Even though the NBA Finals ended in five games, culminating with a Game 5 blowout, Oklahoma City and Miami did not disappoint. There were plenty of highlight reel plays, but LeBron, of course, stole the show. Here are the 10 best among his many amazing plays. The top play shouldn’t come as a surprise, we don’t think. Check them out: Read More »

The proverbial Gatorade bath may be more of a football thing, but Udonis Haslem decided to bring it to Miami last night right after the Heat captured the title. Normally this is a two-man job, but lack of actual Gatorade in the cooler reduced the need for man power – that, and Haslem didn’t have to raise the cooler too high considering he towers over Erik Spoelstra. And, as expected, Miami was drinking red Gatorade. Spoelstra, for his part, took it like a man and didn’t even bat an eye. Read More »

The NBA Finals is the ultimate stage where players’ legacies are defined.

One can roll through any barbershop in the country, at any point of the year, and all the basketball arguments begin and end with: “What did he do in the Finals?” or “how many rings he got?” It’s the only sport that instantly correlates individual success with the number of championships won. This reality is one of the main reasons why the first achievement that anyone distinguishes Michael Jordan for are his six titles. Man, Bill Russell doesn’t have to worry about scoring titles (zero) or MVPs (five) because no one will ever top his 11 rings. His status as “the greatest winner ever” has forever been cemented due to those 11 ’ships. Eventually, they had to rename the Finals MVP Award as the Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award. Read More »

Interesting. It says here that this “National Basketball Association” has other teams besides the Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder. Who knew? With Wednesday being a day off from the Finals — albeit not a day off from everybody overreacting to the Finals — some of those other teams were able to borrow the spotlight while figuring out how they can get where the Heat and Thunder are right now … The lowly Hornets and even lowlier Wizards pulled off a trade: Rashard Lewis and a 2nd-round pick to New Orleans for Emeka Okafor and Trevor Ariza. Read More »

I once had a pair of these flip-flop glasses. Of course, I was in the ninth grade, didn’t know a thing about right from wrong and very rarely ever used them for anything other than reading or school. I also wasn’t Dwyane Wade at the NBA Finals, nor was I coming to press conferences with the shades flipped up. The worst part about this? You know he planned it out this way. Let me make a fashion statement by flipping up the shades and coming to the podium looking like I have Mickey Mouse glasses. This is getting to be too much. Read More »

Poor Russell Westbrook. The dude can’t catch any breaks. He has one of the greatest individual performances we’ve seen in the Finals in the last decade or two, and yet still loses. He is the seventh player in NBA history to make 20 field goals in a Finals game… but the very first to do so and lose. Between his incredible fourth quarter and explosive first half, he nearly willed OKC to a 2-2 all by himself, and he did all of it in his typical angry and reckless style. Read More »

You have to give Dwyane Wade some credit. Even though he’s refusing to use the word “defer” in regards to his relationship with the King, Wade has conceded once again that LeBron James is arguably the best in the world, and that Miami is only as good as James is. Wade said this weekend to NBA.com, “For our team to be as successful as we need to be, we need him to be the best player in the world.” It might be obvious to anyone who watches, but for Wade to accept his current status, even if everyone else in Miami is still willing to kiss his feet, it shows how far this team has come. Read More »

Russell Westbrook has heard it all. From analysts to other NBA players to wannabe coaches. Everyone has an opinion on how one of the NBA’s best young players should play, and it almost always differs from the hectic, erratic, aggressive style that seems to come so naturally to him. He might be one of the deadliest killers in the league, and yet people want him to change. Now, he’s hearing it from Dennis Rodman. Yep, the former NBA menace took a break from drinking Long Islands to add to the criticism of Westbrook in Game 2. Read More »

“I’m peaking … It’s my time now. It’s our time. … We’re coming out! Guns blazing!” – Al Pacino, Devil’s Advocate

Lucifer’s soliloquy doubles as the mantra for the avid sports hater during championship competition.

Anybody with an acquired distaste for a particular athlete, team, coach, owner, media member, fan base, school or city – even an entire sport itself – should be hitting their peak form when a title is on the line and the rest of the world is watching.

You want to deliver boxing’s eulogy? You don’t do it during ESPN2’s “Friday Night Fights.” You save it for a Mayweather or Pacquiao pay-per-view. You want to shred to pieces the idea that Eli is better than Peyton? Do it during Super Bowl Week, not preseason or the Pro Bowl. Read More »

Is this the first time LeBron James has ever been caught at the apex of a dunk? Remind me if I’m missing something, but nothing comes to mind. Serge Ibaka might be the best shot blocker we’ve seen in a LONG time (the stats prove it), but even this is above and beyond what I expect out of him. LeBron had it flowing early, and when he cocked it back on the way to the rim as he’s done so often before, I figured the top play of the night was on the way. Turns out, the only thing Ibaka did wrong was the celebration. Read More »