Wrestlemania 29 is this Sunday night in NY/NJ, and it looks like the Clippers’ Ryan Hollins is already set to go. Check out what he did to the Suns’ Goran Dragic last night: The two get tangled up and Hollins slaps on a sleeper hold and keeps it there well after the whistle blows while he’s arguing with the ref.

It’s sort of amazing that none of the Suns are more forceful here, ripping Hollins off of their point guard. This earned Hollins a flagrant 2 … but that can’t be as hurtful as the disappointment in Ralph Lawler‘s voice as Ryan escalates the fracas: 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 »

As much as we want to give credit to Kobe Bryant for icing the Lakers win in Brooklyn last night, L.A. should throw the Nets a bone. Brooklyn did everything they could outside of express mailing the W to Hollywood. Down the stretch, the Nets endured a couple of bad shots from Brook Lopez – one was an ugly airball – on poorly executed plays. Then, Gerald Wallace threw away an inbounds pass. Read More »

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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 »

Having Kevin Durant on your team is probably good for about 10 extra wins a year strictly based on his talent and his competitive streak. You’re going to win games you shouldn’t only because he’ll get pissed off for some reason or another and start raining Hell on whoever’s guarding him. Read More »

Kyle Lowry doesn’t just have a chip on his shoulder. It’s more like a granite boulder weighing him down with bad luck, bad fate, bad juju or whatever superstitious doggerel you subscribe to. Whether it’s injuries or backups or injuries leading to backups, Lowry has consistently been barred from the elite point guards club he so clearly deserves to be included in. At this point, it’s not just his defense or his penetration or his efficiency as it is how genuinely hard Lowry plays on a night-to-night basis. Read More »

Since the NBA’s decision to outlaw the hand checking that predominated the backcourts in the Jordan years and just after he retired (the second time), the league is now point guard dominant. If you take into account LeBron‘s role on Cleveland and Miami as a point forward, Kobe‘s role as the Lakers’ offensive focal point at the top of the key, point guards have won seven of the last eight MVP awards (obviously Steve Nash and Derrick Rose are the other, more traditional points that have won the league’s top regular season honor). Read More »

Goran Dragic says he doesn’t want to be Steve Nash. He can’t be. But that won’t stop Phoenix fans from comparing the two now that the one-time understudy of the Suns legend is now a $34 million starting point guard with them. Nash is off to L.A. to chase a championship, and for Dragic, he has his own goals to attain. One of the NBA’s best-kept secrets wants to be an All-Star. Check out what he’s doing this summer to make that come true. Read More »

The Suns had a grand plan all this time, the team said, and this season’s offseason moves were the culmination of deals they were eyeing since 2010. The Arizona Republic offered an interesting look inside the mind of Lon Babby‘s goal for the team, which — it doesn’t seem this long ago — was in three of six Western Conference Finals (last in just 2010). Read More »