Apr 25, 2013; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Miami Heat forward LeBron James passes off the ball against the Milwaukee Bucks during game three of the first round of the 2013 NBA playoffs at BMO Harris Bradley Center. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

LeBron James is not your unanimous MVP everybody. Some idiot gave Carmelo Anthony a vote.

LeBron ended up with 120 of a possible 121 first-place votes to win his fourth MVP. Only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell and Michael Jordan have won at least four MVP’s in their career.

Kevin Durant finished second in the MVP voting while Anthony came in third-place.

Durant received 93 second-place votes, 21 third-place votes, two fourth-place votes and three fifth-place votes. Anthony finished with 16 second-place votes, 51 third-place votes, 27 fourth-place votes and 17 fifth-place.

Chris Paul finished fourth in the MVP voting and Kobe Bryant finished fifth. Tony Parker and Tim Duncan came in sixth and seventh place followed by James Harden in eighth place.

Russell Westbrook came in ninth place receiving just one fourth-place vote and six for fifth-place.

Obviously, LeBron winning the award was an easy choice. It’s very surprising that it wasn’t unanimous and if anyone should have received any first-place votes, it’s Durant and not Anthony.

Durant had one of the best seasons in NBA history as well. He nearly led the league in scoring for the fourth straight season while also shooting 50-40-90 and becoming just the seventh player in NBA history to do so.

Unfortunately, it looks like Durant won’t be going after the scoring title tonight when the Oklahoma City Thunder take on the Milwaukee Bucks.

Durant would have needed 70 points tonight to pass Anthony as the NBA’s scoring leader. Durant joked after the Thunder’s last game that he would go for it if everyone wanted him to.

Scott Brooks said though that his main guys wouldn’t be playing very much tonight and then guaranteed that Durant wouldn’t score 70.

Dropping 70 was a very long shot but not impossible to think about for Durant. It would have been very cool for him to come out and try and get it tonight.

The Thunder clinched the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference with their win over the Sacramento Kings Monday night, which has made this game pretty much pointless for them.

Durant played in all 66 regular season games last year and in 2009-10, he played in all 82. He has never played less than 74 games in a season.

The real disappointment will simply be for any Thunder fans out there who are going to see their first game. If Durant really isn’t playing, it will be too bad for them.

Apr 7, 2013; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant (35) handles the ball against New York Knicks guard Pablo Prigioni (9) during the first half at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Defense was nonexistent on the part of the Oklahoma City Thunder Sunday afternoon as they hosted the New York Knicks.

The Knicks beat the Thunder 125-120 thanks to 15-for-34 three-points shooting, 19 offensive rebounds and just six turnovers.

Those numbers were just impossible for the Thunder to overcome, even though they had no problem scoring themselves.

OKC just couldn’t get the stops when they needed them as New York’s small lineups made the Thunder look confused and a step slow on defense all game long.

Carmelo Anthony finished 36 points and 12 rebounds. Other X-factors included J.R. Smith scoring 22, Raymond Felton scoring 16, Jason Kidd scoring 14 and Chris Copeland scoring 13.

Here are the Game Grades:

Kevin Durant – 45 minutes, 27 points, 3 rebounds, 7 assists – B

The Knicks double-teamed Durant all game and switched every screen he ran off of. This is why Durant only took 17 shots and never seemed to find much of a rhythm. Everything was isolation for him and the Thunder were better off going elsewhere on offense, which they did late in the game. I would have liked to see Durant handling the ball more in the pick-and-roll which would have made it tougher for the Knicks to double-team him.

Russell Westbrook – 34 minutes, 37 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists – A

Westbrook took over this game in the third quarter. He did so by attacking the New York defense at odd times when they weren’t set and finishing an amazingly high percentage of off-balanced layups in the paint. His jumper was working too and that’s how he ended up with 37. He turned the ball over only once which is impressive to see from Westbrook when he has such a high usage rate in a game.

Serge Ibaka – 32 minutes, 13 points, 6 rebounds, 5 blocks – C+

Ibaka shot perfectly from the field making all six of his shots including one three-pointer. He also was a force inside early in the game when he blocked most of his five shots. But Ibaka was lost all game defensively. The smaller Knicks lineups really confused him and the Knicks basically abused him. It’s unfair to point the finger at one player but Ibaka was definitely the most responsible for the poor Thunder defense.

Kevin Martin – 24 minutes, 15 points, 1 assist, 3 rebounds – B

Martin scored 12 of his points in the first half then was very quiet in the second. That’s expected from Martin these days. He was aggressive and knocked down all three of his three-point attempts but you were left wanting a little bit more from him. He’s just so bad defensively too that he can hardly challenge a player like J.R. Smith one-on-one. That makes it hard for Scott Brooks to play him.

Kendrick Perkins – 23 minutes, 5 points, 5 rebounds, 1 steal – C+

The initial plan looked to be to play Perkins whenever Tyson Chandler was on the floor. Brooks went away from this with the Thunder trailing late since they needed more scoring out there. That may have actually been the wrong move since the Thunder played so poorly defensively. You know Perkins would have been better in that department than Ibaka.

Thabo Sefolosha – 30 minutes, 8 points, 3 rebounds, 3 steals – B

He made two threes which is always a bonus and his defense was fine. The Knicks just made a lot of tough shots.

Nick Collison – 17 minutes, 2 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists – B

The problem with Collison is that he is too small to match up with someone like Chandler. He kind of got man-handled down low trying to get rebounds a few possessions and that’s why Brooks went to Ibaka instead of him. Theoretically, it makes sense to play Collison over Ibaka in the situation the Thunder were in yesterday, but since he was too small it wasn’t working out.

Reggie Jackson – 21 minutes, 13 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds – A+

Jackson looked like James Harden in the fourth quarter last night. He was running the high pick-and-roll and getting to the rim at will. He basically took over for a large portion of the game. Some silver lining from this game is that it was a huge confidence booster from Jackson who the Thunder will need to play like this in the playoffs.

Derek Fisher – 13 minutes, 0 points – C-

Fisher accounted for nothing in his 13 minutes. He did miss all three of his shots and commit one foul.

Scott Brooks – C+

It seemed like playing Ibaka late was probably the wrong move since the Thunder needed stops more than anything and Ibaka was so lost on defense. Also, why not Ronnie Brewer against his former team in a matchup that is perfect for him? Brooks must hate him. Loved the trust in going to Jackson late. Should have tried to use Durant differently on offense to get him going but probably saw good things still coming from him being double-teamed (KD had seven assists) so that’s why he didn’t adjust.

Apr 7, 2013; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony (7) handles the ball against Oklahoma City Thunder forward Serge Ibaka (9) during the first half at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

The Oklahoma City Thunder hosted the New York Knicks at home on Sunday and a Carmelo Anthony-fueled effort helped see the Knicks to a 125-120 victory at Chesapeake Energy Arena.

Anthony led the Knicks with 36 points and 12 rebounds and with them passed OKC’s Kevin Durant to become the NBA’s leading scorer. It was a landmark performance for Anthony for more reasons than one; he has scored 50, 41, 40 and now 36 points in four April games, making him the first Knick since Bernard King in the 1984-85 season to have four straight games of 35+ points.

As a team, the Knicks have now been the victors of 12 games in a row, the third-longest streak in franchise history and the first time they have sustained one of this length in 13 years.

For Oklahoma City, Russell Westbrook played a heck of a game, dropping 37 points, grabbing 11 boards and dishing out eight assists. He caught fire in the second half, and his effort went a long way in keeping the Thunder in this contest. Durant added 27 points as well.

With the loss, the Thunder’s 21-straight home victory record came to an end, and they fell one game behind San Antonio in the race for first place in the West. The Thunder have now lost just six games at home this season.

The Thunder started hot with a 16-5 run against the Knicks, and then became even more fortunate when Anthony went to the bench after recording two fouls in less than eight minutes. The Knicks rallied back from being down 21-14 however, thanks to a trio of big-time 3-pointers from Jason Kidd. They took the lead late in the first quarter, and never really relinquished it.

New York’s reserves came onto the court in the second quarter and started it with a 9-3 burst, and then Anthony returned, hit a left-wing jumper and a transition 3-pointer as a part of a 7-0 run that extended their lead to 12 points. Tyson Chandler put the exclamation point on the run, slamming down a two-handed dunk from J.R. Smith’s alley-oop to make it 65-53 in the final minute of the half. Oklahoma City was able to cut that lead a little before time ran out, as they got the final three points of the half on free throws.

After the break, Westbrook had a pair of steals to bring about a quick string of six straight Thunder points, and Oklahoma City was able to get within one point of New York lead five different times before Anthony hit another shot beyond the arc and followed that up by putting back his own missed shot for another two points.

The Knicks kept enough distance in the end to secure a five-point victory.

It was a thrilling clash between these two teams, and a potential preview of what’s to come in this year’s NBA Playoffs, which commence Apr. 20.

Oklahoma City now posts a 56-21 record, and will face the Utah Jazz next on Tues., Apr. 9.

Mar. 7, 2013; New York, NY, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder small forward Kevin Durant (35) shoots over New York Knicks center Tyson Chandler (6) during the second half at Madison Square Garden. Thunder won 95-94. Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports

The hottest team in the NBA will come into town to take on the Oklahoma City Thunder this afternoon at 1 p.m. EST.

The New York Knicks have won their last 11 games and their best player, Carmelo Anthony, is on a huge scoring tear.

Anthony has scored 50, 40 and 41 points in his last three games as he is closing on Kevin Durant for the scoring title. Durant is currently averaging 28.4 points per game this year and Anthony is right behind him at 28.3.

Today’s game will be a huge matchup not just because of the quality of teams but because of the scoring race. It will be on national television too so you know both Durant and Anthony are looking to outshine the other.

Containing Anthony and making him shoot inefficiently is certainly the number one priority for the Thunder. OKC will also have to defend the three-point line well and if they do those two things, should have no problem getting the victory.

The Knicks are going to have a very tough time trying to slow down Russell Westbrook and at home, the Thunder role players always seem to step up as well.

The Knicks currently lead the Pacers by two games for the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. The Thunder are a half game back of the Spurs for the top spot in the West. These teams aren’t considering resting their stars at this point in the season. Both very much want to win.

After today’s game, we should have a good idea of who will win the scoring title. It’s statement time for Durant and Anthony. With the game in OKC, my money is on KD.

Kevin Durant will tell you that he doesn’t care about it. But he has a chance to become just the third player ever to win the scoring title in four consecutive seasons if he does so this year.

Carmelo Anthony just took a big leap last night toward Durant’s league-leading 28.3 points per game when he dropped 50 points on the Miami Heat.

Anthony is now averaging 27.9 points per game and is really the only player with an actual chance to catch Durant in the scoring title race.

Anthony and the Knicks have nine games left this season. Durant and the Thunder will play eight more games.

The Knicks and Thunder still have a reason to play hard the rest of the season. The Knicks are currently tied with the Indiana Pacers for the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference and the Thunder are just a game back of the San Antonio Spurs for the top spot in the Western Conference.

The Thunder and Knicks will also play each other one last time this season this coming Sunday at 1 p.m. EST.

Both Durant and Anthony will have reason to play a lot of minutes down the stretch this season and therefore, score a lot more.

By the looks of it – and especially because of last night – Anthony may be in more of a scoring groove of late than Durant is.

We may be in store for another great finish in the scoring race this season between two players that many call the two best scorers in the game (I know, go figure).

Thunder fans are definitely rooting big time for Durant to win this. His season has been very much overshadowed this year by LeBron James. If Durant can become the third player ever to win four straight scoring titles (and do so by taking less shots per game than Russell Westbrook) and become just the seventh player ever to shoot join to 50-40-90 club then it will be a great consolation prize for him and the Thunder faithful.

Mar. 7, 2013; New York, NY, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook (0) and New York Knicks power forward Amar

The Oklahoma City Thunder escaped Madison Square Garden last night with a 95-94 win over the New York Knicks, who were without Carmelo Anthony for the game.

The Knicks rode a spark from J.R. Smith off the bench to surge into the lead by the start of the fourth quarter. Smith led New York with 36 points on the night and made six three-pointers.

Smith missed the potential game-tying shot as time expired when Russell Westbrook forced him into a fadeaway from the left wing and the shot came up short.

The Thunder improve to 45-16 on the year and have now won six of their last seven games. They’ll play again tonight on the road vs. the Charlotte Bobcats.

Here are the Game Grades:

Kevin Durant – 44 minutes, 34 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists – A-

Durant looked like he wanted to have a gigantic night playing in MSG for the only time this season. He was gunning late but ended up doing most of his work from the free throw line where he was 14-for-15. Durant struggled holding on to the ball too and turned it over seven times on the night, often while trying to make difficult passes.

