There’s something purely Americana about the hometown kid making good in front of the hometown crowd.

Whether it’s David Freese blasting home runs to lead his St. Louis Cardinals to a World Series title, or Chauncey Billups going from prep legend to college superstar to NBA bust back to NBA superstar in Denver, or even Jerome Bettis winning a Super Bowl in Detroit in his final NFL game while playing for another team, we like these stories. In a sports culture where free agency and stressed-out GMs eager to trade make it increasingly tougher for fans to claim one group of players as “our guys” for any length of time, hometown ties remain nearly impossible to break. Read More »

Who stole Orlando’s offense? With the Celtics reeling from injuries and actually giving legit minutes to people like Sasha Pavlovic and E’Twaun Moore, the Magic could’ve stepped on their necks. Instead, they folded like a bad hand, scoring only 56 for the game and leaving Boston with a 31-point L on their foreheads. 56 points sounds awful. But 20 second half points and 24 percent shooting for the game sounds even worse. Dwight Howard had 18 and 14, but didn’t even make a shot in the second half while Paul Pierce and Brandon Bass dropped 19 to lead all scorers … Read More »

Ranking the NBA from worst to first …

30. Washington Wizards (1-12) LW: 30, — Well, at least John Wall finally had a big game yesterday against Houston (38 points) because I was beginning to believe that the rest of the guys had brainwashed him. Read More »

Say hello to the bad guy. We have a new beast in the West. In probably the most physical game of the NBA season so far, the Blazers showed why everyone is so frightened of playing them up in the Northwest by punking the Clippers and Blake Griffin, 105-97. With the NBA’s newest A-List team threatening them over and over, Portland answered every call. Between Gerald Wallace, LaMarcus Aldridge and Marcus Camby, they did work on Griffin, holding him to the most up-and-down 18 and 12 night you’ll ever see. Read More »

The rich keep getting richer. The Heat have a new toy and last night, he dropped 14 points in the fourth, drugged the crowd into chanting MVP for him at the line and used his Sam Cassell in ’94-sized balls to hit two straight jumpers in the final minute against the Celtics. Boston had to endure the wrath of D-Wade (24 points, eight assists, four blocks) and LeBron (26 points) for three quarters, but some great shooting and a zone defense brought them all the way back. Too bad Norris Cole wasn’t having it. Read More »

I feel sorry for you if you missed tonight’s Oklahoma City and Minnesota game. So entertaining. But there wasn’t anything that was better than this. While Ricky Rubio and J.J. Barea were making circus plays, the Wolves’ third point guard, Luke Ridnour, nearly killed himself trying to check Russell Westbrook… Read More »

What can one say about the Minnesota Timberwolves that David Kahn already hasn’t? This team has one fantasy monster and a bunch of dudes who aren’t good for much else than rounding out the end of your roster. With timeshares bound to happen at multiple positions, it’ll take a lot of boldness for fantasy owners to draft most of these players. Read More »

Although Ricky Rubio hasn’t even landed in the United States yet, it appears the writing is on the wall for second-year point guard Jonny Flynn. And it’s not even his fault. When David Kahn held his first annual Pointguardapalooza, it was assumed that Flynn was going to play the role of Willie Beamen until Rubio decided it was time to make a move. Now, that time has come. Read More »

Apparently the thing to do among NBA front-office execs these days is boldly assure their fan base that Young Franchise Centerpiece X is definitely staying in town for the long haul. Hasty responses to constant rumors of said youngsters itching to play for more high-profile teams? Maybe. Preemptive damage control to keep fans invested with an NBA lockout looming? Likely. Read More »

Weekend Wonder: Derrick Rose averaged 31.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 2.5 blocks and 2.5 threes in two games over the weekend. He shot 48 percent from the field, 92 percent from the line and averaged 2.5 turnovers. Rose will have a hard time matching his stellar December, but no one’s complaining. Read More »