Today is Tim Duncan’s birthday. As we were combing through our archives looking for some of our best Timmy posts to add to the celebration, we found this one from last year and couldn’t resist the re-post.

Duncan’s place in this ranking of the 10 Best NBA Players Since 2000 and his spot in among the best power forwards of this generation.

Last night on TNT’s “Inside The NBA” – R.I.P. until next season by the way – Shaquille O’Neal ran down his list of the best dunks of the postseason. If you hadn’t heard Kenny and Chuck running their mouths, you would’ve assumed it was a “best of Tim Duncan getting yammed on.” It seemed like every other play ended with Spalding imprinted on the forehead of San Antonio’s anchor. It was funny, until I went back and looked at some tape and realized, “Oh my god, Tim Duncan really did get dunked on almost every game in the playoffs!” Derrick Favors caught him during the first round. Blake Griffin dunked on him enough in the second round that even Shawn Bradley felt bad. And Serge Ibaka was throwing him all over the court in the Western Conference Finals. 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 »

#KNICKSTAPE! In NYC, they’re convinced that this Knicks squad is special, and after last night’s 13th consecutive win, who are we to argue? They butchered an outgunned Wizards team, 120-99. New York shot their eyes out, connecting on a franchise-tying 20 three-pointers on the night. Obviously, Carmelo Anthony – hotter than any basketball player on the planet right now – gave the Wiz 36 (on 13-26 shooting) in just 31 minutes, including 21 in the third quarter. With the W, the Knicks clinched the Atlantic Division title for the first time since 1994 (Ewing/Mase/Oak/Starks/Harper/Anthony, etc.) … Read More »

Basketball demands we break down its players not just by stats, but by the time and place they occur. That’s not the case in fantasy hoops, though, where cold calculations rule the day and the matchup. Who are the Fantasy Doctor‘s choices for this week’s best pickups? Hit the jump to find out. Read More »

The case of former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith is peculiar, one where a former No. 1 pick languished, then found a career rebirth. And then, today, he was traded to Kansas City because Colin Kaepernick took his job with an out-of-nowhere run in December and January. In NBA terms, the only player eligible for such a career twist would be former No. 1 pick Andrea Bargnani — though he still hasn’t found the career rebirth part yet. Read More »

Hoops demands that we break down its players not just by stats but by the time and place they occur. Not fantasy hoops, though, where cold calculations rule the day and the matchup. Who are the Fantasy Doctor‘s choices for this week’s best pick ups? Hit the jump to find out. Read More »

In fantasy, the trade deadline is one of the most crucial moments of the year for your team. Guys who were once buried on the depth chart can all of a sudden become starters, making the waiver wire considerably deeper in the blink of an eye. If you do enough research, you can have an idea of who might be getting moved where ahead of time, allowing you to be a move ahead of the rest of your league. Read More »

While things are getting dicey in Los Angeles because the Lakers will rely on D-League call-ups and 10-day contracts to get them through the next few weeks, it’s the opposite in Utah. It has been all season. Before the year began, I noted that Utah’s imposing frontline was a double-edged sword: too much talent, too many bodies, not enough playing time. 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 »

This play happened on Friday night, but it would be a crime if most of our readers missed it. We’ve know for a while that Andre Miller is actually super sneaky with his hops [EVIDENCE HERE], breaking them out just enough so that we all know what’s up.

That being said, this block he busted out on Derrick Favors, meeting the big man at the rim, is just outrageous: Read More »