Russell Westbrook – 36 minutes, 21 points, 5 assists, 6 rebounds – B

Westbrook came out on fire again and scored 15 points in the first quarter. Then he really cooled off and that was a big reason why the Knicks were able to come back and take the lead. Westbrook was settling for a lot of jumpers and couldn’t get to the rim late as much as he did early on.

Serge Ibaka – 40 minutes, 12 points, 9 rebounds, 5 blocks – A-

Ibaka played a lot of minutes probably because he was a real presence inside blocking shots early on. The Knicks went small and the Thunder followed suit with Ibaka at the center spot for most of the night. He went 5-for-7 from the field as well.

Kevin Martin – 32 minutes, 16 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists – B+

It was a rare game for Martin in which he had all-around numbers. He’s getting better at creating for teammates in the Thunder offense. He was really efficient shooting too as he went 4-for-6 from the field and 3-for-5 from behind the three-point line.

Kendrick Perkins – 20 minutes, 2 points, 8 rebounds, 1 block – C+

There was not a lot of need to play Perkins last night with the Knicks using so many small lineups. Perkins rebounded well while he was out there but that was about it.

Thabo Sefolosha – 31 minutes, 2 points, 1 rebound, 2 steals – C

Sefolosha only took two shots in the game and missed what was his only three-point attempt. He would have been much more valuable had Anthony played but really he was only used to space the floor last night and didn’t get a lot of looks.

Nick Collison – 10 minutes, 0 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist – B

Collison did not score and only took one shot but the Thunder outscored New York by eight in his 10 minutes. Other than that, nothing really stood out for Collison last night.

Reggie Jackson – 12 minutes, 8 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal – A-

Jackson was great again and last night made both of his three-point attempts. He also finished at the rim on a tough drive to the basket. It keeps feeling more and more like he will become a huge weapon for the Thunder very soon.

Derek Fisher – 15 minutes, 0 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal – D

It’s very troubling that Fisher is playing this much while someone like Ronnie Brewer is just sitting at the end of the bench. Fisher went 0-for-4 from the field and 0-for-2 from three last night.

Mar. 7, 2013; New York, NY, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook (0) goes up for a shot between New York Knicks center Tyson Chandler (6) and point guard Raymond Felton (2) during the first half at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports

J.R. Smith missed a jump shot as time expired as the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the New York Knicks 95-94 at Madison Square Garden Thursday night.

Smith led the Knicks with 36 points on the night and had 31 of those points in the second and third quarters. New York led 81-75 entering the final period but the Thunder shut down Smith and the Knicks in the final frame.

Kevin Durant led the Thunder with 34 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Durant played 44 minutes in the game and did a lot of his work at the free throw line where he was 14-for-15.

Carmelo Anthony did not play in the game for New York as he missed his second straight game with a sore right knee.

Russell Westbrook led the way early for OKC scoring 15 of his 21 points in the first quarter. Kevin Martin was super efficient with 16 points on 4-of-6 shooting off the bench.

The Knicks took the lead 94-93 with 1:38 left in the game after two free throws by Amare Stoudemire, who scored 16 points off the bench.

Durant would get to the line on the next possession for the Thunder and make both attempts, which turned out to be the game-winners for OKC.

The Thunder have now won six of their last seven games and pull to within two and a half games of the San Antonio Spurs for the best record in the Western Conference.

The Thunder will play again tomorrow night on the road vs. the Charlotte Bobcats.

Jan 14 2012; Oklahoma City OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook (0) gets congratulated by shooting guard Thabo Sefolosha (2), power forward Serge Ibaka (9) and small forward Kevin Durant (35) against New York Knicks during the third quarter at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Richard Rowe-USA TODAY Sports

The Oklahoma City Thunder will travel to take on the New York Knicks at 8 p.m. EST at Madison Square Garden.

This will be the first meeting this season between the two teams.

The big question coming in is the status of Caremlo Anthony who is currently listed as day-to-day with a knee injury. Anthony left early from New York’s game vs. Cleveland on Monday and did not play last night vs. the Detroit Pistons.

The Knicks have been playing well of late even without Anthony. They have won five of their last six games with the only loss coming to the Miami Heat.

New York comes into tonight with the third most efficient offense in the NBA behind only the Heat and the Thunder, who are first.

The Knicks are right in the middle of the pack when it comes to defense. They go small a lot but have some good perimeter defenders in Iman Shumpert and Jason Kidd that might be able to slow down Russell Westbrook somewhat.

Slowing down Kevin Durant is another story. Without Anthony, the Knicks will be in trouble trying to stop the leading scorer in the league right now.

The Knicks will have to win with great offense too. They will need to knock down threes and get good penetration from Raymond Felton. Then Tyson Chandler will need a big game on the offensive glass as well.

All of these things could happen but while the Thunder aren’t the best defense in the league, they have the athletes to make things like getting open three-point shots tougher to come by for a team like New York.

The Thunder have also won five of their last six and with the way Westbrook has been playing lately, it’s hard to imagine them losing to anyone.

Westbrook has been averaging 32.2 points, 5.8 assists and 5.5 rebounds per game over the Thunder’s last six games. Since the start of February, Westbrook has actually been scoring more than Durant.

The game will tip at 8 p.m. EST tonight and air nationally on TNT.

Feb 17, 2013; Houston, TX, USA; Western Conference forward Kevin Durant (35) of the Oklahoma City Thunder reacts with Eastern Conference forward Carmelo Anthony (7) of the New York Knicks and guard Dwyane Wade (3) of the Miami Heat in the second quarter of the 2013 NBA all star game at the Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

The Oklahoma City Thunder will travel to play the New York Knicks tonight which means two of the best pure scorers in the NBA will be facing off.

Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony are each playing the best basketball of their respective careers this season and have their teams as legitimate title contenders.

Whenever the debate comes up about who is the best pure scorer in the NBA, Durant and Anthony are talked about the most.

To try and decipher this debate, let’s break down scoring into these categories: outside shooting, off the dribble and back to the basket.

Outside shooting

This is Durant’s bread and butter. He has earned a reputation as not just one of the best outside shooters in today’s game, but of all-time as well. Durant’s shot is essentially unblockable because of his height and length and his range is unlimited.

Anthony can heat up as quickly as any player in the league and he’s shooting a career-high 38.3 percent from three this season. He seemed to have carried over the momentum he had this past summer with Team USA into this season where he was such a deadly outside shooter.

Anthony can’t match Durant’s prowess in this area. Durant is shooting 42.1 percent from three this season which is also a career-high. Durant is 10th in the NBA scoring 1.31 points per possession (PPP) on spot-up plays while Anthony is just 66th in the league scoring 1.11 PPP on those plays.

Advantage: Kevin Durant

Off the dribble

Durant has come a long way this season scoring off the dribble. He’s always had an alarmingly skilled handle for his size and this year he has done a great job cutting down on the turnovers and becoming more efficient.

Anthony is also very good off the dribble. When he puts his head down and gets into the paint, he becomes one of the toughest things to stop in this league.

Durant is 20th in the league scoring 0.90 PPP on plays where he is the pick-and-roll ball handler. Anthony ranks 4th scoring 1.04 PPP on those plays. On isolation plays, Durant is 14th scoring 0.97 PPP while Anthony is 43rd scoring 0.87 PPP.

This one is close but you have to give the nod to Durant here again.

Advantage: Kevin Durant

Back to the basket

Durant has been trying to play more with his back to the basket the longer he has been in the league. Since he can shoot over anybody, the closer he gets to the basket the more deadly he will become.

Anthony is really known as one of the best players in the post in the league. He is relentless inside and gets a lot of buckets from offensive rebounds. He is so quick with his first step and has a fantastic spin move that he can pull off in traffic.

Durant is 5th in the NBA scoring 1.06 PPP on post-up plays this season. Anthony is 11th in the NBA scoring 0.98 PPP on those plays. Anthony does post up more though and scores more on putbacks.

Advantage: Carmelo Anthony

Conclusion

Durant takes home the title of best pure scorer in the NBA. You might have been able to make a case for Anthony in the past but what Durant is doing this season is truly special. He has improved in all facets of his game and become an unmatched efficient scoring machine.

Tonight we will hopefully get to see the two leading scorers in the league go head-to-head. Anthony missed last night’s game with a knee injury and is still questionable for tonight.

Dec 15, 2012; New York, NY, USA; New York Knicks small forward Ronnie Brewer (11) moves the ball as Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving (2) defends during the first quarter at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

The Oklahoma City Thunder have made another trade just before the trade deadline today.

The Thunder have sent their own second round pick to the New York Knicks for Ronnie Brewer. The Thunder also acquire the draft rights to Giorgios Printezis in the deal.

This is a huge pickup for the Thunder who were desperately in need of another perimeter defender.

Brewer has earned a reputation as a great defender and should fit in well with the Thunder. He is kot a great perimeter shooter but he is a great athlete and another body the Thunder can throw on LeBron James.

The Thunder seem very committed to small ball with this move. They know they need to get deeper at the wing position and Brewer is a perfect fit.

Brewer was averaging 3.6 points and 2.2 rebounds in 15.5 minutes per game for the Knicks this season. He was shooting 36.6 percent from the field and 31.0 percent from the three-point line.

Brewer was one of the defenders the Chicago Bulls used to defend LeBron two years ago in the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Thunder will play their next game tomorrow night at home vs. the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Feb 16, 2013; Houston, TX, USA; Toronto Raptors guard Terrence Ross dunks after leaping over a youngster during the 2013 NBA all star slam dunk contest at the Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

Toronto Raptors guard Terrence Ross won the 2013 NBA Slam Dunk Contest beating out the defending champion Jeremy Evans of the Utah Jazz in the final round.

Ross got a fortunate first dunk score of 50 after needing five attempts to finish his slam. After that first dunk he was solid the rest of the way capping off the competition with a between-the-legs dunk over a small boy.

Evans relied on props as expected and was impressive to a degree but not enough to overcome Ross, who took home 58 percent of the fans’ votes.

The favorites, James White and Gerald Green, dimmed in the bright lights of All-Star Weekend. They both struggled to eve finish dunks while not even seeming to attempt the most difficult.

White first took off from the free throw line with two hands and received only a score of 45. His second dunk was planned to be one from the right wing where he switched hands with the ball but he was unable to complete it.

Green, who won the competition in 2007, tried dunking a ball twice in one leap after cutting off the net but could not do so after many tries.

This contest clearly need the game’s best players to compete. Whether it be LeBron James who could easily win it or even someone like Kevin Durant who could at least draw more attention to the event.

White and Green had a chance to put this event back on the map but they failed to do so. Ross was solid but that’s about it.

November 20, 2012; New Orleans, LA, USA; New York Knicks shooting guard James White (4) dunks against the New Orleans Hornets during the fourth quarter of a game at the New Orleans Arena. The Knicks defeated the Hornets 102-80. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

It’s NBA All-Star Weekend and the 2013 Slam Dunk Contest will be held tonight. The Saturday night festivities will begin at 8:30 p.m. EST. The dunk contest will be the final event and likely to start between 9:30-10:00 p.m. EST.

There won’t be any superstars participating in this year’s contest but there is more hope than usual that the contest will return to glory this year.

There is a new format this year where the six contestants will be divided into their respective conferences. There are two rounds where the best scores from each conference will then meet in a final round.

Here’s a look at each contestant and their dunking highlights:

Eastern Conference

James White, New York Knicks
Stats: 6.7 MPG, 1.8 PPG, 0.8 RPG

White is 30 years old and only in his third season in the NBA. He was drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers back in 2006 and has never really found a home in the league playing in just 44 career games so far. White’s claim to fame has always been his dunking. He finished second in the McDonald’s All-American Slam Dunk Contest and has become a YouTube sensation with some of his dunks in dunk contests around the world. This is the first time White has been on an NBA team at the time of All-Star Weekend so it is fitting that he will be competing in the contest as one of the favorites to win it. White loves getting running starts for his dunks and jumping off one foot. He will use his great speed to his advantage with at least a few attempts from the free throw line tonight.

Gerald Green, Indiana Pacers
Stats: 19.8 MPG, 6.6 PPG, 2.5 RPG

Green has a history with the NBA Slam Dunk Contest already having won it back in 2007. Like White, Green was also out of the league for a little while but has come back strong the past few seasons with the Brooklyn Nets and now Indiana Pacers. Green and White have met before in a dunk contest in Russia a few years back which is known as one of the best ever. Green is a two-footed dunker and gets up extremely high with his face nearly level with the rim often times.

Terrence Ross, Toronto Raptors
Stats: 16.9 MPG, 6.4 PPG, 2.1 RPG

Ross was drafted 8th overall by the Toronto Raptors in this past NBA Draft. He came in as a solid outside shooter and great athlete which he has lived up to with his invite to this contest. Ross will join a long list of participants from Toronto in the history of the dunk contest which includes Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady. Ross has been especially good with windmill dunks this season.

