The second round of the playoffs is underway and with only eight teams remaining, it means another eight have been eliminated from title contention. The offseason is the time for these teams to retool to prepare for deeper runs next season. The Brooklyn Nets finished the year with a 49-33 record, good enough for fourth place in the Eastern Conference. However, their first-round opponent, the Chicago Bulls, surprisingly beat them at home in a Game 7. Read More »

When Houston traded for James Harden, they were hoping, maybe even believing that they were getting a star. But we’re not sure anyone thought they were getting this. In Houston’s wild 122-119 comeback win over the Thunder, Harden not only had a defining “So I’m not a max player, huh?” game, he looked like the best player on the floor. Read More »

Shawn Marion doesn’t know what the future holds once his current deal expires in 2014. In the remaining time he’d like to play on a good team again. If Marion and his $8.4 million salary are traded from Dallas — whose team is very bad this year and will only be good next if a major free-agent haul is signed — by the deadline of Feb. 21, and that destination is a bad team, Marion doesn’t want to be any part of it. Read More »

In last June’s Finals, James Harden and LeBron James spent long portions of the action guarding each other. It probably was a big part of why the Beard struggled so badly, and was definitey fuel for his haters to use against his status as a potential franchise player. After watching the Heat’s 114-108 win over Houston last night, it was either an overrated factor, or Harden has gotten a lot better. Read More »

Boston coach Doc Rivers set the scene after his Celtics’ dramatic double-OT win over Miami. It’s Sunday afternoon, the NBA’s first national matinee game of the season, and the Celtics are prepping to play Miami when the team doctor pulls him aside right before the game. Everyone’s already gone through the walkthrough and looked fine but Rivers gets the word: Rajon Rondo‘s out. No, the doc says to Doc: Rondo’s OUT. Read More »

Steve Nash became just the fifth player to record 10,000 assists last night, even as his disappointing Lakers team got manhandled by Houston’s backcourt of James Harden and Jeremy Lin. But Nash has always been all about the team and making other guys better, and that’s at the heart of dishing a dime. Read More »

Sometimes we wish the NBA was more like the NFL. In football, you must bring your best effort or you’ll be left looking like Mark Sanchez on Monday Night Football, getting your skills compared to Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite. Read More »

It’s too early in the season to say for certain which teams will and won’t make the playoffs, but we can confidently say some teams are still a lock, or they’re going to at least be in the running as the season progresses. One team that’s almost certainly going to miss the playoffs again, and will probably not even contend for a final spot in the Eastern Conference – at least not yet – are the Cleveland Cavaliers. Read More »

Even after Dallas avoided what could’ve been a knockout punch this summer (hint: Deron Williams) and instead netted some decent talent, I did not expect them to make noise in the West this year. Dirk Nowitzki was going to be out for an early chunk of the season. They had lost a handful of veteran leaders. And they were coming off yet another summer where they failed to land any big names. Mark Cuban‘s philosophy felt like it was in a tailspin, a forever cycle of Plan Bs that weren’t quite good enough. Read More »

Do positions even matter anymore? They feel arbitrary. Shooting guards and small forwards should be wings or swingmen. Power forwards and centers should just be bigs. Most of the time, those are the terms people within the sport use. But for fans and the media, having specific one through five positions help to make sense of it all. Read More »