One thing I’m going to miss this St. Patrick’s Day is staying up all night by force, not by choice. Last March 17, we were living literally right next door to an Irish pub; since then we’ve moved to a condo across the street and just out of earshot of the tragic karaoke renditions of “Sweet Caroline.”

For that, I’d say I’m lucky. But my kind of lucky isn’t close to NBA-player lucky; there are no eight-figure contracts involved when regular people get lucky. So on this St. Patrick’s Day, we have the 10 luckiest players in the NBA… Read More »

Watch your head, because the LeBron Haters Street Team is gonna be out in full force today. Although LBJ posted a triple-double (29 pts, 12 rebs, 12 asts) and hit some big-time daggers down the stretch to lead the Cavs past Detroit, it’s the one blocked shot on his stat sheet that’s causing problems … With 1:30 to go in the fourth, Detroit was down three and Will Bynum was on his way in for a breakaway layup. Of course that’s when LeBron came flying into the picture to smack the ball off the backboard. Chalk up another Top-10 highlight and MVP resume-builder, right? Not quite. Read More »

Words cannot describe the latest video from Steve Nash. Seriously. Watch for yourself after the jump. You kind of feel bad for Robin Lopez… Read More »

Going outside the norm was the theme of last night’s Lakers/Suns game. In a close fourth quarter against a not-so-lockdown defense, Kobe didn’t go nutso shooting the ball, scoring “only” eight of his 21 points in the quarter and just two during L.A.’s decisive run. Ron Artest, meanwhile, was a regular Mitch Richmond out there; the normally streaky shooter showed a smooth stroke (15 pts, 3 threes) and knocked down some daggers in crunch time to secure the win … Read More »

Outside of the first two days of the NCAA Tournament and the night-to-night drama of the NBA playoffs, probably the best basketball TV-watching experience is a heavy schedule on NBA League Pass full of intriguing head-to-head matchups.

Sometimes it’s tough to pre-plan what you’re gonna watch on a given night, but this past Tuesday was easy: When I saw “Utah at Chicago” on the schedule, I knew that meant Deron Williams and Derrick Rose were going to put on a show. Read More »

It’s Championship Week in college basketball, otherwise known as the week of tournaments before THE Tournament. And honestly, it seems this year people only really care about two conference tourneys: the Big East and the Big 12 … and maybe the ACC based on history and hype.

This week we’ll be previewing those anticipated conference tournaments. But for now I’m doing the Pac-10, because that’s the one I know best, because I don’t want the Left Coast to get overlooked again, and, well, because I can. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Zach Randolph was a bully last night in Chicago, finishing with 31 points, 18 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal and 2 turnovers. He shot 67 percent (12-18) from the field and 88 percent (7-8) from the free throw line. He’s improved his shooting from the stripe, rebounding and has managed to swipe and block a few more balls this season, making him a top-25 fantasy player. Read More »

You want to start a good argument? Walk into any place where they know basketball (or at least think they know basketball) and ask, “Who’s the best point guard in the League?”

For whatever reason, basketball fans have particularly strong opinions when it comes to point guards. I think it’s because, among the mutants and genetic freaks that mostly inhabit the NBA, point guards are the closest to the rest of us “regular” folk. We more closely identify with them. Read More »

We’re still trying to figure out how the Miami Heat beat the Lakers last night, because it certainly didn’t feel like it was going Miami’s way. In the second half and then into the first part of overtime, it felt like the Heat were being buried in an avalanche of 39 points-worth of Kobe Bryant jumpers, drives and fadeaways. Every time Kobe hit a shot though, Dwyane Wade made some kind of big play on the other end of the floor to keep the game tight and to eventually put the Heat ahead in the second half of the overtime frame. Wade was in straight playmaker mode, taking on ballhandling duties in crunch time and either scoring (27 points) or kicking to wide-open teammates (14 dimes) when double and triple teams came flying at him. The rest of the Heat knocked down open shots and Miami won, 114-111… Read More »

The best play I saw Wednesday night didn’t crack NBA.com’s Top 10 list — probably because the OKC Thunder were too busy getting flogged in Denver for anybody to remember a highlight on their end.

It happened in the first half: Russell Westbrook split a double-team on the perimeter, got to the rack 0.2 seconds later and barreled over Nene, which caused Birdman to fall down on the domino effect, then Westbrook dropped off a pass to Serge Ibaka for a dunk. There was nothing particularly special about the dish or the dunk — I was more amazed that, on one play, Westbrook had left four bodies in his wake. Read More »