The Oklahoma City Thunder laid the smackdown on the Bobcats on Monday night, winning 114-69, and negating the positive work new head coach Mike Dunlap had done with the Bobcats to start the season. The Thunder’s 45-point rout of the Bobcats was highlighted by their early 79-25 lead, which prompted DailyThunder blogger, Royce Young, to tweet: “It’s time like these where I really miss Cole Aldrich.” Hasheem Thabeet even recorded his first career double-double (!) in some prolonged garbage time. Read More »

Ever since New York decided to bless the basketball world with more Rasheed Wallace and then this tape followed soon after, the offices at Dime have been on a trash-talking binge. Rasheed was one of the best, even if he normally saved his best stuff for either the referees or even his own teammates. But we’re not sure he makes a list of the best trash talkers ever. Read More »

As we touched on last week, NBA TV’s documentary “The Dream Team” was pretty, pretty, pretty great. While we gave you a look at some of the top plays and what we learned from “The Dream Team,” it’s important to remember that there were two more “Dream Teams” – the 1994 “Dream Team II” and the 1996 “Dream Team III.” Read More »

Two guys who have watched this NBA playoffs more closely than almost any other former players are NBA TV analysts Greg Anthony and Steve Smith. From their chairs in the studio, they’ve seen the rise and fall of 14 teams, leaving just two left: Oklahoma City and Miami. On Monday they held court in a Q&A with basketball media about how they see the series shaking out. Read More »

It’s been two days – one weekend – and the NBA Playoffs have already thrown some twists our way. Derrick Rose is done, Nick Young and Reggie Evans spearheaded what might’ve been the greatest comeback ever and Andrew Bynum is setting records. Who would’ve thought? It only promises to get better from here as the Eastern Conference is now a complete disaster, and in the West, everyone outside of San Antonio has question marks. Read More »

With the NBA season right around the corner, I caught up with three former players-turned-anaylsts from NBA TV today to preview the upcoming season. Chris Webber, Steve Smith and Greg Anthony broke down questions for an hour on everything from Kwame Brown‘s signing to the effect the lockout will have on young egos. While they disagreed on a number of things, they all seemed to be convinced that Boston’s old vets will actually be helped by the lockout. Read More »

Dwight Howard hears your concerns, especially you Magic fans out there. He appreciates the Stay Dwight campaign, and doesn’t seem like he really wants to leave. It’s as if he’s slowly being pulled away towards the big city – L.A. or New York. He wants to show he cares. So come Nov. 13, he’ll be throwing his own charity game, which has so many former or current Magic players, we might as well just call it a preseason scrimmage. Everyone from DeShawn Stevenson to Ryan Anderson will be in the house, but the one guy I want to see – no, must see – is Steve Francis. Stevie Franchise… or whatever’s left of him. Read More »

If Kemba Walker hadn’t decided to turn into Tiny Archibald in Maui, tonight’s Duke vs. Michigan State matchup (ESPN, 9:30 p.m. EST) would be a meeting of the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the nation.

Despite their blemished record, No. 6 Michigan State is still considered a Final Four favorite and regarded as the toughest challenge the defending national champion Blue Devils will face in the regular season. Currently, these are the top two teams in college basketball. How do they match up historically? Read More »

Playing in a non-NBA city on a splashy, slightly corny-looking hardwood with a gigantic midcourt logo, last night’s Thunder/Heat preseason game was like a dream sequence of what it would have been like to see LeBron James and Kevin Durant go at each other in college (although seeing Creaky Old Men Jamaal Magloire and Big Z on the Heat bench snapped you back to reality). Good thing it was a pro game, otherwise Dick Vitale‘s heads would have exploded on live TV … LeBron finished with 22 points, 7 boards and 8 assists in a Miami win, while Durant scored 21 points (5-13 FG) to go with 4 rebounds. When the respective starters were in, Miami (without D-Wade) outplayed OKC, and LeBron outplayed KD. We all know Durant can shoot the dimples off the basketball, but LeBron does everything else better … Read More »

With the beginning of every new NBA season, there are a few teams whom we consider to be favorites to win the championship. But as we all know, only one can be crowned NBA champions. And the teams that fall short go home forgotten and pretty much empty-handed.

Some people ask whether it’s worse to make it to the Finals and lose — to come so close to glory and not achieve your goal — or to get eliminated earlier on before the stakes get too high.

If you weren’t under a rock in the ’90s you know that Michael Jordan alone ruined the chances a lot of great players and teams to get a ring. Read More »