Despite the fact that Yao Ming is gone from the NBA, the Houston Rockets will be virtually unchanged next season – assuming they can re-sign its only free agent (Chuck Hayes) when the NBA resumes. New head coach Kevin McHale shouldn’t really hinder the production of these players, who formed a surprisingly effective offensive machine in 2010-11. With a potent backcourt, a blossoming swingman and some intriguing fill-ins, the Rockets have more than their share of fantasy appeal for the next NBA season. Read More »

The NBA tends to come full circle. I mean, did we ever think that after the Mavericks watched the Heat celebrate on their home floor that they would come back to South Beach a mere five years later and return the favor? Did we ever think that the great Phil Jackson could have even had a chance to win 12 titles, coaching two different teams in three different decades? But the NBA has been around a long time, and while we may not have anything on a Red Sox–Yankees level, there are several matchups that come back to rear their ugly head, again and again, kind of like a bad Freddy vs. Jason movie. In honor of this week’s Sox-Yanks series, here is one of our favorite rivalries, Knicks vs. Celtics, which has been renewed from decade to decade. Read More »

We told y’all about the news earlier this week, but yesterday it became official: Shaq is a part of the squad at TNT and Inside The NBA. He’ll be a full-time analyst. Okay, lets take bets: who’s the first player he takes a shot at? Kobe? D-Wade? Steve Nash? And how often will they play that clip from the Barkley/O’Neal fight from back in the day? Once a show? We’re assuming C-Webb gets the boot, but that’s alright. He’s a better-than-good commentator who was being overshadowed in the studio. Read More »

Right after the Rockets hired Kevin McHale as their new head coach, he made one thing clear: Houston had to get big. So with the corpse of Yao Ming coming off the books this summer, they started by acquiring Donatas Motiejunas (7-0), Marcus Morris (6-9) and Chandler Parsons (6-9) on Draft Night to pair with Luis Scola (6-9) in the frontcourt. But apparently that was only just the start. They want Andris Biedrins. Read More »

This title run was for all the skeptics, all the haters.

Suddenly, Dirk’s playoff career looks pretty good (despite the fact that he was in the middle of one of the worst choke jobs ever seen in the ’06 Finals). His career postseason numbers are still standing in that ultra-elusive 25/10 club (25.9 & 10.4) and in the ridiculous Western Conference – there were a few years where you had to win 50 games JUST TO GET in the playoffs – Dirk has led Dallas to the playoffs in 11 consecutive seasons as the unquestioned alpha dog on his team. Read More »

It’s officially over. Shaq Diesel is done. For as long as he’s stayed in the spotlight and for all that he’s milked it for, O’Neal’s press conference speech was interestingly speedy. He must’ve had one sentence on each one of those index cards because he was flipping through them at will. He thanked everyone, from his family to his college coach to Phil Jackson to the media for the way they treated him over the years. And what would have been a Shaq press conference without a gimmick? Just as he sat down, he fielded a fake phone call from the Knicks asking him to come be their general manager … Read More »

Shaq. Shaqfu. Shaqtus. The Big Shamrock. Shaq-deezy. The Diesel. Superman. And of course, Kazaam. Shaquille O’Neal retired today after 19 seasons, the Big Shamrock himself finally calling it quits via the new social media platform Tout (never heard of it) – leaving us with one of, if not the most dominant, big man careers of all-time. Forgot what Shaq was before he started looking like a “before” picture from a Nutrisystem commercial? We’re talking four rings, fifth all-time in scoring, three Finals MVPs, a 58% career field-goal percentage, one MVP, Rookie of the Year, thirteen 20 and 10 seasons, and one famous late-night club freestyle where he requested his favorite former teammate share how his “ass tastes.” Read More »

Even the most arduent Laker haters never saw this coming. A sweep? In the second round? To the Dallas Mavericks? There was no history to back it up, no real direct signs, nothing. L.A. had destroyed Dallas in their final matchup of the regular season, and most figured this playoff meeting would be much of the same. If anything, it was going to be just a bump in the road as the Lakers went about trying to win a third title. Read More »

His mission is as simple as his numbers are beastly: To become the NBA’s most dominant, albeit unsuspecting, double-double machine the League has seen in decades. And in only his third season as a pro, Kevin Love, the pride of the Minnesota Timberwolves’ organization at all of 22 years old, did just that. K-Love does have the numbers to warrant our increased national gaze, but his gaudy statistics along – try 20.2 points and 15.2 boards a game – don’t even do the big fella enough justice for how massive an impact he made across the League this year. Read More »

Trying to stop a three-game losing streak, start the post-All-Star portion of the season on a good note, and simply protect their home court against one of the NBA’s better teams, the Lakers had a big test in front of them against the Hawks. We just didn’t know it was as big as Chris Webber made it sound. “They need to put the fear of this sport into others,” C-Webb said. So the Lakers needed to make the Hawks fear basketball? That’s heavy … But they may have done just that. Derek Fisher got the ball rolling, sticking three straight jumpers after tip-off to help L.A. get out to an 8-0 lead before Atlanta scored. Read More »