Beast of the Night: Dirk Nowitzki finished with 33 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, a block and three three-pointers in just 31:21 of work last night. He shot 63 percent (12-19) from the floor and 75 percent (6-8) from the free-throw line, and had three turnovers. Diggler’s finally clicking and has been a top 15 contributor in the past month. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Brandon Jennings finished with 34 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, two blocks and six three-pointers last night. He shot 52 percent (12-23) from the floor, 80 percent (4-5) from the free-throw line and had one turnover. After struggling through February, Jennings is averaging 25.0 points, 4.0 boards, 7.1 assists, 1.3 steals and 3.0 threes in his first seven games this month. He’s been a top 30 stud so far this season. Read More »

Some teams get rusty with a seven-day delay like Miami was coming off of. The Heat got nastier while still being down an All-Star with Chris Bosh gone. Portland got run out of its own gym, 107-93, as the team still trying to find itself ran into a buzzsaw of a team that’s discovering how vicious it can be. Dwyane Wade (33 points, 10 assists) had a big follow block that led to Mike Miller’s three on the other end to go up five in the second. If you liked that, the James-Wade combo platter included a two-on-one fast-break alley-oop to LeBron that had Portlanders covering their mouths. Read More »

Lob City’s a Laker town again, if only for a night in this upside-down season where the Clippers are the supposed juggernaut in town. With Andy Garcia looking on with an, ahem, obvious Lakers’ interest, Metta World Peace was as much a factor tonight as he hasn’t been the rest of the season. His physicality and hesitation three, his only bucket of the night, with 3:30 left capped an 11-4 run and the Lakers put the game away from there, thanks to two key plays from Andrew Bynum (19 points). In the closing seconds, he caught a lob from Kobe and finished, and then snuffed DeAndre Jordan‘s layup. Was this truly the night the big kid finally grew up? Read More »

About halfway into the fourth quarter last night, Norris Cole had everyone in the building and all who were watching on national television wondering Who Dat? By the end of the night, Cole was the hero and he had national columnists asking the following morning if straight up, we were really going to love him forever… or was it just a hit and run? Is he for real? In just his second game as a pro, Cole dropped 14 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter, didn’t shy away at all from the big shot and unlike the starter, Mario Chalmers, he stayed within his game, not constantly dribbling into the lane and turning it over. Read More »

Okay so not everyone has played a game yet. Atlanta and Utah tip off their season tonight. But the majority of the NBA has already suited up, and in some cases – I’m looking at you Dallas and the Lakers – are already freaking out. We saw Derrick Rose‘s game-winner in L.A. on Christmas as well as Carmelo Anthony snuffing the green out of the leprechauns. Last night, Steph Curry went off in an upset and Russell Westbrook had the most exciting best, worst, most out of control but game-deciding night anyone can possibly have. Those weren’t the only dudes making a difference though. Read More »

Lamar Odom, Dwight Howard and Chris Paul aren’t walking through that door. The Lakers are what they are right now: an 0-2 team searching for a spark. They took a beheading at the hands of the Kings last night in Sacramento, 100-91 and while everyone wants to drive the stake into them after two games, maybe we should just give some credit to the Kings. Tyreke Evans (20 points on 13 shots) was a monster again last night, and Marcus Thornton (27 points on 13 shots) was dropping bombs on ‘em Outkast-style throughout the second half. Every time L.A. threatened, one of those two made a big offensive play, or DeMarcus Cousins out-hustled everyone in yellow for the ball. Read More »

“He’s going to empower players to be as good as you want and he’s going to give you enough rope to hang yourself.”

Chris Webber has earned his keep in broadcasting. He’s smart, fair and usually honest. But he’s never said something before that fit so perfectly. C-Webb knows Rick Adelman as well as any NBA player in the league, perhaps of all time. He paired with Adelman in the summer of 1998, Webber being banished from Washington for reasons that had more to do with his off-the-court issues than anything else, and quickly became the De Niro to Adelman’s Scorsese. Read More »

At least we can tell Mark Cuban gets it. He knows how to throw a party. Over the summer, he staged a weeklong extravaganza that must’ve been the greatest postgame party since Dean Cain ate a few weed brownies and dropped some funk in a Harvard alumni shindig. Then recently, Cuban gave his players the chance to design their own championship rings. When asked by Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd for between $150,000 and $200,000, per ring, Cuban didn’t even flinch. He knew it was a violation of rules – there goes David Stern again – and figured the plan wasn’t realistic. But I’m guessing if it was up to him, he’d have put together rings so luxurious, they would’ve made every other one from the past look like wedding rings. Read More »

You have Chris Paul, asking – demanding – for a trade, hanging suspended in limbo at the fingers of the master puppeteer David Stern, playing for a team with no talent in a city where no one shows up on game nights. You have Dwight Howard going back and forth, worried “Will this make them hate me? Will they call me names?” One day he wants out. The next he never wants to leave. You have J.J. Barea, who recently broke the traditional sports code: left a championship team for more money. He went for the cash, and wasn’t looking back. But then you have Paul Pierce, the old cowboy who never left his post, and survived the Antoine Walker era, coaching changes, a nearly fatal stabbing, an 18-game losing streak and the steely glare of Red. Read More »