The second round of the playoffs is underway and with only eight teams remaining, it means another eight have been eliminated from title contention. The offseason is the time for these teams to retool to prepare for deeper runs next season. The Denver Nuggets finished the year with a franchise-best 57-25 record and were the third seed in the Western Conference. Boasting a 38-3 home record, many felt they would advance to the second round simply by winning all of their home games. Read More »

Pau Gasol, we hope you surround yourself with protection tonight. You might turn up along the rocks in the Pacific Ocean tomorrow morning, courtesy of a crazed Kobe Bryant. Down two on the last possession last night against the Spurs, Gasol couldn’t find anyone to pass to. Instead, he launched a moon shot from the corner. Even as he was shooting it, Bryant (28 points, eight assists) already had his palms out in the ultimate “WTF ARE YOU DOING?!” stance. Read More »

When Chase Budinger spoke at his introductory press conference this offseason, he called Minnesota “a young Oklahoma.” Set aside that such a self-compliment would have made zero sense just four years ago; it’s the highest aspiration a recent lottery team can dream to be now. For that reason of hope — if a Finals contender can spring up somewhere where a small market, a torturous move and a painfully awful roster all converged, why not us? — it’s also one of the most common comparisons you’ll hear about a roster believed to be on the come up. Budinger barely knew his team when he said it, but he was sort of right — and now it’s all blowing up in Minnesota’s face. Read More »

And so, curing the Lakers’ five-game start of discontent might come down to this: whose knee heals faster, Phil Jackson‘s or Mike D’Antoni‘s? In case you’ve been living under a rock you know the Lakers fired Mike Brown as head coach Friday morning, pulling him out of a coaches meeting to do so. Read More »

Reports all around the league have been speculating that Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey has been gearing up to make a run at Dwight Howard, targeting multiple top 10 draft selections as the necessary ammunition. Last season, if you remember, David Stern foiled Pau Gasol’s arrival in Houston, so it’s no surprise that the Rockets are once again going after a game-changing big man. In the meantime, the Rockets have now dealt the 24-year-old Chase Budinger to the Minnesota Timberwolves for the No. 18 pick in this year’s draft, according to Draft Express. Minnesota will also pick up the rights to Lior Eliyahu. The Rockets now have picks No. 14, 16 and 18, so don’t expect their wheeling and dealing to end any time soon. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Danny Granger notched 29 points, five rebounds, one assist, one steal, one block and four three-pointers last night. He shot 35 percent (7-20) from the floor and 100 percent (11-11) from the free-throw line, and had one turnover. For the season, Granger has pretty much fulfilled expectations by putting up top 30 numbers. So far in April, he’s averaging 23.1 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 0.6 steals, 0.6 blocks and 2.9 threes per game, while shooting 48 percent from the field and 96 percent from the free-throw line. Read More »

Weekend Wonder: Wesley Matthews averaged 23.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2.0 steals, 0.5 blocks and 4.5 three-pointers in two games over the weekend. He hit 50 percent of his shots from the field and 100 percent of his shots from the charity stripe, and averaged 2.5 turnovers in each of those games. Matthews has struggled with major bouts of inconsistency this season, but he’s still maintained top 60 value, mostly thanks to his strong three-point making (1.9 per game) and thieving (1.4 per game). Read More »

Friday the 13th used to be known for harmless bad luck, but thanks to a psycho with a hockey mask and every movie studio deciding they have to release horror flicks on that date, now it’s become synonymous with blood and torture. Always thinking marketing, the NBA had its bases covered last night, Friday the 13th — giving a lot of unlucky fans a lineup of boring blowouts that were murder on the eyes … It was so bad we resorted to math: The average margin of victory for last night’s 12 NBA games was 15.6 points; four games reached 20-piece status; and one of them was a 38-point laugher that shockingly involved the Wizards … Read More »

Beast of the Night: Wesley Matthews produced a fine line to the tune of 33 points, one rebound, two steals and five three-pointers. He shot 83 percent (10-12) from the floor and 80 percent (8-10) from the free-throw line, and had two turnovers. Since being reinserted into the starting lineup on March 16, Matthews has averaged top 10 numbers. Read More »

It doesn’t happen very often, so we’re a little surprised the Three-Point Shootout was much more entertaining than the Dunk Contest. But we’ll start with the dunkers since we know everyone will want to talk about them anyways. Jeremy Evans won it, beating out a group of guys who hired drunk entertainers (Chase Budinger) to throw them lobs, honored Larry Bird in a dunk contest (Paul George) and missed the same dunk for two minutes straight (Nate Robi…. aw, we mean Derrick Williams). Evans was okay. We guess. He probably won the vote because Utah fans have nothing better to do. The double dunk was cool. But honoring Karl Malone wasn’t all that great. Read More »