Beast of the Night: LeBron James led the Cavs to victory with 36 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals, 4 turnovers and a three. He shot 56 percent (9-16) from the field and 81 percent (17-21) from the line. Is anyone else yawning? Read More »

In celebration of the NBA All-Star Game, adidas has introduced their lightest basketball shoe created to date in All-Star specific colors: the TS Supernatural Commander & Creator. Featuring a brand new technology that works to adapt to the natural motion of your feet when playing, Pure Motion ensures optimal traction and stability. And with these two versions and colorways, you get to look good too. Read More »

The funniest moments of Rasheed Wallace’s unintentional “Mike’d Up” segment during last Friday’s Hawks/Celtics game — when his voice carried to every court mic and provided color commentary from the Dolemite Broadcast School — weren’t any of his creative curses or when he screamed “BALL DON’T LIE!” after Atlanta missed a free throw following a questionable call. It was every time ‘Sheed acted like there was some conspiracy against the Celtics by the referees. Read More »

Last night’s Hawks/Celtics game was about as close as you’ll get on TV to seeing good ol’ confrontational angry NBA action in-person without the actual risk of Jermaine O’Neal punching you in the face. We’re not sure if the Atlanta crowd was extra quiet or the court mics were just extra loud, but throughout the game you could hear pretty much everything Rasheed Wallace and Kevin Garnett were saying, especially ‘Sheed … Playing in the building he called home for about 20 minutes once upon a time, ‘Sheed was in vintage form: Yelling at every teammate, cussing at every opponent, and abusing every ref. Read More »

The All-Star reserves were announced last night, and as expected, every writer, NBA analyst and fan had something to say about the coach’s selections. Among the biggest snubs that people have been fuming about are: David Lee, Josh Smith, Chauncey Billups, Chris Kaman, Aaron Brooks and Monta Ellis (For me personally it was Kaman and J-Smoove). Read More »

Late last night I was watching Rick Pitino weekly Louisville coach’s show — one of my favorite things about having 264 sports channels — when Pitino made a great point about defensive mentality.

Essentially, Pitino said, there are guys who get upset when they miss a shot, but aren’t nearly as bothered when they get beaten off the dribble. “We’re not going to be a good team until it bothers us more to get beat defensively than it bothers us to miss a shot,” he said. Read More »

Not that he really needed to, but Chris Bosh sealed what will be his fifth straight All-Star selection later tonight with a dominating effort against the Heat on Wednesday. Breaking out the throwback unis from the 1947 Toronto Huskies — oddly enough, a team that was also accused of being soft and not playing defense — the Raptors’ win moved them into fifth-place in the East while Miami dropped to sixth … The Raps were down by 13 in the first half, but rallied and were clinging to a small lead late in the fourth quarter. After Bosh (24 pts, 18 rebs) hit a jumper to put them up by seven, one T-Dot announcer screamed, “The cream rises to the top!” Even when Bosh messed up, it worked for him. Read More »

Nothing against LeBron, Kobe, ‘Melo and the rest of the usual suspects, but if the Hornets make the playoffs, let’s just scrap the voting process and hand the MVP to Chris Paul. With his team battling to stay above .500 and tied for 10th in the West, CP might be carrying a bigger load than any superstar — and that’s only a “might be” because of Dwyane Wade … Hosting the red-hot Grizzlies, Paul again had to dominate just for N.O. to squeak out a win. He took over after Memphis went up by nine with 4:30 to go, scoring or assisting 17 of the Hornets’ final 20 points. With 40 seconds left, N.O. was up one when Paul (21 pts, 13 asts) froze Jamaal Tinsley with a series of shakes and stuck a mid-range jumper. “You just don’t want Child Welfare to come and say anything about the way he’s shaking him!” laughed announcer Gil McGregor … Read More »

Not that Tony Parker is sweating a 2010 All-Star snub — I’m guessing he’d rather spend the winter weekend curled up with Eva Longoria instead of getting booed every time he touches the ball in Spurs-hating Dallas — but TP nonetheless issued a late reminder yesterday that he shouldn’t be forgotten in All-Star talk.

On paper, Parker went against nemesis Chris Paul and gave him 25 points while snapping the Hornets’ seven-game home win streak. In reality, CP and TP rarely guarded each other; but no matter who was in front of him, Parker thrived. Read More »

Maybe it’s just us, but it seems O.J. Mayo has been playing noticeably better ever since the whole USC thing finally came to a conclusion. Since the turn of the new year, around the same time the ‘SC sanctions were handed down, O.J. has been averaging 20-plus points per game and seems like he’s literally had a weight lifted off his shoulders — getting up for more dunks than usual and showing more hang time and creativity in the air … Mayo scored 19 last night in an upset win over San Antonio. The Grizzlies were in control most of the second half, but the Spurs chipped away and cut the lead to one on Roger Mason’s jumper with 41 ticks left. Read More »