The shooting guard position is made for the game’s most gifted scorers. In today’s game, it doesn’t matter if you’re your team’s first option or if you’re coming off the bench. A shooting guard’s job is to put the ball in the hole. It’s always been that way. Although the position isn’t as stacked with talent as it once was, it’s still home to some of the game’s best scorers. Read More »

This season was full of incredible dunks and by the second half of the year, it felt like everyone was just trying to one up each other. There was Harrison Barnes, who was then topped by DeAndre Jordan, who was then almost topped by LeBron James. Unbelievable. Yet, I don’t think I’m the only one who wasn’t surprised by which play made No. 1. Read More »

As much as I enjoy watching LeBron James at the peak of his NBA powers, as much as I enjoy watching the veteran Celtics come together since Rajon Rondo went down, as fun as it is to watch Carmelo Anthony drop 35-plus night after night en-route to his first scoring title, and Chris Paul continuing to be the best point guard of this generation, what makes the NBA so great night in and night out is everyone else. Read More »

“What ifs” in sports can run deeper than still waters. What can be a simple question or proposition on the surface, may also result in major changes to a player or players’ careers and, in some instances, even swing titles. Read More »

Despite the convenience to call the post-All Star period the NBA’s second half, the playoffs are right around the corner. This is a sprint in the final two months with the Heat having to play the most games before the playoffs with 32 (the Lakers: 26). For Joe Johnson, what a better way to start it off than hitting the two biggest shots of the game. Read More »

Timofey Mozgov, the man whose very name is synonymous with getting obliterated with highlight reel dunks, caught a real beauty last night from the Raptors’ DeMar DeRozan. Read More »

We hate to keep leading Smack off with LeBron James, but it’s almost like we have to lock him in here on every night he plays. The dude is just too good. Check out some of these numbers. James was 11-for-15 shooting last night in the Heat’s 117-104 flaying of Portland, finishing with 30 points and nine assists. He’s made 60 of his last 80 shots overall. On NBA Coast 2 Coast, they showed a shot chart from his last few games, and every spot outside of the left wing and left corner was blaming red. Read More »

Someone forgot to tell Boston they don’t have Rajon Rondo or Jared Sullinger for the rest of this season. The Celtics ran off their fourth straight win after losing their All-Star starter point guard a week ago by devouring the short-handed Clippers, then holding on for dear life at the end, 106-104. One Caron Butler dunk aside (we’ll get to that in a second), the Celtics were clearly the dominant team in the first half and even led by 19. Read More »

Say what you will about the Heat’s rebounding problems against bigger teams such as Indiana this season, but the Heat’s turnovers are reliably the larger indicator for its wins or losses. That’s why its 102-89 loss to Indiana was a little worrisome even if LeBron (28 points) and Dwyane Wade (17 points) sounded afterward as if they’d just lost a charity game, insisting it’s no big deal at all. Read More »

DeMar DeRozan did miss seven shots last night, and had a turnover. But still, some might call his outing a perfect game. Why? In the fourth quarter of Toronto’s win in Orlando, he caught E’Twaun Moore with a nasty facial in the lane, and then once the Magic came back to tie it up, DeRozan drilled one of the best game-winners we’ve seen in the past few seasons. Read More »