February 9, 2013; Sacramento, CA, USA; Utah Jazz power forward Paul Millsap (24) and center Al Jefferson (25) react after being called for a foul as Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins (15) looks on during the third quarter at Sleep Train Arena. The Kings defeated the Jazz 120-109. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

The Phoenix Suns have not had a very good season at all and are looking to be major players at the trade deadline.

The Arizona Republic is reporting that the Suns have engaged in trade talks with the Utah Jazz and New York Knicks regarding Al Jefferson, Gordon Hayward and Iman Shumpert.

Jefferson has had his name linked with trade rumors all season and most recently with the San Antonio Spurs when it was rumored they may be targeting him. The Jazz have plenty of big man and are looking to unload at least one of them whether it be Jefferson or Paul Millsap.

The Suns have been interested in Shumpert for awhile too as they tried to trade for him last summer in a deal that would have sent Steve Nash to the New York Knicks.

Phoenix would look to include Jared Dudley and Marcin Gortat in trades for any of these players.

If the Suns can acquire Jefferson or Shumpert they will still more than likely miss the playoffs and the affect in the Western Conference balance of power will be minimal. The Suns currently have the worst record in the conference.

Carmelo Anthony came out today and said he hopes that the Knicks don’t make any trades.

The real news here is that if the Suns are the team that acquires Jefferson, then the Spurs are not.

If the Spurs were to get Big Al it would surely give them a boost this season and possibly make them the favorites to be the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference.

Meanwhile, the Thunder just wrapped up their season series with the Suns beating them all four times.

Utah is currently the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference and would play the Thunder in the first round if the playoffs started today. You can’t imagine them getting any better by losing Jefferson and replacing him with a Gortat or Dudley.

The Jazz were very unlikely to have any kind of chance on the road in the first round of the playoffs this year anyway.

These potential trades are a good deal away from going down. What we know for sure is that the Suns are really interested in making a trade by the deadline and the Jazz are too.

The trade deadline is Feb. 21.

Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

We are a little more than a quarter of the way finished with the NBA season now. The Oklahoma City Thunder are currently the hottest team in the league with the best record and on an 11-game win streak.

The New York Knicks still hold the top spot in the Eastern Conference just a game and a half ahead of the Miami Heat. The Los Angeles Clippers and San Antonio Spurs are two games back each of the Thunder.

A few disappointments so far have been the Boston Celtics and Denver Nuggets who each would barely make the playoffs if they started today. But no team has been more disappointing than the Los Angeles Lakers so far.

Team success has a lot to do with MVP candidacy. Now let’s look at the players who are in the running for the award so far this year.

1. Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City Thunder

Durant still deserves the top spot here with the Thunder rolling the way that they are. Durant is putting up career numbers in terms of PER and true shooting percentage as he has a shot at joining the 50-40-90 club. His improvement from last season will be a big reason why he is considered the MVP so far this season especially with James Harden’s departure.

2. Carmelo Anthony, New York Knicks

The Knicks just keep winning while Anthony is playing the best basketball of his career. He really seems to have carried over his Olympic play to the NBA season and it has been perfect for this Knicks team. The veterans surrounding Anthony are only helping to lift him to another level this season too.

3. LeBron James, Miami Heat

You can’t drop LeBron too far down the MVP ladder. He’s still leading the league in PER and putting up better all-around numbers than anyone. The Heat just haven’t been winning quite as much as you’d expect. All it’s going to take is a big month or two from LeBron and the Heat for him to get back in poll position of this race.

4. Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers

What Kobe is doing at this age and leading the league in scoring as efficiently as he’s ever been is remarkable. The issue is the Lakers aren’t winning, at all. Once they do and most people still believe they will eventually get their act together, Kobe will be right up there in the MVP discussion.

5. Chris Paul, Los Angeles Clippers

The Clippers are quietly on a winning streak just as impressive as the Thunder’s. Paul is 5th in the NBA in PER behind only the four players ahead of him in these Power Rankings. The Clippers look much better than a season ago, more prepared to make a deep run in the playoffs. Their depth has been a big reason for their success though so it’s not all Paul which is why he ranks only 5th.

6. Zach Randolph, Memphis Grizzlies

The Grizzlies have gotten off to a great start this season thanks mostly to Randolph. Randolph isn’t near the top of the league in PER but his averages of 17.2 points and 12.7 rebounds per game will not go unnoticed by MVP voters. Memphis has shown that they are as tough as anyone in the league to match up with and Randolph being their power forward is the biggest reason why.

7. Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors

Curry has led the Warriors to the fifth best record in the Western Conference so far this season. The key has simply been his health. He’s averaging 19.7 points, 6.5 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game. His shooting numbers have not been their best either so expect those to rise as the season goes on. The Warriors have been one of the biggest surprises of the year playing this well so early. If they can keep it up, Curry will deserve some MVP attention.

8. Josh Smith, Atlanta Hawks

Smith and the Hawks have also surprised the NBA in their first season after Joe Johnson currently holding the third best record in the Eastern Conference. They have many impressive wins including against the Thunder in OKC. Smith is averaging 16.6 points, 8.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game to lead the Hawks.

9. Rajon Rondo, Boston Celtics

Rondo is still leading the league in assists by far and if the Celtics can get their act together and move up the standings in the Eastern Confernce, he will keep moving up in the MVP Power Rankings. He’s averaging 12.9 points, 12.7 assists and 5.3 rebounds per game this year as he looks to be playing the best ball of his career.

10. Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder

Westbrook will never win the NBA because he is on the same team as Kevin Durant but he still deserves to be ahead of others in the MVP Power Rankings. Like Durant, Westbrook is also having a career year passing the ball better than ever and playing defense at the highest level we’ve ever seen from him. The Thunder needed Durant and Westbrook to step up and fill the Harden void this year and both have done exactly that.

Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Kobe Bryant recently came out and called Carmelo Anthony his greatest personal defensive challenge, even more so than LeBron James.

The conversation became which player is the toughest to guard in the NBA. Quite a few feel Anthony is just that.

Two players obviously getting a slight here are LeBron and the 3-time defending scoring champion Kevin Durant.

The question here isn’t who is harder for a team to stop. That title would belong to LeBron for obvious reasons. It’s about defending someone one-on-one and that’s why Anthony leads the debate along with Durant.

Between Anthony and Durant, who is the tougher cover?

It’s hard to argue with the fact that Durant has led the league in scoring for each of the past three seasons and shoots a much higher percentage from the field than Anthony. But the way Anthony is playing this year, at an MVP-level, he is looking like one of the toughest players to match up with in the NBA.

Anthony’s biggest advantage over Durant is his work inside. He has a much more polished post-up game and gets a lot of buckets on the offensive glass. He is described as a bull in how he goes about scoring at times. Combine this with the way Anthony is shooting the ball from the outside this season and we have pretty complete scorer.

Durant goes about scoring differently mainly because of his frame. He is 3-4 inches taller and much thinner. He will shoot over you, get to the line with awkwardness and finesse his way to 30 points.

If you look at how each player is described, you can see why Kobe would say Anthony is tougher to cover. The perception of how Anthony scores comes with more effort than Durant, who does everything so effortlessly.

But that doesn’t necessarily make Anthony tougher to cover just because of perception.

Durant has been more efficient this season scoring 1.10 points per possession on the year compared to 1.06 PPP for Anthony. Durant is the better isolation scorer at 0.99 PPP compared to 0.90 for Anthony.

Anthony has been lights out in the pick-and-roll this year scoring 1.10 PPP as the pick-and-roll ball handler while Durant has struggled mightily in that depart at 0.60 PPP.

In the post, Anthony does it more but Durant has been more efficient scoring 1.17 PPP compared to 1.03 PPP for Anthony. Anthony has scored much more on putbacks however.

Durant and Anthony have each been great spot-up shooters this season with Durant scoring 1.32 PPP on spot-up plays and Anthony 1.25 PPP.

We see that Durant has been more efficient this season but Anthony takes more shots so that doesn’t necessarily tell the whole story.

It really comes down to a matter of taste. Is Anthony’s bull-like offensive approach where he is super physical tougher to cover or does Durant getting his so easily make him more unstoppable?

At the end of the day, if someone is dropping 40 on you without sweating, that makes them a tougher cover. Because just imagine what happens when you make them start sweating.

Richard Rowe-US PRESSWIRE

New York Knicks Team Overview

The Knicks went 36-30 last season and finished as the 7-seed in the Eastern Conference, meaning they would play the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs. That series only lasted five games and the Knicks ended the year feeling like a disappointment again.

It was a roller coaster-like season for the Knicks who began the season with Mike D’Antoni as their head coach and ended with Mike Woodson. They battled a lot of injuries in the season too which made it hard for them to find any kind of chemistry.

The Knicks season peaked during Linsanity when Jeremy Lin went on a remarkable stretch out of nowhere leading the Knicks to improbable win after improbable win. But Lin would be sidelined with an injury for the playoffs and without a point guard, Carmelo Anthony went into total iso mode vs. one of the best defenses in the league and the result was an ugly one.

There was a lot of movement for the Knicks this offseason and most notably the departure of Lin. The Knicks chose not to match the offer sheet that Lin agreed to with the Houston Rockets, letting him walk so as to avoid future luxury tax penalties. Landry Fields, Toney Douglas and Jared Jeffries are among the other key contributors from last year’s team that will be gone.

The Knicks are replacing Lin with Jason Kidd, Raymond Felton and Pablo Prigioni. Those three bring with them a lot of age and experience but it’s hard to imagine they will truly replace the 23-year old Lin.

Marcus Camby, Kurt Thomas and Ronny Brewer are the other players that will be coming on board next year who could see some solid playing time.

Perhaps the other big story for the Knicks this offseason has been Amare Stoudemire working out with Hakeem Olajuwon on his post game. Stoudemire has become stagnant in his career and had one of the worst years of his life last year which culminated in him punching a fire hydrant. A rejuvenated Stoudemire paired with an Olympic-like Anthony will be necessary for the Knicks to make any serious noise in the East next season.

Last year

The Oklahoma City Thunder played the Knicks once last year on Jan. 14 in OKC and won 104-92. The Knicks were without Anthony and this was a pre-Linsanity meeting.

The Thunder led by 27 after three quarters and 70-47 at halftime. Kevin Durant led OKC with 28 points in 28 minutes. Russell Westbrook had 21 points, eight assists and eight rebounds in 28 minutes. James Harden had 24 points in 27 minutes on 8-of-12 shooting.

The Thunder had their way with the Knicks who didn’t put up much of a fight. The Knicks shot 41.0 percent from the field and went 5-of-19 from three. They also turned the ball over 20 times.

The matchup

The Knicks offense was ranked just 20th in the league in terms of points per possession last season despite having D’Antoni for much of the year.

The Knicks ran isolation plays 16.9 percent of the time thanks to Anthony but were only 17th best in the NBA on those plays. They were in the middle of the pack on spot-up shooting plays (16th) and the pick-and-roll (15th) as well.

The Knicks actually were best in the league from the post but only went there for offense 4.5 percent of the time. Anthony led the way in that department scoring 0.96 PPP.

The Knicks did have the 7th best defense in terms of PPP though largely thanks to Tyson Chandler who would win the Defensive Player of the Year Award. They were 2nd defending the post and 8th vs. the pick-and-roll, two areas where Chandler drastically helped them.

The Thunder were the 2nd best isolation offense while New York was 17th vs. isolation plays. The Knicks were also only 27th vs. spot-up shooting plays, representative of how many poor defenders they had besides Chandler.

Next year

The Thunder will play the Knicks twice next season first on March 7 in New York and then in OKC on April 7.

It is really unknown if the Knicks can improve next year or if they will just have another season battling for the 6-8 seeds in the East. It will be a full season under Woodson and if they can keep with their defense-first philosophy led by Chandler, that is a move in the right direction.

Anthony needs to get to the next level of superstardom for this team to become serious contenders though. He was phenomenal for Team USA in the London Olympics but that isn’t something that will definitely carry over into the NBA next year.

The Thunder should have no problem matching up with the Knicks. The core of point guards are no match for Westbrook and Harden is a matchup nightmare as well.

Durant vs. Melo is fun but it’s really no contest as Durant has evolved into a much better player at this point in their careers.

The presence of Chandler could make a game vs. the Knicks difficult for OKC but the path they are on should mean a few easy wins next year vs. the Knicks.

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE

It’s the end of August and things have settled down somewhat in the NBA. There aren’t a lot of free agents left out there looking for teams and we have a good idea of what kind of roster everyone will have for the start of next season.

The summer began pretty quietly with the NBA Draft, were there wasn’t quite as many trades as usual. Then the biggest news came with restricted free agents until Dwight Howard was eventually traded.

Here is a look at some of the best and worst from this offseason.

Best

Los Angeles Lakers

The Lakers clearly lead the way as having the best offseason of anyone this summer. They started it off by trading for Steve Nash, shocking just about everyone as Nash decided to join his past rivals in chase of a ring. The Lakers immediately became a much stronger team after this trade as their point guard play has been very weak in the past few seasons.

