BBC Analysis of the Western Conference

As the calendar turns over into 2009, the Western Conference has it all: a dominant team, parity and a lot of NBA Lottery contestants.

The defending conference champions, the Los Angeles Lakers, have a five game lead.

Teams #2 through #9 are separated by only two-and-a-half games.

The remaining six teams are at least 12 games under .500.

As the season creeps towards the mid-way point, the Lakers hope to stay consistent and healthy, while the contenders hope to position themselves for a post All-Star-break run into the playoffs.

Read Full Western Conference Analysis

Redeem Team: Dream Team Worthy

BEIJING -- Over here, they were called Dream Team 8. And two years ago in Japan, the locals referred to them as Dream Team 7.

The world might have caught up in basketball during the past decade, but it hasn't caught on to the notion that the American federation ditched the Dream Team nickname after the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 -- back when it started to realize that the true, original Dream Team that won the gold medal in Barcelona in '92 should have had the nickname retired in its honor.

"We're not the Dream Team," coach Mike Krzyzewski said over and over again during the past 2½ weeks when he faced questioning from several Chinese journalists who prefaced their questions with that phrase. "There was only one Dream Team, and there will never be another."

That might indeed be the case, but it's still a valid idea to compare this year's gold-medal winning Team USA to the one that set a standard that'll never be matched.

Both were dominant in their own way, the 1992 team squishing and squashing each and...[Full Story - ESPN]

Yup. About Time!

Not much to say right now, except that were back and trying to get this back and working as it was before my departure.

BBC is back and ready to roll. The NBA Season kicks off in late October and we've got a full 2 months to get the forums as active and busy as it was in its prime 2 years ago.

Both Yugoballer16 and StrikeThree are back on the admin team and will be in charge of running the site and keeping it active. We welcome back any previous memebers and staff who would like to contribute to the new BBC. Also please be patient as we transfer all our old content to the new site design.

Go to the forums...do it!

BBC Forums

Celtics 2009 Championship

BOSTON -- Kevin Garnett got the cover of the new Wheaties box, Breakfast of Champions edition, which was getting passed around the bowels of the New Garden long before the final buzzer, all thanks to the most laughable score in the history of championship clinchers.

Ray Allen took a sharp first-half poke in eye, when he was already playing with the weight of a family crisis on his shoulders, yet rebounded by tying one NBA Finals record for hitting triples and breaking another.

Paul Pierce?

Even on a night when the Boston Celtics might have been able to back up Allen's claim that this team actually has a "Big 15" as opposed to just a supersized trio, with waves of Game 6 heroes lifting the fallen giants of basketball back to a perch they hadn't graced for more than two decades, Pierce still found a way to be the face of it all late, late Tuesday.

The night belonged to Garnett, Allen and even James Posey and P.J. Brown.....[Full Story - ESPN]