Beast of the Night:Chris Paul edges out Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade and David Lee with his 39 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals, along with 61 percent (14-23) shooting from the floor and perfect (8-8) shooting from the line. He also hit 3 treys in an overtime victory over Dallas. CP3 got off to a relatively slow start this season but has really turned it on for the past three games. He’s playing with some extra ferocity nowadays and that’s a great thing for his fantasy owners. Read More »
Many times there comes a need to fill in the statistical gaps that exist in your fantasy rosters, and most times these weaknesses are only apparent later in your drafts. This week we’ll discuss players who will likely be available in the later rounds of most drafts but could help you stop up those statistical cracks in your fantasy rosters. We’ll start off with some late-round players who can help you with points, in no particular order. Read More »
Whether you’re spending your valuable TV time or your valuable ticket money, when you settle in to watch an NBA preseason game, you hope everybody — or at least somebody — on the court treats it like Jason Terry did last night. In the Mavs/Pistons game that aired on NBA TV, Terry almost had you thinking something important was at stake. It seemed at every dead ball he was trying to hype up the Dallas crowd, raising his arms and screaming or doing his little “Jet” dance, and then between the lines he was locked in like it was a playoff game. Read More »
The Big Three had the night off Tuesday (as did Mike Sweetney, so maybe that’s like The Big Five), leaving Rajon Rondo and Rasheed Wallace to carry the load in the Celtics’ win over the Nets. ‘Sheed posted 20 points and nine boards before tweaking his ankle in the third quarter, taking turns shooting Yi Jianlian’s face off and beasting Ed Najera in the post; Rondo had 18 points and 13 dimes and took over in the fourth quarter. Big Baby helped seal the W by showing some vertical and swatting Courtney Lee on one of NJ’s last possessions, then getting a key offensive board on a Rondo missed FT in the final seconds. Read More »
It’s easy to forget that Will Bynum once played at the University of Arizona. Most remember the Chicago playgound legend from his days at Georgia Tech, where he helped lead them to the championship game in 2005. But during his one year in Tucson, Bynum would occationally run into Gilbert Arenas, who at the time was a rookie with Golden State. Arenas, who wasn’t getting burn at the time, had given Bynum a lot of advice about working hard. Read More »
Missing the deadline for Sunday morning’s Smack, Carmelo Anthony had the performance of the NBA preseason so far in a very late-Saturday/early-Sunday tip in Beijing — in the same arena where ‘Melo and Team USA won their ‘08 gold medals. In just 24 minutes of work against the Pacers, ‘Melo dropped 45 points, going 14-of-19 from the field and 16-of-17 from the line. Oh, and he threw in nine rebounds and two blocks. Those are video-game numbers, like playing NBA 2K against the CPU on Easy mode. But then even more amazing than that might have been Indiana’s “defensive” numbers. Read More »
Last year we debuted the “Highs and Lows” system — previewing the NBA season by predicting the respective ceiling and basement for each team. Same theme, different season…
Added:Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva, Austin Daye, Chris Wilcox, Ben Wallace, DaJuan Summers, Jonas JerebkoRead More »
If this is the beginning of a trend, we’ll have to adjust that projected number of wins we had for the Memphis Grizzlies ceiling this year. When Allen Iverson sat out the first preseason game with a “sore hamstring,” we figured that was just NBA code for “I’m a 14-year vet, f*** a preseason.” As it turns out, A.I. really is banged up and will be sidelined for three weeks with a partially torn hammy. There’s a slight chance he could be back by the real opener, when the Grizzlies host the Pistons in what was going to be their biggest regular season game in maybe ever … Memphis beat the Thunder in last night’s exhibition, getting 22 points (13-16 FT) from rookie Sam Young and 18 points from Rudy Gay. Read More »
Since agreeing to a five-year, $50 million deal with Ben Gordon, the Pistons have to be — if not actively shopping Rip — at least listening to trade offers for the 31-year-old who plays the same position as Gordon. Read More »
One play defined exactly why I’ve never understood some people’s love affair with Rasheed Wallace. In the second half of yesterday’s Cavs/Pistons game, with Detroit down by 15 and five minutes away from getting swept out of the first round, LeBron had Will Bynum posted up on the elbow. Easily spinning off Bynum, ‘Bron attacked the rim with a punctuation mark on his mind, and ‘Sheed was the only man standing in his way. Read More »
