Cleveland Cavaliers

After taking care of the Los Angeles Clippers, 90-87, last Monday night, the Memphis Grizzlies had quietly recorded the 3rd best record in the NBA this season at 42-16 (72.4%), just behind the 47-12 Atlanta Hawks and the 45-11 Golden State Warriors. In that hotly contested game, Chris Paul powered the Clippers on both ends [...]

Breaking: We know what Ray Allen isn’t going to do. As for what he’s actually going to do, well, shut up. Focus on the small victories, however insignificant they seem. And this is a small victory. Per ESPN.com’s Brian Windhorst, the 39-year-old Allen won’t be finishing the NBA’s regular season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, if [...]

On Thursday night, LeBron James was simply unstoppable in the Cavs 110-99 victory over the league leading Warriors. Stephen Curry and company couldn’t handle the best player on the planet, as they were handed their eleventh loss of the season. James exploded for a season-high 42 points and grabbed 11 rebounds while also outscoring both [...]

Goodbye, All-Star discussion and NBA trade deadline. Hello, playoff race. It’s that time of year again. The focus is on the playoffs and various position-jockeying that’s going on. This week we have a lot of movement to cover, from the Blazers’ slump, to the Spurs’ mounting cankers, to the Thunder’s improbable surge, to the Sixers [...]

Stand up, folks. Stretch. Bend. Flex. Make old-folk noises. The NBA trade deadline is finally upon us. This implies two things: First, real, live basketball is about to begin again. Fist-pump it up. Second, the rumors are flowing like vodka and tequila and gin and rum and whiskey during J.R. Smith’s weekend-long vacation from the city of Cleveland. Navigating those [...]

Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it’s off to the 2015 NBA All-Star Game we go. Okay, so, I’m pretty sure “heigh-ho” refers to yawning or disappointment, but screw it. I wanted to both rhyme and write “heigh-ho,” so let’s just pretend. Anyway, the NBA is speeding toward its All-Star break, leaving a trail of injuries, playoff-seeding battles and [...]

This could have been a Kobe Bryant versus LeBron James show, which would certainly have garnered a lot more interest and ratings, but it wasn’t. On Sunday night, this spectacular highlight from Kyrie Irving pretty much summed up how the Lakers and the Cavaliers are doing this season. The Lakers (13-38) are one of the [...]

Avoiding NBA power rankings is for chumps, so come on in. There’s plenty to talk about this week. The Warriors and Hawks are still playing in a league of their own; the Grizzlies look like fortuitous demigods; the Hornets and Pistons are making a mockery of the Eastern Conference’s race for the final two playoff spots; [...]

Question of the week: Do any of the NBA’s Eastern Conference fringe playoff teams actually want to make the postseason? Asking for a friend or 50 here. Seriously, once you leave the East’s top-six teams—Hawks(!), Raptors, Wizards, Bulls, Cavaliers and Bucks—it feels like you’ve entered the “Let’s try and suck as much as possible in order to [...]

There’s something truly zany about the 2014-15 NBA season. It’s been weird. It’s still weird. It’s truly, utterly, completely, wholly, wonderfully, purely, perfectly zany. Allow me to offer up Exhibit A: These here power rankings. Collective movement is neither enormous nor insubstantial. There is virtually no change at the top. But then we get into the [...]