Celtics vs. Knicks felt like not just a big game, but a priority. This was appointment viewing after the trash-talk episode that landed the last Celtics-Knicks game on the front page of every sports page in the country. Read More »

Even after Chris Paul’s right kneecap conspired to scratch Tuesday’s most intriguing point-guard matchup from the schedule — CP3 and the Clippers facing Jeremy Lin and the Rockets — the NBA still delivered a gem by giving us Ty Lawson versus Damian Lillard. In a style clash of playmaker versus scorer, power versus skill, fast versus fearless, the four-year vet Lawson got the best of the rookie Lillard, dropping 24 points and 12 assists as the Nuggets edged the Blazers in overtime. Read More »

Before Ric Bucher left ESPN this fall, he tweeted one of the more interesting behind-the-scenes nuggets to take into consideration whenever Oklahoma City and the Lakers play. Bucher said that underneath the “We’re all friends!” vibe Team USA put out in winning gold in London last summer, Kobe Bryant was trying to create a wedge between Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant by telling Russ he deserved to be the team’s alpha male. The young OKC stars were wise to the Mamba’s plot then and apparently want to destroy L.A. each time they play the Lakers now because of what Kobe tried to do. Read More »

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On paper, there are better guard matchups tonight in the NBA. Ty Lawson and Andre Miller of Denver against Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili of San Antonio is one. Seen another way, Deron Williams vs. his Brooklyn coach, former point Avery Johnson (yesterday Williams became a critic of the Nets’ offense, in favor of his former Utah offense under Jerry Sloan) is another guard-on-guard matchup. It’s a bit unconventional, but it’s also become a must-watch as the Nets play the Jazz tonight. All worthy choices, and some you might have circled before the season even began. Read More »

Damian Lillard is the best thing about Portland right now – and that includes its legendary breweries. It would be a big upset to see playoff basketball in the Rose City come May, but the rookie point guard is what is keeping that city’s hoops hopes from wilting altogether. Read More »

While I’m sure you can guess which dunk made the number one spot on this countdown from the past week, it wasn’t like Harrison Barnes‘ slam on Nikola Pekovic overshadowed everything else. Blake Griffin makes his annual appearance as does JaVale McGee, and so does Andre Iguodala, finishing what might’ve been his best play in Denver. Read More »

DeMar DeRozan flew high above the D to catch this two-handed transition alley-oop tonight in Philly. Read More »

In one of those dreaded Saturday afternoon Atlantic Division games (seriously, who came up with these?), Boston turned a close game against Toronto into a rout during the second half of a 107-89 beatdown. Jason Terry, still starting in the Bean, went off for 20 points, and Rajon Rondo had a dozen assists just a few minutes into the second half. He’d end up with 20 in just 32 minutes, his streak of consecutive regular season games with double-digit assists now at 33. Is anyone in the league dominating a single statistical category like Rondo is assists? Read More »

If you’re trying to beat Miami, there are a few specific things you can’t do. You can’t let LeBron dominate an entire second half. You can’t let Chris Bosh shoot the same jumpers he takes in the pregame all night long. And if you have a look at a wide open, game-winning triple, you can’t shoot an airball. All of this happened in Houston’s 113-110 loss to the Heat last night, a game that LeBron James just wasn’t going to let South Beach lose. Read More »