We’ll do the votes, then we’ll talk about the amazing, incredible completely unpredictable predicament the Lakers have found themselves in thanks to this super Dallas team.
3 votes – Derrick Rose. The best game of Derrick Rose’s playoff career thus far.  He was so aggressive that I was almost offended just watching him. He was brutal [...]

One month into the NBA season, the view from the top isn’t exactly what people expected. The San Antonio Spurs (12-1) with the best record in the league? The Hornets (now 12-2 after a shocking loss to the Clippers) with the equal second-best record? The Miami Heat (8-6) struggling with losses to Memphis and Indiana [...]

I didn’t get to see Game 7 live. One of the tragedies of these 2010 NBA Finals has been the scheduling – in the Land Downunder, not one Finals game was played on a Saturday or a Sunday. Very frustrating. I followed the game on the play-by-play, and later that afternoon I read all the [...]

So I was wrong about Game 6. Completely wrong. I expected the same themes to continue from Games 4 and 5, that being the Celtics completely out-hustling, out-muscling, and out-shooting the Lakers. I expected LA’s offense to continue its struggles, requiring Kobe to kick-start it all too often, and fizzling out late in the game [...]

Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
It was a game the Celtics absolutely had to win, and their defensive effort in the first quarter showed they understood this all too well. The Lakers, to their credit, matched that intensity and the result was a hard-fought Finals game, even though the standard overall was pretty poor.
Before we get [...]

With Game 1 of the NBA Finals proving a bit of a lemon from a competitive standpoint, most neutrals – myself included – would have been hoping and praying for a more resilient Boston team to show up in the second game. They didn’t disappoint. If you weren’t lucky (or unemployed) enough to be free [...]

3 votes – Pau Gasol: Two years is a long time in sports. And after putting in what could only be described as a meek performance in the 2008 Finals, Gasol had a lot to prove this time around.
Of course, avid watchers of regular season basketball would have seen the improvements Gasol has made to [...]

No, this is not the 2008 Finals again. It’s completely different. The Celtics have a very different looking bench and an All-Defensive point guard. The Lakers are better and are the reigning champions. But I’m still tipping history to repeat itself and the Celtics to walk home with championship #18. Here’s why.
It’s a boring [...]

3 votes – Pau Gasol. This – “We just move the ball to an open guy. They send two guys at me, I’ve done my job… we’ll be ready if that happens” – is what Kobe Bryant said after Game 1. He couldn’t have been more prophetic, because not only did the Suns send [...]

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 [...]