The NBA regular season, at least for the teams that hold visions of championships, is just an 82-session practice for the playoffs. So rather than worry about who is the unofficial “best” or “worst” team in the League right now, let’s look at which team is most equipped for the truly important games. Read More »

The NBA trade deadline can make or break your fantasy team. Deadline deals not only change the value of existing fantasy studs, but also rearranges depth charts, opening the door for tons of players sitting on the waiver wire. I was a little disappointed by this year’s deadline, which was one of the slower ones in recent memory, but it still opened the door for many. Read More »

Kyrie Irving took care of his All-Star case a long time ago. So last night, he spent the final three minutes of Cleveland’s five-point win over the Thunder doing other things, like letting the world know he’s coming for that “point god” spot. With CP still out, Uncle Drew is the best lead guard playing right now, and he cooked the Thunder for 13 of his game-high 35 points in the final 2:52. Read More »

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As we wrote in Smack over the weekend, Saturday night’s Dallas/Houston tilt was perhaps the most entertaining game of the season. Outside of O.J. Mayo‘s dagger threes in the fourth quarter, the most memorable highlight came from Dahntay Jones, who crammed a facial on Patrick Patterson‘s dome off a feed from Juice. Read More »

Are they for real? We guess we could’ve said that about either one of the teams taking the floor in Indiana last night. The Pacers beheaded the Heat by 15, and Miami has now lost two in a row by double figures, and are just 8-6 since the All-Star break. Title contenders? They need to get their heads out of the sand first. Then on the other side, the Pacers made a statement: Don’t overlook us. They almost had Miami calling for the mercy rule on the boards, destroying them 49-33. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Stephen Curry finished with 36 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, two blocks and six three-pointers last night against the Nuggets. He shot 77 percent (13-17) from the floor, 57 percent (4-7) from the free-throw line and had one turnover. For the season, Curry is averaging top five numbers, which is a shade better than what was expected of him heading into the season. So long as he’s healthy, Curry will remain a fantasy beast. Read More »

Despite the fact that Yao Ming is gone from the NBA, the Houston Rockets will be virtually unchanged next season – assuming they can re-sign its only free agent (Chuck Hayes) when the NBA resumes. New head coach Kevin McHale shouldn’t really hinder the production of these players, who formed a surprisingly effective offensive machine in 2010-11. With a potent backcourt, a blossoming swingman and some intriguing fill-ins, the Rockets have more than their share of fantasy appeal for the next NBA season. Read More »

The ability to progress forward or move backward; the chess rook and the NBA rook both follow a similar path. With the regular season nearing its end, teams are either gearing up for the playoffs, fighting to get in or prepping for the NBA Draft. With that said, now may be as good a time as ever for teams to take stock on their first-year experiments and weigh-in on their overall impact. Although the Rookie of the Year is all but wrapped up for Blake Griffin, I decided to bestow some unconventional awards on rookies who – like the aforementioned chess piece – either made strides forward or submitted to retreat this season. Read More »

Trying to stop a three-game losing streak, start the post-All-Star portion of the season on a good note, and simply protect their home court against one of the NBA’s better teams, the Lakers had a big test in front of them against the Hawks. We just didn’t know it was as big as Chris Webber made it sound. “They need to put the fear of this sport into others,” C-Webb said. So the Lakers needed to make the Hawks fear basketball? That’s heavy … But they may have done just that. Derek Fisher got the ball rolling, sticking three straight jumpers after tip-off to help L.A. get out to an 8-0 lead before Atlanta scored. Read More »