Then the Lakers landed Howard in what was inevitable and surprising all at the same time. All-Star centers have a knack for finding their way to L.A. and the trade wasn’t completely out of the blue. But the Lakers really didn’t give up much at all to get Howard, just Andrew Bynum and Christian Eyenga.

The Lakers immediately became title contenders after the Howard trade. They kept Pau Gasol and now have a starting five considered possibly the best in the league. No one is going to hand the title over to them but there isn’t another team that improved as much as they did.

Brooklyn Nets

With the move to Brooklyn on the horizon for 2012-13, the Nets wanted to make sure they had a quality product on the floor to give their new city. The biggest move they made was locking up Deron Williams for the next five years.

The Nets were then very much in the hunt for Howard who even came out and said Brooklyn was the only place he wanted to play next year. A deal could not be found with the Magic and Brooklyn decided to go a different direction. They traded for Joe Johnson then re-signed Brook Lopez and Kris Humphries to hefty contracts.

The Nets are spending a lot of money for the team they have right now but the money isn’t a huge issue to their owner. The one problem is that they are pretty locked in to the core they have now and if it doesn’t work out, they will be in some trouble.

The acquisition of Johnson and locking up of Williams were great though. The Nets have a very good chance of contending in a weak Eastern Conference right now with the roster they have. Wherever Howard landed was going to make that team have the best offseason in the league but despite the Nets missing put on him, they did a pretty good job.

Boston Celtics

The Celtics were supposed to be on the way out, old and unable to compete for a title anymore. The moves they made this summer will extend that window a little longer. The Big 3 era is over now as Ray Allen signed with the Miami Heat this summer but that era was really already over anyway.

The Celtics started things off re-signing Kevin Garnett for a good price. They also drafted well addressing a need in their lack of size. They picked Jared Sullinger who slipped very late in the draft and has the potential to be one of the most talented players from this draft class. Then they picked a 7-foot center in Fab Melo.

Jason Terry decided to sign with the Celtics a little later, essentially replacing Allen’s role. The sneakiest move for Boston was a sign-and-trade to acquire shooting guard Courtney Lee who seems just what this team needs. Lee is a good outside shooter and solid wing defender that should mesh well with this roster.

The Celtics may still be a far way off from the Miami Heat but their roster looks better than it did last year despite the expectation that they were still on the decline.

Worst

Orlando Magic

The Magic were put in a no-win situation this year. Their franchise player wanted out and quit on the team. The Magic knew they couldn’t replace him and were going to take a significant step back next season. So they decided to stay strong and hold out for the best possible deal despite all the drama that was going on.

Then they traded Howard and the deal they ended up getting seemed pretty terrible. They weren’t able to get Bynum or Gasol from the Lakers in the deal, although they may not have really wanted either, and instead ended up with Arron Afflalo, Al Harrington, Nikola Vucevic and Moe Harkless. They also received four protected first-round picks which won’t be very valuable either.

The plan was to completely start over with new GM Rob Hennigan who wants to imitate the Thunder model. They are definitely doing that but good luck drafting your version of Durant-Westbrook-Harden-Ibaka in the next three drafts.

The Magic come away post-Howard looking closer to the Bobcats than a team that is young with a promising future. It never ends well when your star player wants out but how could it have gone worse for Orlando?

Houston Rockets

The Rockets made some of the most noise this summer as they tried to go all-in on acquiring Dwight Howard. That obviously didn’t work out and their consolation prize was restricted free agents Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik, not horrible but nothing even close to Howard.

While the Rockets were stockpiling assets to throw Orlando’s way, it started to look like they had the best package to woo the Magic. Later the rumored deals Houston was willing to trade to Orlando proved to be false and they weren’t offering quite that much for Howard.

The Rockets are parting ways with Luis Scola, Kyle Lowry, Goran Dragic, Marcus Camby and Chase Budinger from last year’s team while replacing those guys with not much. They do have three first-round draft picks that could be cool and Donatas Montiejunas is coming over next season.

The Rockets have a very good chance to have the worst record in the conference next season. Sometimes you have to get worse before you can get good and that seems to be Houston’s mindset right now.

New York Knicks

There wasn’t a lot the Knicks could do heading into this offseason but what ended up happening was embarrassingly bad. The worst thing was when they decided not to match Houston’s offer sheet for Lin. They are avoiding some harsh luxury tax penalties by parting ways with Lin, but letting him walk for nothing is truly unforgiveable.

The Knicks are replacing Lin with Jason Kidd and Raymond Felton. No one can get excited for that.

The Knicks were in the running for Nash too before the Lakers swooped in and got him. Not only did the Knicks lose Nash but Landry Fields as well, who signed a big offer sheet with Toronto that New York chose not to match.

When the Knicks acquired Amare Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony, they were supposed to start competing for NBA championships. It still feels like they are very far away from this and it’s hard to see how they can change that too.

Where the Thunder fit in

The Thunder had a quiet offseason for the most part and that’s how they like it. They weren’t the best or worst, and closer to one of the best if anything. In the draft, picking Perry Jones who fell so far to them is a great pick. He has nothing but potential and if he doesn’t work out, no big deal either.

The Thunder then made some headlines a few days ago locking up Serge Ibaka for the next four years. James Harden is next on the list and those close to the team really feel like that will happen soon.

The Thunder will improve next year simply from experience and are still the favorites in the Western Conference. There’s nothing wrong with that.

This has yet to matter though as Team USA is 3-0 so far in Olympic play most recently dominating Nigeria to the fullest with an 83-point victory.

Team USA makes up for its lack of size with superior talent. In particular with three players, that are playing somewhat out of position than we’re used to seeing them in the NBA.

Kevin Durant, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony have each assumed roles with this team where they are playing power forward and sometimes center. This is something that became necessary for Mike Krzyzewski to do once the likes of Dwight Howard and Chris Bosh weren’t going to be on the team and it has worked our just fine.

Playing the four isn’t a totally foreign concept for these three. In fact, you could argue that their NBA teams were most successful when each of these players played the four for them.

A big reason why the Miami Heat won the NBA title this season was because they went to a smaller lineup after Bosh got injured that featured LeBron at the four. It worked so well without Bosh that when he returned at the end of the Eastern Conference Finals, head coach Erik Spoelstra stuck with it all the way through the NBA Finals.

LeBron morphed into a version of Larry Bird using his distributor skills from the low block and posing mismatch problems even more so than usual with his new position.

While not as dramatic as LeBron changing positions, many argue that the Thunder are at their best when Durant plays the four. He stretches the floor as well as anyone in the league and has the length to contend with taller players inside.

The Thunder become more of an up-and-down team when he plays the four and Serge Ibaka is next to him at the five. They give up more on the defensive end with this lineup but their offense takes on a new form that is almost impossible to truly matchup with.

The Knicks too experienced some of their best success last season with Anthony at the four while Amare Stoudemire was out of the lineup. Anthony has showed in the past in the Olympics his ability to play the four and is doing it again this summer as he just set a U.S. Olympic record with 37 points vs. Nigeria.

This is what the future of the NBA will be. There was a time when teams liked their bigger lineups, ones that might prefer Anthony Mason or Robert Horry at the three. That was the 1990’s and the game is different now and perhaps ready to take an even more dramatic step forward in terms of positions.

There are more skilled athletes than ever in the NBA today. Players like LeBron and Durant are the best in the league largely because of what they can do with a basketball despite their huge frames.

Pat Riley has come out and said that the Heat will not necessarily be looking for a center for next season despite that being one of the obvious holes of their roster. They are committed to sticking with what worked last season in moving LeBron to the low block.

The Knicks too are considering this with their head coach Mike Woodson recently discussing smaller lineups with Ronnie Brewer.

The Thunder became more versatile this year with some of the pickups they made. Two new players that will likely crack their rotation this year are Eric Maynor who was injured last season after playing only nine games and rookie Perry Jones.

Jones matches the future direction of the NBA as well as anyone. Once he would have been considered a soft big who didn’t rebound enough or score enough from the block. Now he is a matchup nightmare because of his versatility. And lined up next to Durant will give the Thunder something that will be just about impossible for any team to match up with.

We will continue to try and find something about this 2012 U.S. Olympic team that will make them beatable. Spain and Brazil’s size is the one thing that looks like could give Team USA trouble.

But maybe that’s not the case at all. Maybe Team USA is better off with this lineup, becoming more versatile and being able to play the brand of basketball that will be displayed for years to come in the NBA.

Basketball is always evolving and Durant, LeBron and Melo are the next evolution.

Jeff Hanisch-US PRESSWIRE

The New York Knicks had until tonight at midnight to decide if they would match the offer sheet Jeremy Lin signed with the Houston Rockets. According to Howard Beck of the New York Times, the Knicks have decided not to match the offer.

When word of Lin and the Rockets reaching an agreement on this offer sheet was first announced, the Knicks were thought to without question be planning to match it. Then the Knicks traded for Jason Kidd and Raymond Felton and their plans to keep Lin went away.

Lin will make $25.1 million over three years with the Rockets. Had the Knicks matched they would have paid Lin $5 million in year one, $5.225 million in year two and then a whopping $14.8 million in the third year.

By that third season if the Knicks kept Lin they could incur a tax penalty of around $43.75 million.

That seems like a lot but the Knicks would have more than made up for that in other profits the team would see because of Lin.

The stock of Knicks parent company MSG is up 20 percent since Linsanity began, with Nate Silver of the New York Times reporting that MSG’s market capitalization has gained $600 million since that fateful day in February when Lin took over as the Knicks’ starting point guard.

So what happens to MSG if the Knicks fail to retain Lin? “As of late Monday morning, on the mere possibility that Lin might not be re-signed, MSG stock had lost about $50 million in market value,” Silver wrote. This was on a rumor — imagine what the company’s losses will be if losing Lin becomes a reality.

via ESPN’s Larry Coon

The Knicks would have other options too in dealing with Lin’s loaded third year. They could trade him before that season or waive him. If they were to waive him, the new “stretch provision” in the CBA would have allowed New York to stretch out Lin’s 2014-15 salary over three seasons giving them more cap room for those years and much less of a luxury tax hit.

It is hard knowing this to think why the Knicks could possibly decide against matching Houston’s offer for Lin. They’re letting a 23-year old point guard walk who took the city by storm last season and losing a ton of money in the process.

The Rockets and GM Daryl Morey are more than happy that they will get Lin. Lin will make a huge impact in terms of jersey sales and ticket sales and is a great consolation prize for Houston if they are unable to land him.

The Rockets’ point guards thrived in a pick-and-roll heavy system last season very similar to how Lin thrived under Mike D’Antoni when he first came on. It will be a better basketball fit for Lin in Houston.

The Rockets also don’t have to pay Lin the huge 2014-15 salary and risk tax penalties then. They have the cap space now and will have a cap hit of around $8.3 million each season instead.

Houston still plans to keep trying to trade for Dwight Howard. Lin may not help the situation much and could put Houston in a tougher situation than they were before to land Howard, especially if Chicago chooses not to match Omer Asik’s offer sheet Houston offered him.

Howard Smith-US PRESSWIRE

Jeremy Lin will most likely be wearing a Houston Rockets uniform next season. The New York Knicks are very unlikely to match the offer sheet Houston and Lin agreed upon and are prepared to let Linsanity walk.

The Knicks matching Lin’s offer sheet seemed as certain as anything before Saturday night. Then the Knicks pulled off a sign-and-trade with the Portland Trailblazers for point guard Raymond Felton.

The Knicks would now have two point guards on their roster in Felton and Jason Kidd and paying a third in Lin the kind of money they’d have to just doesn’t make sense, even for the Knicks.

Lin’s 3-year offer sheet with Houston has him making $5 million in year one, $5.225 million in the second year and a whopping $14.8 million in the final year. It’s that third year that reportedly is keeping New York away from Lin as they’d likely incur around $30 million in luxury tax penalties that season with Lin on the books.

Lin at 23 years old gave the NBA world one of the best stories last season. He came out of nowhere playing on the biggest stage in the league and put up All-Star caliber numbers. Linsanity didn’t last long, just a few weeks really, but it was enough to get him paid this summer.

The money Lin will make in the third year of this contract is too much. The sample size for his production is small and there are doubters out there who don’t think he’ll reach the All-Star level of play he demonstrated this past season.

Lin brings so much more to the table though with ticket sales and jersey sales that a team is likely to make up for overpaying him some with the profits they’ll earn elsewhere. That is unless your payroll is violently beyond the luxury tax threshold like New York’s would be.

The Knicks are playing it kind of safe for once. Lin can be good in this league but needs a lot of help to do so. In Mike D’Antoni’s system, a point guard will always put up numbers and that’s what Lin did. That isn’t the case as much playing for Mike Woodson.

