If there was one team that could use the re-assurance of some lottery luck, it felt like Phoenix was that team. OK, so a whole lot of teams who just missed out on the Playoffs like the Suns did could have used the safety blanket of a top 3 pick. Many of those teams though […]

Now is probably not the best time to be commenting on basketball players’ overall IQs (although Tim Duncan DID graduate in four years from Wake Forest). Now is the time to go on the court and show what you got. The Playoffs are a grueling challenge for every player. Your weaknesses are exposed more and […]

Game Seven losses can be moments of realization of the work left to be done and the future that lies ahead, or they can be moments of realization of just how far you still have left to go and the hopelessness of the future. Philadelphia is in a weird place. Typically a young team like […]

These are the months coaches sweat the most. Rick Carlisle and Larry Drew got taken care of despite first round exits and questions (certainly about Drew) about their team’s long-term futures. Stan Van Gundy is no longer twisting in the wind and he is looking forward to a short (or long) time off. There are […]

Running down the early list of MVP candidates for the Playoffs, Russell Westbrook’s name has to be near the top. No “made up” disputes this year have sullied the run the Thunder have made into the Western Conference Finals. Oklahoma City’s two stars are sharing the scoring load and taking every advantage of their talents […]

There was a time a few weeks ago when the Miami Heat seemed to feel that the Indiana Pacers were just another bump in the road to their ultimate goal. Just another team that stood idly in the way or their coronation. Maybe that is just how the national media felt. After a bruising and […]

Through eight games in the NBA Playoffs, just about everyone has one question on their minds — how is anybody going to beat the San Antonio Spurs? That was not the question many thought they would be asking. It is now likely the question that will keep Scott Brooks up at night until Sunday’s opener […]

Two of the Lakers’ three losses in their Western Conference Semifinals series against the Thunder have come down to key turnovers at inopportune times. The latest was an interesting cross-court pass from Pau Gasol that Kevin Durant intercepted, setting up his go-ahead 3-pointer that proved to be the difference in teh fourth quarter. Gasol, a […]

The Magic were very close to trading Dwight Howard before this year’s trade deadline. Before his change of heart (the third or fourth time) and his waiver of his early termination option, the Magic were prepared to sever ties with their franchise center and move on. The report and rumor was that the Magic intended […]

You cannot blame everyone for being a little tight when the Lakers traveled to Oklahoma City for Game One of their matchup against the Thunder. It was not too long ago (about three weeks) that the league suspended Lakers forward Ron Artest Metta World Peace for seven games after he appeared to purposefully elbow Thunder […]

Rashard Lewis’ salary follows him around wherever he goes. The maximum contract Lewis received from the Magic in the summer of 2007 has been an albatross hanging around his neck, forcing higher expectations on him and an impact his role could not produce. The Magic asked him to be more of a spot-up shooter and […]

Frank Vogel will kill me already for calling this an upset despite his Indiana Pacers being down 1-0 in their playoff series with the Miami Heat. Undoubtedly, though to many NBA observers, a Pacers victory in their second-round matchup with the Heat would be nothing less than an upset of monumental proportions. Miami after all […]

A year ago, after a first round exit in the Playoffs, when this blog was in its infancy, Jeff Garcia urged the Magic to “stay the course.” He urged the Magic to hold onto Howard and make changes to the front office in an effort to improve and return to the Eastern Conference elite. Orlando […]

The NBA playoffs and NBA season is taking its toll on the U.S. Olympic roster pool. Already the U.S. has lost Dwight Howard, Derrick Rose, LaMarcus Aldridge and Chauncey Billups off its finalists roster. It forced the team to add Anthony Davis and James Harden to its collective roster pool. It also had the U.S. […]

Of any team in the NBA, no team goes through the kind of micro-analysis that the Heat go through. Every win is not good enough. Every loss feels like the world is coming to an end. This is the price you pay for trying to win not one… not two… not three… you get the […]