Beast of the Night: LeBron James finished with 35 points, eight boards, three assists and a steal last night. He shot 76 percent (16-21) from the floor, 100 percent (3-3) from the free-throw line and had two turnovers. James has improved his scoring, rebounding, blocking and accuracy from the floor from his marks last season and is the king of fantasy basketball this season. Read More »

Weekend Wonder: Kevin Love came up big this past weekend, averaging 32.0 points, 16.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 0.5 steals, 0.5 blocks and a three in two games. He shot 49 percent from the field, 100 percent from the line and averaged 4.0 turnovers in that stretch. For the season, Love is averaging top five numbers, which is exactly where he was pegged by most fantasy owners in this season’s drafts. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Stephen Curry finished with 36 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, two blocks and six three-pointers last night against the Nuggets. He shot 77 percent (13-17) from the floor, 57 percent (4-7) from the free-throw line and had one turnover. For the season, Curry is averaging top five numbers, which is a shade better than what was expected of him heading into the season. So long as he’s healthy, Curry will remain a fantasy beast. Read More »

A few weeks ago, Detroit dismantled St. John’s on national television. While this may have surprised a few people, it came as no surprise to hardcore basketball recruiting fans. Ray McCallum denied offers from the likes of Duke and Kansas to play for his father at Detroit. While it is unlikely that McCallum’s decision would have been for Detroit had his father not been the coach, his decision brought up an interesting question: should high-major recruits turn down big offers to play for lower-level schools? Read More »

It’s about time Nate Robinson returns from the cold. And after just over a week of NBA action, he’s found a new home. According to Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group, Robinson could sign with the Warriors as soon as Wednesday and join the team Friday in Los Angeles. Read More »

On the opening day of the regular season, it was hard to pick a leading headline. Too many great games. Matchups. Players to watch. Championship-caliber teams. And it was all on Christmas, so you know everyone (besides the entire Dallas organization) was bringing everything they had for the national TV audience. But we weren’t sure any game topped the one smack in the middle: Chicago coming from behind in the final minutes to shock the Lakers, 88-87. Chicago gave us a new meaning for Chistmas stuffing by snuffing Kobe Bryant‘s (28 points, seven rebounds, six assists) baseline pull-up at the buzzer and stealing a game they had no business winning, down double digits in the fourth quarter, and then after being down six with 54 seconds left once Kobe made a miraculous spin move fallaway. Read More »

I guess this is what hazing looks like in an abbreviated NBA season. I’m going to have to talk to these guys about this before the game… Read More »

As the entire basketball universe will be fixated to their TVs today to finally witness this season commence, there are several underrated gifts under the Christmas tree to unwrap as well. While the league’s brightest stars will be going at it throughout the five-game docket, every hoops junkie should also pay attention to some of the other battles that’ll take place. Kind of like those unexpected cash envelopes you receive from your distant aunt, uncle, or grandparents, the following 10 matchups will surely not disappoint. Read More »

In the last decade, the NBA has transformed from being a big man’s league into a guard’s league. Although frontcourts have always, and will always be the foundation of a winning team, recently franchises have found it much more difficult to build an elite frontline than putting together a competitive 1-2 punch. Ultimately, putting together a dominant frontcourt is what separates the good teams from the great ones, because in today’s game every team has talented guards. Frankly, each team has a backcourt that can outplay its opponent on any given night, which is why it is so difficult to pick five particular tandems as the best up-and-comers in the League. Read More »

Well Derrick Rose had a nice day. He got paid and became a made man in Chicago if he wasn’t already one. Then in the capper, he methodically picked apart everyone’s Eastern Conference sleeper, Indiana, in Chicago’s 93-85 win. We felt like it was April and we were back in the first round of the playoffs again. Rose (12 points, nine assists) was destroying Darren Collison (1-for-7, six points), Psycho T was doing his bowling ball routine (24 points, 13 rebounds) and the Bulls’ defense was more suffocating than an only child’s mother, holding Indiana to 36 percent from the field. Read More »