We’re only a few days away from one of the best weekends in college basketball. With Louisville, Michigan, Wichita State and Syracuse set to go to battle this weekend, expect to hear a whole lot of Cinderella, zone defense and Trey Burke talk. It’s inevitable. Hopefully, the games live up to the billing. But in all likelihood, none of them will make this list. Read More »

Without drama, how can you even get excited? That’s how we felt watching the Heat roll over Philly last night, doing it so effortlessly in the second half that not even Andrew Bynum‘s new haircut could get us going. In the Heat’s 114-90 win, the third quarter wasn’t even fair. Miami hit the hosts with a 15-3 run, and had LeBron (16 points, 10 rebounds, 11 assists) and Dwyane Wade (33 points) rolling: making the extra pass, hitting from midrange, the entire offense flowed like water. Read More »

It’s not often you hear Vince Carter‘s name mentioned with Larry Bird‘s. But before you start in with the “Wince” jokes, know that he’s been one of the most surprising players this season, playing like he’s 30 years old again. In Dallas’ 23-point thumping of Sacramento last night, VC hit for 17 in the third and 26 total to pass Bird for 29th all time in points. Read More »

Denver had an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter and all looked good on the edge of the Rocky Mountains in the Nuggets’ drive to knock-off league-best Oklahoma City. Kevin Durant (37 points, seven boards and eight assists on 7-of-20 shooting) and Russell Westbrook (36 points, 10-of-26 shooting) were being contained via constant harassment, as much as the superstar tandem can be anyway. The Nugs looked like they were about to make amends after a sloppy loss in OKC last week. These two always make for great games and Denver’s eventual 121-118 win in OT was one of the very best, with two endings that were crazy. Read More »

Lakers-Heat was Hollywood at its finest. The Heat’s 99-90 win had leading men, a duel as its storyline and a big budget (the Lakers’ payroll). Generally in a big game like Miami-Lakers the question after the game becomes was Team X that impressive or Team Y that bad? Miami’s first four field goals — all huge dunks off sloppy Laker turnovers from Miami’s wing pressure — left no doubt that Miami was just that spectacular at the start — and the finish, too. Read More »

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Chris Paul wasn’t about to let his team lose its 15-game win streak, not like that. So in Utah on Friday night, down 19 points halfway through the third quarter, CP3 broke out the defibrillator and shocked life back into the Clippers. Why’s that impressive? Well, the 16-game streak is the longest since the Celtics had a 19-gamer in 2008. Two, Salt Lake City is not an easy place to play even in the post-Sloan era and the Clippers struggle there — they’ve gone 20-61 there all-time. Three, mental toughness was not something associated with this franchise until recently — oh, about the time CP3 and Chauncey Billups arrived, to be honest. Read More »

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A great recipe for disaster – at least if you’re the Lakers – is playing in Denver on the second night of a back-to-back. Old legs. The high altitude. The penchant of the Nuggets to play fast and frenetic. It almost never works out for L.A., and last night, not even 40 from Kobe Bryant was enough. Read More »

If we needed any further proof that New Yorkers are crazed lunatics who are more up and down than Joe Flacco, we got it last night. In just a few short months, Jeremy Lin went from favorite son to Judas, from Linsanity to something quite average, and New Yorkers went from “Raymond Felton?” to “Raymond Felton!” Last year, Knicks fans would’ve have given you the business you had you spoken bad about Lin. Now, they’re reveling in his struggles, and booed him consistently last night after initially showing him some love during introductions. Read More »