Beast of the Night: Elton Brand finally emerged and put up 19 points, 11 boards, 2 assists, 3 steals, 6 blocks and just 1 turnover while shooting 47 percent (8-17) from the field and 75 percent (3-4) from the line. This was vintage Brand and owners who have remained patient or bought low on him have to be giggling with joy right now. He’s not out of the woods just yet, but things look are looking way up for Brand and his owners today. Read More »

I don’t really do fantasy basketball. Between watching a handful of NBA games every night, playing my own video-game season on NBA 2K, and trying to fit a healthy amount of college and a little bit of high school hoops into the mix, fantasy is a little more than I can handle. But I do like putting together custom lineups just as much as the next fan, hence the Create-Your-Team feature from one year ago. Time for Round Two. Read More »

Last year we debuted the “Highs and Lows” system — previewing the NBA season by predicting the respective ceiling and basement for each team. Same theme, different season…

Added: Richard Jefferson, Antonio McDyess, DeJuan Blair, Theo Ratliff, Keith Bogans

Lost: Bruce Bowen, Kurt Thomas, Ime Udoka, Drew Gooden, Fabricio Oberto, Jacque Vaughn Read More »

With most of their guys back healthy from the flu and various other injuries, the Cavs smashed the Mavs by 30 last night at the University of Pittsburgh gym. (Since when do Cleveland teams get love in Pittsburgh?) Mo Williams had 16 points and 11 assists, LeBron put up 12 points on 3-of-13 shooting and seven dimes, and Big Z scored 16 off the bench … Dallas was the team playing short-handed, as Dirk, J-Kidd and Jason Terry were given the night off, and Josh Howard and Shawn Marion are still banged up. So the starting five looked like this: J.J. Barea, Matt Carroll, Quinton Ross, Drew Gooden and Erick Dampier. Pretty sure the Pitt Panthers squad would be able to give that lineup at least a decent run. Hell, put Sam Young and DeJuan Blair back on the squad and they might pull off a W … Read More »

This got kind of buried and lost in this morning’s Smack, so we wanted to bring it up on its own:

Funny story: An Oregon football fan made the road trip for the Ducks’ season opener at Boise State (the game where LaGarrette Blount played Marvin Hagler on homeboy’s chin), and after the team laid an egg, he sent head coach Chip Kelly an invoice for his expenses. And then Kelly actually wrote the dude a check! Has your favorite basketball team ever made you feel like you wanted your money and/or time back? What was the most memorable example? Read More »

When you work in an office with basketball junkies, the conversations sometimes can get very heated about very specific things. For example, yesterday the trivia question floating around out there was seeing if you could name all 14 active NBA players that are in the Top 100 on the all-time scoring list. While there are definitely some obvious ones (Shaq, Iverson, Kobe), there are others that took us a minute to figure out (Finley, Stackhouse, Juwan Howard). While we jokingly put it out there that LeBron could be in the Top 100 despite just playing six NBA seasons, we decided to look it up and see where he stands. The results are kind of amazing. Read More »

We argue. You decide…

CHRIS PAUL (by Ben York) On both sides, the argument for who is better cannot be made by simply comparing stats. On the contrary, it goes much deeper than that.

Let me start by saying that you really couldn’t go wrong with either of these players on your team. Even though I’m arguing for Chris Paul, if I had to pick which player I’d rather have in the playoffs, I would have absolutely zero hesitation in picking Tony Parker. He’s proven to be so damn good, and clutch, for the Spurs in the post-season it’s hard to make a fair comparison to Paul who has only been in the playoffs twice. Read More »

Can’t the Timberwolves do anything right? The same franchise that used its first-ever draft pick on Pooh Richardson when Mookie Blaylock, Tim Hardaway and Shawn Kemp were still on the board; that cost itself five years of first-round picks just to overpay Joe Smith under the table; that wasted Kevin Garnett’s prime by not getting him a good enough supporting cast; that may have fumbled their biggest post-KG opportunity at the ‘09 Draft; that’s taking way too long just to eventually hire Elston Turner as its next coach — they’ve done it again. Read More »

In Smack over the weekend, the question of Bruce Bowen’s legacy came up. Considering the usual level of hate generated by the Spurs and Bowen everywhere outside San Antonio, the reader response was surprisingly positive. Most people were able to appreciate not only Bowen’s game, but his backstory. Reader Bobby Stew put it best: “Bruce Bowen’s story is that of a man who made something out of nothing. He is the symbol of the American dream. He worked his way from the bottom to the top through hard work, determination, and hustle. Think about it, what real talent did Bowen have?”

The Bowen debate got us talking about some other NBA figures who are near the end of their run, and how their careers will be judged when it’s all said and done. Read More »

Last night you saw reasons A-thru-Z why — even with Manu Ginobili out of the picture — nobody wants to draw the Spurs early in the playoffs: Tim Duncan. Needing a win over New Orleans to secure the 3rd seed in the West and win another division title (a loss could have dropped them to 5th place), Duncan turned into the bad guy from No Country For Old Men in overtime. Read More »