As the entire basketball universe will be fixated to their TVs today to finally witness this season commence, there are several underrated gifts under the Christmas tree to unwrap as well. While the league’s brightest stars will be going at it throughout the five-game docket, every hoops junkie should also pay attention to some of the other battles that’ll take place. Kind of like those unexpected cash envelopes you receive from your distant aunt, uncle, or grandparents, the following 10 matchups will surely not disappoint. Read More »
No one can accuse Derrick Rose of lacking self-confidence. “Why can’t I be the MVP of the league,” Rose famously asked last September, before becoming the youngest MVP in NBA history last season. This year, he’s still not concerned with anybody else, and is now talking about bringing multiple championships to his hometown. Read More »
While the Trojans decide to highlight some of their NBA success stories, there are two guys noticeably missing: O.J. Mayo and Brian Scalabrine. I can legally understand one, but the other just baffles me. Read More »
While Marc Spears is reporting that Greg Oden is “strongly leaning” towards taking the one-year $8.9 million qualifying offer from Portland and just becoming a free agent next summer, there is another team who could go out and snatch up the oft-injured big man. When you roll an entire season with a list of centers that miraculously tops out at Joel Anthony, taking a chance on a talent like Oden isn’t a big risk. Sure, he’s a risk individually. But for the Miami Heat, it’s moves like this that could turn them into a potential dynasty, and if it doesn’t work out, it might not do much harm. Read More »
Next up for fantasy basketball discussion: the Chicago Bulls. There’s a good deal to like here from a fantasy perspective – a first-round stud, some decent value in the middle rounds and a few fill-in guys to watch on the waiver wire when need be. Without too many free agents for the Bulls, fantasy owners shouldn’t expect too many things to change in the upcoming season. But if Brian Scalabrine isn’t re-signed, all bets are off. Read More »
We don’t really want to use the word. Let’s just leave it at this: the NBA is on its way to a thing – a thing that only happens when the Collective Bargaining Agreement expires. This thing rhymes with “flock route” which also might have something to do with birds flying south for the winter. This thing could last ’til the winter. And even though the two sides involved in preventing this thing are meeting today for the last time before the CBA expires, this thing is still probably going to happen. Read More »
The dunk may be the most efficient method for securing two points, but it has evolved into the most visible platform for pure power, unbridled enthusiasm and exuberant jubilation. In the grand scheme of basketball, one basket midway through the game does little to change the outcome. Yet we cannot help but celebrate the supreme athleticism of the dunker and the abject misery of the dunked-upon. But our love, however cruel it may be to witness for the defeated, is honest. It is why thousands upload these moments of sovereignty and humiliation to YouTube on a daily basis. When Taj Gibson posterized Dwyane Wade in Game 1, I was obligated to relive the past glory of other immortalized playoff dunks. Here are, in descending order, the Top 10 NBA Playoff Dunks of the 21st Century. Read More »
This is LeBron‘s personal retribution tour. Whenever we think we have him figured out, have the Heat pinned down to finally wilt and fall apart against better “teams,” the NBA’s Most Hated steps up. He closed out Boston, ended any chance their reign had of surviving. And late last night, with Chicago pushing hard for what could’ve been a commanding 2-0 lead, LeBron hit a three, then hit one tough pull-up J after another. In the last four-and-a-half minutes, the score was ‘Bron: 9 and the Bulls: 2. Read More »
Since we know the NBA won’t do it, we’re sorry Seattle. The NBA’s New Big Thing took their biggest step since leaving the Emerald City with a 105-90 series-clinching win over Memphis. When two teams are so evenly matched, so deadlocked after six games that only one all-or-nothing, do-or-die showdown can decide who goes on and who goes home, it’s like a scene from a Clint Eastwood movie: in the end, it’s just Clint, a hand cannon and bodies. Games like these build legacies.Read More »
-->