I’ll start with the points before talking about the games.
3 votes – Russell Westbrook. Westbrook is the key for the Thunder in this series. The Lakers can trot out Metta World Peace to keep Durant in check but in doing so they have no one who can defend Westbrook. Combine this with the Lakers’ struggles [...]

The first two games of today’s NBA playoff action went to plan. In tight, defense-first battles the Celtics dispatched the Hawks thanks to a turn-back-the-clock game from Kevin Garnett, while the Sixers battled back from a fourth-quarter deficit to close out an ugly first round series against the Rose-less Bulls. Like most people, I expected [...]

Of which there were several today. Firstly, the New York Knicks’ exasperating, captivating season came to an end as Miami beat them fairly comfortably at home as they’ve done throughout the series, one game coming down to a late miss from D-Wade aside. I wonder what kind of moron would ever have given the Knicks [...]

There would be no chance of last year’s playoff failure repeating in San Antonio, with the Spurs completing a sweep of Utah despite a Jazz rally. Meanwhile, the thrilling Clippers-Grizzlies series took on another turn as the Clip Show snared a win on overtime against a gallant Grizzlies side, taking the series to 3-1 as [...]

These playoffs are fast becoming must-watch. While today didn’t have a game quite on par with the Clippers-Grizzlies thriller of yesterday, we did get a series of tight and hard-fought games and further evidence of what is becoming one of the best rivalries in the NBA, the OKC-Dallas series.
3 votes – LeBron James. I never [...]

By now I’m sure if you’re reading this you’ve read my fellow NBAMate contributor Sam “SP” Patching’s article on why he thinks the Heat are the team to beat this year. Sam is an excellent writer who I have mad respect for and he does a great job articulating his reasons as to why he [...]

After writing an emotionally draining piece and one that involved a load of research, I felt like just having a little fun here. Twitter has taken over the NBA, with almost every player of note (and definitely every player not of note) having their own page. However, as Socrates said, when there is something real [...]

Every decade or so, there’s supposed to be a draft class that comes along and gives the NBA a total shake up.
There was 1984 (MJ, Hakeem, Barkley, Stockton), 1996 (Kobe, AI, Steve Nash, Ray Allen and several others) and then 2003 with LeBron, Wade, Melo and Bosh.
The word on the street is that [...]

(Author’s Note: This is a very personal story, and it’s quite dark in some places. If you don’t want to read it, feel free not to.)

It’s nearly a year since I was last in the USA. During that time, along with my other travels, I spent a few days visiting my cousins in [...]

I was sitting bored in a lecture when I flipped on HoopsHype to see if the trade deadline buzz had built up to anything.
Then I read the headline.
“The Milwaukee Bucks are trading Andrew Bogut and Stephen Jackson to the Golden State Warriors for Monta Ellis, Ekpe Udoh and Kwame Brown.”
I think my heart almost went [...]