The Lakers confirmed Thursday what we knew for a while, that they’re building the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar statue. After publicly testifying how upset he was last year that he didn’t have his honor, he must be smug knowing on the same day the Lakers announced the move, he had a little bit of his spotlight stolen. The team’s also going to retire the jerseys of Shaq (No. 34) and Jamaal Wilkes (No. 52) on Nov. 16, the same day his bronzed likeness is unveiled. Read More »

“I’m peaking … It’s my time now. It’s our time. … We’re coming out! Guns blazing!” – Al Pacino, Devil’s Advocate

Lucifer’s soliloquy doubles as the mantra for the avid sports hater during championship competition.

Anybody with an acquired distaste for a particular athlete, team, coach, owner, media member, fan base, school or city – even an entire sport itself – should be hitting their peak form when a title is on the line and the rest of the world is watching.

You want to deliver boxing’s eulogy? You don’t do it during ESPN2’s “Friday Night Fights.” You save it for a Mayweather or Pacquiao pay-per-view. You want to shred to pieces the idea that Eli is better than Peyton? Do it during Super Bowl Week, not preseason or the Pro Bowl. Read More »

With the NBA Finals kicking off tonight, everyone has an opinion on what’s going to happen. It’s been a while since there was no definitive favorite in the Finals. This year figures to be one of the best series in recent memory. Miami has the best player. OKC has the home-court advantage. We think it’s fair to say that the Heat have the most pressure on them, and how they respond to that could go a long way in determining this series. Read More »

The whole “clutch gene” thing has taken on a life of its own in the past year or two. It’s become an impossible standard to live up to. But for once, even with great player after great player succumbing to its weight and expectations, someone stepped up and met the challenge. Through the Western Conference Finals’ first three games, Kevin Durant had 13 fourth quarter points. Last night in OKC’s series-tying 109-103 win, he dropped 18 and made every single big basket. Durant (36 points) wasn’t just hitting jumpers either; In fact, most of his buckets in the fourth quarter were tear drops or midrange pull-ups, the hardest shots to master in the game. He made pretty much all of them, and by the time it was over, he had officially stamped his blueprint on a series that suddenly looks very interesting. Read More »

Manu Ginobili just kept rubbing his temples, not even looking ahead at the court. Tony Parker and Tim Duncan looked stonefaced, like they were at an opera. In the background, slightly out of focus, the blue T-shirts had coalesced into one dancing, delirious mob. The scene was the fourth quarter and if you haven’t already picked up the hint, nearly the entire quarter was garbage time because of how big the Oklahoma City lead had grown and the Spurs’ stars had to watch it. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Goran Dragic finished with 22 points, two rebounds, seven assists, three steals and four three-pointers. He shot 57 percent (8-14) from the floor and 67 percent (2-3) from the free-throw line, and had two turnovers. Since becoming a starter exactly a month ago, Dragic has averaged 18.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 8.6 assists, 2.0 steals and 2.1 threes per game, while shooting 52 percent from the field and 82 percent from the free-throw line. Those are top five numbers. Kyle Lowry‘s return shouldn’t damage Dragic’s fantasy value too much the rest of the way. Read More »

Oklahoma City should show some love to Russell Westbrook for getting them back into first place in the West. The Thunder rolled on Milwaukee by 20 behind their superstar point guard. Westbrook destroyed the new look Buck backcourt, going for 26 easy points and seven rebounds in only 26 minutes. Kevin Durant added 19 and Thabo Sefolosha had a reverse dunk that even Kobe would’ve enjoyed … Who caught the Mike Dunleavy and Serge Ibaka tussle? Ibaka reached out to grab him by the shoulder, and Jr. busted out the most epic karate chop we’ve ever seen in an NBA game … The Thunder are back in first because Devin Harris got revenge, and Paul Millsap got freaky in the fourth. Read More »

In the last decade, the NBA has transformed from being a big man’s league into a guard’s league. Although frontcourts have always, and will always be the foundation of a winning team, recently franchises have found it much more difficult to build an elite frontline than putting together a competitive 1-2 punch. Ultimately, putting together a dominant frontcourt is what separates the good teams from the great ones, because in today’s game every team has talented guards. Frankly, each team has a backcourt that can outplay its opponent on any given night, which is why it is so difficult to pick five particular tandems as the best up-and-comers in the League. Read More »

Is this the year for Miami’s redemption? The year LeBron turns it all around and rids himself of those evil demons? We may never know for sure. But at least in the video game world, 2011-12 is all about South Beach and LeBron James. Without the real NBA, I simulated a season to see what would happen. Of course, gamers know with stuff like this, there are always oddities (How did Antawn Jamison make an All-NBA Team? Or Dirk an All-Defensive Team?). But they seem to get the majority of stuff right. If we’re relying on NBA 2K12, then this year would’ve been all LeBron’s. Read More »

The Oklahoma City Thunder are not like a box of chocolates. You know they’ve got four fantasy studs that can feasibly be drafted in succession in the first four rounds of standard-sized drafts. Truth be told, no one else on this roster really matters. It will be interesting to monitor how the team’s mercurial point guard adjusts to having a more prominent mate in the backcourt. Read More »