Lin has huge turnover problems too. He isn’t even really a true point guard and it’s not like he’s an elite athlete either. Lin will have to continue to prove people wrong to make in this league. Houston will be a good fit for his game as they feature their points in the pick-and-roll similar to how D’Antoni does.

Parting ways with Linsanity has to be a tremendously tough decision for the Knicks front office. Beyond basketball it won’t be easy for them to throw away all of the potential Lin could bring the organization.

The Rockets know about that potential and they plan to capitalize on it. They’re still “all-in” for Dwight Howard but a Plan B of Lin on the team Yao Ming used to play for isn’t too bad.

New York will complete this offseason making the most noise by not making moves than by making them. They lost out on Steve Nash, let Jeremy Lin walk and there’s a new team in town ready to steal their thunder.

The Knicks have a long road ahead of them to be considered a championship-caliber team. They’ll have to be patient as they try and find the pieces that fit but that’s a hard thing to do in a city like New York.

The Knicks were believed all along to be planning to match the offer sheet Jeremy Lin signed with the Houston Rockets for three years, $25 million but now trading for Felton makes it seem like the Knicks will pass on Lin.

The Knicks would incur some pretty steep luxury tax penalties if they were to match Houston’s offer for Lin but many believe the value of Lin in New York and his effect on ticket/jersey sales would be able to make up for it.

Lin played in 35 games for the Knicks this season and averaged 14.6 points and 6.2 assists per game. Felton played for the Knicks in the 2010-11 season and averaged 17.1 points and 9.0 assists per game.

The deal between New York and Portland will also involve the Knicks sending Jared Jeffries and Dan Gadzuric to the Blazers for Kurt Thomas along with Felton. Felton will be set to make around $10 million over the next three years with New York.

The Knicks could still potentially match Houston’s offer for Lin but after also trading for Jason Kidd this offseason, acquiring a third point guard in Lin doesn’t seem to make much sense.

The Rockets will be happy to get Lin although their main priority is still Dwight Howard. Lin thrived in the pick-and-roll under Mike D’Antoni and Houston is a system that loves their point guards in the pick-and-roll with Kyle Lowry and Goran Dragic doing so well in it last year.

The latest rumors on Howard’s potential movement now involve a 3-team trade between Orlando, Cleveland and the Lakers that would send Howard to L.A. and Andrew Bynum to Cleveland.

Although now that deal looks to not be happening either, according to Sam Amico of Fox Sports.

The Magic would make out of the deal with a package of picks and prospects, according to Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld. This potential deal is very far from being done but does seem the most likely trade Howard would accept.

It is unlikely that any team would be able to offer a greater package of picks and prospects than Houston though.

Howard trade rumors are different every few days but many still believe the Lakers have the best chance of getting him like they’ve done so many times before with the NBA’s best centers.

Douglas Jones-US PRESSWIRE

The Orlando Magic have stopped making progress on a potential Dwight Howard trade for the time being. The Brooklyn Nets are now out of the picture and no deal elsewhere seems imminent for Howard.

Orlando was close to a deal with the Nets. They would have received three future first round picks and Brook Lopez and would have given up Howard and one of their bad contracts. The deal never looked great for the Magic and that’s why it wasn’t much of a surprise when it fell through.

The Lakers appear to have possibly the best package to send Orlando’s way with Andrew Bynum. But Bynum hasn’t agreed to re-sign with the Magic past next season leaving Orlando holding out for more.

The Magic and GM Rob Hennigan seem more interested in acquiring picks and young players than a replacement for Howard in Bynum that would leave the team in a similar situation trying to keep him.

The Houston Rockets have emerged as the team with the best possible offer for Howard. It is a deal that the Magic should take advantage of and get done as soon as possible.

Houston is doing everything possible to get a chance at Howard most recently cutting cap room so that they will be able to absorb a few bad contracts from the Magic. The Rockets have amnestied Luis Scola which means they would be able to take on Glen Davis, Jason Richardson and Chris Duhon along with Howard.

The Rockets can put together a package involving multiple future first round picks, Kevin Martin, Patrick Patterson, Marcus Morris, Chandler Parsons and the rights to their three first round picks this year, Jeremy Lamb, Royce White and Terrence Jones.

The Magic can do exactly what they wanted to all along if they make a deal with the Rockets. Orlando gets to part ways with Howard and clear a ton of cap essentially allowing them to start over from scratch with a bunch of young talented players as well.

Howard has yet to agree to re-sign with the Rockets after next season if he is traded there but Houston and GM Daryl Morey remain optimistic they would be able to convince Howard to stay after a season with the team.

While the Rockets are going all in to acquire Howard, they have also made a few offer sheets to restricted free agents Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik. If Lin and Asik’s offers are matched by the Knicks and Bulls then the Rockets will have more cap space to go after Howard. The Rockets don’t want to pull out of any of the promised offer sheets either.

The Knicks are expected to match Lin’s offer sheet despite the Rockets increasing the amount in the deal. It was first reported that Houston offered Lin a 3-year, $19 million deal but has since increased to a 3-year, $25 million deal.

The Knicks could incur upwards of $45 million in luxury tax penalties by the third year of Lin’s contract if they match. All indications are that the Knicks aren’t too concerned about entering the luxury tax penalties over the next three seasons.

Camby will sign a 3-year, $13.2 million deal. The Rockets will receive Toney Douglas, Josh Harrelson and Jerome Jordan along with second round picks in 2014 and 2015.

Camby was deciding between a few teams including the Miami Heat but would have had to take much less money to go play in South Beach.

The Knicks have also come to terms with their two shooters from last season, Steve Novak and J.R. Smith.

Novak has agreed to a 4-year, $15 million deal with New York and Smith a 2-year, $2.8 million deal.

New York is putting together what feels like a better roster than last season’s. Not getting Steve Nash was devastating but they are still making progress.

Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert is a restricted free agent this summer and agreed to a 4-year, $58 million offer sheet with Portland. Indiana expectedly plans to match that offer.

Free agents cannot officially sign until July 11 and at that point, teams will have three days to match any offer sheets that are signed.

The Orlando Magic are still working on getting a deal done to trade Dwight Howard. Yesterday, a third team (the Cleveland Cavaliers) was brought into the mix with Orlando and Brooklyn. Now the Nets are looking to involve the Los Angeles Clippers as well.

Brooklyn wants to trade MarShon Brooks to the Clippers for another first rounder to use in the package they will send Orlando in exchange for Howard.

The deal still looks like highway robbery for the Nets and it is unclear if the deal is really close enough for the Magic to say yes.

The Clippers would make out great if they can swap a first round pick for Brooks who had a very nice rookie campaign.

The Magic want to get something back for Howard. They’re not just trying to get rid of him, at least not yet.

Orlando is willing to wait all the way until the trade deadline of next season if they have to and don’t have a deal worthy of Howard by then.

The Brooklyn Nets were the first team in the running to trade for Howard. But a deal involving Brook Lopez, Kris Humphries, MarShon Brooks and picks never satisfied Orlando. The Nets moved on and traded for Joe Johnson instead, making it even more difficult for them to pull off a trade for Howard.

Howard said that Brooklyn was the only place he wanted to go and the only place where he’d agree to re-sign with past next season.

After Brooklyn fell off, the Los Angeles Lakers appeared to be the most likely suitor for Howard. They have the best individual trade piece for Howard in Andrew Bynum but Bynum is also in the final year of his contract next year and hasn’t agreed to re-sign in Orlando if he is traded there.

The Magic aren’t interested in dealing Howard just to rent Bynum for a season. They’re holding out for more.

A dark horse for Howard may be the Atlanta Hawks. After trading Joe Johnson and Marvin Williams away, new GM Danny Ferry appears to be trying for a dream scenario that would involve bringing Howard and Chris Paul to the Hawks in 2013-14.

Howard is from Atlanta but has not said anything about wanting to play there.

The Dallas Mavericks are another team with an outside shot to get Howard. Dallas went all-in on Deron Williams this offseason and they did not land him. They are left with a depleted roster but plenty of cap space to entice Howard with a max-deal next summer if he is a free agent then.

The Magic want to get rid of Howard, that’s for sure, but they’re not going to do it for nothing. They know they are rebuilding anyway and are in no hurry to trade Howard.

Howard may not even be healthy yet by the start of next season as he is still rehabbing his back.

Another center on the market now is Marcus Camby. Camby is reportedly deciding between the Miami Heat and New York Knicks.

The Knicks appear to be the frontrunner as the Heat can only offer Camby the veteran minimum of $1.4 million per year. New York is looking to do a sign-and-trade for Camby and give him $3.09 million per season.

The Heat recently signed Ray Allen of course and if they are somehow able to get Camby too that would be a home run for them in free agency. It looks unlikely however as there is a good chance Camby will be returning to play in New York next season.

Fisher was signed by the Oklahoma City Thunder last season after the Los Angeles Lakers traded him to the Houston Rockets where he was waived. Fisher chose the Thunder over the Miami Heat.

The Thunder were in need of a backup point to finish out last season after Eric Maynor had torn his ACL after just nine games and the rookie point experiment of Reggie Jackson was not thriving by any means.

Fisher came in and did his job and made a few big shots during the playoffs. That was expected.

Thunder head coach Scott Brooks did seem to like playing Fisher a little too much, often using him in OKC’s small lineups instead of a player like Thabo Sefolosha. Brooks would ride the hot hand after Fisher made a shot or two but usually it didn’t quite pay off for the Thunder.

Fisher is still considering the Thunder this offseason but it is very unlikely they are interested in signing him. Maynor is expected to be recovered from his injury next season and the Thunder have already signed Hasheem Thabeet in free agency and drafted Perry Jones III leaving just one more open roster spot.

The Thunder are not looking to add a fourth point guard unless they elect to re-sign Royal Ivey for very little money which is still a possibility.

Fisher, Ivey and Nazr Mohammed are the three Thunder players from last year’s team that may not be back in 2012-13. In fact, cross Fisher and Mohammed off that list for sure.

A lot of teams and players are making a lot of news in this so far exciting NBA free agency period but the Thunder are forced to stand pat.

The No. 1 priority for OKC is working on extensions for James Harden and Serge Ibaka and possibly Maynor as well. The task of keeping Harden and Ibaka long-term is not an easy one and it is believed that both will have to accept less money to remain with the team down the road.

The last thing the Thunder want to see is the free agency market determine their values. We have seen already this offseason what that can mean with Eric Gordon receiving a max-offer from Phoenix and the money being thrown at guys like Roy Hibbert and Nicolas Batum.

Both Harden and Ibaka can expect to see excessive cash offered their way if they are free agents next summer. OKC does not want to see that happen.

Lin will be able to sign it officially on July 11 then the Knicks will have three days to match. The deal is worth $10.2 million over the first two seasons and $9.3 million in the third and fourth year with the final year being a team option.

The Knicks can offer Lin a 4-year, $24.5 million deal.

Jason Kidd surprisingly chose the Knicks over the Dallas Mavericks. Kidd was rumored to be close to re-signing with Dallas and was earlier rumored to plan to follow Deron Williams wherever he signed.

Kidd’s deal with New York will be a 3-year, $9 million deal.

Every indication is that the Knicks will match the offer sheet for Lin and team up the two point guards. A lack of a point guard was a glaring hole in the Knicks’ roster during the playoffs. Carmelo Anthony turned into an isolation machine playing right into the hands of the Miami Heat defense.

Kidd and Lin should be able to help with that, especially Kidd who has the right personality to control things on offense even next to a superstar like Anthony.

The Minnesota Timberwolves made a few big signings last night.

Brandon Roy has come out of retirement and agreed to a 2-year, $10.4 million deal with the T-Wolves. Minnesota also signed another former Blazer in Nicolas Batum to a 4-year, $45 million offer sheet although Portland reportedly plans to match any offer for Batum.

The Timberwolves clearly are looking to strengthen their wing positions to surround Ricky Rubio and Kevin Love with better guys. Minnesota also traded for Chase Budinger before the NBA Draft.

Trade talks between the Los Angeles Lakers and Orlando Magic for Dwight Howard have lessened. The Lakers after trading for Steve Nash now intend to keep their core of Nash, Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum.

Bynum was involved in trade rumors that would send him to Orlando in a deal for Howard but the Magic have not shown a lot of interest in any deal presented to them this offseason.

The Brooklyn Nets are still trying to work on a deal to get Howard although they’re chances of landing them seem increasingly less.

Ray Allen has narrowed down his decision of where he wants to play to the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics. The Los Angeles Clippers were thought to be int he running yesterday before signing Jamal Crawford and Chauncey Billups.

The Heat appear to be the frontrunner although only able to offer Allen $3.09 per year while Boston has offered Allen a 2-year, $12 million deal.

Thomas Campbell-US PRESSWIRE

The Houston Rockets have agreed to trade point guard Kyle Lowry to the Toronto Raptors for a future first round pick and Gary Forbes.

Lowry and Rockets head coach Kevin McHale had a falling out and Lowry has been looking to get out ever since.

