Many things were different in 2006. Our president was still white, Osama still roamed the deserts and no one had even heard of Soulja Boy. Yet, the NBA was still as competitive as ever as the upstart Miami Heat took on the Dallas Mavericks in a wild six-game series. Five years later, as the two teams hook up again in the Finals, we take a look at the top 5 reasons why the 2011 Finals is not the 2006 Finals. Read More »

What’s the best compliment you can receive? Most people get the wrong idea. Words are soft. Normally, the best compliments are never spoken, and sometimes never consciously thought. They‘re subconscious. You start doing certain things or acting a certain way or start dressing a certain way or even start playing basketball a certain way unintentionally. You start to emulate. Read More »

This is where it starts to really get good. The Sweet 16. It’s just a moniker, but it means so much more. You make the Sweet 16 and jobs are safe, at least for the most part. You make the Sweet 16 and the program is satisfied. The ones who aren’t satisfied? They win titles.

With four games tipping off tonight (why we have all day and yet the games are overlapping, that’s a whole other topic, but don’t even get me started…), take a look back at some of the best Sweet 16 games of the decade. Hopefully, maybe one of the games tonight will find its way onto this list next year. Read More »

Apparently that whole “Don’t Sign Me!” act Jason Williams was putting on with Memphis went away after he realized no one else wanted to sign him. According to Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal, White Chocolate has agreed in principle to sign with the Grizzlies and will join the team by Monday. Read More »

You might have missed it last week, but a 12-year active NBA veteran point guard — with a championship ring and who three times finished in the League’s top 10 in assists for a season — became available. Playing one of the game’s most coveted positions, you would think some contending team would be interested. And yet Jason Williams is still waiting for work. Read More »

Dwight Howard and Brandon Bass trucked the opposition in the first half like they were Dwight Freeney and Brandon Jacobs. Then J.J. Redick had brief flashbacks of Cameron Indoor in the second half. But the Magic ultimately beat the Heat last night because the last five minutes belonged to Jameer Nelson … Running that high screen-and-roll with Dwight over and over again, Jameer (17 pts, 14 asts) always made the right decision, whether getting it to Dwight (24 pts, 18 rebs) in position where he’d get fouled, or taking it himself for jumpers and layups. Read More »

Sometimes the mismatch is as clear as the nose on Humpty Hump‘s face. As soon as the Lakers and Grizzlies tipped off last night, L.A.’s announcers noted that O.J. Mayo has traditionally been unable to contain Kobe Bryant. On cue, Kobe went for the kill. It seemed every Lakers possession in the first half started with Kobe posting up his shorter, younger counterpart and figuring out how he could torture him. First it was a quick spin move to draw a foul, then it was a turnaround fadeaway, then a pull-up from the elbow, then a straight blow-by for a layup … Read More »

As we told you this morning in Smack, with less than a minute to go in the fourth quarter and up by 30, Jason Williams lost his mind. He was relentlessly complaining to one ref, following him around the court and even grabbing his arm at one point. After multiple warnings, White Chocolate finally got booted. Now he’s suspended without pay for tonight’s game when the Magic face the Miami Heat at American Airlines Arena.

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As the NBA regular season approaches, we preview the upcoming campaign with the “Highs and Lows” system — predicting the respective ceiling and basement for each team.

Added: Quentin Richardson, Chris Duhon, Daniel Orton, Malik Allen

Lost: Matt Barnes, Anthony Johnson Read More »

After a late night of ballin’ on the recently released and highly anticipated NBA 2K11, I couldn’t help but notice the difficulty of playing online against a team with home-court advantage — especially late in games. One can only imagine what it’s like trying to execute plays in crunch time in real life in these gyms.

With another NBA regular season on the horizon and a sense of excitement around a lot of teams this year, I couldn’t help but think of some of the toughest places to play throughout the League. Here are my top 5 toughest arenas to play in the NBA. Read More »