Bold predicition: The Cavs, currently 19-0 at home, will lose at least one game at Quicken Loans Arena sometime in the next couple weeks. Already playing without Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Ben Wallace, Cleveland learned that starting two-guard Delonte West will miss at least 2-3 weeks after suffering a wrist injury against the Bulls last night.

Attempting to catch Derrick Rose on a breakaway, West elevated and tripped over Rose’s shoulder David Thompson-style, cracking his face on the hardwood and hurting his right wrist trying to break the fall. West initially said he would try to play through it, but pre-MRI, reports say it might be a broken wrist.

I feel like we’re going to hear from “Zimmie” (the 3rd dunker) in the future; unbelievable swagger for an eight-year-old. (I also think the 2nd kid should find another sport.)

Brandon Roy is back. After 29 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals in a W last night, here’s who else you should be concerned with…

Shaq – Not playing back-to-backs is brutal. Sure, maybe it will help down the road, but it is killing fantasy owners. If Phoenix hasn’t noticed, the playoff chase and positioning is going to be extremely tight in the West. What happened to every game counts? Not to mention that last I checked, Denver was a bigger playoff threat than Minnesota (who Shaq will play against tonight). But, hey, the Suns won so what do I know? Read More »

Following the NBA Player/Rapper Comparison of Notorious B.I.G. & Shaq, with NOTORIOUS opening everywhere today, I decided to kick it old school and try and draw some comparisons between some famous Biggie lines and NBA players. But while I was looking for multiple comparisons between him and various NBA players, when I was going over the lyrics, I couldn’t help but keep thinking about Gilbert Arenas.

I know, many of the readers on the site have asked us to stop talking about Gilbert until he actually plays a game, but hear me out… Read More »

At our weekly run earlier this week, CGF cooked up an all-Biggie playlist in honor of the release of the film Notorious tonight. So we figured that we’d extend our love for the great one beyond the lay-up line. Ironically, B.I.G. was one of the rappers who didn’t get a comparison in our NBA Player/Rapper Comparison series a couple months back.

And there’s really no questioning who in the League compares to Mr. Wallace: Shaquille O’Neal.

* Both were the most dominant in their era. Read More »

Don’t look now, but there are a host of teams that many of us counted out by the end of November, who are now showing signs of life. They’re not necessarily going anywhere, but their recent surges are invaluable building blocks towards the future.

Philadelphia – Winners of their last five, the Sixers haven’t just whooped up on the League’s garbage – they beat Houston, Atlanta (on the road) and Portland pretty handily. It could be that the Eagles’ success is rubbing off on their Sports Complex counterparts. (Watching Weapon X in action brings out the best in everyone…) But it could also be that Philly is vibing in the same way that they did towards the end of last season without Elton Brand. Read More »

As we said this morning in Smack, if UConn is going to be a contender, a lot of it rests on Kemba Walker’s shoulders. Playing in front of his hometown crowd at MSG, Kemba was instant energy. Standing 6-foot-1, 172 pounds, the freshman is reminiscent of Ben Gordon, but with more of an attack-the-basket mentality. He’s fearless.

Before last night’s game, his previous highs in the Big East were 14 points and 22 minutes, numbers that will be soon forgotten after Kemba dropped 21 points on 8-12 shooting, along with five rebounds, four assists and only one turnover in 30 minutes off the bench. After the game, I had a chance to get up with Kemba… Read More »

When the Magic take on the Lakers tonight at the Staples Center, it will technically be their last matchup of the year. But the way these two teams are playing (the Lakers are 31-7, the Magic are 31-8), they could meet once again in June.

“It’s not far-fetched at all because it’s a reality for us,” all-star center Dwight Howard said Thursday. “If we play like we’ve been playing and stay hungry, yes, we can be there. We can win a championship.”

And if you think Superman is just talking crazy, he’s not the only one that thinks the Magic have what it takes. Read More »

Maybe Amare didn’t want to play defense on that Chauncey-Nene pick-and-roll last night. He wanted Mr. Big Shot to poop in his pants instead of even daring to take the rock into the lane with him in there.

Pick-and-roll is one facet of our offense but there are other ways we can get guys involved. But it’s OK. We’ve just got to figure it out. Hopefully, this will change here soon so guys can be afraid of me again. Read More »

Anyone who saw what Jerryd Bayless did in the ’08 NBA Vegas Summer League — or who saw him regularly slip into that D-Wade mode at Arizona — knew he had last night’s performance in him. Finally getting some decent tick thanks to Steve Blake‘s shoulder injury, Bayless dropped 23 points off the bench (6-9 FG, 11-11 FT), using that lethal first step to get into the lane and create contact, and the threat of a deep jumper just enough to keep the defense honest. Early in the fourth quarter Bayless scored to bring Portland within one point, then on the next possession got a scoop shot and-one to put them ahead. Hanging onto a lead with three minutes left, Bayless went baseline and two-hand crammed on Bobby Simmons plus-one for what was essentially the dagger … Bayless’ only major misstep was on defense, when Devin Harris (23 pts, 8 asts) gave him a step-back move and almost made him do the splits … Where would Portland be without Joel Przybilla? On another one of Greg Oden‘s “He’ll be fine, they just need to have him focus on defense and rebounding” nights (2 pts, 13 mins), Przybilla once again came off the bench and held it down. Read More »