Robert Horry has done the truly amazing once again. No, we are not talking about his unbelievable second half/overtime performance of last night. It is much greater than that. The Fresh Prince of the NBA has somehow made us feel that the last 12 years are all happening simultaneously. Every June we turn on the NBA Playoffs and see Big Shot Bob doing the unthinkable, yet somehow expected, extricating his teams from the jaws of defeat. Last night, after sitting by as an observer while his team got hammered in games three and four of the NBA Finals, Horry decided to take matters into his own hands. Instead of passing up shots, he took them. And he made them, with alarming consistency. And when he was not banging down triples, he was reliving the days of his youth, flying through the paint and extending his lanky 6’10” frame to dunk right on top of the unsuspecting Pistons. Year in and year out Big Shot Bob steps it up in crunch time. We have followed Horry’s career since we sat courtside in Houston and watched him help Hakeem bring the city of Houston its first professional sports championships. And ever since, it seems like every time we turn on the tv, there he is. Whether it be in Rockets' red, Laker purple and gold or the black and white of the Spurs, Horry has found a way to keep playing basketball deep into Spring while other players make tee times. more ›

The Detroit Pistons beat the San Antonio Spurs last night, 96-79, in Game 3 of the 2005 NBA Finals, and no one could be happier than the sportswriters and broadcasters of America, who finally get to talk about the Pistons with a straight face. Did you know that if you sneak up on Rip Hamilton when he’s not wearing that mask and give him a firm tap on the nose, his face will disintegrate into a pile of rubble? more ›

The 2005 NBA Finals are going to get pretty tedious if the the Pistons don't figure out how to shoot. more ›

About six minutes into the first game of the 2005 NBA Finals, the Detroit Pistons had the Spurs looking like a bunch of clowns--unfunny clowns, at that. How the Pistons managed to go from trouncing (at that point, they led 17-4) to being trounced (the Spurs won, 84-69) is an unsolved mystery, although it might have something to do with Manu Ginobili, who went from a dismal opening (four points by halftime) to a magisterial fourth quarter, finishing up with 26 points, more than anyone else last night. After the game, we heard a TV commentator say that Manu "can be motivated by anger." We don't know whether that's true, but if so: hot. more ›

It is often said that defending a championship is one of the hardest things to do in professional sports. Therefore, we give proper kudos to the Detroit Pistons for returning to the NBA Finals, after a gutsy run through the Eastern Conference Playoffs. The Pistons had to slug thru several difficult series under constant media speculation about the fate of their wanderlust-suffering coach. They are professionals (except when Rasheed Wallace loses his mind, God bless him) and, in the words of their coach, “they play the game the right way.” With that said, we think the Spurs will beat the Pistons in five games, rolling to their third championship in the past seven years. more ›