The Heat felt like they deserved Damian Lillard; the Bucks acted like they needed him. Is there really any harm in borrowing against your future when the alternative is having no future? Read more »
Milwaukee Bucks Analysis
The Only Way NBA's Small Market Teams Succeed Is To Never Fail
The Dual Vortex Dynamic Of Dame And Giannis
In terms of raw court dynamics, we haven't seen such a complementary rim-plus-arc pairing such as Dame and Giannis since the days of Shaq and Kobe, of T-Mac and Yao. Read more »
NBA's Top Wing Trios Ranked
We've ranked every team's wing corps from 1 to 30 based on the top three wings' production, upside and versatility. Read more »
Ten-Year NBA Net Rating Rankings (Infographics For All 30 Teams)
The Celtics finished first in Net Rating ahead of the Cavaliers, who jumped up from 13th last season and 28th as recently as 2021. Read more »
Milwaukee's Inevitability During The NBA's Age Of Entropy
The Bucks are now the NBA's version of Floyd Mayweather or Pete Sampras, excising any surplus artistry in favor of ruthless proficiency. They're annihilating the rest of the league by resisting its prevailing trends. Read more »
The 2023 Title Contenders Are Already Here
To believe that any of 2023's neo-contenders can become bonafide champs over the next few months is to believe that a once-in-a-quarter-century occurrence is about to transpire. The reality is there are only four real contenders. Read more »
The Bucks, Sixers, And Their Quiet Thriving
Teams like the Bucks and Sixers have become boring to NBA fans who thirst for interpersonal conflict and player movement, but it won't be when the playoffs hit. Read more »
The Finished Bulls, Rising Bucks, And Ready Celtics
Is Chicago willing to give up some of what it does well, and any of the people who currently define them, to beef up where they're sallow to compete with the jumbo teams in Milwaukee and Boston? Read more »
Ten-Year NBA Net Rating Rankings (Infographics For All 30 Teams)
The Suns jumped from 30th in the NBA in Net Rating in 17-18 to 29th to 18th in 19-20 to third last season and first in 21-22. Read more »
Twelve Characters: Khris Middleton
One of the perks of coming out a champ is that you are no longer in dialogue with any arguments against you, extant or nascent or merely hinted at. You've settled things completely. Whatever we've asked of Khris Middleton, whatever he's asked of himself, the answer is yes. Read more »
Giannis And The Virtue Of Being Oneself
Giannis Antetokounmpo blends retro ideas of post dominance with conceptions of space and movement that could be revolutionary if only there was anyone else able to follow in his footsteps. Read more »
In The End There Is Only The End
One team wins it all and they are the happiest group of guys who ever lived, they are invincible and immortal and beautiful and exhausted. They vacation, extravagantly. And then we reset and go again. Read more »
The Lagging Understanding Of Giannis Antetokounmpo's Dominance
When it comes to yeoman vernacular, though, the culture is simply lost when they try to put words to Giannis. Too often, they are loudly and proudly wrong. Read more »
The Narrative-Proof Finals
In the NBA, there is no story beyond the narrative. But these Finals are different. The teams and players have oscillated wildly between extremes from game to game, at once confirming and refuting any prior notions. Read more »
Giannis Antetokounmpo's Visceral, Dominating Game 3
Three-point shooting seems muscular now. Except, you know what is actually muscular? Taking it to the goddamn rack. Giannis is awesome at this. Read more »
The Suns' Precision Vs. The Bucks' Bravura
Death by a million cuts has always been the driving philosophy of Chris Paul's angular, probing game, and in the Suns he has the ultimate armada of like-minded blades. Read more »
Suns Show They're At The Top Of Their Good-Good Game With Finals Opening Win
It would be a stretch to say the Bucks need to perfect, or suggest that they could be. They need to be at the top of their good-good game, because that's where the Suns are, that's the register at which we're operating in these Finals. Read more »
The Bucks Defy Characterization, Game 1 Showed It Yet Again
There will forever be a gap between what the Bucks can achieve (era-defining dynasty) and what they will (something well short of an era-defining dynasty). Read more »
A True Variety Of Styles In This Year's Final Four
Despite all the bellyaching about how the NBA has become a homogenized soup of three-point shooting, this year's playoffs reveal the true variety of the game's best teams. Read more »
These Playoffs Have Been A Bridge To Something New
The 2021 NBA Playoffs have been a bridge to a new era, one that will not fully blossom for a few more seasons, but one that fans can see a faint outline of now. Read more »
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