In preparation for the start of this weekend’s NBA Playoffs, we thought that would be interesting to take a look at this postseason’s x-factors. While it is more conventional to say that Player X is the x-factor for their franchise entering the playoffs, you always need to dig a little deeper, go a little bit more in depth by taking a look at other specific variables within different team’s situations that have the capacity to swing a series. Read More »

Sometimes an early test is all a top seed needs to get themselves going in March Madness (think Tyus Edney for UCLA in ’95). Ohio State had theirs yesterday against Iowa State, and are still alive because they have one of the best leaders in college basketball … Read More »

The current iteration of the NBA places very little onus on a big man. Even the All-Star game is now bereft of the one player who used to be thought of as indispensable to a basketball team: the center. Such is the increasing push toward smaller, faster, more dynamic multipurpose players. But centers still exist, and they’re not all obsessed with Superman, lob dunks, and living in LA. Contemporary big men must account for the trend toward quicker line-ups, and that means possessing some finesse from a position that’s more about plodding than prompt. The centers today need to be able to defend the rim and make the slip-pass to a cutting wing player. They need to be just as skillful at a give and go as they are at crashing the glass. Read More »

Coach K looked for a reason to knock Team USA’s win over France in both teams’ Olympic debuts Sunday. He said they overpassed — as if 27 dimes on 31 buckets is a bad thing. Kevin Durant (22 points, 9 boards) led the squad and had a nasty dunk in the first quarter where he looked like he was about to take a Euro step from inside the free throw line and threw it down over two defenders instead. He kept the ball high over the top so they couldn’t swipe at it and it’s not far from there to the rim when you’re KD’s length. Read More »

The Rockets want Dwight Howard the way the dudes from Workaholics want off from work. Also like those three, Houston is willing to do some crazy things for its dream to happen. Today they agreed to send Marcus Camby to New York in a sign-and-trade for three years and $13.2 million. Camby is 38, which adds to this year’s free agency class as possibly the greatest coup for the over 35 crowd in free agency’s history. This isn’t about Camby, though. Read More »

San Antonio’s DeJuan Blair thrived despite being born without ACLs. Turns out, it’s been much harder to thrive without playoff playing time. Blair got into just 76 minutes in the playoffs because of the Spurs’ pickup of Boris Diaw late last season — after starting 62 of 66 games in the regular season. It’s a situation that would have been laughable when Blair was 15.4 points and 12.7 minutes per 36 minutes his rookie season in 2009-10. It’s even weirder considering his minutes actually have increased by nearly three each game since his rookie year, but his spot ultimately disappeared late. Now, he thinks he’s gone. Read More »

Manu Ginobili just kept rubbing his temples, not even looking ahead at the court. Tony Parker and Tim Duncan looked stonefaced, like they were at an opera. In the background, slightly out of focus, the blue T-shirts had coalesced into one dancing, delirious mob. The scene was the fourth quarter and if you haven’t already picked up the hint, nearly the entire quarter was garbage time because of how big the Oklahoma City lead had grown and the Spurs’ stars had to watch it. Read More »

Excuse the pun, but the Spurs’ Boris Diaw doesn’t hold the weight of say, an NBA MVP. Or an All-Star. Or some role players. But on Thursday the big Frenchman hit all seven of his field goals and went for 16 points to help put San Antonio ahead, 2-1, on the Los Angeles Clips. He’s your average role player, who nine years into his career has averages of 9.5 points, 4.9 boards and 4.0 assists per game on 49 percent shooting. He’s also the butt of nearly every fat joke in the NBA. Read More »

Roy Hibbert is so big it invites comments like Shaq‘s from Game 2 about how he needs to get 28 and 15 to live up to his God-given size. We even saw a tweet from a national writer about how he is in the category of Jamaal Magloire as players whose All-Star nods were anomalies. We can’t be sure he read those missives or heard the (rightly deserved) criticism as he stood around in Game 2. In front of a gold-out in friendly Indianapolis, though, Hibbert had the game of his playoff life. Read More »

It feels okay that Al Jefferson seems defeated because, in a sense, the Jazz are done too. The Spurs made sure of that on Saturday night, defeating their ravenous home crowd and a pre-planned green-and-yellow balloon monsoon, as well as their celebrated three-headed monster frontcourt (Jefferson, Paul Millsap and Derrick Favors combined for 45 points and 33 rebounds). One extra pass was never enough for San Antonio. They’d make another. One wide open three or one easy layup were never enough either. Every Utah bucket in the second half was answered with an equally easier one. Jefferson did what he could with 21 points and 11 rebounds, but whether he got the better of Tim Duncan didn’t really matter. Big Al already had it figured out. Read More »