A legend passed a legend in Boston tonight. Paul Pierce needed 10 points to move past Larry Bird for No. 2 in Celtics history but Pierce dropped him by the third quarter as the Celtics beat the Bobcats, 94-84. Pierce will never move past the man from French Lick in the hearts and minds of Boston fans, even with now 21,797 points, but tonight wasn’t just about the points for The Truth. He added nine assists and eight boards to go with 15 points. Is that how a Celtic captain does it or not? … You knew Rajon Rondo (14 assists and 10 points) was looking for Pierce every time down the floor, too, and the C’s were setting up sets for him every chance they got. Not that the Bobcats could focus solely on the record man tonight. The other Big Two, KG (22 points) and Ray Allen (17 points) kept the Bobcats guessing … Read More »

Last night, Denver ran away from L.A. in the Staples Center because they dominated at points in the second and late in the third quarter. George Karl trusts his bench, almost too much in fact. His goal this year might be to coach this team like its intramurals. That’s just speculation, but with the way he hands out minutes, 11 guys all average double figures, we wouldn’t be surprised. Having a decent bench is always important, but it’s never been stressed like this. Five games in six nights will leave your team playing more up and down than a seesaw if the second unit can’t hoop. Read More »

Do you believe in Philly now? You should. The 76ers turned the stove temperature up in the third quarter and started grilling Chicago. It was like the visitors got caught up in a storm they couldn’t get out of. The defense was suffocating. Andre Iguodala (19 points) had a cuff dunk that only five or six people in the world could’ve pulled off. And Jrue Holiday (17 points) capped it all with a corner three right before the quarter ended. 26 to 11, they mauled the second-best team in the East in the third, and ended up winning 98-82. Read More »

Ranking the NBA from worst to first…

30. Charlotte Bobcats (3-19) Last Week: 29, -1 The worst team in the league. Bar none. Nine straight losses. Their only bright spot in all of this is Kemba Walker. In his last five games, he’s averaging 15.2 points, seven rebounds and five assists a game and had the first triple-double in his rookie class. Your turn, Ricky and Kyrie. Read More »

Nothing hurts more than losing your spot at the gym because you lost to a bunch of random dudes. That’s what happened to the Lakers last night in Milwaukee. With Stephen Jackson corporate thuggin’ it off-court (suspended for verbal abuse of an official), Andrew Bogut out with his yearly injury and Brandon Jennings playing more passively than at any point over the past month, the Lakers took body blows from Drew Gooden, Mike Dunleavy and Ersan Ilyasova before finally falling 100-89. Read More »

If you thought this year’s class of point guards was strong, think again. In fact, go back three years to 2009 to find a draft class deep enough to hide the Hulk. Eight of the point guards drafted in the first round are now starting in the NBA, and while none of them can boast the star power of Derrick Rose or the potential of John Wall, they can all play. As offenses have slowed to a crawl this year, and with shooting percentages melting, having a point guard that can make plays and create for others is almost a necessity. Read More »

As we wrote in Smack, all signs pointed towards an easy Miami Heat win last night against Milwaukee. Problem is, there were far too many instances of a Heat player being incredibly lazy than there were of stuff like this: LeBron James treating Mike Dunleavy like he was a baby. Dunleavy played all of eight minutes, hit one shot, grabbed two rebounds and had one steal… and also caught a dunked basketball in the face. You can watch Dunleavy on this play and laugh… or feel sorry for him because he was left on an island only 17 feet from the rim with no help whatsoever. Your choice. Read More »

To pass or not to pass? Kobe finally gave it up twice in the final minute of the Pacers’ 98-96 win over the Lakers, and we almost wished he would’ve forced up something. First, Matt Barnes missed a wide-open trey, and then Derek Fisher threw up some type of contraption (not sure what that was… a pass? a shot? a prayer?) that didn’t touch anything but the out-of-bounds paint. With the Lakers down three in the final seconds, Bryant was finally forced into a long, 30-footer off the dribble that was off. While the Mamba still finished with 33 points and and eight rebounds, for the Pacers, the outcome was a confirmation: Watch out for us. Read More »

Do you need a point guard? With so many little guys infiltrating the NBA these days, you’d think many teams would be aching to ship off some of their smaller contributors. But for every five me-first, get-my-own, shoot-‘till-my-arm-is-numb lil’ guys, we might have one legit point guard left. They’re a dying breed, even as teams line their benches with quick-hitting spark plugs. At this point, there are a few guys available, and you take what you can get – shoot-first or not – as long as they can run an offense. Read More »

Miami’s pretty good when they put it together. The Spurs played perfectly through 24 minutes, and even got two ridiculous buzzer beaters from the same player, and yet it couldn’t stop them from getting completely stomped out on South Beach. After surrendering 63 first half points, the Heat responded with 71 of their own in the second half, LeBron and Bosh combined for 63 points and Miami ran away with the game, 120-98. Going into last night, the Spurs hadn’t won a road game all year. Miami had lost three in a row. One of the streaks had to end last night, and the Heat broke their visitor’s back. Read More »