“What ifs” in sports can run deeper than still waters. What can be a simple question or proposition on the surface, may also result in major changes to a player or players’ careers and, in some instances, even swing titles. Read More »

Saturday morning, things looked pretty good for the Heat: All they had to do was beat the craptastic Wizards at home, and if the Bulls lost to the Mavs in a game that injury-racked Derrick Rose (head, shoulders, knees, toes) probably wouldn’t play in, Miami would be in prime position to snatch the No. 1 playoff seed in the East before the regular season wraps up next week … Saturday evening, it was a different story: D-Rose was cleared to play, and Miami’s plan to give LeBron and Chris Bosh the night off suddenly looked stupid when Dwyane Wade hurt his finger in the opening minutes and never returned. By the end of the night, Chicago had stretched its lead over Miami to 2.5 games, and shrunk the Heat’s margin for error down to zero … Read More »

Rodrigue Beaubois put a little life into an easy Dallas win over Golden State on Thursday with this alley-oop from Jason Kidd. Beaubois delivered 11 of the Maverick bench’s 57 points in the win, including this slam after looping around the Warriors’ defense. Read More »

The thunderous dunk, the deep three-point shot, the dazzling pass and the game-changing block are usually the highlight of every game. But the often overlooked out-of-bounds save can be one of the most athletic plays in the game. Sacrificing one’s body just to save the ball from going out of bounds is an admirable feat, especially as players are often only rewarded by fans’ cheers. Read More »

Beast of the Night: John Wall finished with 26 points, four rebounds, 12 assists, three steals and a block last night. He shot 69 percent (11-16) from the floor and 100 percent (4-4) from the free-throw line, and had five turnovers. Maybe that new Wizards roster will do Wall some good. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Josh Smith busted out something nasty last night, to the tune of 33 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists, one steal, two blocks and two three-pointers. He shot 57 percent (13-23) from the floor and 100 percent (5-5) from the free-throw line, and had one turnover. After shooting a miserable 41 percent from the field in February, Smith is hitting 51 percent of his shots to go along with his 26.6 points, 10.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.3 steals, 1.9 blocks and 1.1 threes per game through the first seven games of March. Read More »

Is Stan Van Gundy a master motivator or just annoying enough to stoke the Magic’s fire? There’s evidence each way, but the result was a much-needed win for Orlando against Chi-town. SVG had called out his team just days ago, saying they were being complacent about having the third-best record in the East. Hey, you’d be upset too when you lose to the Bobcats and show the energy of a corpse as Charlotte started its double-digit comeback … Different story on Thursday: The Magic came in the first quarter hot like a burning building with 75 percent shooting. Read More »

It’s crazy when I say this, but Serge Ibaka only had six blocked shots last night. Only. For the season, he’s averaging 3.2 rejections a night, but he’s had a few ridiculous shot block lines. Last night against Dallas, he was catching shots all over the place, and sent two or three deep into the stands. When will people learn? Read More »

Weekend Wonder: LeBron James averaged 30.0 points, 11.5 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 1.5 steals, 2.5 blocks and 0.5 threes in two huge games over the weekend. He shot 56 percent from the field, 50 percent from the free-throw line and averaged 1.5 turnovers in that stretch. It’s good to be king. 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 »