On a day that will forever be linked with sadness, death and despair, a backup point guard turned in the most heartwarming story on the NBA schedule. It was of little importance within the grand scheme of life, especially after spending hours trained to the television yesterday afternoon, but watching Norris Cole get extended minutes in his hometown and light up the Cavs was fun. Read More »

The wheels were already coming off in Los Angeles for the Lakers, but now it seems like an axle just gave way. A 112-105 home loss to Denver drops L.A. to 15-18, which is three games worse (as ESPN’s J.A. Adande perfectly pointed out) than the ’04-’05 Laker team with Chucky Atkins and Chris Mihm at point and center. The way Sunday’s loss ended is a metaphor for the Lakers’ season so far. Something good happens (Dwight Howard‘s block on Andre Miller with less than 15 seconds to go, with the Nugs up three), and then something worse happens (Howard’s block going right to Danilo Gallinari, who sank a three). And then when something good happens again (Kobe Bryant‘s insane corner three, guarded by three guys) it’s much too late to really matter. Your 2013 Los Angeles Lakers. Read More »

Every year, NBA players, owners, coaches and general managers donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to charity. Not all of their philanthropy is voluntary. In the NBA, it’s a fineable offense to wear a headband upside down, to publicly criticize an official, or to execute a chin-up on the rim. As you can imagine, some of these things happen quite frequently. Read More »

When we talk about the NBA’s biggest enigmas, why doesn’t anyone ever mention Tyrus Thomas? He’s a 6-9 freak of an athlete who showed in college he’s good enough – when he cares – to make a big difference. So far in the NBA, he’s displayed a decent skill set when he’s healthy. He’s not a liability on the line, doesn’t need the ball to be effective and can play in a number of different systems. He even started for a playoff team in Chicago. Of course, it’s hard to stay relevant when your best friend on the team is the trainer, but we think Thomas deserves a little more shine as one of the NBA’s biggest underachievers. Read More »

The NBA unveiled their NBA All-Defensive First Team yesterday and it looked like this: Tony Allen and Chris Paul at the guards, LeBron James and Serge Ibaka at the forwards, and Dwight Howard in the middle. No Andre Iguodala. No Tyson Chandler – the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year. That doesn’t make much sense right? Now, the NBA has released their 10 best defensive plays of the year, and Chandler doesn’t make that list either. He’s not feeling the love at all. Read More »

Maybe Amar’e Stoudemire was pissed we dissed him in our top 20 dunkers post. With all of his injuries, and with the way his legs were quite obviously giving out on him this year, he didn’t even make the list. Sorry Tyrus Thomas. You deserved to get smacked up by your coach, but you didn’t deserve this. Stoudemire just gets abusive with it. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Russell Westbrook finished the 2011-12 NBA season with a bang, producing a pretty line of 30 points, six rebounds, nine assists, three steals, four blocks and a three-pointer. He shot 50 percent (10-20) from the field and 90 percent (9-10) from the free-throw line, and had two turnovers. Westbrook is finishing the season with top 20 value, which falls short of expectations. The most noticeable stat is his 5.5 assists per game this season, well below the 8.2 assists he dished out per game last season. 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 »

When a crowd is chanting your name on the road, in part because you dropped 21 points in the first quarter, it doesn’t matter if that road crowd is only “road” in a technical sense. It was only a few miles away, but New Yorkers pretty much took over the Nets’ arena last night and spent the better part of the fourth quarter chanting for their new hero, Carmelo Anthony, in the Knicks’ 104-95 win. ‘Melo had 33 on just 21 shots, and added seven boards and four dimes as New York played one of their most balanced games in a long time. Read More »

Beast of the Night: John Wall finished with 26 points, four rebounds, 12 assists, three steals and a block last night. He shot 69 percent (11-16) from the floor and 100 percent (4-4) from the free-throw line, and had five turnovers. Maybe that new Wizards roster will do Wall some good. Read More »