Three-thousand miles away and two big games to start a Sunday afternoon. … Jeff Van Gundy isn’t coming through that door wrapped around someone’s ankle, and Allan Houston won’t be joining, either. Still, that can’t temper a playoff matchup we’d love to see that was previewed Sunday: Heat vs. Knicks. The Garden has seen its high points this season (think Linsanity and ‘Melo’s Easter blowout) but we’d love to watch this series once it gets back to the World’s Most Famous Arena after how Sunday’s game looked until late. Read More »

Expect Jason Terry to look different for the Dallas Mavericks’ matchup with the Orlando Magic tonight. The loser of a bet with Jameer Nelson, Terry will play for the first time without his trademark headband and high socks. Teamed up with rapper Jadakiss, Terry took on the team of Nelson and comedian Bill Bellamy in a CrossFit relay, which consisted of a shuttle run, burpee box jumps, air squats, and ring rows. Read More »

Are they for real? We guess we could’ve said that about either one of the teams taking the floor in Indiana last night. The Pacers beheaded the Heat by 15, and Miami has now lost two in a row by double figures, and are just 8-6 since the All-Star break. Title contenders? They need to get their heads out of the sand first. Then on the other side, the Pacers made a statement: Don’t overlook us. They almost had Miami calling for the mercy rule on the boards, destroying them 49-33. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Channing Frye posted 26 points, nine rebounds, two assists, one steal, four blocks and five three-pointers last night. He shot 56 percent (10-18) from the floor and 100 percent (1-1) from the free-throw line, and had two turnovers. After a poor start to the season, Frye has picked things up since February. He’s been a top 70 asset so far this season, which is about in line with expectations. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Josh Smith busted out something nasty last night, to the tune of 33 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists, one steal, two blocks and two three-pointers. He shot 57 percent (13-23) from the floor and 100 percent (5-5) from the free-throw line, and had one turnover. After shooting a miserable 41 percent from the field in February, Smith is hitting 51 percent of his shots to go along with his 26.6 points, 10.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.3 steals, 1.9 blocks and 1.1 threes per game through the first seven games of March. Read More »

Listening to Derrick Rose the last few days, it felt like a Michael Corleone moment. All this talk about the Pacers celebrating the last time they beat Chicago, and how Rose didn’t forget anything and couldn’t wait to play them again, we pictured him seeking out his own Al Neri and saying, “Nothing is to happen to them until I say so.” We were waiting for him to pull out the little boat, pack the Pacers into it and send them out on the lake. Rose and the Bulls decided on the third quarter as the appropriate time for revenge in their 92-72 win last night. Read More »

Do you need a point guard? With so many little guys infiltrating the NBA these days, you’d think many teams would be aching to ship off some of their smaller contributors. But for every five me-first, get-my-own, shoot-‘till-my-arm-is-numb lil’ guys, we might have one legit point guard left. They’re a dying breed, even as teams line their benches with quick-hitting spark plugs. At this point, there are a few guys available, and you take what you can get – shoot-first or not – as long as they can run an offense. Read More »

Miami’s pretty good when they put it together. The Spurs played perfectly through 24 minutes, and even got two ridiculous buzzer beaters from the same player, and yet it couldn’t stop them from getting completely stomped out on South Beach. After surrendering 63 first half points, the Heat responded with 71 of their own in the second half, LeBron and Bosh combined for 63 points and Miami ran away with the game, 120-98. Going into last night, the Spurs hadn’t won a road game all year. Miami had lost three in a row. One of the streaks had to end last night, and the Heat broke their visitor’s back. Read More »

Well that was ugly. On a night where the big stories were supposed to be Lamar Odom‘s return to Staples and Kobe‘s shot at a fifth-consecutive 40-point game, neither side could hit a shot and couldn’t get out of each other’s way. So it came down to a guy who’s shooting 33 percent and averaging 4.3 points a night. Derek Fisher (13 points) hit the game-winning three with three seconds left, and the Lakers won one of the ugliest games we’ve seen in a long time when Vince Carter‘s last-ditch look was off. Read More »

You talkin’ about playoffs? The atmosphere in the Clippers overtime win over Miami felt like an NBA Finals game. Down the stretch, we can’t remember the last time we’d seen so many bodies hitting the deck. Miami really should’ve won it during regulation. But LeBron (23 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists) fouled Chauncey Billups on a three, as well as going half n’ half at the line two times in a row at the end of the game (Damn he looked uncomfortable at the end of the game). It stayed close all the way through the overtime until Mario Chalmers (18 points) missed a three. With the Heat down three, they couldn’t get a foul, DeAndre Jordan (six huge blocks) got a wide-open jam, Erik Spoelstra flipped out and got tossed and the Clippers had a 95-89 win … Read More »