When the NBA’s All-Star starters were announced last week, there was only one new face: Andrew Bynum as the West’s center, in his debut All-Star game. The other nine were the game’s biggest names, a list that included Bynum’s Laker teammate Kobe Bryant for a record-tying 14th consecutive year (The All-Star reserves will be revealed Thursday on TNT.).

Bynum may have bested Bryant when he entered the league as its youngest player ever, but he’ll have a hard time topping the Black Mamba’s bananas All-Star debut. Read More »

Lob City’s a Laker town again, if only for a night in this upside-down season where the Clippers are the supposed juggernaut in town. With Andy Garcia looking on with an, ahem, obvious Lakers’ interest, Metta World Peace was as much a factor tonight as he hasn’t been the rest of the season. His physicality and hesitation three, his only bucket of the night, with 3:30 left capped an 11-4 run and the Lakers put the game away from there, thanks to two key plays from Andrew Bynum (19 points). In the closing seconds, he caught a lob from Kobe and finished, and then snuffed DeAndre Jordan‘s layup. Was this truly the night the big kid finally grew up? Read More »

To pass or not to pass? Kobe finally gave it up twice in the final minute of the Pacers’ 98-96 win over the Lakers, and we almost wished he would’ve forced up something. First, Matt Barnes missed a wide-open trey, and then Derek Fisher threw up some type of contraption (not sure what that was… a pass? a shot? a prayer?) that didn’t touch anything but the out-of-bounds paint. With the Lakers down three in the final seconds, Bryant was finally forced into a long, 30-footer off the dribble that was off. While the Mamba still finished with 33 points and and eight rebounds, for the Pacers, the outcome was a confirmation: Watch out for us. Read More »

As much as ESPN hyped the head-to-head matchup between Dwight Howard and Andrew Bynum before last night’s Magic/Lakers game, you would’ve thought that, you know, Bynum had actually done something to earn space on Dwight’s marquee. But choosing to ignore all the warning signs that this might be the most disappointing big-man “battle” since Emeka Okafor turned Luke Schenscher into an Australian Toaster Biscuit in the 2004 NCAA title game, the national media seemed bent on making Howard/Bynum the dominant headline on the NBA schedule … Unfortunately, that headline belonged in the Police Blotter section. Six minutes into the first quarter, Howard served Bynum with a nice lefty hook shot and a back-to-the-basket shimmy that led to a finger roll, and Bynum wound up on the bench with two fouls. Bynum came back to start the second quarter, but after blowing a defensive assignment and then picking up his third foul, he was on the bench less than three minutes in. Read More »

Dwight Howard (photo. adidas)

Dwight Howard loves to dunk. Whether he’s wheeling out a 12-foot rim in the dunk contest or crowning another wannabe center in the lane, Howard has his own flair. He loves to flex and lift weights like he’s in a competition, and his dunks normally reflect that: the Superman jam started by Shaquille O’Neal has been continued on by Howard. He’s always gotten criticized for his offensive game, but he does dunk very effectively. Last season, he led the league with 227 crams. Read More »

If you just went off of what they did last night, the casual basketball fan might go for Andrew Bynum. Bynum was the only one who played well (17 points, 15 rebounds) in that Lakers/Mavs mud bath, and while the Magic also won in New York, it had more to do with the Knicks disrespecting Ryan Anderson than Dwight Howard (eight points, 10 boards).

In fact, take out Dwight Howard’s ridiculous night in the Bay late last week, and as crazy as it sounds, they’re playing almost to a standstill at times this season. Bynum has improved that much. Now, he has to keep it going. Read More »

Right before Christmas, Lou Williams found himself in an attempt to be robbed at gunpoint. Luckily for him, he was able to use his celebrity status to avoid any harm. This situation got us to thinking, what if Lou Will had any of his basketball buddies with him? Which current athletes would make the best bodyguards? Although Shaq might have topped this list if he was still playing, there’s still plenty of security to be found in these ten players. Read More »

At the start of every NBA season, all we hear about for weeks is “X player gained x amount of muscle,” or “X player lost x pounds, so look for him to break out!” It gets a little nauseating after awhile and it isn’t until players step foot on the hardwood that you can really notice any change. John Hollinger tried to save us all some time by tweeting: “I’ll save everyone else the trouble for their training camp reports: Every NBA player is in the best shape of his life. Except Eddy Curry.” Read More »

You had to know it would happen with 66 games in 120 days. Someone was going to fall off. Surprises are a double-edged sword; Somebody has to fall. Besides Miami – who despite the loss last night look like the runaway best team in the NBA – who else can you say has really been dominating? I’ll give you Chicago. But after that Portland has been blown out at home and on the road to two dysfunctional teams with superstars on the edge of town (Phoenix, Orlando). Denver is feasting on the weak but struggling against talent. Atlanta, who knows what’s going on with them? Read More »

I’ve been around Kwame Brown quite a lot this season having moved to San Francisco. And I can honestly say he’s one of the oddest NBA players I’ve ever met. Some guys, like Nate Robinson, just like to joke around. Others, like David Lee, are more reserved. But Kwame? Sometimes I can’t tell if he seriously believes what he’s saying. Like this gem about Andrew Bynum from Friday night after the Lakers beat the Warriors in L.A. Read More »