Photo. Marc Morrison
Two-thirds of Thursday’s NBA schedule saw superstars trying to carry their teams: one got the job done and one didn’t. In Portland, the game was close until the last couple of minutes of the third quarter, when the Rockets went on an 11-0 run sparked by T-Mac and Bobby Jackson. Having a Sacramento […]

Chris Paul (photo. Mannion)
For 47 minutes of Hornets/Magic, Peja Stojakovic was having such an off night that the Orlando announcers were questioning Byron Scott for even having him on the court in crunch time. But that didn’t stop Peja from stepping up with about a minute to go and hitting the go-ahead three-pointer on a […]

Skip (photo. Jack Thompson)
Remember 4-5 years ago when Rafer Alston went from a journeyman to a legit NBA player? Balling with the Heat that year, Skip was able to shed the streetballer rep by protecting the ball and knocking down threes like he’d been watching Mark Price tapes. That version of Skip was the Skip […]

D-Wade (Photo. Mannion)
With each passing game, dealing Shaq looks like a genius move for the Heat. Dwyane Wade and Shawn Marion look like they’ve been playing together for months rather than days, and although Miami is 0-2 since Matrix first suited up, they’re playing with more energy; like they actually care about winning or losing. […]

‘Melo (Photo. Mannion)
As far as the Denver Nuggets are concerned, this season’s headlines have belonged to Allen Iverson and Marcus Camby more than anybody else. So despite being voted to start in the All-Star Game and currently ranking 4th in the NBA in scoring, Carmelo Anthony has been almost overshadowed. Not after last night. ‘Melo […]

Raja Bell (Photo. Brandon Sullivan)
The Suns are rolling right now. Since last week’s loss to the Clips, when they got fricasseed by Sam Cassell, Phoenix has run off four straight W’s: they pieced the Lakers on national TV, smacked the Wolves and Nets with little trouble, and last night mounted a fourth-quarter comeback to take […]

Photo. Mannion
How would the Lakers adjust to life without Andrew Bynum? Playing a Sonics team against which he usually drops plenteous buckets, Kobe Bryant decided to go into Tony Montana mode (“Who put this $*** together? Me, that’s who!”) and had his eyes locked onto the rim — on his first 10 touches he shot […]

In the “Player Who Looks the Least Like What His Nickname Implies” contest, we might have to hand the trophy to Sasha Vujacic. On NBA TV following Lakers/Bulls — where Sasha was the leading scorer with 19 points — Vujacic was being interviewed by Andre Aldridge, who was positively giddy over the fact that the […]

With all the attention being paid to Dwight Howard, don’t forget the reigning title-holder in the “Best center in the League” argument: Amare Stoudemire. Last season’s All-NBA First Team pick is on a roll, which we detailed in this week’s NBA Hit List power ranking, putting in work against the likes of Yao and Eddy […]