After the talk of JaVale McGee‘s elimination of a Wes Matthews baseline drive in today’s Smack (you can see it here), one of our loyal readers, DJ Leon Smith, reminded us of this piece of work from LaPhonso Ellis back in the day:

For my money, I’ll LaPhonso’s block. Read More »

Yesterday, two Western Conference Playoff teams got red cards. Memphis, playing well as they waited for the return of Rudy Gay, found out their star is now done for the year with a partially dislocated shoulder. And San Antonio, the team with the best record in the League and riding an uncharacteristic wave of perfect health, lost Tim Duncan to a serious ankle injury. While one may be slightly more serious than the other, both players are expected to miss significant time with only a few weeks left until the playoffs start. These injuries figure to have a huge impact on just how far these teams can push themselves in April and May. Memphis probably isn’t winning anything, but for the Spurs, this could be devastating.

This weird timing seems to happen all the time. 2011 isn’t the first year, and certainly won’t be the last, when playoff teams have to deal with this. Here are five other examples of it in the past decade, and while most of these happened during the playoffs, the consequences are the same: Read More »

We need to see more blocks like this…

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Beast of the Night: Lamar Odom finished a long night with 29 points, 16 rebounds, five assists, a block and a three-pointer. He shot 59 percent (13-22) from the field, 100 percent (2-2) from the free-throw line and had no turnovers. Odom took full advantage of Andrew Bynum’s suspension in this contest, and the three overtimes helped too. He’s had another strong season, averaging top-50 numbers and improving his scoring and shooting from the field from last season’s marks. Read More »

Breathe. Put the pacemakers back in place and relax. Chris Webber wanted to thank the Basketball Gods for blessing us with that epic Lakers/Suns game that went deep into Tuesday night. You should too … Where do we start in the Lakers triple OT 139-137 win? How about clutch free throws and buckets. Crazy passes in pressure situations. Ron Artest. There’s no way that wasn’t one of the top five games of the year. In the end, it came down to a couple of Kobe Bryant (42 points, 12 rebounds, 9 assists) and Artest (18 points) shots that extended the Lakers just beyond Steve Nash (19 points, 20 assists) and the Suns. Kobe hit a three, then Artest stuffed a dunk before hitting a wild floater to put L.A. up five in the third overtime … The first half of the game was typical for this rivalry: big Suns’ runs because of lazy L.A. defense, followed by the Lakers getting enough easy layups to stay close. But the third quarter turned into a personal showcase for the best team in the league (they’re the champs until someone officially takes them out). Offensively, the Lakers were rolling. Defensively, they turned Phoenix into Wofford and L.A. was up as much as 20 points in the period … Read More »

Check out Derrick Rose‘s latest commercial for the adidas adiZero Rose 1.5 called “Light Makes Fast,” which debuted online today. You might wanna pick up these shoes after you do…

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Like Georgetown, if you’re looking for a great program and some great swag in your college choice, North Carolina just may be the spot for you. As one of the few Jordan Brand schools in the nation, you know you’re going to get laced out. So with the Tar Heels still alive in the NCAA Tournament, check out the exclusive version of the Air Jordan 2011 that arrived on campus for them to wear. Read More »

If you’re looking for a great program and some great swag in your college choice, Georgetown just may be the spot for you. As one of the few Jordan Brand schools in the nation, you know you’re going to get laced out. So even though the Hoyas are out of the NCAA Tournament, check out the exclusive version of the Air Jordan 2011 that arrived on campus for them to wear. Read More »

I’m not sure if you heard, but about a month ago, Carmelo Anthony got traded. It was kind of a minor deal and mostly flew under the radar, so it’s absolutely understandable if you scrolled past it on your Twitter feed, or missed your opportunity to Digg it. To be honest, I don’t think that many guys got moved, and I don’t completely remember where he ended up…

Okay, none of that is true. So why are we talking about this again? As far as ‘Melo is concerned, last night marked roughly 28 days since “sources” reported he would spend his workdays at Madison Square Garden. And with both the Knicks and Nuggets playing last night, it’s time to check in on their post-trade progress. Let’s go to work: Read More »

In the fall of 2000, a seemingly ordinary 21-year-old enrolled at a small college in Michigan. He didn’t look like a basketball player, and he certainly didn’t have the credentials, but he said he wanted a chance to play. He lobbied the coaches and earned a spot on the school’s JV team.

In the next three months he would destroy half the junior colleges in Detroit. Read More »