From the intensity of the playoffs, the most memorable moments arise. Amid the chaos, reputations are forged, particularly for those whose renown does not (yet) land them gaudy shoe deals. Yesterday we took a look at hidden x-factors in the Grizzlies/Clippers series. Read More »

You would think a hush would’ve rained over Cleveland. But on top of the constant hum, you could almost hear fans crying and wailing, and even Cleveland’s epic broadcast team sounded like they wanted to go lock themselves in a closet. It’s not every day you blow a 27-point lead… and it’s not every lifetime you can blow that lead against a team on a 23-game winning streak that has one of your city’s most hated athletes ever. Read More »

Only two dozen or so games remain in the NBA regular season and we still don’t fully understand the identity of either the Rockets or the Nets. Brooklyn’s right in the middle of the East’s divide between the upper and lower half of its playoff spots. Read More »

The second hand hasn’t slowed down yet for Father Time, Tim Duncan. The big shot hasn’t escaped his point guard, Tony Parker, either. Duncan showed up early and often, while Parker’s 13th and 14th points (he added 11 dimes) came on the game-winning bucket over an outstretched Serge Ibaka in San Antonio’s 86-84 win. Read More »

When most fans of the NBA think about reserve players, they think about the best sixth men. The role of the sixth man continues to grow as fans see guys like James Harden (pre-Houston), Jason Terry and Manu Ginobili “ball out” for their respective teams.

However, having super-subs doesn’t necessarily mean a team has a strong bench. Many times those elite sixth men primarily play with the starters, and don’t develop the same on-court chemistry with the other subs on the roster. Read More »

The Lakers confirmed Thursday what we knew for a while, that they’re building the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar statue. After publicly testifying how upset he was last year that he didn’t have his honor, he must be smug knowing on the same day the Lakers announced the move, he had a little bit of his spotlight stolen. The team’s also going to retire the jerseys of Shaq (No. 34) and Jamaal Wilkes (No. 52) on Nov. 16, the same day his bronzed likeness is unveiled. Read More »

It’s the dog days of August. Free agency is basically over and teams can’t make any trades of those free agents until mid-December. But do the debates end in the NBA? Of course not. This next one can get fans heated: Who has the nicest threads in the league? The internet’s apostle of apparel, Paul Lukas, at Uni Watch brought up this debate today and crowned the Boston Celtics as the gold standard to go with their 17 titles. Read More »

You could have crammed an entire postseason’s worth of story lines into last night’s Game 4 of the NBA Finals. Which would be a big help to us, because Miami’s 104-98 win over OKC was so incredible and intense that we almost forgot all about the other stories from these playoffs that led up to it … As usual, it starts with LeBron. His 26-point, 12-assist, 9-rebound performance featured some passes borrowed from Magic and some buckets borrowed from Kobe, but then it really got interesting after LeBron went down late in the fourth quarter with what appeared to be leg cramps (or a busted hip, or a thigh bruise, depending on who you ask). Read More »

The whole “clutch gene” thing has taken on a life of its own in the past year or two. It’s become an impossible standard to live up to. But for once, even with great player after great player succumbing to its weight and expectations, someone stepped up and met the challenge. Through the Western Conference Finals’ first three games, Kevin Durant had 13 fourth quarter points. Last night in OKC’s series-tying 109-103 win, he dropped 18 and made every single big basket. Durant (36 points) wasn’t just hitting jumpers either; In fact, most of his buckets in the fourth quarter were tear drops or midrange pull-ups, the hardest shots to master in the game. He made pretty much all of them, and by the time it was over, he had officially stamped his blueprint on a series that suddenly looks very interesting. Read More »

A dunk-off between Blake Griffin and… Nick Collison? The former Jayhawk must’ve been feeling that extra NCAA Championship juice in his legs last night with his old school playing for it all. Griffin did what he always does, which is something hardly anyone else in the world can do. Thanks mostly to Randy Foye because of his eight triples, the Clippers went into the Big D and took the air out of the Mavs. Foye wasn’t perfect though, and his missed shot here led to this. Read More »