The Rockets have made an offer sheet to restricted free agent Jeremy Lin for four years, $30 million. The New York Knicks are expected to match the offer for Lin especially after failing to acquire Steve Nash who became a Laker last night.

The earliest Lin can sign it is July 11 then the Knicks will have three days to match it. The Knicks have also emerged as the favorite to sign Raymond Felton.

The Raptors were also hopeful to land Nash so much that they agreed to an offer sheet of three years, $20 million with Landry Fields. The Raptors won’t totally lose out as they settle for Lowry as a decent consolation prize.

The Los Angeles Clippers have effectively taken themselves out of the running for Ray Allen by signing Jamal Crawford to a 3-year, $15.7 million deal. Allen was set to meet with the Clippers on Friday.

The Clippers have also agreed on a 1-year deal for Chauncey Billups.

The Clippers were a tough team last season that gave the Oklahoma City Thunder some trouble in the regular season. They were obviously in the market for a two guard after being forced to start Randy Foye there in the playoffs.

Lob City was swept by the San Antonio Spurs in the second round but have made some nice moves to prepare for next season including trading for Lamar Odom.

As we always forget about the Spurs during this time of the year, the top of the West is looking like OKC, LA, LA right now.

Meanwhile, Allen is meeting with the Heat today and is now expected to sign there even though Boston is offering Allen nearly double in salary that Miami can.

Nash will go to the Lakers in a sign-and-trade with the Lakers being able to absorb Nash’s contract because of the trade exception they received when they traded Lamar Odom to the Dallas Mavericks last year.

Nash is set to sign with the Lakers for three years in a deal worth around $25 million.

The Lakers will receive four draft picks from Phoenix in the deal, first rounders in 2013 and 2015 and second rounders in 2013 and 2014.

The Lakers’ name came up as a possible destination for Nash Tuesday night but then it was rumored Phoenix would not deal Nash to their old nemesis.

The Knicks emerged as the favorite to get Nash today in what would have been their own sign-and-trade sending Iman Shumpert to the Suns.

The Toronto Raptors also went all in on Nash offering him a 3-year, $36 million deal as well as offering Landry Fields a 3-year, $20 million in an attempt to prevent New York from working out a sign-and-trade with the Suns for Fields.

The storyline surrounding the Lakers for much of last season was that they needed a point guard. When they traded for Ramon Sessions it was a big deal. So trading for Nash now is that much bigger of a deal in L.A.

Nash is 38 years old but played some great basketball last season. It will be interesting to see the dynamic between him and Kobe Bryant but you have to figure they will find a way to make it work.

Here is Nash’s statement regarding the trade via ESPN:

For the last 8 seasons I’ve been blessed to play for a team and a city that has embraced me and that I have come to call home. This is a tough business and the only thing constant in life is change.

After talking with (owner) Robert (Sarver) and (president of basketball operations) Lon (Babby) we’ve agreed that it’s time for both of us to move in new directions. I approached them and asked if they would be willing to do a sign and trade deal with L.A. because it is very important to me to stay near my children and family.

They were very apprehensive and didn’t want to do it. Fortunately for me, they reconsidered. They saw that they were able to get assets for their team that will make them better, assets they would not have otherwise had and it made sense for them to do a deal that helps their team get better.

I couldn’t be more grateful to the organization and Robert in particular. I know how hard this was for him and that fact that he was able to help me and my family in this way … it means a lot and says a lot about his character. I will never forget this gesture. Above and beyond.

The Phoenix Suns are an amazing organization and fans should be excited about their future. I hope the Suns win a championship some day soon for all the amazing fans and wonderful people in the organization.

Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE

The New York Knicks may have become the front-runner to land Steve Nash, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

The Knicks are in the process of working out a deal where Nash and the Phoenix Suns would be a part of a sign-and-trade involving Iman Shumpert. The potential deal for Nash would be three years and worth between $27 million-$30 million.

Nash’s named was linked with the Los Angeles Lakers yesterday but any potential deal between Phoenix and L.A. apparently fell through because the Suns do not want to trade Nash to their old rival.

Phoenix would also receive Toney Douglas and Dan Gadzuric as part of the deal. The Suns were close to drafting Shumpert in last year’s draft which could sweeten the deal for them.

The Knicks would prefer not to trade Shumpert but “will if they have to” to get Nash.

The Toronto Raptors previously seemed like the team most likely to sign Nash. Toronto was prepared to offer Nash a 3-year, $36 million deal and also offered restricted free agent Landry Fields a 3-year, $20 million deal in an attempt to prevent New York from getting Nash.

The dream scenario for the Knicks right now would be the sign-and-trade for Nash as well as re-signing Jeremy Lin, according to ESPN’s Marc Stein. The Knicks would be committing upwards of $82 million to five players in the 2014-15 season if they get Nash and Lin.

The Houston Rockets are meeting with Lin today and are expected to offer him a deal worth around $30 million. The deal would be heavy on the back end with Lin making around $5 million per year in the first two years then around $10 million per in the final two.

The Knicks intend to match any offer sheet Lin signs with another team.

The Raptors were the first team to go all in on Nash and now the Knicks have countered. If New York can snag Nash from the Raptors, the move to sign Fields by Toronto will really look bad.

Nash in New York, reunited with Amare Stoudemire and possibly taming the trigger-happy Carmelo Anthony, would be heaven for Knicks’ fans. It wouldn’t necessarily be enough to call the Knicks contenders to the Miami Heat but it has to be seen as progress.

The Raptors have reportedly reached a verbal agreement with restricted free agent Fields for a 3-year, $20 million deal.

This thwarts any plans the New York Knicks had of pulling off a sign-and-trade with Fields to Phoenix for Nash. The Knicks could still match Toronto’s offer for Fields but the Suns would be much less interested in trading Nash for Fields at that price.

The Raptors, who have offered Nash a 3-year, $36 million deal, are now essentially putting up $56 million to bring Nash in if you include what they’ll pay Fields.

Nash may 38 years old but he had an excellent season last year and will immediately make the Raptors a playoff team in the Eastern Conference. The city will love Nash and the Raptors will become one of the most exciting teams in the conference.

This is what the train of thought is for the Raptors. They know they aren’t winning a title any time soon so why not go all in on Nash and put their team on the map?

The Knicks will now almost definitely re-sign Jeremy Lin or match any offer sheet he signs with someone else. The Knicks were also rumored to possibly consider Raymond Felton is they could not sign Nash.

J.R. Smith is said to be leaning towards re-signing with New York as well.

Here are draft grades for every team:

New Orleans Hornets
No. 1 overall – Anthony Davis, PF, Kentucky
No. 10 overall – Austin Rivers, G, Duke
No. 46 overall – Darius Miller, G/F, Kentucky

The Hornets really couldn’t go wrong possessing the first overall pick in the draft and chance to take Anthony Davis. Davis has a chance to be a franchise changer and playing alongside Eric Gordon in New Orleans is a good start. The Hornets took Rivers 10th overall which is what they wanted to do. The Hornets believe Rivers can play some point for them although he is a scoring guard at heart. Gordon is a good playmaker himself though so the two may be able to share ball handling duties a la Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry. The Darius Miller pick is nice too. He is an athlete that could make it in the NBA and was a teammate of Davis’ at Kentucky.

Grade: A+

Oklahoma City Thunder
No. 28 overall – Perry Jones, III, F, Baylor

To win a championship, sometimes it takes a little luck. The Thunder got the steal of the 2012 NBA Draft with the No. 28 pick. Perry Jones III we knew was going to fall because of concerns mainly surrounding his knee but sliding this far to a franchise that is perfect for him just seems unfair to the rest of the league. It was a Spurs-like snag for OKC and they know it already. Jones III has lottery talent and top-5 pick potential. One knock on him is that he never really stepped up and dominated and was more of a supporting role type of mindset and player. Well, come on down to OKC that sounds just fine!

Grade: A+

Charlotte Bobcats
No. 2 overall – Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, SF, Kentucky
No. 31 overall – Jeffrey Taylor, G/F, Vanderbilt

The Bobcats were supposed to either trade the No. 2 pick or take Thomas Robinson if they couldn’t. Instead, they shocked everyone selecting Michael Kidd-Gilchrist second overall. MKG is a player that will shine no matter where he plays, even in Charlotte. He has the potential to be the second best player in this draft class and it was a wise choice to make here by Michael Jordan. Jeffrey Taylor is a good pick too in the second round. Taylor was projected to go a little earlier in the draft and is a nice value find at 31.

Grade: A

Washington Wizards
No. 3 overall – Bradley Beal, SG, Florida
No. 32 overall – Tomas Satoransky, G, Czech Republic

The Wizards got the man they wanted at No. 3 but had to hold their breath and pray before doing so. As the Bobcats were shopping the No. 2 pick, any team that may have gotten it was probably going to take Bradley Beal second overall. The Wizards desperately wanted an elite shooter and wing to place alongside John Wall and they believe Beal is that guy. Beal measured just under 6-foot-5 so he’s not huge but he is physical and can do a lot of things on a basketball court. Tomas Satoranksy in the second round apparently is friends with Jan Vesely which makes that pick awesome too.

Grade: A

Sacramento Kings
No. 5 overall – Thomas Robinson, PF, Kansas

It was impossible not to fall in love with Thomas Robinson watching him break down after being selected fifth overall by the Kings. He won over a lot of fans with that reaction. Robinson is touted as one of the surest things at the top of this draft. The Kings wanted him bad too at No. 5, more than anybody else. Sacramento was going to pull off a trade with this pick with Houston if Robinson was off the board but obviously that didn’t happen. Robinson and DeMarcus Cousins are going to be able to get a lot of rebounds playing together.

Grade: A

Detroit Pistons
No. 9 overall – Andre Drummond, PF/C, Connecticut
No. 39 overall – Khris Middleton, SF, Texas A&M

The Pistons are extremely happy that Andre Drummond fell to them. Before the draft, they were hoping for this but planning to settle on John Henson. Drummond has as much upside as anyone in this draft. There are questions surrounding him but he is very young. It was the right pick here for Detroit without question. Khris Middleton isn’t someone that jumps out as a great pick here but at No. 39, there’s not a lot to expect.

Grade: A

Milwaukee Bucks
No. 14 overall – John Henson, PF, North Carolina
No. 42 overall – Doron Lamb, SG, Kentucky

The Bucks were pretty happy to see John Henson at No. 14 especially after trading down from 12 with Houston. Henson is the kind of guy Milwaukee wanted and someone who will block a lot of shots and grab some rebounds but really needs to put on some weight first. Doron Lamb is another player they were happy to see at No. 42. He could have gone in the first round and is an irrational confidence guy who can shoot and play some D too.

Grade: B+

Cleveland Cavaliers
No. 4 overall – Dion Waiters, SG, Syracuse
No. 17 overall – Tyler Zeller, C, North Carolina

It wasn’t a huge shocker that Cleveland took Dion Waiters No. 4. They were planning on possibly doing so and after being unable to trade up to No. 2 and take Beal, Waiters was the next guy on their list, probably just ahead of Harrison Barnes. It wasn’t an overly popular pick but Waiters has an NBA-ready body and next to Kyrie Irving should do well. With Tyler Zeller sliding in the draft, the Cavaliers pulled the trigger on a trade with Dallas to get to No. 17 and take the North Carolina center. They gave up three picks for Zeller so they must really like him. Now with a core of Irving, Waiters, Thompson and Zeller, Cleveland’s future looks kind of alright.

Grade: B

Portland Trailblazers
No. 6 overall – Damian Lillard, PG, Weber State
No. 11 overall – Meyers Leonard, C, Illinois
No. 40 overall – Will Barton, SG, Memphis

Before the Draft, Portland was intent on keeping their 6th and 11th picks and they also loved Damian Lillard. Six may sound high for Lillard but Portland did something smart: picking their favorite guy and not caring where they did it. They then filled a need at 11 with Meyers Leonard, the center from Illinois. Portland was projected in some mocks to take Andre Drummond and either Austin Rivers or Jeremy Lamb. That sounds a little better than what they ended up with. They get Will Barton at No. 40 which is another solid value pick as he was projected late-first by many.

Grade: B

Golden State Warriors
No. 7 overall – Harrison Barnes, G/F, North Carolina
No. 30 overall – Festus Ezeli, C, Vanderbilt
No. 35 overall – Draymond Green, F, Michigan State
No. 52 overall – Ognjen Kuzmic, C, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Despite his overall disappointing feeling, many still feel Harrison Barnes can be an All-Star in the NBA. Getting him at No. 7 was a pretty solid pick for the Warriors, who are starting new next year post-Monta Ellis and with Andrew Bogut. Festus Ezeli with the last pick of the first round is understandable too and he is a high-character guy who will work hard for them. Draymond Green is another good pick to get in the second round. The Warriors didn’t have a flashy draft but they made some value picks and that’s always a good strategy.

