The trade deadline came and went without the same kind of hoopla that fans have been accustomed to, to the degree that the biggest name moved was J.J. Redick being traded to the Milwaukee Bucks at the last minute. However, it was a trade first reported Wednesday that should have piqued the interest of fans. Read More »

LeBron James is becoming his own hyperbole, his game better than anything performed at the Grammys on Sunday night. The real show has become what King James is doing every game, so fine tuned is his game right now with his fifth 30-point and 60-percent shooting game in a row. The Lakers held tough and made the game interesting, and Kobe kept up his end of the deal with 28 points, six boards and nine dimes in Miami’s 107-97 win. Read More »

The Heat-Clippers showdown got undermined in the last three weeks by Chris Paul‘s hurt kneecap and a flu strain that made most Miami players sick before the game. Still, even with the whole Clippers roster (Jamal Crawford had 13 points, Paul had 3 and Blake Griffin had 13 in their respective returns) mostly healthy, shorthanded Miami bludgeoned its way to a rout made almost unwatchable it was so lopsided if it weren’t for LeBron James’ hypnotizing skills. Read More »

In the long, recent line of “other brothers” Phoenix has spent roster spots on with Taylor Griffin, Robin Lopez and Luke Zeller, Markieff Morris has stood out as a rare success. Considered not quite as good an NBA prospect as his brother, Marcus, and described as the less gregarious of the two, Markieff has seemingly changed both perceptions: He has career averages of 13.8 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 41 percent shooting per 36 minutes, and seems like an outgoing guy, per this conversation with Suns beat writer Paul Coro. More importantly, he wants everyone to know he’s serious about his thread game. Read More »

FRESH PICKINGS: Aaron Brooks (10 percent owned in Yahoo!, 1 percent owned in ESPN) It looks like the Kings’ point guard situation is finally resolving itself, with Aaron Brooks leading the pack of late. After a clunker in his first start against Brooklyn, he has averaged 14.3 points, 2.6 assists and 2.6 threes per game. He’s never going to dominate any defensive stats and he may sometimes tank your field goal percentage, but it was just three seasons ago when Brooks was a hot commodity in fantasy, pouring in 19.6 points on 2.5 threes per game for the Houston Rockets. He is well worth a speculative add. Read More »

Smush Parker responded to Kobe Bryant‘s derisive comments that Parker was never a NBA-quality guard, only the last pick on the playground because the Lakers were too cheap for anyone else. And did Parker ever respond. Read More »

What goes up must come down. Marc Gasol found that out in a hard way last night, hitting the deck about as awkwardly as possible after smashing one on Markieff Morris‘ head. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Monta Ellis finished his big night with 35 points, six rebounds, 10 assists, four steals and three three-pointers. He shot 56 percent (14-25) from the floor and 80 percent (4-5) from the free-throw line, and had five turnovers. This was a nice bounce-back game from his 9/1/7 clunker on Monday. Ellis’ fantasy value has dropped since he arrived in Milwaukee, but he’s still a solid source of points, assists and steals. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Marcus Thornton finished with 31 points, seven boards, six assists, three steals and three three-pointers. He shot 55 percent (12-22) from the field and 67 percent (4-6) from the free-throw line, and had one turnover. Thornton has averaged 30.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 4.0 steals and 3.3 threes since a string of three consecutive bad showings earlier this month. For the season, he’s putting up top 25 numbers. Read More »

It’s almost kind of eerie to see this video. Could you ever stage something that looked this close to Blake Griffin‘s incredible facial last season on Timofey Mozgov? Probably not, especially on the second video posted here. Markieff Morris caught BG sleeping just as the Suns snuck up on the hosts after the Clippers had built a 17-point lead. Read More »