No matter how old and inconsistent he gets, apparently Peja Stojakovic will always be able to light up the Suns. In what could have been one of those rock-bottom moments for the Hornets — national TV, no Chris Paul, interim coach, hosting a red-hot opponent who could conceivably drop 130 points on ‘em and get them booed out of their own gym — N.O. showed some heart and pulled off an upset win behind Peja’s 25 points, 13 boards and seven threes. It wasn’t the first time Peja has taken down the Suns on a big stage: Read More »

You know what you’re going to get when the Cavs and Wizards play on national TV: Plenty of talk about LeBron’s “rivalry” with DeShawn Stevenson, LeBron’s rivalry with the Wizards, Mike Miller wearing LeBron’s shoes, maybe Washington’s injury problems … And then there was the story line for last night’s game that nobody wanted to talk about: The gossip-page reports saying Shaq got caught messing around with Gilbert Arenas‘ girl. Anyone think there’s a slight chance that’s really why Shaq sat out? Say what you want about being a professional and focusing on the game, but that’s grounds for any grown man to get punched in the face at any random moment. Read More »

While struggling to understand why Matt Harpring was analyzing game tape on NBA TV this past weekend, it got me thinking about the Utah Jazz. Being from Denver, I don’t normally enjoy publicly praising Utah for any of their success. Still, credit due when credit earned. While Brandon Jennings and Ty “Mbenga Banga” Lawson are undoubtedly on top of the PG rookie heap right now, Jazz rook Eric Maynor is right behind them. Read More »

Is it possible the West is actually stronger than we all thought? No surprise that the Lakers, Nuggets, Spurs and Blazers have been solid, but not a lot of people expected Houston, Dallas and Phoenix to play so well coming out of the gate … The Suns are arguably the best team in the entire League right now, with Steve Nash putting himself in the mix for a third MVP and doing that thing where he makes fringe NBA players look like All-Stars. Last night Nash added to the resume, putting up 21 points and 20 assists in a come-from-behind win at Philly … Read More »

Beast of the Night: Carlos Boozer pummeled the Spurs with 27 points, 14 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks. He shot 60 percent (12-20) from the floor and a perfect 3-3 from the line while turning the ball over just once. He’s been a roller coaster all season but last night’s line against Tim Duncan and the Spurs, one of the teams favored to get to the Finals, has to inject some confidence in his owners. The window to buy low on Boozer might be closed. Read More »

Ask anybody who knows anything about basketball which player they’d choose to build a team around long-term, and most likely they’ll choose LeBron. (Others would probably say Dwight Howard, and other renegades might throw out names like Chris Paul and Derrick Rose.) But if you need a clear example why a lot of those same people who’d build around LeBron for the future would take a handful of guys over him when it comes to a one-time clutch situation in the present, look no further than last night’s Cavs/Bulls game … Read More »

Four matchups to watch on Thursday’s two-game schedule…

Chicago @ Cleveland: Luol Deng vs. LeBron James For all the grief he took last season — getting the big contract, then promptly going into the tank with injuries and subpar play — Deng has been earning his money this year (17.8 ppg, 10.5 rpg). Read More »

Because the Jazz have the Knicks’ first round pick this year, they pretty much already have a good lottery pick in the 2010 NBA Draft. By the way their playing, they’ll have two lottery picks. At 1-3, the Jazz are off to their worst start in six years. In each of their three losses, they have lost by double digits. They blew a 15-point fourth quarter lead against the Mavericks on Tuesday night and were outscored 44-18 (29 of which were courtesy of Dirk Nowitzki). Read More »

Erick Dampier was almost the headline photo for today’s Smack. Seriously. In the late stages of the fourth quarter of Mavs/Hornets, Damp (16 pts, 14 rebs, 3 blks) was the most clutch player in the building, getting a putback off a Dirk Nowitzki miss to break a tie, catching an alley-oop from Jason Kidd on the next possession, then scoring on another tip-in with 16 seconds left. That should’ve been the dagger, but Dallas killed themselves at the free-throw line in the final seconds: Jason Terry missed one after Chris Paul got T’d up for arguing a push-off call (CP had pushed off on J.J. Barea like 3-4 times in the fourth, but didn’t get called for it until what looked like N.O.’s last-chance possession), then Barea missed two freebies to keep the Hornets alive. Read More »

In lieu of making yet another LeBron/Jay-Z analogy, let’s put it this way: The Cavs are treating the Wizards like LL Cool J did Canibus. They’ll take some time out to address the beef, but always with a swagger that says “Who is this little pest?” It’s even trickled down to the announcers. When Washington came out blasting last night (”Second Round Knockout”) and put the Cavs down by as much as 18 in the first half, Austin Carr admitted the game didn’t mean as much to LeBron and Co. as it did to Gilbert Arenas‘ squad. Read More »