Grade: B

Houston Rockets
No. 12 overall – Jeremy Lamb, SG, Connecticut
No. 16 overall – Royce White, F, Iowa State
No. 18 overall – Terrence Jones, F, Kentucky

The Rockets were stockpiling draft picks with one thing on their mind: Dwight Howard. That hasn’t happened yet and now feels like it won’t. They were hoping to move up to No. 5 to take Andre Drummond but since Thomas Robinson fell to the Kings there, they weren’t trading that pick. The Rockets will settle for three pretty solid players starting with Jeremy Lamb at No. 12 who has a lot of pro potential as a scorer. When they took Royce White at No. 16, you knew they weren’t trading their picks anymore. White has gotten a lot of buzz this draft as a more athletic Boris Diaw who plays a little like Charles Barkley too. Terrence Jones two picks later is another talented forward that can do a variety of things. You always feel players Daryl Morey drafts are guys who can find a spot in the NBA. The Rockets just had bigger sights for this draft than this.

Grade: B

Phoenix Suns
No. 13 overall – Kendall Marshall, PG, North Carolina

It’s just about official now that Steve Nash is on his way out in Phoenix. Kendall Marshall is their point guard of the future. Marshall was one of the best assists men in college the past two seasons and has drawn comparisons to Mark Jackson and Andre Miller so yeah, he’s not quick. He’s fun to play with and will make the players around him better. They like that in Phoenix.

Grade: B

Chicago Bulls
No. 29 overall – Marquis Teague, PG, Kentucky

The Bulls were either going backup point here or combo-guard shooter. Marquis Teague is a talented player with this pick and someone who may be able to play alongside Derrick Rose some. It’s nothing special for the Bulls but a good pick nonetheless. Bulls fans were dying for Perry Jones III to slip one more pick into their laps.

Grade: B

Toronto Raptors
No. 8 overall – Terrence Ross, SG, Washington
No. 37 overall – Quincy Acy, PF, Baylor
No. 56 overall – Tomislav Zubcic, PF, Croatia

The Raptors would have loved to see Harrison Barnes fall one more pick into their laps. They would have loved even more to move up and snag Dion Waiters. They settle for Terrence Ross who can do things that will make him have a solid NBA career: shoot threes and defend. Quincy Acy in Round 2 could be a Reggie Evans type which is something this franchise has experience with. Tomislav Zubcic will not come over right away. If Toronto gets Steve Nash, a lot of their problems will appear solved.

Grade: C+

Orlando Magic
No. 19 overall – Andrew Nicholson, PF, St. Bonaventure
No. 49 overall – Kyle O’Quinn, C, Norfolk State

The Magic are in a weird situation and have been ever since Dwight Howard started pouting. Howard ran their head coach and GM out of town and still wants out himself. He hasn’t gotten it yet but it’s really only a matter of time. Orlando’s picks of Andrew Nicholson and Kyle O’Quinn may have been logical, but they won’t make their fans feel better yet

Grade: C+

Boston Celtics
No. 21 overall – Jared Sullinger, PF, Ohio State
No. 22 overall – Fab Melo, C, Syracuse
No. 51 overall – Kris Joseph, SF, Syracuse

We knew Jared Sullinger would drop, we just didn’t know how far. The Celtics are in a rebuilding stage now and looking to bulk up their front court with Sullinger and Fab Melo. The Celtics were hoping for Royce White here or to trade up and take Doc Rivers’ son Austin Rivers in the lottery. The best case scenario for Kris Joseph (taken No. 51 overall) is Gary Forbes, according to DraftExpress.

Grade: C+

Philadelphia 76ers
No. 15 overall – Maurice Harkless, SF, St. John’s
No. 27 overall – Arnett Moultrie, PF/C, Mississippi State

Philadelphia fans are not happy with the decision to take Maurice “don’t call me Moe” Harkless 15th overall. When you draft a guy who plays the same position as your best player at No. 15, it never feels like it makes sense. Harkless came out after just one year at St. John’s and is said to have some pro potential but he’s nothing special. The 76ers traded up with Miami to get Arnett Moultrie at No. 27. It’s just another lateral move here for Philly. Their fans want more than that.

Grade: C

Denver Nuggets
No. 20 overall – Evan Fournier, SG, France
No. 38 overall – Quincy Miller, G/F, Baylor
No. 50 overall – Izzet Turkyilmaz, PF, Turkey

The Nuggets surprisingly went with Evan Fournier at No. 20 despite some talent sitting on the board. Fournier will not come over to the NBA next season but was the highest rated international prospect of the draft. The Nuggets clearly weren’t looking to try and strike gold with late first round picks this year. They’ve already accomplished that with Ty Lawson and Kenneth Faried. Their pick at No. 38 felt a little better. Some fans wanted Quincy Miller with the 20th pick so getting him this late is a win in that sense. Miller is young with a ton of potential but has the usual question marks. Denver went with another international product late in the second round that we won’t see in the NBA right away.

Grade: C

Atlanta Hawks
No. 23 overall – John Jenkins, SG, Vanderbilt
No. 43 overall – Mike Scott, F, Virginia

Nothing special here for Atlanta. John Jenkins could be decent but he won’t turn any heads. He can really shoot it though and might get some run for the Hawks where Josh Smith is on the way out. It would have been great if Atlanta had decided to draft Marquis Teague here and run an all-Teague backcourt with his brother Jeff. Love the Mike Scott pick.

Grade: C

Dallas Mavericks
No. 24 overall – Jared Cunningham, G, Oregon State
No. 33 overall – Bernard James, C, Florida State
No. 34 overall – Jae Crowder, F, Marquette

It doesn’t seem like Dallas was trying to do a ton in this draft. They dealt their 17th overall pick to Cleveland probably because there was no one they were in love with. They got three picks back for it and didn’t do anything crazy with them. One of the cooler moments in the draft though was Bernard James having his name called and walking to the podium. The crowd started chanting “U-S-A” because James served three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Dallas’ main priority this offseason is wooing Deron Williams and/or Dwight Howard.

Grade: C

Memphis Grizzlies
No. 25 overall – Tony Wroten, Jr., PG, Washington

The Grizzlies wanted a point guard and a lot of mocks had them going with Marquis Teague but they choose Tony Wroten, Jr. instead. Jay Bilas calls Wroten, Jr. a taller Rajon Rondo. That means he’s a good passer and can’t shoot a lick. Maybe it’s what Memphis needs and there is some upside there.

Grade: C

Utah Jazz
No. 47 overall – Kevin Murphy, SG, Tennessee Tech

Utah has enough young players from the last few drafts that they didn’t care too much about this year. Kevin Murphy is the only player from this draft to score 50 or more points in game last year in college. Why not?

Grade: C

Miami Heat
No. 45 overall – Justin Hamilton, C, LSU

Miami could have had Perry Jones III at No. 27 and it would have been just as scary as OKC getting him if not more so. They just didn’t want to have to pay a first rounder this year. Their cap space will be tight the next few seasons. They trade down here and get a 7-footer which they need. Something tells me we won’t see a ton of Justin Hamilton playing for the defending champs.

Grade: C

San Antonio Spurs
No. 59 overall – Marcus Denmon, G, Missouri

The Spurs drafted him so he’ll be an All-Star in four years. Marcus Denmon feels a little Patty Mills/James Anderson. The Spurs probably aren’t expecting too much from Denmon though.

Grade: C

New York Knicks
No. 48 overall – Kostas Papanikolaou, F, Greece

Not doing anything here. The home crowd really loved this pick at least.

Grade: C-

Los Angeles Clippers
No. 53 overall – Furkan Aldemir, PF, Turkey

Love this pick. He may never play in the NBA but he is a great rebounder and can only score on putbacks, according to Fran Fraschilla. What’s not to love?

Grade: C-

Los Angeles Lakers
No. 55 overall – Darius Johnson-Odom, SG, Marquette
No. 60 overall – Robert Sacre, C, Gonzaga

Darius Johnson-Odom plays the wrong sport. He’d be an awesome football player and used that to his advantage in college for Marquette. He will look a lot smaller in the NBA. If Robert Sacre is playing for the Lakers next season, it won’t be a good thing.

Grade: C-

Brooklyn Nets
No. 41 overall – Tyshawn Taylor, PG, Kansas
No. 54 overall – Tornike Shengelia, PF, Georgia
No. 57 overall – Ilkan Karaman, PF, Turkey

Brooklyn not trying to go crazy here. They are just praying for Deron Williams and Dwight Howard to hookup in their new city. Tyshawn Taylor might make it as a backup point in this league but nothing more. Tornike Shengelia goes by “Toko” and is a 6-foot-9 scorer who is good at attacking and can score around the rim well but has no jumper. Ilkan Karamen has a ton of tattoos and may “never play in the NBA” according to Fran Fraschilla.

Grade: C-

Minnesota Timberwolves
No. 58 overall – Robbie Hummel, SF, Purdue

Kevin Love, Chase Budinger and now Robbie Hummel. Good luck rest of league.

Grade: C-

Indiana Pacers
No. 26 overall – Miles Plumlee, PF, Duke
No. 36 overall – Orlando Johnson, SG, UCSB

This may have been the worst draft pick ever, worse than Sam Bowie. With names like Perry Jones III, Draymond Green and Festus Ezeli on the board, Indiana elects to take the worst Plumlee brother, Miles. If they weren’t Indiana and known for their white hoopsters, this would be an even worse pick. It’s still so horrible though words can’t describe it. There’s nothing that could make this pick ever make sense. They get Orlando Johnson from UCSB in the second round who was a 20-point scorer last year and might do something for them.

Grade: F

Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

New York Knicks forward Amare Stoudemire has been fined by the NBA league office for a direct message Tweet he sent a fan that contained a gay slur.

Stoudemire responded to a fan, identified as Brian Ferrelli by the New York Daily News, who Tweeted at Stoudemire to “make up for this past season.”

Direct messages on Twitter can only be seen by the person sending the message and the person receiving it. Ferrelli posted a screen shot of the message sent by Stoudemire.

There isn’t really a precedent for this with pro athletes and with Twitter. Being fined for Tweeting something that you know the entire world can see is one thing but when it is a direct message, the idea is that it isn’t public, even if you are a public figure.

A direct message is not very different from a text message which is something a professional athlete would never be fined for.

What Stoudemire did was out of line for sure but for the league to step in this way may also be crossing the line in a way.

Stoudemire just can’t seem to catch a break these days when he chooses to let his anger out. Whether it’s Tweeting or punching a fire extinguisher, luck is not on his side.

Stoudemire went from an MVP candidate and All-Star at the beginning of last season to something totally unrecognizable since the Knicks acquired Carmelo Anthony.

Good fortune is something Knicks fans are hoping for with this team and Stoudemire. It just doesn’t seem to be heading in that direction.

Soobum-Im-US PRESSWIRE

The Oklahoma City Thunder have found themselves in a tough spot. Being down 0-2 in an NBA Playoff series is not a good place to be.

In the history of the NBA, only 14 teams have comeback from a 0-2 deficit to win a playoff series. Three times it happened in the NBA Finals, three times it happened in the Conference Finals and three times it happened in a 5-game series.

The Thunder will have to do just that against the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Finals if they don’t want their season to end.

The problem is that the Spurs are playing like the best team in the NBA right now. They’ve won 20-straight games, which is tied for the third most ever in the NBA, and haven’t lost since April 11.

But it has happened before and if there is one thing you can say about the Thunder it is that they never give up and stop fighting.

How do teams come back from a 0-2 deficit? What usually happens?

The Thunder can look at a couple of teams that may show them a possible blue print.

2007 ECF: Cavaliers beat the Pistons 4-2

LeBron James and Cleveland lose the first two games 79-76 each time in Detroit. Those weren’t fun games to watch.

Then LeBron makes the leap. He has the memorable 48-point game five and it feels like the NBA will never be the same because LeBron is becoming the most unstoppable force ever.

The Cavaliers would lose to the Spurs in the NBA Finals but LeBron gave us a glimpse of just how talented he could become.

Kevin Durant has a chance to do exactly what LeBron did in 2007 in this series. It’s time for him to step up and have a huge playoff series. Only once in his career has he averaged more than 30 per game in a playoff series.

Durant may need to suddenly jump to another level of greatness for the Thunder to win.

2006 Finals: Heat beat Mavericks 4-2

Dallas proves why they are a much better team than Miami in Games 1 and 2 then Dwyane Wade and the referees take over the rest of the series.

Wade shoots 739 free throws in the final four games of the series and puts up historic NBA Finals numbers.

The Thunder are a team with a ton of bogus-foul calls potential. Couldn’t you see Durant, Westbrook and Harden start flailing their bodies into the Spurs over the next four games and getting every call?

Doesn’t David Stern and the NBA want to see LeBron vs. Durant in the Finals? Let’s make this happen.

1993 ECF: Bulls beat Knicks 4-2

The Thunder are reminiscent in many ways of the late-80’s, early-90’s Chicago Bulls teams. They may not have a Michael Jordan but overall they look comparable from time to time.

