Since Chauncey Billups did his best Nadia Komenich split about two minutes into game three, Rodney Stuckey’s been running the point for the Pistons. And he’s made some people in Detroit forget about Mr. Big Shot - at least for the time being. Rook’s tallied 13.3 points, 3.6 assists and 1 steal over the course […]

Ray Allen
It’s not enough to have three superstars. When Michele Tafoya sat down with the Big Three for ESPN’s Sunday Conversation before the playoffs, she asked two memorable questions. 1. When the game’s on the line, who takes the last shot? 2. Who is the MVP? Both of Tafoya’s questions segmented this trio, asking which […]

Baron Davis (photo. Tim Tadder)
After the curious conclusion to the Warriors season, in which Baron Davis spent 31 minutes of a win-or-go-home game against the Suns on the bench, did anyone think that would be one of the last times Boom would suit up in Golden State? Davis just turned 29, and is entering the […]

KG
The visiting team looked like cooked cauliflower in games one and two in the foggy TD Banknorth Garden. Their best player left his game back home - first Joe Johnson hit 11-32 shots in Atlanta’s first two tries, and now LeBron is 8-42 with Cleveland in an 0-2 hole. Offensively, Boston’s bench - namely Sam […]

G.O.A.T. (photo. Jordan)
In the ’80’s, Chuck Daly coined the term “Jordan Rules” when he issued an edict to his Pistons to blitz MJ with traps and double-teams to get the ball out of his hands. Ideally, by the time the ball swung back to him, he’d be rushed to get a shot off before 24 […]

Jason Maxiell’s gone toe-to-toe with Dwight
In the Lakers/Nuggets series it was J.R. Smith. In the Philly/Detroit series it was Reggie Evans. In the Jazz/Rockets series it was Mehmet Okur. No matter the series, there has been at least one guy that has elevated his level of play far beyond expectations to give his team a […]

CP3
Like the older fellas at a pickup game stepping back onto the floor after a prolonged rest, the San Antonio Spurs couldn’t get loose quickly enough. After being outscored 29-17 in the third quarter of game one, the Spurs looked like they could have used a couple extra warm-up laps coming out of the locker […]

Paul Pierce
Even though the Celtics’ game seven dismemberment ranks right up there in the pantheon of the most lopsided end-of-series blowouts, Boston still hasn’t explicitly answered the most important question for their success moving into round two: Who is going to step up and take a game into his own hands?
In all fairness, […]

Joe Johnson
It’s not like Joe Johnson was guarding Kevin Garnett. After Joe Jeezy picked up his second foul steamrolling through Leon Powe less than eight minutes into the game, Mike Woodson put a seatbelt on him on the bench. Johnson warmed pine for more than nine minutes, and by the time that he came back […]

T-Mac on Dime #27
The Rockets seem to have reclaimed the spirit of their 22-0 run. They’re getting contributions from absolutely everybody - the Houston bench outscored the Jazz’s 18-0 in the first half, and rattled off the first nine points of the second half to give the starters a comfy-womfy 14-point lead. This is the […]

Josh Smith
The CEO of the S-W-A-T Josh Smith has made himself more money in his last two games than he has at any point in his life. He reintroduced himself to America in game three of this series as more than the Slam Dunk champion everyone remembers.
In fact, he looked like a left-handed LeBron […]

‘Melo
Denver fought tooth and nail for that last playoff spot only to suffer the only sweep of the eight series around the League. But it wasn’t for a lack of effort last night. Early in the game, ‘Melo whizzed to the tin off of his post-spin move and missed a bunny off of front iron. […]

The Suns adjusted to TP
For the last eight years, Pete Carroll has made a career out of it. The Trojans’ chief has a phone book’s listing of offers from NFL teams for his services because of it. He’s 76-14 at Southern Cal because of his ability to make game-changing adjustments at the half. Maybe Suns […]

Caron Butler
Right now it’s a toss-up between Gene Hackman’s speech in Hoosiers and a screaming fit from my high school basketball coach for the top honor of the greatest game-time speech I’ve ever heard. But I’m praying that Eddie Jordan was mic’d up after the Wiz were embarassed in game two against the Cavs. If […]

T.J.’s been outdone by Jameer (E. Oriol)
Once the seeds were set and we knew that the Magic and Raptors would be squaring off in the first-round matchup that nobody really cares about, Andrea Bargnani and Rasho Nesterovic got a little bit clammy and started to pace through dark hallways in fear of being alone in […]