Buy Low: Wesley Matthews is averaging 7.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 2.0 steals and 0.3 threes in his last three games. He’s also shooting 33 percent from the field during this forgettable stretch. Stepping back and looking at the picture will show fantasy owners that Matthews is shooting 41 percent from the floor this season, notably below his career average of 45 percent. His game log shows that he’s only cracked 50 percent from the field three times in his 12 games since Jan. 14. Before that night, Matthews was hitting 48 percent of his shot from the field. Chalk his recent struggles up to a slump. He’s still starting and getting 32+ minutes a night and remains a solid source of threes and all-around production. Read More »

There’s no grander stage than Madison Square Garden, and Derrick Rose shined like stars should in NYC as Chicago bounced the Knicks, 105-102. The basics first: 32 points, 13 assists. What left you gasping: a blow-by Toney Douglas dunk in the third, a deke of Tyson Chandler at the rim a little later. The capper, however, was a layup where he avoided Chandler, Amar’e Stoudemire and Jared Jeffries driving through the lane while playing hide-and-seek with the ball around his head. Read More »

Do you believe in Philly now? You should. The 76ers turned the stove temperature up in the third quarter and started grilling Chicago. It was like the visitors got caught up in a storm they couldn’t get out of. The defense was suffocating. Andre Iguodala (19 points) had a cuff dunk that only five or six people in the world could’ve pulled off. And Jrue Holiday (17 points) capped it all with a corner three right before the quarter ended. 26 to 11, they mauled the second-best team in the East in the third, and ended up winning 98-82. Read More »

Thank you John Lucas for getting in the way. LeBron James and the dunk of the season would’ve happened regardless, but you had to go and intervene. Not on purpose. It was quite obvious you never even saw him coming. That play might end up being the best dunk of James’ career. In 2020, it might not even be close. Read More »

Who stole Orlando’s offense? With the Celtics reeling from injuries and actually giving legit minutes to people like Sasha Pavlovic and E’Twaun Moore, the Magic could’ve stepped on their necks. Instead, they folded like a bad hand, scoring only 56 for the game and leaving Boston with a 31-point L on their foreheads. 56 points sounds awful. But 20 second half points and 24 percent shooting for the game sounds even worse. Dwight Howard had 18 and 14, but didn’t even make a shot in the second half while Paul Pierce and Brandon Bass dropped 19 to lead all scorers … Read More »

The best team in the NBA against the worst. Blowout right? But Washington grew tired of getting jumped and walking around embarrassed the rest of the day. So they put together by far their best performance of the season in their surprising 105-102 win over the Thunder. On a night where Andray Blatche got booed in the pre-game introductions, and then booed again just three minutes in when he started his lackadaisical routine by shooting air balls, eventually everything turned to gold because John Wall took over in the fourth quarter. Read More »

Okay, so he does have Marcin Gortat (24 points, 15 rebounds). But other than that, Steve Nash is the last man standing in Phoenix. Last year, it looked like their deep trips into the postseason were over. Now, the fast-breaking, free-wheeling style is a thing of the past as well. We felt like we were watching ghosts in San Antonio yesterday. San Antonio beat Phoenix 102-91 in a game that would’ve mattered back in 2006. Now, it almost felt like Gregg Popovich wasn’t even taking it seriously. San Antonio controlled throughout, and even when the Suns made their run, he didn’t flinch. The minute he brought back in the starters for the finish, the Spurs regained control and shut down Nash and the Suns. Read More »

Buy Low: Dirk Nowitzki has averaged 12.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.2 assists, a steal, 0.8 blocks and 1.8 turnovers in his last four games. He has also failed to hit a single three-pointer during this stretch. Digging a bit deeper, you’ll see that two of those games were blowout victories, while one was a blowout loss. Diggler’s in a temporary slump accentuated by circumstances, which is another way of saying that owners should try to buy low on him before he shakes this off. Read More »

At the start of every NBA season, all we hear about for weeks is “X player gained x amount of muscle,” or “X player lost x pounds, so look for him to break out!” It gets a little nauseating after awhile and it isn’t until players step foot on the hardwood that you can really notice any change. John Hollinger tried to save us all some time by tweeting: “I’ll save everyone else the trouble for their training camp reports: Every NBA player is in the best shape of his life. Except Eddy Curry.” Read More »

Beast of the Night: Kevin Durant finished his big night with 29 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, one steal, four blocks and three three-pointers. He shot 65 percent (11-17) from the field, 67 percent (4-6) from the free-throw line and had three turnovers. This was his third consecutive double-double. After a “slow” start, Durant is back on track, notching more rebounds, assist and blocks than he did last season, while shooting an improved 49 percent (up from 46 percent last season) from the floor. Read More »