A dozen teams have played at least half their schedule and another seven will join them today, when the most of the most significant holidays in this country’s history becomes the season’s unofficial midway point. So Dr. Martin Luther King Day is as good a time as any to examine the current front-runners for the annual awards. Included are links to both our staff’s preseason picks and the current rankings. And as always, we’ve included snide remarks if/when necessary. [Read more…]
Full disclosure: Greg Oden has always been one of my favorite players. Maybe it’s because of this commercial, maybe because of how fun his Ohio State team was to watch, maybe it’s just that I really like big men who get absurd amounts of rebounds and appear to be older than 50. [Read more…]
Less than 24 hours after a close yet convincing win over the Los Angeles Lakers, the Miami Heat are safely back in South Florida taking time to rest—with four days off before they face the Toronto Raptors next Wednesday at home. Heat star guard and two-time champion Dwyane Wade celebrated his 31st birthday Thursday night by compiling 27 points, four rebounds, five assists, two steals and a block during the team’s 99-90 victory over the Lakers. In the locker room after the
If you’re one of the hundreds of loyal readers who have been playing in our Freeroll contests every Friday, this is just a reminder to enter. If you haven’t tried one before, why not? [Read more…]
After a couple of brilliant games as the defensive stopper, Kobe Bryant (22 PTS on 8-of-25 shooting with 6 TO) failed to slow down Dwyane Wade (27 PTS, 5 AST, 4 REB, 2 STL) and nobody can handle LeBron James (39 PTS, 8 AST, 7 REB, 3 STL) when he gets going. [Read more…]
It’s not often that players in the league talk about playing one-on-one with other players from around the league, so when one starts giving you juicy details about it, you pay attention. Especially when it’s Kobe Bryant telling you stories about who he played against. During a notable interview with ESPN’s Chris Palmer – where the two touched on a variety of topics such as whether Bryant can score 50 points in a game again, or how the guard feels about his
No matter what apologies Josh Smith (1-game suspension) issues, he and coach Larry Drew are not getting along. Internal squabbles often inspire other players in the short term; I changed my DraftStreet lineups to include Zaza Pachulia (13 PTS, 11 REB, 8 AST) and he came up big. Al Horford (17 PTS, 13 REB) was also solid, but it was Jeff Teague — with a career-high 28 points and 11 assists — who led the fast-paced attack. Devin Harris (18 PTS, 5 AST, 4 REB, 4
What a great effort by the Trail Blazers to force overtime, where they came up just short. Ty Lawson played through an illness (24 PTS, 11 AST) and Kenneth Faried (21 PTS, 11 REB) crashed the boards as Denver overcame a 4-for-16 night by Andre Iguodala to prevail. [Read more…]