They could’ve just re-titled this as the best game winners from March and it would’ve worked as well. From Dwyane Wade to Derrick Rose, some of the best shots this season came last month. Read More »

The NBA’s best freshmen no longer need to study for midterms. Their quizzes come every day, in practices or in games with this year’s go-go-go schedule.

Their salaries are better than their scholarships, sure, but as rookies the learning curve is mastered slower than going from Math 100 into Advanced Statistics.

That’s why this time of year is one of the most interesting of any to watch the rookies play. In college life, as many of these guys were in last year, this is the peak of the year. Well, welcome to the league, where you’ve still got a month after the NCAA championships — and that’s if you’re watching the playoffs on the couch. Read More »

Weekend Wonder: Chris Paul averaged 21.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 10.0 assists, 4.5 steals, 0.5 blocks and 1.0 threes in two games over the weekend. He shot 50 percent from the field and 100 percent from the free-throw line, and turned the ball over once per game in that stretch. CP3′s scoring and threes made per game are up, though his rebounding and assists are down from their marks last season. If his owners are complaining, they should really get help. Read More »

Beast of the Night: John Wall finished with 26 points, four rebounds, 12 assists, three steals and a block last night. He shot 69 percent (11-16) from the floor and 100 percent (4-4) from the free-throw line, and had five turnovers. Maybe that new Wizards roster will do Wall some good. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Al Jefferson posted 25 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists, one steal and three blocks last night. He shot 56 percent (9-16) from the floor and 88 percent (7-8) from the free-throw line, and had no turnovers. This is about as perfect as a big man’s line gets. Jefferson has been a top 10 stud so far this season. His value has been boosted by his improved assists (2.2 per game, up from 1.8 last season) and steady turnovers (1.2 per game, down from 1.3 last season). Read More »

Weekend Wonder: LeBron James averaged 30.0 points, 11.5 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 1.5 steals, 2.5 blocks and 0.5 threes in two huge games over the weekend. He shot 56 percent from the field, 50 percent from the free-throw line and averaged 1.5 turnovers in that stretch. It’s good to be king. Read More »

This year’s shortened NBA schedule came with a label from the beginning: highly concentrated. It’s what happens when 66 games are shoehorned into a season that begins on Christmas Day.

So while the fears from the end of the lockout about how such a packed schedule would fatigue players are still there, it also means the best plays come at a rapid-fire pace. Take, for example, the last weekend of January. On Saturday, Andre Iguodala ripped off a huge slam. A day later, LeBron James jumped over John Lucas to spawn a discussion about its place in dunk history. Two days later, Blake Griffin ripped up that same conversation like a bad first draft with his full-frontal dunk on Kendrick Perkins. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Chris Paul finished last night with 36 points, one rebound, nine assists, two steals and three three-pointers made. He shot 69 percent (11-16) from the field, 92 percent (11-12) from the charity stripe and had three turnovers. For the season, CP3 has been the third best fantasy basketball player, which is right in line with expectations. Read More »

I don’t know about you, but doesn’t it sometimes feel like the missed dunks are the ones that can get the crowd hyped? It’s those plays that are just out of reach, so close, that have players pushing the boundaries and fans getting excited. Our friends at Hoopmixtape put together the 10 best misses of the entire year, which includes people like Shaquille Johnson, Stephen Curry and John Wall getting oh so close to some incredible jams. Hit the jump to check out the best of the best misses. Read More »

This is absolutely one of the top highlights of the young NBA season; it’s destined to live on in “Best Of” highlights mixes for a long time. In last night’s Nuggets/Kings game a scrum for a loose ball at half court led to a Rudy Fernandez/Kenneth Faried break out for Denver.

Rudy then tosses a no-look, over-the-head alley-oop on the money to the trailing Faried. Check it out here: Read More »