The second round of the playoffs is underway and with only eight teams remaining, it means another eight have been eliminated from title contention. The offseason is the time for these teams to retool to prepare for deeper runs next season. The Atlanta Hawks have been one of the most consistent teams in the NBA the past six seasons, but not in a good way. The Hawks are always the fourth or fifth seed in the playoffs and have lost in the first round three out of the last six years. Read More »

How long have you been waiting for tonight? A couple of weeks? Maybe a month? Well, if you’re James White, you’ve been waiting a decade. Flight White was put on this planet to do one thing. He was born to dunk, and yeah, he’s won some dunk contests over the years (and, somehow, lost a few too). But this will be his biggest stage yet. Read More »

The last time James Harden played against his old team, he had a nightmare game, a half dozen of his shots blocked back into his face. This time, he made his first shot in Kevin Durant‘s face, and was good enough to drop 25 points (still only 9-for-33 shooting against OKC this year). But while the first half played out like a tape from the old And1 video game, the second half became a mismatch, and the Thunder went on to win 124-94. Read More »

After a day watching some of the nastiest rivalries in college sports on the gridiron, we were reminded once Alabama turned Auburn into flattened tire marks that it’s probably still ‘Bama… and then everyone else (although Notre Dame has their chance to complete a storybook season). In the NBA, it’s not quite as simple. But we do know that Miami’s best is better than everyone else’s, particularly if you’re Cleveland and you’re missing your best player. They proved it over the last 1:58 against the Cavs last night in their 110-108 win. Read More »

Harvard graduate. Rags-to-riches basketball phenomenon. Apparel giant? That is the latest audacious accomplishment Jeremy Lin wants to achieve thanks to a reported line of licensed merchandise he’s working with Nike to develop, a line that would specifically outfit Harvard. Read More »

Weekend Wonder: Kevin Love was a monster this past weekend, averaging 40.5 points, 17.5 boards, 2.0 assists, 1.5 steals, 2.0 blocks and 4.0 threes in two games. In this stretch, he shot 59 percent from the floor and 83 percent from the free-throw line, and averaged 2.0 turnovers per game. Love has asserted himself as the clear-cut No. 4 fantasy basketball player in the NBA, and should be viewed as such in next season’s drafts. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Kevin Durant posted 32 points, nine rebounds, five assists, two steals, a block and a three-pointer last night. He shot 56 percent (10-18) from the field and 100 percent (11-11) from the free-throw line, and turned the ball over four times. This was a nice bounce-back game after notching a mediocre 18/6/2 (along with six turnovers) the night before. Read More »

While the Sixers were once again teaching everyone in the arena the basics of How To Run God Awful Offense At The End Of A Game 101, Jeremy Lin (18 points) was balling. The dude started the game shooting 1-for-9 and yet still had that bounce in his step. He got to the rim. He found his bigs. And most importantly, he made his free throws to close out the Sixers, 82-79. Amar’e Stoudemire chipped in 21 and nine, and his legs appear all the way back. He was dunking, spinning in the lane and had one fourth quarter block on Elton Brand at the rim that had Twitter all fired up. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Dirk Nowitzki finished with 33 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, a block and three three-pointers in just 31:21 of work last night. He shot 63 percent (12-19) from the floor and 75 percent (6-8) from the free-throw line, and had three turnovers. Diggler’s finally clicking and has been a top 15 contributor in the past month. Read More »

David Stern, if you’re reading, please give us seven more games of this. Lakers. Grizzlies. In one of those back-n-forth games that causes your life to stop in its tracks for like 45 minutes, the Lakers rode Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum to a double-OT 116-111 W in Memphis. Down the stretch, Bryant (34 points) was either making perfect decisions with the ball or Bynum (37 points, 16 rebounds, three missed shots) was powering it through the rim, all while the Grizzlies resorted to chucking up threes (We’re looking at you, Juice) at a rate not seen since J.R. Smith was sampling Chinese food … Read More »