They were one of my favorite teams from the past decade. So much talent. So many wins. All season long, they looked like sure things to make the NBA Finals. Jermaine O’Neal was their leader and even he can’t help but look back at what could’ve been.

O’Neal, talking with ESPNBoston.com as Boston awaits the start of their series with Miami, recalled how a crazy break in the playoffs disrupted a potential championship season that year. The Pacers were rolling in the playoffs before an insanely-long break between the first round and the semis killed their rhythm. Read More »

Of all the awards handed out at the end of the season, Most Improved Player has to be my favorite. But at the same time, it’s also the most subjective. For example, should it go to a guy like Dorell Wright who went from 7.1 to 16.4 points per game – the highest increase in the NBA – including a league-leading 194 threes this season? Or a guy like Kris Humphries, who finished the season averaging a double-double, one of only eight players to do so. Regardless of how you look at it, there are always going to be about 10 guys in this conversation that have either gone from unknown to know, role player to starter, or star to superstar. This year, it appears Kevin Love‘s miraculous season will earn him some hardware. Read More »

No disrespect to Caron Butler — who is one of our favorite guys to work with in the NBA and tougher than your first night in prison — but at this stage in his career, if he is your primary scoring option against a team like the San Antonio Spurs you’ll have to play an almost flawless game to win. Without Dirk Nowitzki (knee) in the lineup on Thursday, the Mavs had to lean on Caron (30 pts) against the Spurs, and they just didn’t play perfect enough to get the W … Meanwhile, the Spurs were overloaded with options. Read More »

Buy Low: J.R. Smith has been all over the place this season. The good news is that he’s finally getting a steady diet of minutes for the Nuggets. The bad news is that it’s hard to predict when he’ll do much with them. However, Smith remains a solid source of threes and steals, despite his low field-goal percentage, and should Carmelo Anthony be dealt away in the coming weeks (which seems increasingly possible), Smith will have more minutes and shots fall into his lap. Read More »

“You gonna be ‘Bitches’ … I mean, like you have so many bitches, that’s what n****s is gonna call you. No disrespect.” - Riley Freeman

Welcome to Bitches, Ohio.

You know the town. Home to the Browns and the Dawg Pound, the Rock ‘N Roll Hall and Halle Berry. You call it Cleveland. But in the five months since the local basketball team lost its sunshine when LeBron James decided to write the next chapter of his career with the Miami Heat, the blue-collar Midwestern city that was supposed to be tough enough to handle sports heartbreak has been — at least on TV — playing the role of a pathetic lovesick puppy. Read More »

All due respect to Kevin Garnett and offseason pickups Shaquille O’Neal and Jermaine O’Neal, but Kendrick Perkins is still the Boston Celtics’ go-to post defender.

Because he can guard the likes of Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol one-on-one, Perkins allows his team more defensive flexibility while keeping KG fresher for the fourth quarter. Read More »

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: Shaquille O’Neal, Jermaine O’Neal, Delonte West, Semih Erden, Von Wafer, Avery Bradley, Luke Harangody

Lost: Rasheed Wallace, Tony Allen, Shelden Williams, Michael Finley, Brian Scalabrine Read More »

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: LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Mike Miller, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Eddie House, Jerry Stackhouse, Juwan Howard

Lost: Michael Beasley, Jermaine O’Neal, Quentin Richardson, Dorell Wright, Daequan Cook, Rafer Alston Read More »

For you, Monday was either the day before the start of the NBA season, or just the start of another long work week. But for every fringe guy in the League fighting for a job, Monday was Cut Day … The axe fell on Magnum Rolle (Pacers), Marqus Blakely (Clippers), Chris Quinn (76ers), Brian Skinner (Bucks) and his Stupid Beard (Bucks), and Patrick Beverley (Heat), to name a few. But the coldest cut of all was the Blazers getting rid of Jeff Pendergraph. Read More »

We’re not exactly spilling an industry secret when we tell you Paul Pierce is just as good at partying as he is at getting buckets. To put it simply, “The Truth” gets it in. So when the Celtics found themselves tied up with the Knicks last night late in the fourth quarter — and Pierce’s plans for his 33rd birthday celebration could’ve been derailed by overtime — you knew what was going to happen. Iso’d up top, Pierce (20 pts, 9 rebs, 5 asts) lulled his man to sleep with a couple hesitations before sticking a 20-footer that proved to be the game-winner. Read More »