Carmelo Anthony‘s clutch instinct, seemingly in hibernation most the winter, came alive Sunday to will the Knicks past Chicago. Given two chances, he rattled in threes from the near elbow to tie the game in regulation and take the lead in overtime (if you haven’t watched TV in two days, it would hold up as the game-winner). Read More »

We had a joke all lined up. With Big Baby rumbling to 23 points and 12 rebounds, and with Dwight Howard in an injury/depressed/look at me funk, Orlando was setting themselves up. In his last three games before last night, Davis was averaging 21.3 points, 11 rebounds and 50 percent from the floor. For once, he WAS more useful than Howard. But somehow after hurting his lower back enough to be stretched out by the team’s physical therapist at midcourt before the third quarter, and with his shot not falling, Dwight didn’t give up. He did work. Read More »

Rudy Gay

Memphis’ Rudy Gay gave the Grizzlies a 10-point cushion at the half on Sunday doing a little bit of everything. He ran down Pau Gasol on a swat from behind, helped hold Kobe Bryant to just five points in the half and, oh yeah, had a nasty finish driving down the lane on Andrew Bynum. Read More »

While everyone else put “Mad Men” on the TV at 6 in the east, it was time for Heat-Thunder. Is there really a question what you should have watched? The atmosphere in OKC was like a late-round playoff game and the Thunder came out hot. James Harden’s full-court dime to Kevin Durant was finished by KD’s off-balance righty layup over Shane Battier (11 points) and Dwyane Wade. That was the appetizer. Read More »

The Clippers haven’t been right for a while. Since they lost Chauncey Billups to his devastating injury, they’ve actually been below .500, much closer to the older Clippers than the team that was supposed to snatch Hollywood from their bigger brother. Luckily, they have Chris Paul. Three or four times this year, he’s bailed them out. He did it again in overtime of their 87-83 win over the Pistons. He started off the extra frame with two swagger-filled long jumpers, and then made the shot that broke Detroit’s back with 22 seconds left. Read More »

Who are these old guys, anyway? Shouldn’t San Antonio’s core of Manu Ginobili, Tim Duncan and Tony Parker be content with riding out their careers with rings and memories in hand?

Think again. The Southwest Division this year has been up for grabs dating back to Memphis’ playoff upset and Dallas’ offseason moves that made its title defense a question. This division used to be the Spurs and Mavericks’ personal playground every year. Only the Hornets in 2007-08 broke the hold of those two teams’ titles going back to 2004. Read More »

Athletes tell lies. Agents tell damn lies. And sportswriters use statistics.

It’s been three long weeks since Paul Pierce eased on by Larry Bird on the Boston Celtics career scoring list and tucked comfortably behind John Havlicek into second place – a moment that, although hastily swept away in the avalanche that is/was Linsanity, still marks the high point of Boston’s so-far sluggish Atlantic Division title defense. Read More »

The guys in the NBA TV studios were saying the Heat looked like a championship team last night. Okay, they did play Sacramento, who have lost six in a row and have perhaps the most playground, fundamentally-flawed team in the league. But the Queens really went hard, and had the defending East champs on their heels all night. In the end, Dwyane Wade (30 points on 16 shots, 10 assists) lifted Miami to another level with one of his best games of the season, and for the first time all year, three Heat players scored at least 20 and one of them wasn’t LeBron. They’ve now won seven in a row, all by double digits, and are sitting in first place in the NBA. Read More »

One night after being Mr. Clutch, Chris Paul blew it last night and he knew it. CP3 threw the ball away with only seconds remaining because he was fearful of being called for a backcourt violation and the Spurs walked out of L.A. with a 103-100 overtime win. Too bad CP’s (21 points) turnover ended up right in the hands of Gary Neal (17 points), who’s suddenly become a smaller, less annoying version of Robert Horry. Neal banged the three to send it to overtime, and then in the extra frame, hit the game-winning triple in the final moments to lift San Antonio to their 10th straight win. Read More »

Remember when a LeBron James visit to Cleveland came with an undeniable whiff of potential danger? Not so much now. The fans at the Q last night for Miami’s win were plenty vicious – booing LeBron during pre-game intros and pretty much every time he touched the basketball – but it seems they’re almost over the whole thing. Almost. The Cavs have a bright future to look forward to with Kyrie Irving, Tristan Thompson and this year’s Lottery pick, so for the fans (and the owner) to continue acting like Alicia Silverstone in The Crush over LeBron would be more pathetic than anything … Read More »