With the NBA Playoffs quickly approaching, the chase for the Larry O’Brien is about to jump into high gear. The teams in the East are set, but they are still jostling for positioning (unless you’re the Miami Heat). In the West, seven of the eight teams are set with it coming down to the wire between the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Lakers for the No. 8 spot. The Heat have proven all year long that they are the team to beat when the second season comes around and will definitely have a very good chance of repeating as champs. Read More »

What makes NBA games so special and electrifying are the epic in-game dunks. Of course, we love the flashy passing and heart wrenching buzzer-beaters, but to be capsulated in a moment where someone gets posterized is beyond blissful. Let’s start by saying shout out to Brandon Knight as he valiantly didn’t give up on the play last night when he could have. He could have dodged DeAndre Jordan and let Lob City get away with another alley-oop. He didn’t. It’s okay. Read More »

*With all of the recent events surrounding the Carmelo Anthony/Kevin Garnett feud, and the trash talk involved that lit the Internet on fire, we figured it was a good time to repost our piece on the top 20 trash talkers of all time, originally published in October of 2012.*

David Stern and the rest of the suits might be charged with trying to take the fun out of the NBA, but trash talk will never die. Read More »

In all sports the basic concept is to beat your opposition. You never want to lose a game to anyone, but when your rival beats you there’s a different feel. When your rival beats you, there’s suddenly an everlasting second wind about you. When your rival beats you it feels like the whole world is laughing at you in shame. Read More »

The 2012-13 NBA regular season is right around the corner. For fans, this means it’s time to re-up on your team’s merchandise. Anyone can go to the nearest sporting goods store and pick up a brand new jersey or hat, but what about the unique collectibles that separate the dyed-in-the-wool fan from the bandwagon supporter? These can be found on eBay. In the weeks leading up to NBA tip-off, Bidding Basketball will scavenge the online auction site’s “infinite inventory of NBA junk” for rare, memorable and/or quirky basketball memorabilia from every team around the league. Read More »

It feels like there’s almost a connection between the 360 layup and untapped potential (if you don’t count MJ), and I think we can all agree that Vince Carter is/was the king of the 360 layup. While he’s done it a handful of times in a game, there have been a few others who pulled it out as well. J.R. Smith and Nick Young are two of the best of the rest. Read More »

The Air Jordan X “Chicago” drops tonight at midnight, and is no question a coveted sneaker simply because it hasn’t been around in a while. Until tonight, it hadn’t been released in 17 years, and OG pairs fetch a pretty significant premium on the secondary market. Simply put, a lot of Jordan aficionados have been waiting a long time to get a fresh version of Chicagos. Read More »

Let’s thank Andrew Bynum for pointing out the obvious: the Lakers were steamrolled in the playoffs by Dallas because they were tired, mentally and physically, they were overconfident and cocky, they didn’t totally respect the Mavs (who seriously did?) and they felt they could turn it on and off. The three-peat didn’t happen, it ended ugly, and now no one really knows what their future holds. Bynum wants everyone to be more accountable. He called out the whole team, including himself. For the Lakers to get back to the apex, Bynum needs to not only stay healthy, but also mature. Read More »

We’ve got a birthday today. Nostalgic for some, painful for others. No matter what direction your biased heart strings guide you, it’s hard not to appreciate John Starks. He was short but he could score. He walked around with a swaggering bravado that compelled him to think a left-handed dunk, over two Chicago Bulls, with 40 seconds left in the game, in the playoffs, was a good idea. There’s just something about the Marv Albert call, the crowd – it’s momentous. It’s not about Jordan not even getting totally posterized, or Patrick Ewing blatantly shoving the guy he set a pick on. When something like this happens, you subconsciously make a mental note and add it to the goose bump memory bank. You know, when you’re surfing YouTube, hoping to vicariously relive someone else’s glory. I do it all the time with this Steve Gerrard goal that allowed Liverpool to advance in the Champions League. Read More »

By now you’re familiar with our “Pass the Mic” series – a feature where he give the pen and pad to some of our best readers to let them drop knowledge on the NBA. We’ve had previous posts on everything from game-saving rule changes to essays on how money is ruining the world’s greatest game to imagining what life would be like without Mike. Today, we’re turning the space over to Michael Kochan, who reflects on what REALLY happened in the 1994 NBA Finals. Read More »