In the final seconds of the fourth quarter of last night’s Sixers/Bulls game, Philly was down one with the ball. Allen Iverson was not in the building, as he was home dealing with a family illness. Elton Brand and Andre Iguodala, respectively, were having perhaps their best games of the season.

But even I’ve seen enough Sixers games to know what every Philly fan was fearing most: Lou Williams was going to take it upon his shoulders to lose this game. Read More »

It’s safe to say that when the Grizzlies started the season, they (A) didn’t think that Zach Randolph would be an All-Star, and (B) didn’t think that they’d make the playoffs. But with (A) taken care of, it’s on to (B). With that in mind, you can understand why the Grizzlies – and the $3.2 million they have available – are looking to shore up their bench. Read More »

There we were, all ready to make fun of Chris Webber for predicting Shaq would have a big night against Memphis because his “ego is bruised” from his All-Star snub and he wanted to take his frustration out on All-Star Zach Randolph — and then Shaq went out and made C-Webb look like Negrodamus, posting 13 points, 12 boards and four blocks next to Z-Bo’s eight points on 3-of-14 shooting in a Cavs rout … Shaq wasn’t dominant, but he helped set the tone right away. On one of Cleveland’s first possessions he beasted Marc Gasol for an easy dunk, then a couple trips later he took Z-Bo into the chamber and drew a foul. Read More »

Kelvin Torbert was, undeniably, The Man back in 2001. Coming out of Northwestern High School in Flint, Mich., the 6-4 shooting guard was named Sporting News and Gatorade National Player of the Year over future NBA classmates T.J. Ford, Dajuan Wagner, Tyson Chandler, Eddy Curry and Kwame Brown. Torbert averaged 26 points and eight boards as a senior, then dropped 21 points in that year’s McDonald’s All-American Game.

At Michigan State, Torbert was naturally expected to continue the legacies of Magic Johnson, Steve Smith, Shawn Respert and the “Flintstones” — the four-man crew of Mateen Cleaves, Mo Peterson, Charlie Bell and Antonio Smith that hailed from the same hometown as Torbert. However, Torbert never delivered on that potential in college. Read More »

Score a few more votes for Lionel Hollins in the Coach of the Year race, because he may have just figured out the best way to guard Kobe Bryant at the end of a game. Last night the Grizzlies were up two on the Lakers with 21 seconds left when Mike Conley blew a chance to ice the win and bricked two free throws. Then it was Kobe’s turn, and as he was going into his move to get space for his trusty mid-range jumper over O.J. Mayo, Marc Gasol switched onto him. The 7-footer kept his arms up the entire time, and was quick enough on his feet to stay in front of Kobe long enough to force him to pass. Kobe did find Ron Artest wide open on the wing, but he missed and Memphis won. Read More »

So much for suspense. Since every reporter and their intern decided to leak the 2010 NBA All-Star reserves earlier today, tonight’s official announcement on TNT loses quite a bit of intrigue. Still, here are the official rosters as named a few minutes ago…

EAST G – Dwyane Wade G – Allen Iverson F – LeBron James F – Kevin Garnett C – Dwight Howard Bench G – Rajon Rondo G – Derrick Rose G – Joe Johnson F – Gerald Wallace F – Chris Bosh F – Paul Pierce C – Al Horford Read More »

I was talking to someone at the NBA the other day, and they told me that they go to great lengths to keep the names of the players that make the All-Star team under wraps until they’re officially announced. Someone apparently forgot to forward that memo to Yahoo! Sports‘ Adrian Wojnarowski & Marc J. Spears. According to them, here’s your All-Star reserves: Read More »

Can anybody keep a secret nowadays? Apparently, you don’t have to wait until tonight’s TNT broadcast to find out some of the All-Star selections. The Memphis Commercial Appeal is reporting that Zach Randolph will be among the 14 All-Star reserves chosen. The Grizzlies forward is the only player in the Western Conference averaging over 20 ppg and 10 rpg. Read More »

Last Friday against the Lakers, while the Knicks were pretending to be a feisty underdog capable of putting a scare into a #1 seed should they crack the playoffs — only to be exposed against the Mavericks in a 50-piecing two days later — the All-Star resume of NY’s David Lee was one of the night’s themes. At one point, ESPN’s Jeff Van Gundy said that players from sub-.500 teams should be banned from making the All-Star team, presenting one extreme in the annual debate over how important a team’s win-loss record should be for an individual player’s All-Star case. Read More »

Last week, there was a heated debate going on in the comment section of our site whether Pau Gasol deserved to be an All-Star this season. While a lot of people defended the Lakers’ center, there was A LOT of resentment towards Gasol by our readers. One reader, Mark, wrote this:

“Anybody who says Gasol deserves to be in the All Star over Z-Bo or Kaman probably voted for Allen Iverson to be a starter. Gasol’s good personal stats in consideration, I don’t see anybody missing 40% of the season (as of today) deserving of an All Star slot.”

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