Ahh, the pick and roll … the giver of the majority of NBA dunk highlights. Teams generally don’t defend it well, don’t rotate quickly, and the result is an offensive player rolling down the heart of the lane with nothing between him and the rim and the SportsCenter highlights in his head.

Example: Trevor Booker‘s cram last night on Aaron Gray and the Toronto Raptors: Read More »

All hail Jeremy Lin. That’s now two games in a row that the seldom-used backup has torched opponents and lit the Garden on fire as if he was John Starks. Lin dropped 28 and eight in New York’s 99-88 win over Utah. Beast? Lin seems to finish every three point play, make all the right decisions out of the pick-n-roll and has even shown off his deep ball. At one point in the second half, he dropped a high-arching shot and then trotted back on defense with a swag unlimited smirk before sticking his tongue out (It looked like he had been sucking on some blue lollipops during the quarter break). Read More »

Derrick Rose said he was gonna go crazy against Washington last night, and dude did go a little nuts. Not only did he pick up a technical, but he was as aggressive as we’ve seen him all year in the first half, weaving into the lane and throwing up more of those high-arching floaters he’s grown fond of. John Wall gave him some run during the first half of Chicago’s 10-point win, but there’s still one glaring difference between the two: John Wall makes tough shots. Derrick Rose makes tough shots look easy. Read More »

Nothing hurts more than losing your spot at the gym because you lost to a bunch of random dudes. That’s what happened to the Lakers last night in Milwaukee. With Stephen Jackson corporate thuggin’ it off-court (suspended for verbal abuse of an official), Andrew Bogut out with his yearly injury and Brandon Jennings playing more passively than at any point over the past month, the Lakers took body blows from Drew Gooden, Mike Dunleavy and Ersan Ilyasova before finally falling 100-89. Read More »

Ranking the NBA from worst to first …

30. New Orleans Hornets (3-15) Last Week: 25, -5 Since they started off the year 2-0, the Hornets have lost more than just their sting. They’re 1-15 since and haven’t sniffed an ounce of winning. One thing you can say about them is they fight. Their last nine losses have all been by 10 or less against teams sporting a .606 winning percentage. Read More »

If you’re LeBron, what’s the point? He could afford to be passive last night because Chris Bosh was getting busy in the fourth quarter of Miami’s 92-85 win over Cleveland. Kyra Sedgwick went off for 17 fourth quarter points, and had two of the biggest buckets of the game: a three-point play off the dribble and then a pull-up J in the closing minutes. His two free throws with 55 seconds left put Miami up eight, icing the win. It wasn’t so much that Bosh didn’t get help. ‘Bron had 18. But Bosh took the Cavs’ best punches all night, drawing foul after foul and finishing everything. Read More »

You had to know this was coming sooner or later. Flip Saunders is now officially out as the Wizards head coach, according to Michael Lee of The Washington Post. He will be replaced by lead assistant Randy Wittman. When you have some of the most immature talent in the league leading you through a 2-15 disaster of a season, with an offense that is dead last in the entire NBA (and a defense that’s not much better), what do you expect? Washington started slow, and the progress has been so minimal that the front office had no other choice. Read More »

Back when Nick “Swaggy P” Young was still rocking a Trojans’ cardinal and gold uniform from 2004 to 2007, the USC athletic department was on top of the world. On the gridiron, the ’04 squad, led by Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart, cruised to the BCS National Championship. One year later, the Trojans returned to the title game where they fell to Texas.

Meanwhile, USC wasn’t doing too shabby on the hardwood, either. After finishing 12-17 during Young’s rookie season, the Trojans steadily improved, going 17-13 the next year. Then, in 2007, Young and Gabe Pruitt led the Trojans to its first NCAA tournament appearance in five years, taking them to the Sweet Sixteen. Read More »

To pass or not to pass? Kobe finally gave it up twice in the final minute of the Pacers’ 98-96 win over the Lakers, and we almost wished he would’ve forced up something. First, Matt Barnes missed a wide-open trey, and then Derek Fisher threw up some type of contraption (not sure what that was… a pass? a shot? a prayer?) that didn’t touch anything but the out-of-bounds paint. With the Lakers down three in the final seconds, Bryant was finally forced into a long, 30-footer off the dribble that was off. While the Mamba still finished with 33 points and and eight rebounds, for the Pacers, the outcome was a confirmation: Watch out for us. Read More »

We’ve seen basketball wives inject themselves into the equation before. Every partner, from Cindy Rooney in Any Given Sunday to Glen Rice‘s wife, knows they can wield some power. But mothers? Typically, they’re out of the conversation. Professional sports are too macho. You can’t be having your mother hanging around you… unless you’re Ricky Rubio, who brought his mom with him to draft interviews. JaVale McGee‘s mother has spoken out about her son before, but now her words are singing louder than ever. Read More »