Beast of the Night: Nene put up a monster line with 20 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals, 4 blocks and 2 turnovers while shooting 62 percent (8-13) from the floor and 80 percent (4-5) from the line. It was his finest game of the season so far and his owners have to be hoping that he stays healthy. Read More »

It took about 47 and a half minutes for Don Nelson to really miss Stephen Jackson. In the Warriors’ first game since trading Capt. Jack to the Bobcats, they were actually hanging with the Cavs on the road last night. On a critical possession with under a minute to go and Cleveland ahead by four, LeBron of course had the rock, a situation where S-Jack would normally have been guarding him. This time, however, Nellie had to enlist Vlad Radmanovic for the job. (Well, he didn’t have to; Anthony Randolph might have been a better choice.) To the surprise of no one, LeBron scored easily, sticking a pull-up jumper for the dagger … Read More »

Weekend Wonder: Brandon Jennings was all kinds of amazing Saturday, blasting the scoreboard with 55 points, 7 threes, 5 rebounds and 5 assists against the woeful Warriors. He shot 62 percent (21-34) from the field, 75 percent (6-8) from the free throw line and turned the ball over four times. It’s hard to imagine him keeping up this pace for the whole season but for the time being, Jennings is already a top-20 fantasy player. Read More »

They’re panicking in Los Angeles. Or something close to it. While you could reasonably write off Friday’s blowout loss in Denver to tired legs from a back-to-back and the high altitude, there aren’t many excuses the Lakers can make after the Rockets (who were supposed to stink this year, remember?) went into Staples and thoroughly outplayed the champs … Trevor Ariza was the main story going into the game. He received his ‘09 championship ring in his first trip back to L.A. and was playing in front of his hometown crowd, but by the end it was all about Aaron Brooks. Read More »

Going into this season, I honestly didn’t see much in store for the Dallas Mavericks. When we were putting together Dime’s NBA season preview for issue #53, one of my write-ups left on the cutting room floor was titled, “Last Chance Workout,” focusing on the Mavs. And while my Dallas team preview on this site put their ceiling at Western Conference Finals, I was thinking their destination was closer to the basement: “Quiet first-round exit.” Read More »

Allen Iverson made last night’s Grizzlies/Kings game worth checking out from the beginning, but Kevin Martin made it worth staying until the end. What was originally billed as A.I.’s big debut turned into K-Mart’s showcase, it may have been the best game of the season so far, and it was a hell of a timely ad for NBA League Pass as the free preview week wraps up … Checking in to a nice ovation from the Sacramento crowd, Iverson looked like he was just testing out his hamstring in his initial rotation, a scoreless five-minute stretch of the first quarter. Read More »

Contrary to what Chris Webber said last night, the Celtics are not going to win the 2010 championship because they picked up Rasheed Wallace. While ‘Sheed will definitely play a role, Boston isn’t winning jack (or Larry) unless Paul Pierce performs up to Paul Pierce standards. Last night was vintage Truth, as Boston downed the Cavs in the opening game of the new season, a rare home loss for Cleveland. With a little over a minute remaining in the fourth and the Celtics up by four, Pierce (23 pts, 11 rebs) ran a pick-and-roll with KG near midcourt against LeBron and Shaq. Advantage: Boston. Shaq reached, Pierce teached, then stuck a jumper from the top of the key that was essentially the dagger. Read More »

Before all the Jeff Capel, Willie Warren and Griffin brothers hype surrounding the University of Oklahoma, a 6-1, buck-seventy pound point guard ran Soonerville. Hollis Price, originally out of New Orleans, was the star of Norman throughout his four years on campus. Read More »

With the season still a week away, two of Houston’s hottest stars found time this past weekend to get down. Rockin’ only the freshest gear, Trevor Ariza and Aaron Brooks were in the house along with hip-hop legend Bun B as House of Hoops opened not one, but two new locations in H-Town. Crazy considering so many cities would love to have one. Read More »

This year’s draft class has the potential for a number of gems to come out of the second round. I think Dejuan Blair, Sam Young, Dajuan Summers and Marcus Thornton will all make an immediate impact this season. But another guy to keep an eye on is someone that we’ve all known about for years: Chase Budinger. Cue the eye rolls. Read More »