Ask any person in or who follows the NBA closely and they’ll tell you the Oklahoma City Thunder crowd is one of the loudest in the league and at times can act like a sixth man on the court. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook notwithstanding, the team is built top to bottom with young and athletic talent. Yet, those factors may not be the only reason opposing teams have such a difficult time leaving OKC with a win. Read the rest of this entry »

With his reinvigorated play as of late, Gilbert looks like he dipped in Ponce de León’s pool shortly after landing in Orlando. Conjuring up a little bit of magic on Monday at the end of the third second quarter versus the Nets, Arenas hit a 3/4 length buzzer beater that was all for naught because the shot clock is considered out of bounds. Read the rest of this entry »

Christmas day basketball was the only thing that kept me sane as I finished out my workday on Saturday. Thankfully I was out the door during the second quarter of the Heat-Lakers game. I caught most of the Celtics-Magic game & that shot by J.J. Reddick was clutch. I just didn’t realize how clutch it was until I caught this stat provided by the cracker jack video team over at TrueHoop:
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Photo via NBA

Hedo Turkoglu may be this generation’s Toni Kukoc. He’s quiet and usually deadly from behind the arc while still adhering to the traditional definiton of the role player. And…they’re both lanky European power forwards who couldn’t leap over a can of spinach. Read the rest of this entry »

The Orlando Magic were in the unfavorable situation of suffering a losing streak while two of their main rivals in Boston & Miami are in the midst of ripping off double digit win streaks of their own. Feeling the need to make a move to remain competitive, the Magic engineered a three-team deal with the Phoenix Suns & Washington Wizards. Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome Boston, we’ve been waiting on you. As your reward for knocking off the top seed, you’ve been tasked with taking on a well rested Orlando team that’s gone through the playoffs so far looking like gangbusters. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to hand the Magic their first playoff loss. Four times.

With the King’s coronation put off for another year, we the fans, are in for a treat with the past two Eastern Conference Finals representatives vying for another trip back for the ultimate prize. In one corner, you’ve got a veteran group who’s championship window is rapidly closing. While in the other, you’ve a team looking to finish what it started last year, finally having the experience to go along with the talent they relied on this year. Regardless of who’s standing once the series comes to a close, the real winner is us the fans, who’ll be treated to watching two teams at full strength & playing at the top of their games at the right time of the season. Read the rest of this entry »

It took him 88 games, but Rasheed Wallace finally came to play for the Boston Celtics. Throughout the season ‘Sheed’s been somewhere between a running joke & major disappointment. The Boston Three Party thought they would be getting the Rasheed from a few years back, the one who could stretch the defense with his timely outside shooting & vast array of post moves. Instead, they got an out of shape, aging player who could’ve been charged for committing fraud… for impersonating a basketball player (I see you Biggga).

Shoot, if it wasn’t for this basket he scored for the Bulls late in the season, half of the country wouldn’t have even known he was still in the league. So you can imagine the pleasant surprise Wallace provided his teammates last night: seven of eight from the field, three from four on three’s for 17 points and two rebounds thrown in for good measure. As a NBA fan nomad & fan of Rasheed since his days in Carolina blue, it was good to see the mercurial forward have a good showing. Mainly because who knows how many outings like this he has left in him. Perhaps Doc needs to call him out more often… or maybe they told him it was time to earn his paycheck.

On another note, isn’t it funny that LeBron’s elbow hurt much more after missed jumpers than when he makes his now nightly chase down block? I’m just sayin’…

On to other matters, let’s welcome the Atlanta Hawks to the second round. For a moment it was looking like Orlando was going to get a bye or something.

Orlando Magic Vs. Atlanta Hawks

Atlanta can be one of the more entertaining teams in the league – especially when they don’t have to play on the road. But few (if any) outside of Milwaukee thought they’d get pushed to seven against a undermanned Bucks squad running on nothing but heart. The Hawks can (& should) play up to their competition, but they’ve yet to prove they can hang with the true class of the league. If they want this to be the start of that, they’ll need to steal one on the road & hold home court.

