Ranking the NBA from worst to first…

30. Charlotte Bobcats (3-26) Last Week: 30, — They haven’t won a game in what seems like ages, and have progressed to searching for moral victories. When your best player – going by PER – is D.J. Augustin (15.9), then you might as well throw in the towel. They have a chance to join the upper echelon of worst NBA teams ever. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Josh Smith exploded for 30 points, 17 rebounds, seven assists, four steals, three blocks and two three-pointers last night. He shot 52 percent (12-23) from the field and 67 percent (4-6) from the free-throw line, and turned the ball over four times. Smith is improving his averages from month to month and continues to be a dominant fantasy asset on most nights. Read More »

We knew he could drop buckets and strut around like a much smaller Rick Ross, but last night was the first time those Steve Nash comparisons actually started to make sense. Lob. Wrap-around. Another lob. 13 dimes later and the Knicks had their seventh-straight win, 100-85 over the Kings. We asked yesterday if Jeremy Lin‘s hype was partially racial. Last night wasn’t so much racial as it was Nash-ial. Lin has that offense flowing on all cylinders. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Dwight Howard posted 25 points, 24 rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks last night, his sixth 20/20 game of the season. He shot 64 percent (9-14) from the field, 70 percent (7-10) from the free-throw line and had three turnovers. Howard’s averaging 25.4 points, 16.0 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 2.4 steals and 2.8 blocks in his five games so far this month. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Chris Paul posted 26 points, 14 assists, two steals and two three-pointers last night. He shot 75 percent (12-16) from the field and had two turnovers. His hamstring injury was a bummer earlier this month, but CP3 is back to business as usual. His averages are second best to LeBron James this season. Read More »

Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love and Danilo Gallinari can all stretch out and smile. They have extensions, and won’t be going into next summer having to deal with offer sheets and money and teams vying for their services and their own teams pulling them back in. After back-n-forth rumors that nearly escalated to JoePa levels these last few days about Love, it’s official. He has agreed to a four-year, $62 million extension to stay in Minnesota. It wasn’t the max extension Rose and Westbrook both received. Reports are saying the Wolves wanted to save the “designated player” status for Ricky Rubio (in the new CBA, teams are allowed one designated player contract, which can run for five seasons). But Love will be in Minnesota, for at least until 2015, when he can opt out for an even bigger deal. Read More »

If you’re LeBron, what’s the point? He could afford to be passive last night because Chris Bosh was getting busy in the fourth quarter of Miami’s 92-85 win over Cleveland. Kyra Sedgwick went off for 17 fourth quarter points, and had two of the biggest buckets of the game: a three-point play off the dribble and then a pull-up J in the closing minutes. His two free throws with 55 seconds left put Miami up eight, icing the win. It wasn’t so much that Bosh didn’t get help. ‘Bron had 18. But Bosh took the Cavs’ best punches all night, drawing foul after foul and finishing everything. Read More »

This season started with a question about Dwight Howard’s tenure in Orlando. Suddenly, it’s become a question about teammate Ryan Anderson’s potential — and if that’s a blessing for GM Otis Smith or another headache.

The fourth-year forward from Cal is on everyone’s short list of most improved players in the league this year. Houston’s Kyle Lowry is in the same conversation, but Anderson has stood out in the reflected spotlight and scrutiny around Howard now. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Joe Johnson posted 27 points, five rebounds, six assists, two steals, three blocks and three three-pointers last night. He shot 45 percent (9-20) from the field, 86 percent (6-7) from the free-throw line and turned the ball over once. Johnson has really turned things up a notch lately and is putting up top 40 numbers so far this season, a notable improvement from last year’s disappointing averages. There’s not much reason to think he can’t keep this up. Read More »

Well that was ugly. On a night where the big stories were supposed to be Lamar Odom‘s return to Staples and Kobe‘s shot at a fifth-consecutive 40-point game, neither side could hit a shot and couldn’t get out of each other’s way. So it came down to a guy who’s shooting 33 percent and averaging 4.3 points a night. Derek Fisher (13 points) hit the game-winning three with three seconds left, and the Lakers won one of the ugliest games we’ve seen in a long time when Vince Carter‘s last-ditch look was off. Read More »