When most fans of the NBA think about reserve players, they think about the best sixth men. The role of the sixth man continues to grow as fans see guys like James Harden (pre-Houston), Jason Terry and Manu Ginobili “ball out” for their respective teams.

However, having super-subs doesn’t necessarily mean a team has a strong bench. Many times those elite sixth men primarily play with the starters, and don’t develop the same on-court chemistry with the other subs on the roster. Read More »

With sports, we’re all clock watchers. Its lure doesn’t go away once the season is over — it might even make it worse. The day after Miami won the NBA championship in June, power rankings were already being discussed for the 2012-13 season, much the same how a 2013 top-10 was already being mulled while Kentucky danced under confetti in April. Well, we’re looking ahead again. The free agency class of 2013 has been discussed since 2010′s sweepstakes finished, a discussion that has crept up again in light of Serge Ibaka‘s four-year contract with Oklahoma City over the weekend. Read More »

Quick. Everyone start offering the NBA suggestions for what would be a better way than playing a Game 7 to decide this Boston/Philly series. A coin flip? A three-point shootout between Elton Brand and Ryan Hollins? A one-on-one game between Doc Rivers and Doug Collins? How about we just show it on tape delay like they used to do back in the day? We’re not sure anyone is looking forward to it, not even fans in the Northeast. But here we are. Read More »

Why is it that Tyler Hansbrough is always the one on the wrong end of payback? His hit on Dwyane Wade earlier in last night’s Game 5 was absolutely a play on the ball, and somehow turned into a flagrant foul despite Psycho T getting the ball (for the most part). A few plays later, Udonis Haslem, who contends he shouldn’t be suspended because “Nine years in this game, I ain’t never played to hurt nobody,” whacked the Pacer forward across the face with both hands in an obvious retaliation. Read More »

It took a few games, but Miami finally takes the Pacers seriously. For a while, LeBron and D-Wade spent their down time mocking Danny Granger and making fun of his tough guy antics. Now they’re swinging back, and that’s the greatest sign of flattery. With the series tied at two, and the Pacers bringing their physicality to South Beach, the Heat’s two biggest stars showed out again, combining for 58 points and leading the Heat to a convincing 115-83 win to take a 3-2 lead. James is on another planet in this series, and kept it up last night with 30 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists on just 19 shots while Wade dropped 28 and three or four replay-worthy shots. Read More »

Thank you James Harden. With Dallas in danger of extending the inevitable, – OKC in the second round – the super sub stepped up and destroyed the defending champs down the stretch. Harden finished with 29 points in the Thunder’s six-point win to complete the sweep, and was so good, everyone forgot about KD (24 points, 11 rebounds) and Westbrook in crunch time. Dirk Nowitzki (34 points) was struggling to hold Dallas’ once 13-point fourth quarter lead as OKC hit them with a 12-0 run, which including one spurt where Westbrook had two straight steals, leading to big dunks from Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka. Eventually, it spread to a 21-5 run and Durant was in everyone’s face during a timeout to end the series. Read More »

Last night was one of those evenings where we really wished we didn’t cover the NBA for a living. Who set up this schedule? When you combine a bunch of really bad teams with some good teams that don’t have anything to play for, ugly basketball ensues and brain cells die. Not all was lost though. The Spurs might have a few old guys, but they can still get it done, and last night San Antonio wrapped up the West’s No. 1 seed with a 124-89 destruction of the Blazers. Tim Duncan had 18 and the versatile Spurs again made sure everyone fed on Portland’s remains … Read More »

The fight would’ve been classic: Tyler Hansbrough vs. Blake Griffin. But as we pointed out in Smack, not much made sense in this whole thing. The two big fellas in the middle of it get techs for supposedly taunting, but Caron Butler can play Charades out there and it’s cool? Something’s wrong with this picture, and it’s not even Butler pulling a stunt that really didn’t make sense. Read More »

There isn’t a franchise player in the NBA tougher to peg than Danny Granger. The man gets paid like a superstar, and he’s unquestionably the most talented scorer and all-around player on the Indiana Pacers. He’s hit his share of game-winners and will take on tough defensive assignments. But is Danny Buckets really that guy to take his team deep into the playoffs? Is he a go-to scorer, or just a really, really, really good spot-up shooter? Over the weekend Granger gave the Knicks bulletin-board material, then went out and got hobbled, Misery-style. But last night, Granger dropped 25 points on the Clippers to lead Indiana to an upset win … Read More »

Beast of the Night: DeAndre Jordan finished with 14 points, 14 rebounds, two steals and four blocks last night. He shot 78 percent (7-9) from the field and shot not free-throw attempts and had no turnovers. This was Jordan’s third straight game with double-digit rebounds. He remains a fantasy stud for owners punting free-throw percentage. Read More »