The Bulls lost the first two games on the road to the Knicks in this 1993 series. Those games were physical and the Bulls were not in their usual rhythm until they returned home and showed why the more talented team won the series.

The Thunder and Spurs games haven’t been especially physical but the Thunder have been out of rhythm so far in the series and haven’t been playing to their potential yet.

There is a ton of potential for this series to look a lot different when it gets to OKC on Thursday and that could propel a Thunder comeback.

Conclusion

It is possible but very unlikely for an NBA team to come back from a 0-2 deficit in a playoff series. It is even harder when you are playing a team as good as the Spurs.

But if you were going to pick a team to do this wouldn’t it be a team like this Thunder team? A team on the rise who shows tons of potential but not all the time? A team with the best player in this series who is on the verge of “making the leap?”

There’s still hope.

You can also download the podcast here.

Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

LeBron James and the Miami Heat beat the New York Knicks 106-94 Wednesday night to win the series 4-1.

LeBron led the Heat with 29 points, seven assists and eight rebounds. LeBron set the tone early getting to the line eight times in the first quarter and also dishing out five assists in the opening quarter.

LeBron covered Carmelo Anthony for most of the game but Anthony had it going and scored 35 points but needed 31 shots to get those points. LeBron was criticized much for not covering Anthony down the stretch of Game 4 in New York.

Anthony got little to no help though from his teammates. The entire Knicks team looked like quite a mess in Game 5 as it seemed every time down the floor it was nothing but isolation offense.

The Heat will move on to play the Indiana Pacers in Round 2 who beat the Orlando Magic in five games in the first round.

Miami took three out of four from the Pacers in the regular season and while Indiana seems like they could be a tough matchup for the Heat, Miami and LeBron just seem to have their number.

LeBron averaged 26.8 points, 6.5 assists, 8.5 rebounds and 10.0 free throw attempts per game against the Pacers in the regular season.

Spruce Derden-US PRESSWIRE

The Memphis Grizzlies staved off elimination beating the Los Angeles Clippers 92-80 Wednesday night.

The Grizzlies got out to a great start and big lead in the first half with the game feeling a lot like Game 1 when the Clippers came back from a 27-point deficit to win.

Memphis did not give up their lead this time however and relied on Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol to lead the way for them.

Randolph scored 19 points to go with 10 rebounds in the game and had 15 points and five rebounds in the first quarter.

Gasol scored 23 points to go with four rebounds and seven rebounds.

Chris Paul’s impact in the game was not its normal noticeable self. He scored just 19 points and dished out four assists.

Mo Williams led Los Angeles with 20 points in the game.

The Clippers still lead the series 3-2 and will host Game 6 Friday night.

You can also download the podcast from iTunes here.

Debby Wong-US PRESSWIRE

The New York Knicks will not be swept by the Miami Heat in the first round of these playoffs. The Knicks won Game 4 89-87 to send the series back to Miami.

Carmelo Anthony scored 41 points in the game and was 15-for-29 from the field.

LeBron James led Miami with 27 but went 9-for-21 from the floor.

Amare Stoudemire returned to the Knicks starting lineup after missing Game 3 because of the fire extinguisher incident. He looked good despite wearing a pretty large bandage on his left hand and scored 20 points to go with 10 rebounds in the game.

The Heat haven’t looked their best in the last two games in New York in this series and that’s kind of been their thing this year playing much worse on the road.

You can’t imagine the Heat losing a Game 5 at home but if they do and they have to go back to Madison Square Garden the series will become interesting if nothing else.

Howard Smith-US PRESSWIRE

The Chicago Bulls are missing Derrick Rose. A lot.

The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Bulls 89-82 in Game 4 Sunday to take a commanding 3-1 series lead over the team with the best regular season record in the conference. After losing Game 1 in which Rose played, the 76ers have gone on to win the next three games.

They’re doing it with defense too. The Bulls scored 103 points in Game 1 but scored just 92 in the Game 2 blowout, then 74 and 82 in Games 3 and 4 in Philadelphia.

Luol Deng was the player who needed to step up the most in Rose’s absence but has scored just 24 total points in the last three games of the series.

Rose’s greatest value that he brings to this Chicago team is being able to create his own offense and in the regular season that’s not as important but it evidently is huge in the postseason for this team.

Matthew Emmons-US PRESSWIRE

The Oklahoma City Thunder are so far the only team to sweep their opponent in the first round this year as they did so last night in Dallas behind a huge fourth quarter from James Harden.

The Thunder are certainly playing excellent basketball right now and look as much like title contenders right now as they ever have.

Harden has really taken his game to another level and that’s what was going to need to happen for the Thunder to take that next step as a team.

The Spurs are up 3-0 in their series against the Jazz and look like they will sweep Utah by all accounts. The Spurs still seem to pose the greatest threat to the Thunder in the Western Conference.

The Lakers are up 2-1 against the Nuggets and lost Game 3 in Denver. Los Angeles should still win the series and if they do so, Metta World Peace will be returning to the lineup in Oklahoma City.

That should be interesting.

You can also download the podcast here.

Chandler led a change of culture on the Knicks team this year. Last season they were 22nd in defensive efficiency and this year they improved all the way up to fifth with Chandler being the large reason for that.

Chandler averaged 11.3 points, 9.9 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game this season and led the league shooting .679 percent from the field.

Chandler’s affect on the defensive end of the court was most evident last year in Dallas especially in the NBA Finals.

Chandler received 45 first-place votes.

Oklahoma City Thunder forward Serge Ibaka finished second and received 41 first-place votes. Dwight Howard finished third with 18 first-place votes and LeBron James fourth with seven first-place votes.

I take a look at the Game 2′s last night and give my thought on Rajon Rondo’s suspension and Amare Stoudemire’s injury. I break down if the Knicks have a chance to comeback in their series and how the Thunder have done so far against the Mavericks.

You can also download the podcast here.

Dale Zanine-US PRESSWIRE

The Atlanta Hawks shocked a lot of people beating the Boston Celtics 83-74 on Sunday to win Game 1 of the series.

The Celtics were without Ray Allen for the game and got off to a very slow start while Atlanta looked fresh.

The Hawks were led by Josh Smith who scored 22 points to go with 18 rebounds and four assists and completely outplayed Kevin Garnett.

In the fourth quarter with frustrations high, Boston’s Rajon Rondo was ejected from the game after arguing a call and then bumping referee Marc Davis.

It is expected now that Rondo will be suspended for Game 2 and possible Game 3 because of the incident.

Rondo had 20 points and 11 assists in the game and surely the Celtics will have a much tougher time beating the Hawks in this series without him.

If the suspension is just one game and Rondo and Allen return for a Game 3 at home, the series shouldn’t be viewed as completely over but it will be tougher than most thought for the Celtics to advance to the second round.

Spruce Derden-US PRESSWIRE

The Los Angeles Clippers pulled off one of the most improbable comebacks in NBA history late Sunday night. The Clippers ended their Game 1 with the Memphis Grizzlies on a 28-3 run to stun a Memphis crowd and win 99-98.

Chris Paul had 14 points and 11 assists and scored the final two points of the game at the free throw line with 24 seconds left.

Nick Young made three consecutive three-pointers for the Clippers during the run and led the team with 19 points.

The Clippers came into the game with not a lot of playoff experience and it showed as the Grizzlies immediately jumped out to a big lead.

Memphis of course had the great run last year in the playoffs and were looking as good as any team thus far in the playoffs this year.

The Grizzlies may have had a little fool’s gold though with their percentage from beyond the arc making 11-of-16 threes before going cold in the final minutes of the game.

This series promised to be one of the best first round matchups and with the Clippers stealing Game 1 on the road it probably will live up to that.

Richard Rowe-US PRESSWIRE

The Oklahoma City Thunder will play Game 2 tonight against the Dallas Mavericks. It will be the second game in a TNT double-header with the Miami Heat and New York Knicks playing first. Orland and Indiana will also tip Game 2 tonight on NBA TV.

The Thunder looked great in the final quarter against Dallas coming back to win thanks to Kevin Durant’s game-winner but they will have to play with the same intensity they showed in the fourth quarter for 48 minutes to ensure another victory.

Miami blew out New York badly in Game 1 but all the Knicks have to do is steal Game 2 and they’ve done their job of getting homecourt. After the Clippers-Grizzlies game, a complete flip-flop of fortunes in the Miami-New York series doesn’t seem as farfetched.

Indiana – like Memphis – blew what should have been an easy Game 1, home win to Orlando. The Magic scored the final 11 points of Game 1 to win.

The Pacers showed a sizable inside advantage with no Dwight Howard and Roy Hibbert blocking nine shots in the game but he also only scored eight points. The Pacers will need to find more reliable offense to get by the Magic tonight.

Dennis Wierzbicki-US PRESSWIRE

Derrick Rose injured his knee late in the fourth quarter of the Chicago Bulls’ 103-91 Game 1 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers Saturday.

Rose scored 23 points on 23 shots in 37 minutes before the injury and this is now the sixth injury Rose has suffered this season. Rose will have an MRI on the knee today.

It is amazing how good the Bulls have been despite Rose’s injuries this season but if they are to lose him in the playoffs, they would surely fall short of their expectations which are to win an NBA championship.

When you look at the injury it does look similar to those that result in ACL and MCL tears. An injury that sever would leave Rose sidelined for the rest of the year.

Considering the force and torque that Rose plays with, I have a feeling the injury will be a bad one. I lump Rose into the same class as Blake Griffin and Tiger Woods: they can do incredible things athletically but the wear and tear from playing the way they do makes it seem like injuries are inevitable.

The Bulls win Game 1 nonetheless and with or without Rose should have enough to get by the 76ers in this series.

Update: Rose now done for the season with torn ACL

It has been confirmed now that Rose is done for the year. The Bulls still played great this season without him and finished with one of the best records in the league but they definitely will need him to get past Miami in the playoffs and Boston.

It is very unfortunate that a great season by the Bulls and a team that had the potential to win an NBA title with their star healthy may now be wasted.

The road for Miami just got a lot easier.

Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

The Miami Heat led by LeBron James destroyed the New York Knicks 100-67 in Game 1 of that series.

LeBron played some of the best basketball he has in awhile scoring 32 points in 32 minutes, going 10-of-14 from the field and 11-of-14 at the line and the Heat were plus-35 when he was in the game.

Carmelo Anthony was the complete opposite of LeBron shooting 3-for-15 in the game and scoring only 11 points.

Shane Battier did the most impressive job in the first half denying Anthony the ball when the Knicks tried repeatedly to get it into him in the post.

The defense overall was very impressive by Miami and the Knicks simply were not ready to match the intensity combined with execution.

I do feel that the blowout loss isn’t as bad as it looks for the Knicks in this series. Sometimes I feel that it can be more demoralizing to lose a close game than a blowout. Now, this was a huge blowout and I don’t feel the Knicks have a good chance of coming back in this series but I do think it can still go six games.

Tyson Chandler was noticeably not himself and had flu-like symptoms before the game. He is as crucial as any Knicks player to beating this Heat team.

With the Rose injury and Knicks no-show, the road to the Finals looks as bright as ever today after the first two NBA Playoff games of 2012.

If I had to rank the best chances that the Heat do not make it to the Finals this year it’d go something like this:

1. They meet Boston in the ECF and Rajon Rondo goes to another level and completely dominates four games of the series.

2. LeBron or Wade gets seriously hurt.

I think that’s it…

I was always afraid that by joining forces in Miami, LeBron and Wade would have too easy a time of making it to the Finals and winning championships. They had to go through a lot last year beating Boston and then Chicago but this year it may become a much easier path.

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE

The Thunder will cap off the first day of playoff games tonight when they host Dallas for their Game 1.

We’ve seen some potentially severe injuries so far today so hopefully that can be fully avoided tonight.

We’ve also seen the style of play picked up a notch by the top teams, Miami and Chicago. Oklahoma City needs to replicate this and send a statement to Dallas tonight. That is their next step to becoming a great team.

James Harden and his health will also be very interesting to see when he checks in roughly six minutes into the game.

You can read my preview of the Dallas series here. Also check out Pippen Ain’t Easy for the latest on the Rose injury and All U Can Heat and Buckets Over Broadway for more analysis on the Heat-Knicks series.

I am joined by Sir Charles in Charge editor Chris Walder to discuss the opening round of the NBA Playoffs and give our thoughts on each series.

You can also download the podcast here.

In the first ever FanSided NBA Podcast I interview our very own editor of Sir Charles in Charge Chris Walder. Chris came on to give his thoughts on Dwight Howard and his fallout with the Orlando Magic, the chances of Boston and New York making playoff runs, who the MVP of the NBA is so far this season and who the favorites are to win the NBA title.

Be sure to listen to the podcast here or you can also download the podcast.

Follow Chris on Twitter @WalderSports