They’re 2-10 in their last 12 playoff road games, which doesn’t bode well for them coming into this series. Stranger things have happened & if they want to change that stat, they’ll have to get Dwight Howard in early foul trouble  & get to the hole.  The first part of that shouldn’t be too hard, with fouls being the only thing Dwight gets faster than blocks. Stopping the rest of the team will be a bit harder.  The Hawks are moving in the right direction, but they’ve still got some work to do.

MZ — Magic in 5 Patrick M. | S. Cadet | Jason H. — Magic in 6 J. Tinsley — Magic in 7

We’re back again with the second part of first round preview.  Hopefully today’s games will follow the lead of the later games yesterday and provide a great game from start to finish.  Read the rest of this entry »

Kobe’s still the man you want to have the ball in his hand with the game on the line.  But what about if the ball is coming off the rim & up for grabs?  After last night’s game against the Magic, Atlanta’s Josh Smith gets my vote.  Swooping in out of nowhere, he effortlessly cleans up Joe Johnson’s missed jumper &  almost gave Stan Van Gundy a heart attack in the process.  The way SVG yells at his team for every little thing, I’d bet you a date with LC if he doesn’t have his team working on box outs today in practice. Read the rest of this entry »

Clearly, Lamar missed his PowerBar this morning and could be in violation of any endorsement deal he had with the company. In the third, his dunk attempt was thwarted by…the rim and Odom’s failed springs. Today’s loss to the Magic was the Lakers third loss in a row, a first since they traded for Gasol two seasons ago. Not exactly anything to cause a panic, but worth watching to see how LA rebounds over the next few contests.

In other not-so important but highly entertaining Laker news, Ron Ron dyed his hair blonde. The spirit of Rodman is alive and well in Stern’s league of overbearing rules. Read the rest of this entry »

Pundits will tell you Mr. Carter’s athletic ability has been on the decline for years. But every once in awhile he’ll hit you with a Roy Jones Jr. “Y’all Musta Forgot!”-brand dunk that puts him back on the radar. Such is true of his latest triumph over the Cleveland LeBrons Cavaliers yesterday. The Magic managed to rally and bring home the dub after Vince’s throwdown. The kicker here is seeing Vareflop getting the poster treatment. Too bad Delonte “WIYAH HANGAH!!” West had to get involved. Read the rest of this entry »

This is likely to get David Stern’s panties in a bunch. According to AHH, former Dukie & current Orlando Magic guard J.J. Redick will be dropping a rap album.

According to Redick, he’s part of a “rap super group” that will release a new single before the end of the year titled “Waste Management.” “We’re working on a rap CD,” Redick revealed. “We actually haven’t come up with a name from the group Read the rest of this entry »

The NBA Season is still young and TSS is keeping the ball in play. We hit you off with the West, now it’s time to bicker about the Eastern Conference Standings. The East is has a top heavy talent pool but it’s full of compelling storylines that’ll keep you tuned in. The Celtics are back, healthy and ready for another run at the chip. Meanwhile LBJ is still climbing for the mountain top while Orlando knows what it takes to get there. But screw all that serious stuff. Gilbert Arenas is back ladies and gentlemen. Who knows what kind of off the wall antics he’s capable of pulling this year? Hold that thought and check out our picks. Read the rest of this entry »

First off, big salute to all the fathers out there. On the streets, at war, at work, hustling, locked up, who still find strength to maintain and still keep the babies. You’re raising the future. We doff our hats to you.

Back to our regular scheduled programming. What did you miss this week?

- The Lakers sonned whatever that other team was The Magic.

- Sa-Ra and Raheem DeVaughn provided more music to make more babies to.

- Killer Mike re-emerged to discipline you truant children.

- We looked back at the Jordan True Blues, the mack daddy of all sneakers, in my dishonest opinion.

- The good folks at Slaughterhouse embarrassed their children and entertained the rest of us with a little skit.

- Playboy Tre returned to the internet. No father pun here Read the rest of this entry »

And then there was one.  The pic pretty much says it all, but we’ll still throw in a few words for good measure. Read the rest of this entry »