Greg Oden never had much of an NBA season, let alone career. Miami in the LeBron James-Chris Bosh-Dwyane Wade era has never had much of a center. Today the two meet after a report says Oden is eyeing Miami as a comeback landing pad, and sooner than has been thought for his recovery. Here’s why the Heat should never consider an offer.   Read More »

Not long before they were choking in the clutch and trying to get Mario Chalmers to bail them out, LeBron and Dwyane Wade were styling on the Pacers, particularly on this play. James gets caught in the air – just as you’re taught to never do – then finds Wade who immediately taps it back to him for the bucket. If only they could pull this off with 10 seconds left in the game. Read More »

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 »

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 »

Indiana coach Frank Vogel knows his team will face a huge challenge in Miami in the Eastern Conference semifinals, but believes the talents in South Beach include an inordinate amount of flopping. A hatred toward flopping, seemingly even more pronounced than usual, has become the campaign issue du jour of the NBA postseason. Will it mean the win or loss of a series? Likely not. Is it the easiest thing to work up hate about? Yes. Read More »

Maybe it was the foul. Maybe the frustration. It probably had something to do with the Knicks being on the cusp of elimination. But most likely, Amar’e Stoudemire simply forgot it was the playoffs and that there’s an unwritten rule about never helping up an opposing player. Either all of that, or he was just being rude. 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 »

If you’ve been keyed in on the most disappointing playoff series at all, you’d know that before the Knicks dramatically eluded elimination yesterday against Miami, Carmelo Anthony owned the prestigious title of having the worst playoff record of any player with at least 50 postseason games. Now after his drama-bursting, 41-point Game 4 performance to keep the Knicks alive, he’s entered the record books for something else entirely. Read More »

Thank you James Harden. With Dallas in danger of extending the inevitable, – OKC in the second round – the super sub stepped up and destroyed the defending champs down the stretch. Harden finished with 29 points in the Thunder’s six-point win to complete the sweep, and was so good, everyone forgot about KD (24 points, 11 rebounds) and Westbrook in crunch time. Dirk Nowitzki (34 points) was struggling to hold Dallas’ once 13-point fourth quarter lead as OKC hit them with a 12-0 run, which including one spurt where Westbrook had two straight steals, leading to big dunks from Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka. Eventually, it spread to a 21-5 run and Durant was in everyone’s face during a timeout to end the series. Read More »