Indiana gave the Heat enough chances, missing more freebies than a Ben Wallace practice session, and yet the two best players in the world (supposedly) couldn’t finish the job. At home. With mismatches all over the court. The Pacers worked off a terrible first half to tie the series up with their 78-75 Game 2 win, which didn’t become official until Miami let Mario Chalmers seal their fate in the closing seconds (this ain’t college). Down three, South Beach’s starting point guard and LeBron‘s personal whipping boy decided it was his time, and lofted up a triple that was too ugly to have a chance. Read More »

All along, it’s been a running joke amongst NBA fans. The Big Three in Miami is really only the Big Two. We know what Dwyane Wade and LeBron James are… no one is quite sure what to make of Chris Bosh or how to include him. Well now we know: Bosh is out indefinitely with the abdominal injury he suffered in Game 1 yesterday afternoon, and the whisperings are that the Third Wheel may miss this second round series with the Pacers. That leaves the Heatles in exactly the same position they’ve always been… a bunch of role players supporting the two most unstoppable fast-break options in the league. Read More »

From the “Nothing To Shrug At Department” come stats like these from Miami’s Game 1 win over Indiana: Twenty straight points by LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in the fourth quarter; forty-eight of 53 second-half points either scored by or assisted on by James and Wade. Wade’s defense was just as nasty, however. Read More »

The second round did not start well for Miami. The Pacers looked to be more game for an East semifinal than Miami, the team with the MVP (LeBron) who’d just accepted the award before the game from David Stern. The building was loud, even by TV — and South Beach — standards. But it was like Indiana came out with Bose headphones on, with Roy Hibbert (17 points) and David West (17 points, 12 boards) knocking out all the noise and knocking down all the shots in the early going. Well, every drama needs three acts, and the second, an abdominal injury to Chris Bosh, beget a third, where James and Dwyane Wade took over and stole Game 1 in the process. Read More »

The beast is back. The monster from Marion (Ind.) that carried the Memphis Grizzlies to last year’s incredible first-round playoff upset of the top-seeded Spurs had been relatively quiet this season — thanks to a major knee injury and his team’s offensive balance — but last night Zach Randolph picked the perfect time to dominate. Z-Bo put up 18 points, 16 rebounds and three blocks to lead the Griz to a 90-88 road victory in Game 6 of their first-round series with the Clippers, forcing a Game 7 back in Memphis … Read More »

Although Chris Paul and Tyson Chandler stole the headlines, my favorite move of the 2011 NBA offseason was the Indiana Pacers signing free agent David West.

It wasn’t because the Pacers are my favorite team – honestly, since it’s no longer my job to watch the NBA every night, I’ve gone back to the neutrality that comes with waiting for the Sonics to return to Seattle – but because West-to-Indy made so much sense on so many levels: Read More »

Say what you want about Carmelo Anthony, but at least he competed. At the end of five games, he finished with the same number of point as LeBron James. The only problem was ‘Bron had four wins and he only had one. The Heat are moving on and the Knicks are going home after Miami put out the flames rather easily, 106-94. Miami and New York went the way we predicted: the Heat and LeBron James were just too good while Carmelo Anthony could do nothing outside of compete hard. Early on, neither team could get it down, and at one point in the first quarter, Mike Miller and Mike Bibby lead both teams in scoring. Read More »

There have been so many hot releases and colorways for the Nike LeBron 9 series this year that we’ve almost lost count. Now here’s another, an exclusive pair created for LeBron James to commemorate his engagement to long-time girlfriend Savannah Brinson during his New Year’s/Birthday bash. You can see the embroidered date here on the tongue of the sneaker. Read More »

Congratulations, New York. Your Knicks just set the NBA record with 13 consecutive playoff losses. Forget a championship. New Yorkers just want one playoff W before they die. Even with that one, it could be a while. Miami played possum through three quarters before exploding in the final 12 minutes and walked away with a 3-0 lead after a 87-70 win. In a weird way, LeBron James‘ foul trouble came back to help him. He stayed fresh. While everyone else was busy throwing body shot after body shot as if this was Fight Night Round 4, James (32 points, eight turnovers) spent heavy portions of the game on the pine, and then came back in the fourth quarter with eight consecutive quick points to give Miami their first cushion of the game. Read More »

It’s been two days – one weekend – and the NBA Playoffs have already thrown some twists our way. Derrick Rose is done, Nick Young and Reggie Evans spearheaded what might’ve been the greatest comeback ever and Andrew Bynum is setting records. Who would’ve thought? It only promises to get better from here as the Eastern Conference is now a complete disaster, and in the West, everyone outside of San Antonio has question marks. Read More »