Day 30 – Where Orlando ‘10 looked like Cleveland ‘09

3 votes – Ray Allen. Ray was real smooth in this one. Smoothly draining 8-16 shots on his way to a team-high 25 points, smoothly sneaking into the key to grab 7 rebounds (an equal-playoff high for Ray), and smoothly sinking two free throws with 6 [...]

J.O is the newest writer here at NBAMate. His mantra is “If it’s not NBA, it’s not BASKETBALL”. The owner of over 200 NBA ‘video-taped’ games, J.O. lives n breathes NBA on a daily basis, reads it, watches it, writes about it and challenges anybody to a game of NBA 2K10. The guy really does [...]

Already J.O. is under the pump for merely suggesting Hedo Turkoglu would need to play out-of-his-skin come the postseason. In fairness to my ill-advised plunge into the unknown, the Raps at that time were a game-and-a-half ahead of the Chicago Bulls, before proceeding to lose 4 out of their last 6 games. The Bulls ended [...]

Ant may have got all the sexy first round match-ups out West, but I’ve got the two biggest Finals contenders right here baby. Beasts of the East.
1st Cleveland Cavaliers vs 8th Chicago Bulls
A few weeks ago I was reflecting on Cleveland’s playoff run last season. It was a bittersweet run for me. Bitter, because the [...]

ONE: When I saw the email that landed in my inbox last night I almost froze: “Milwaukee Bucks center Andrew Bogut out with middle back pain”. Surely, after appearing injury free for most of the season and playing at an All-Star level, the Big Aussie hadn’t been struck down when it mattered most? Upon [...]

ONE: Quick Aussie Roundup first. After leaving yesterday’s game against the Knicks after just 5 minutes with a migraine, the Bogey Man bounced back today with a very solid 21 point, 8 rebound effort against the Pacers. More importantly, the Bucks have won 5 out of their last 6 and seem to be gelling [...]

ONE: A mixed week in the NBA, as far as the Aussie contingent goes. The bad news obviously being that Bogut injured his leg. The good news is that Bogut thinks he can get back on the court quicker than the 2-4 weeks that was initially diagnosed.
I had a similar injury my second [...]

(AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
Don’t bash the Cavs just yet. Having watched the first half of yesterday’s Celtics vs Cavs game, and the last quarter of today’s Raptors vs Cavs game (thank you ILP), I find myself for once agreeing with the Big Diesel (or “The Big Witness Protection” as he’s now apparently known in Cleveland). “You [...]

ONE: Roundup of the Aussies in pre-season competition. Bogut had a solid outing against the Bulls with 12 points (on 6-9 shooting), 5 rebounds and 2 assists in just 18 minutes. In the first five minutes the big man had 6 points, 2 rebounds and a block – a start that raised the spirits of [...]

Having had time to reflect on the 2009 Finals I’ve come to a conclusion on what they really were. Not Kobe’s vindication, or Phil’s coronation. But something else: an anticlimax. There were at least four series that were more entertaining during these playoffs – Boston v Chicago, Houston v LA, Orlando v Boston and Orlando [...]