“He’s incredible. The Broncos gave him NO shot! They don’t believe in him. John Fox and John Elway are secretly hoping he screws up so they can point their noses up at fans and say ‘I told you so!’ Tim Tebow has the clutch gene. This kid is special.”

Forgive me for getting my Skip Tebow on for just a second but I had to vent. Tim Tebow may not be a great player in the historical sense of the word – we don’t even really need to argue whether he can pass well enough to make it longterm or if he’s simply a fad. Tebow has become the story of the NFL season because he’s done the incredible. He turned a weak Denver team in a probable playoff and division-winning group that has so much confidence trailing in the fourth quarter that teams should probably start thinking about letting them take leads. Read More »

This weekend, on a 90-degree day that seemed to shuffle between gray clouds and blinding sunlight, we got after it. Beers and pizza. There was the head coach, the assistants, the volunteers and the graduate assistants, the whole football staff my dad coaches on. It was for me, red and peeling from way too much sun.

Amazing how everything turns out; my birthday parties as a kid growing up were nothing but basketball and ice cream cake. Read More »

With the sudden retirement of Shaquille O’Neal from the NBA, we got to thinking about all the great players that the Big Social Security Applier played with during his 19 seasons in the league. There’s a long list of All-Stars, but in making the list, we ask this question: Who was at their best while playing with Shaq? For example, the Kevin Garnett that O’Neal played with this season won’t rank as highly as the 2007-08 Amar’e Stoudemire that he shared the court with in his Phoenix stint.

Obviously, we’ll save all the center slots for the Big Aristotle himself, but without further adieu, we present the First, Second and Third All-Shaq teams: Read More »

Who knew scouring another man’s day-planner could become so interesting? Thanks to a couple of (on the surface) small schedule changes, it’s now looking like LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh may be vying for just two open spots in Chicago … LeBron was supposed to meet with the Bulls and Cavs today, in that order, but reportedly switched it around to where he’ll meet with Cleveland in the morning and then Chicago. And as anybody who follows college recruiting knows, the team that gets the last visit typically has an edge. Meanwhile, D-Wade scheduled a second meeting with the Bulls on Friday, after having already met with them on Thursday. Bosh has been staying in Chicago throughout this early stage of free agency, so are we looking at a scenario where all three superstars have the Bulls on top of their wish list? Read More »

The thing about Robert Horry that a lot of people didn’t appreciate: He wasn’t just knocking down one huge shot here or there at random intervals, he could take over an entire fourth quarter of a game by hitting multiple huge shots. As the 2010 version of Big Shot Rob, Derek Fisher reached that next level during the Lakers win over the Celtics in last night’s Game 3 of the NBA Finals … Kobe dominated the majority of a disjointed, ugly game that would have driven some basketball purists to hit the Crown Royal pretty hard, but for the first 10 minutes of the fourth quarter, Kobe couldn’t make a shot. That’s when Fisher (15 pts) took over, scoring 11 in the quarter on a series of fullback-style drives and last-ditch jumpers to beat the shot clock. Read More »

Call me an apologist, an optimist, a dick-rider, whatever. But I have to disagree with Dime’s Daniel Marks: I think Vince Carter can shake his reputation as a crunch-time choker and overall soft player.

All he has to do is play the game of his life tomorrow.

With the Orlando Magic facing a death-certificate deficit should they lose Game 3 in Boston (8:30 p.m. EST, ESPN), this is a must-win for the team, and for Vince, a must-dominate. Read More »

The cold part is that Vince Carter really is more clutch than a lot of people realize. But when your biggest crunch-time hiccups take place on the biggest stages, your reputation will say otherwise. And Vince has no choice but to eat a big bowl of “choker” criticism after last night … In the first half of Magic/Celtics Game 2, Vince could barely get on the court after J.J. Redick came in and started busting jumpers, but in the fourth quarter he started to make up for it. Vince (16 pts, 3 stls) hit a pull-up from the elbow to cut Boston’s lead to two with about five minutes left, then drained the go-ahead J a few possessions later. Kevin Garnett put the Celtics back on top with a turnaround, and with 30 seconds left, Orlando was down three with Vince at the line. Read More »

Dwight Howard isn’t as brand-new as you think. Though it doesn’t seem like that long ago since he took the stage on NBA Draft night ’04 with those braces shining on his teeth, and while his persona makes him seem younger than he is, Dwight is a veteran at 24 years old and now in his sixth pro season.

In other words, it’s not too early to discuss (or at least make realistic projections for) his place in history. Read More »

In the two-day break before Game 5, we’re thinking this is how it’ll go: Saturday will be devoted to figuring out ways the Magic can stay alive, while Friday was the time to talk about how dead they are. In the Game 4 aftermath, everybody had some blame passed their way: the refs for missing crucial calls (just don’t get the Lakers fans started on that), Dwight Howard and Hedo Turkoglu for missing free throws, Jameer Nelson for wandering into Derek Fisher‘s sniper scope, Stan Van Gundy for having Jameer on the court, Rashard Lewis for playing ball like Carl Lewis — some were even blaming Nick Anderson for his mere presence in the arena … Read More »

Everybody has their opinion on how and why the Magic lost Game 4 and, ultimately, their shot at a championship. Take FOXSports’ Edgy And Controversial token Jason Whitlock, who echoes the most common reaction by putting the blame on Stan Van Gundy:

Van Gundy is responsible for one of the greatest choke jobs in NBA playoff history. If he had any pride, he’d resign today and let Patrick Ewing coach Game 5 on Sunday. Read More »