Three hours before tip off, Miami’s AmericanAirlines Arena was empty save for one cat and an assistant coach going through shooting drills. LeBron James wanted to be ready for Philly, and why not? He owns them, and as a team the Heat have the Sixers’ number, winning the last 11 times the two teams have matched up. So it really shouldn’t have been surprising to see ‘Bron go for 14 consecutive points in the fourth quarter of Miami’s 99-93 win. James looked dare we say comfortable without Dwyane Wade, running screen-n-rolls every time down, and pulling up for jumpers off the right side. Read More »

17 times in Rajon Rondo‘s career he’s finished with a triple-double. And 13 of those have come on national television. This one might’ve been the best of all: 18 points, 17 rebounds and 20 assists, only the third guy in NBA history to put up a line like that (Wilt and Oscar are the only others). At one point in the fourth quarter, we looked around and said “Damn, if he didn’t miss a couple of easy layups in the first half, dude would really have a shot at a 20-20-20 game.” He was everywhere at once, but it was Paul Pierce‘s (34 points) shot at the end of regulation that saved the Green. Read More »

The Sixers absolutely cannot beat good teams, especially down the stretch. They have no go-to guy who can get them buckets when they absolutely need it, and it cost them the game against the Thunder night.

At least they’ll always have this highlight of Andre Iguodala spinning, twisting, reverse dunk: Read More »

After sitting out five games, and then taking the All-Star Game as an opportunity to chill, Derrick Rose is back. With 32 and nine on Tuesday night, and then after he sauteed Tony Parker for 29 points last night in Chicago’s 96-89 win, the back problems are a thing of the past. Parker looked like a pup trying to curtail Rose’s drives, and on the other end shot 5-for-16 in one of those performances where you can visibly see the difference between an MVP and an All-Star … Read More »

The push this year will come stronger and faster. You can’t work your way into it. There’s no waiting for tomorrow. You have until April 28 – that’s less than two months – to work your way into the postseason. If you’re in the East, there’s hope. Outside of three or four teams, everyone else is one big injury away from a five-game slide and a shot at extinction. Outside of Miami and Chicago, get too big-headed and you’ll be slain. Lose your confidence and you’ll take up residence next to Washington and Charlotte. Read More »

This year’s shortened NBA schedule came with a label from the beginning: highly concentrated. It’s what happens when 66 games are shoehorned into a season that begins on Christmas Day.

So while the fears from the end of the lockout about how such a packed schedule would fatigue players are still there, it also means the best plays come at a rapid-fire pace. Take, for example, the last weekend of January. On Saturday, Andre Iguodala ripped off a huge slam. A day later, LeBron James jumped over John Lucas to spawn a discussion about its place in dunk history. Two days later, Blake Griffin ripped up that same conversation like a bad first draft with his full-frontal dunk on Kendrick Perkins. Read More »

Hitting up the All-Star Weekend is a double-edged sword. You constantly work, spend late nights in media rooms and feel like a single wildebeest in a stampede of thousands at the media-infested player availabilities. But in the end, you’re hanging around the 24 or so best basketball players in the world. It’s one thing to hit up a credentialed Knicks game or Celtics game. It’s another level to see the game’s biggest stars together. For one, it gives you perspective. Read More »

Monta Ellis is without a doubt one of my favorite players to watch play ball. The guy is incredible. When rumors were surfacing last year that my Sixers were in talks to potentially deal Andre Iguodala for Ellis, despite the fact that I’m supporter of Iguodala, I was all about it. The idea of bringing in the best scorer in Philly since an Allen Iverson-in-his-prime to drastically change our sputtering offense had me fired up.

There are plenty of guys in the NBA who can score, but there are few players in the world who can do it like Ellis does. The guy is so fast, so explosive, so single-minded in his attack mode – he’s one of those guys who was put on this planet solely to get buckets. The show he put on against the Oklahoma City Thunder last night was just incredible. Read More »

Facebook is about to go public with its IPO, which has everyone in a buy/sell mood and streaming “The Social Network” soundtrack on Spotify. It leads to conversations about how big the company can become. If you’re a hoops fan looking for a steal, it’s time now, at nearly a third of the way through the season, to see what teams you should invest your hopes in and who to sell off quick while you still can.

I don’t know anything about tech stocks but here’s who you believe in and what teams, if bought too aggressively, could ruin your portfolio. Read More »

Andre Iguodala was unbelievable last night against the Chicago Bulls. He had 19 and nine in a 16-point W over Derrick Rose & Co., but that doesn’t begin to tell the whole story.

Philly mauled Chicago, swarming them on defense at every turn, and Iguodala led the way. In all of my years of watching pretty much every game he has ever played in Philly, I’m having trouble recalling many games where Iguodala was this good – he was loose and having fun, doing whatever he wanted to, whenever he wanted to do it.

This clip pretty much sums up the whole game. Read More »