Someone pissed Deron Williams off last night. As we wrote in Smack, he was animated, aggressive and angry. But for the most part, it was another typical Williams-in-a-Net uniform night: a lot of points with so-so efficiency. As for this dunk, it was anything but typical. Williams did this to Roy Hibbert earlier this year. Now he gets Tristan Thompson. Cross another name off the list. Read More »

Actually, we’re not even sure we should call Orlando a contender after last night. They fell apart and surrendered to Carlos Boozer and the Bulls, 85-59. At home. With Derrick Rose in street clothes. Boozer had 24 and 13 while John Lucas III continued to play out of his mind, burning Orlando in the first quarter and finishing with 20 points in 21 minutes, and helping steer Tom Thibodeau to 100 career coaching wins. Thibs is also the fastest coach in NBA history to reach that milestone … Read More »

The Lakers have been searching for a star point guard since last summer. They thought they had one with Chris Paul before David Stern swooped in and dropped the hammer. Now with Dwight Howard apparently staying in Orlando, everyone’s attention moves to New Jersey. What are they going to do with Deron Williams? Surely the Lakers would love to have him. There’s just one problem: The Nets refuse to trade him. Read More »

Teams are scrambling to make moves to beat the March 15 trade deadline. GMs are on the phone longer and harder than Jerry Maguire trying to keep Rod Tidwell as a client. Guys around the league have this date marked in their calendars, wary about if they’ve got to pack their bags and families to relocate somewhere else.

Nowadays, there are a plethora of media outlets that cover 24-hour trade rumors, seven days a week. More than likely, cats will wind up finding out they were dealt via text, tweet, Facebook status update, or hashtag first instead of receiving the news by a simple, courteous phone call from their former squad. Read More »

When Deron Williams scored 57 points on Sunday against Charlotte, it did a couple things: reminded us how bad the Bobcats are, and took us back to 2007.

Only five years past, that season can seem like forever ago. What do you remember from it? Is it San Antonio beating Cleveland for the title in a Finals decried as one of the most unwatchable in history? Read More »

For a Sunday with only eight games, the NBA really brought the heat. But perhaps no two players stood out more than Rajon Rondo and Deron Williams. Both were solely responsible for wins, and both accounted for well over 50 points. Rondo put together a box score that read like something out of a video games: 18 points, 17 rebounds and 20 assists. Williams had 57 points of his own, a career and franchise high. Read More »

Weekend Wonder: LeBron James averaged 30.0 points, 11.5 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 1.5 steals, 2.5 blocks and 0.5 threes in two huge games over the weekend. He shot 56 percent from the field, 50 percent from the free-throw line and averaged 1.5 turnovers in that stretch. It’s good to be king. Read More »

17 times in Rajon Rondo‘s career he’s finished with a triple-double. And 13 of those have come on national television. This one might’ve been the best of all: 18 points, 17 rebounds and 20 assists, only the third guy in NBA history to put up a line like that (Wilt and Oscar are the only others). At one point in the fourth quarter, we looked around and said “Damn, if he didn’t miss a couple of easy layups in the first half, dude would really have a shot at a 20-20-20 game.” He was everywhere at once, but it was Paul Pierce‘s (34 points) shot at the end of regulation that saved the Green. Read More »

The push this year will come stronger and faster. You can’t work your way into it. There’s no waiting for tomorrow. You have until April 28 – that’s less than two months – to work your way into the postseason. If you’re in the East, there’s hope. Outside of three or four teams, everyone else is one big injury away from a five-game slide and a shot at extinction. Outside of Miami and Chicago, get too big-headed and you’ll be slain. Lose your confidence and you’ll take up residence next to Washington and Charlotte. Read More »

I’m back in here like Jordan with the 4-5. The NBA All-Star Game is set to “tip off” in exactly 54:40, according to the shot clock, and unlike last night, I did a better job navigating the traffic. No late bus ride. No idiot drivers. No being stepped on and abused by Ne-Yo and his entourage. No awful elevator system. Of course, my incredible security checkpoint luck continued. As I said, last night, I went through with Ryan Howard. Tonight? David Robinson. Read More »