The good and bad of Rajon Rondo surfaced in the final 10 seconds of Atlanta’s 87-86 Game 5 win against Boston. With Boston down one, the point stole the inbounds pass and came racing up court with a chance to win. Off a switch, he was matched up with Al Horford, dribbled in place for a few seconds, tried to go baseline, lost the ball, and then threw it to Kevin Garnett even as the buzzer sounded. Rondo never even got a shot off, and thus all he did (13 points, 12 assists, five steals) won’t be remembered. Read More »

Thank you James Harden. With Dallas in danger of extending the inevitable, – OKC in the second round – the super sub stepped up and destroyed the defending champs down the stretch. Harden finished with 29 points in the Thunder’s six-point win to complete the sweep, and was so good, everyone forgot about KD (24 points, 11 rebounds) and Westbrook in crunch time. Dirk Nowitzki (34 points) was struggling to hold Dallas’ once 13-point fourth quarter lead as OKC hit them with a 12-0 run, which including one spurt where Westbrook had two straight steals, leading to big dunks from Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka. Eventually, it spread to a 21-5 run and Durant was in everyone’s face during a timeout to end the series. Read More »

We now have back-to-backs days wondering if NBA antics are funny or disrespectful. Prior to last night’s Game 3 of the Pacers/Magic series in Orlando, Austin Croshere tweeted the pic you see here with the line, Read More »

It’s been two days – one weekend – and the NBA Playoffs have already thrown some twists our way. Derrick Rose is done, Nick Young and Reggie Evans spearheaded what might’ve been the greatest comeback ever and Andrew Bynum is setting records. Who would’ve thought? It only promises to get better from here as the Eastern Conference is now a complete disaster, and in the West, everyone outside of San Antonio has question marks. Read More »

Wasn’t this Manhattan/South Beach matchup supposed to be the best series of the first round? Um, what happened? It’s a colossal mismatch, and a 2-0 lead doesn’t do justice to Miami’s dominance through eight quarters. Game 1 felt like murder. In last night’s 104-94 Miami win, the Knicks were better. They played a little harder. Defended a little better. Actually made a few shots. And yet it seemed like the Heat had set their sliders to the Rookie level. Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and LeBron James combined for 65 points on 48 shots whereas Carmelo Anthony was struggling against everyone besides old man Shane Battier (‘Melo was unleashing hell on him in the first quarter), forcing his way to 30 points on 26 shots. Read More »

The casual fan probably did not tune in to Saturday’s night first round matchup of the Indiana Pacers and the Orlando Magic, but those that did witnessed a scrappy, hard working Magic team will themselves to victory over the higher-ranked Pacers. With Dwight Howard out for the year due to a back injury, the underdog Magic used their deadly three-point shooting and hard nosed defense to steal Game 1 from the Pacers. Read More »

No. No no noooooooo. Seriously, we had no other reaction to the news about Derrick Rose than that. It really makes us sick to our stomachs. We aren’t Bulls fans. We’re NBA fans, and with the reigning MVP now out for the reason with a torn ACL, everything has changed. The favorites are different, and most importantly, the East is now wide open. Can Boston win two rounds? Yes. Can they break Miami to go to the Finals? They definitely can. Read More »

Last night was one of those evenings where we really wished we didn’t cover the NBA for a living. Who set up this schedule? When you combine a bunch of really bad teams with some good teams that don’t have anything to play for, ugly basketball ensues and brain cells die. Not all was lost though. The Spurs might have a few old guys, but they can still get it done, and last night San Antonio wrapped up the West’s No. 1 seed with a 124-89 destruction of the Blazers. Tim Duncan had 18 and the versatile Spurs again made sure everyone fed on Portland’s remains … Read More »

Before you start to say “He should’ve done this dunk in the dun…” remember that he actually did do this 360 windmill in the dunk contest. The problem was he shut all the lights out and no one could see. Paul George‘s rendition of VC‘s epic contest dunk will never get its due. Last night, he had to pull it off after the first half buzzer sounded, so it’s not getting any love again. Read More »

The “best pure scorer” label always came with a crutch. Yes, you can score, but what else can you do? Carmelo Anthony has been answering a lot of questions lately, and last night he might’ve given the world his best all-around game as a Knick. 35 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists, he was the ring leader on a night where the Knicks could’ve opened up their own sperm bank because they were shooting so well. New York got the win they needed, 118-110 over the Celtics, but it was the box score that had everyone talking. The Knicks messed with the video game sliders in the first half. They MUST have. Read More »