As much as ESPN hyped the head-to-head matchup between Dwight Howard and Andrew Bynum before last night’s Magic/Lakers game, you would’ve thought that, you know, Bynum had actually done something to earn space on Dwight’s marquee. But choosing to ignore all the warning signs that this might be the most disappointing big-man “battle” since Emeka Okafor turned Luke Schenscher into an Australian Toaster Biscuit in the 2004 NCAA title game, the national media seemed bent on making Howard/Bynum the dominant headline on the NBA schedule … Unfortunately, that headline belonged in the Police Blotter section. Six minutes into the first quarter, Howard served Bynum with a nice lefty hook shot and a back-to-the-basket shimmy that led to a finger roll, and Bynum wound up on the bench with two fouls. Bynum came back to start the second quarter, but after blowing a defensive assignment and then picking up his third foul, he was on the bench less than three minutes in. Read More »

The best team in the NBA against the worst. Blowout right? But Washington grew tired of getting jumped and walking around embarrassed the rest of the day. So they put together by far their best performance of the season in their surprising 105-102 win over the Thunder. On a night where Andray Blatche got booed in the pre-game introductions, and then booed again just three minutes in when he started his lackadaisical routine by shooting air balls, eventually everything turned to gold because John Wall took over in the fourth quarter. Read More »

Legendary. That’s what it was, all it was. That’s how everyone chooses to remember it. That’s the only word Rudy Tomjanovich used to describe it. It was a performance, a six-game odyssey that shocked nearly everyone. Before the championships, before the odd-year title runs, before Tim Duncan, there was a harsh judgment and that attitude was forming here. Too timid. Soft. Sound familiar? One team, but more specifically one man, reshaped history, changed time.

It was a dream. It was The Dream. Read More »

LeBron vs. Carmelo was the one intended to define the era. LeBron vs. Kobe became the one we’ve been trained to anticipate. But a lot of people will tell you the NBA’s real must-see rivalry is LeBron vs. D-Wade. Last night in Miami they turned in another classic … It took LeBron a whole quarter and a half to make his first field goal, but once he did, the floodgates were open. For one stretch of the second quarter, ‘Bron and Flash combined for 24 consecutive points, blending pull-up threes with and-one drives to the rack. Read More »

After 30-something games of tinkering with rotations, dealing with injuries and middling through their typical slow start, we got the feeling last night was the real beginning of this season for the Spurs. In handing the visiting Lakers a 20-piecing that admittedly gets an asterisk because Pau Gasol (hamstring) was sidelined and Kobe (back) sat out the fourth quarter, San Antone nonetheless showed a consistent level of energy and execution they’ve been looking for all year. Read More »