The second round of the playoffs is underway and with only eight teams remaining, it means another eight have been eliminated from title contention. The offseason is the time for these teams to retool to prepare for deeper runs next season. The Atlanta Hawks have been one of the most consistent teams in the NBA the past six seasons, but not in a good way. The Hawks are always the fourth or fifth seed in the playoffs and have lost in the first round three out of the last six years. 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 »

Go into any basketball locker room in the world — CYO leagues, middle school, high school, or even in the NBA — and you’ll find sharpshooters, bench warmers, you’ll see Jordans, adidas and Reebok, you’ll see tall oafs and slippery guards, coaches that rarely say a word and coaches that never shut up. Every team will have it’s own unique flavor, it’s own unique environment. Read More »

After last night’s loss to the lowly Phoenix Suns and a Los Angeles Lakers win over the Portland Trail Blazers, the Dallas Mavericks have now been officially eliminated from the playoffs for the first time since 2000. That was so long ago, we’re not even sure Dirk could have grown a beard in an effort to spur the Mavs back to a .500 record. Read More »

“What ifs” in sports can run deeper than still waters. What can be a simple question or proposition on the surface, may also result in major changes to a player or players’ careers and, in some instances, even swing titles. Read More »

Boston coach Doc Rivers set the scene after his Celtics’ dramatic double-OT win over Miami. It’s Sunday afternoon, the NBA’s first national matinee game of the season, and the Celtics are prepping to play Miami when the team doctor pulls him aside right before the game. Everyone’s already gone through the walkthrough and looked fine but Rivers gets the word: Rajon Rondo‘s out. No, the doc says to Doc: Rondo’s OUT. Read More »

As the first leg of the NBA season has closed, player values have fallen in place. Of course there are some exceptions, like if some of these players just happened to start off ice cold or riding a hot streak. However, by this time statistics have evened out. Read More »

Two things were clear in Oakland last night. Clearly, Golden State has a ceiling, and the Heat don’t. And clearly, LeBron James is really freakin’ good, like “the youngest player to ever score 20,000 points” good. In Miami’s 17-point win, James passed the 20,000-point mark near the end of the first half on a double-pump runner, and it was just one great highlight on a night of Miami highlights that also included James recording his 5,000 career assist, and enough Wade/’Bron big plays to last a week. Read More »

The last time James Harden played against his old team, he had a nightmare game, a half dozen of his shots blocked back into his face. This time, he made his first shot in Kevin Durant‘s face, and was good enough to drop 25 points (still only 9-for-33 shooting against OKC this year). But while the first half played out like a tape from the old And1 video game, the second half became a mismatch, and the Thunder went on to win 124-94. Read More »

Chris Paul wasn’t about to let his team lose its 15-game win streak, not like that. So in Utah on Friday night, down 19 points halfway through the third quarter, CP3 broke out the defibrillator and shocked life back into the Clippers. Why’s that impressive? Well, the 16-game streak is the longest since the Celtics had a 19-gamer in 2008. Two, Salt Lake City is not an easy place to play even in the post-Sloan era and the Clippers struggle there — they’ve gone 20-61 there all-time. Three, mental toughness was not something associated with this franchise until recently — oh, about the time CP3 and Chauncey Billups arrived, to be honest. Read More »