 2008. When Charter Communications purchased Time Warner Cable in 2016, the name was again changed to reflect the Spectrum trade name. The arena was originally intended to host the original Hornets franchise in the early 2000s. The Hornets' arena, Charlotte Coliseum, was considered outdated despite being only 13 years old, primarily owing to the arena only containing eight luxury suites, whereas the Palace of Auburn Hills, which opened the same year as the Coliseum, had 180. In 2001, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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2019 NBA All-Star Game
The 2019 NBA All-Star Game was an exhibition basketball game that was played on February 17, 2019, during the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 2018–19 season. It was the 68th edition of the NBA All-Star Game, and was played at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, at the home of the Charlotte Hornets. Team LeBron defeated Team Giannis, 178–164. This was the second time that the NBA All-Star Game format was not Eastern Conference versus Western Conference. Charlotte was announced as host on May 24, 2017. This was the second time that Charlotte hosted the All-Star Game; the first time was in 1991, at the Hornets' previous home arena Charlotte Coliseum. Charlotte was originally selected to host the 2017 All-Star Game, but it was moved to New Orleans that year because of controversy surrounding North Carolina's Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act. The 2019 game was televised by TNT for the 17th straight year, while a special “Players Only” al ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kawhi Leonard
Kawhi Anthony Leonard ( ; born June 29, 1991) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A two-time NBA champion, he is a six-time NBA All-Star, All-Star and a six-time member of the All-NBA Team (including three First Team selections). Nicknamed the "Claw" or "Klaw" for his :wikt:ball-hawking, ball-hawking skills and exceptionally large hands, Leonard is often regarded as one of the greatest two-way players in NBA history, earning seven NBA All-Defensive Team, All-Defensive Team selections and winning NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award, Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2014–15 NBA season#Yearly Awards, 2015 and 2015–16 NBA season#Yearly Awards, 2016. In 2021, he was named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team. Leonard played two seasons of college basketball for the San Diego State Aztecs men's basketball, San Diego State Aztecs and was named a consensus second-team NCAA Men's Basketball Al ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |