Miami Heat

Addition by subtraction. Depletion by addition. That’s been the NBA’s prevailing theme this season. So many teams aren’t where they’re supposed to be. And I mean so many. Can anyone explain the Phoenix Suns, lottery-dwellers of 2012-13? Though they added Eric Bledsoe, they traded away Marcin Gortat and Jared Dudley. Now they’re among the Western [...]

Dirk Nowitzki is starting to see a pattern. It’s a pattern you’ve probably noticed, too. A well-documented, oddball pattern—the NBA’s Eastern Conference sucks. Like, it’s really bad. Horrible. Spit-in-your-face disgusting. Players know it. Teams know it. They have to. There’s no way they can’t. Few have voiced it publicly, though. Save for the Portland Trail [...]

Paul George has enough friends. He doesn’t need to invite LeBron James to his next birthday party. People tend to fuss over these two. LeBron being who he is, and all—face of the two-time reigning NBA champions. And George being who he is and all—face of the Miami Heat’s greatest Eastern Conference challenger. George’s rise [...]

NBA players don’t tend to doubt themselves, and for good reasons. Imagine watching Kobe Bryant, standing at the podium after signing his extension with the Los Angeles Lakers, talking about how he will probably never return to form. Picture LeBron James, sitting by his locker after a Miami Heat loss, promising the world that he’ll [...]

We meet again. One of these times, it won’t be under such dire circumstances. I’ll come to you, wrapped in multi-colored robes and fluorescent glitter, talking about health, durability and how uncommon fragility has become. There will be no mention of a Derrick Rose injury. Or Marc Gasol catastrophe. Or Anthony Davis fracture. Or Paul [...]

While it might seem like a no-brainer that LeBron James wore Nike LeBron sneakers, this is actually the first time that James wore the new LeBron model, the Nike LeBron 11, for a whole game this NBA season. The anticipation behind the latest LeBron signature sneaker with Nike was huge leading up to this season [...]

This isn’t fair. What else can we say? Injuries have taken their toll on the NBA early, and it hasn’t been pretty. If we’re not anxiously awaiting the returns of Kobe Bryant and Rajon Rondo, we’re watching Andre Iguodala go down. Marc Gasol go down. Derrick Rose go down. For the season. Again. Put simply, [...]

Now we’re getting somewhere. More than 10 percent of the NBA season is in the books, allowing us to form conclusions based off more than two games and a bottle of Grey Goose. Now’s the time when the tankers begin to settle in and contenders that aren’t the Miami Heat start playing like they care. [...]

The San Antonio Spurs are still good, but they’re also hurting. Excuse me if I’m telling you something you already know; I just felt compelled to remind everyone. Because they’re good. Really good. Second-best-record-in-the-NBA good. A few jokesters (idiots?) probably predicted their demise. And by “probably,” I mean definitely. It happens every year. People mistake [...]

Expectations are a funny thing. Did I say funny? Sorry, I meant to say that expectations are a cruel-hearted, unshaven bastard. Especially in the NBA. Early on, we cannot escape them. They’re with us always. Always, always, always. And they screw around with our power rankings. At heart, weekly evaluations should be impulsive and read [...]