Thank goodness they don’t teach defense in Golden State. Otherwise, how many highlights and one-night explosions would we have been robbed of over the last few years? As great as Brandon Jennings was last night — dropping 55 points on 21-of-34 FG with seven triples — it was hard not to look at the boxscore and say, “Oh, it was against the Warriors,” and allow the fifth-best NBA rookie performance of all-time to lose some of its luster. But just a little. Jennings was doing whatever he wanted whenever he wanted; if Monta Ellis was worried about he and Stephen Curry getting lit up by bigger guards, what did he think about skinny 6-1 Young Money carving ‘em up like Manny Pacquiao did Miguel Cotto? … Read More »
If the Nuggets were aware that the majority of NBA experts had kind of written them off as a legit championship contender going into this season — mainly because they hadn’t made any major moves over the summer — last night’s Hulk-Smash of the Lakers on national TV was a definite statement win. Carmelo dropped 25 points in just 29 minutes on L.A.’s shiny new Ron Artest acquisition, as the Nuggets turned a close game at halftime into a rout when they held the Lakers to EIGHT points in the third quarter. By the fourth, J.R. Smith (he’s not “Earl” anymore) was dropping threes and annoyingly twisting the knife in a way only J.R. Smith can. Glad to see he’s officially back … Read More »
An NBA championship can do a lot of different things for a lot of different people.
If you’re a Hall of Fame-bound veteran who’s carried mediocre teams for years, e.g. Kevin Garnett in ’08, a ring can be the final piece of validation to cap a stellar career. If you’re an up-and-coming superstar like D-Wade in ’06, it’s a standard-bearer by which to set future goals and a quick booster into the next level of fame. Read More »
Sir Charles is at it again. Always the entertainer Charles Barkley was in rare form last night. At one point he instructed the makeup artist to cover his face in white makeup mocking Sammy Sosa and went on to say that Kenny Smith was crazy for thinking Tina Fey was hotter than Sarah Palin. For today’s Reebok Still Talkin’ Quote of the Day we focus on a comment he made about another NBA great Scottie Pippen. Read More »
Trying to explain to my girl why I was watching a press conference for a high school kid announcing his college decision, I described the reason for the hype behind Harrison Barnes as such:
“Remember when Grant Hill came along? He’s like that. He’s the Golden Boy.”
As good as Barnes is on the court, the 6-7 wing from Ames High School (Iowa) gets just as much praise for his intelligence, maturity, poise and overall good-guy demeanor off the court. Read More »
Shout out to Andrew Sharp from sbnation.com for posting this awesome picture. In this snapshot from last night’s game against the Lakers, Steve Nash obviously disagreed with one (or many) of official Violet Palmer’s calls. Instead of chasing her down and getting in her face, he does what any 11-year-old would do: he makes the four-eyed face.
In some respects, you have to understand where Allen Iverson is coming from. Going back to Little League and all the way through intramurals or whatever level you reached in your athletic career, we’ve all been taught that the best players start the game. Of course, it’s a little different in the NBA: If a coach really wants his second unit to have more offensive firepower or defensive stability, he might put one of his best five players on the bench, which is why Manu Ginobili and Jason Terry are annually up for Sixth Man of the Year.
That said, there are some backups who — forget what the coach might be trying to do — have no business being backups. And it’s not always because they’re so great, but that the guy starting in front of them shouldn’t be starting. Who should be taking a seat? Read More »
Buy Low:
Al Jefferson will miss the next two games to tend to a family illness, but it’ll give him some time to rest, too. He’s shown glimpses of life and his steady uphill path to recovery should reach its peak by the beginning of December.
Andre Miller is starting alongside Steve Blake, but the chances for him taking over as the sole starting point guard are getting better. Read More »
Last night, Deron Williams left the Jazz and returned home to Salt Lake City because of an undisclosed personal reason according to the Deseret News. Details of the matter were not released. Williams will miss tonight’s game in Philadelphia and it’s uncertain if he will play Saturday night at Cleveland. In the past week, several NBA players like Allen Iverson and Al Jefferson have been forced to leave their teams due to personal matters.
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