The NBA playoffs this year have been as entertaining as ever, but you could put together a pretty decent starting five solely composed of players who have been unable to play due to injury: Derrick Rose, Kobe Bryant, Danilo Gallinari and David Lee are just some of the star contributors who have spent the majority of these playoffs watching the games courtside. Perhaps most significant in terms of impacting the playoff bracket, has been the injury to Oklahoma City point guard Russell Westbrook. Gerard Spalding explains.

Brandon Jennings is not Joe Namath, and the 2012-2013 Milwaukee Bucks are not the 1968 New York Jets, and the Miami Heat are not the Baltimore Colts, no matter how apt comparing LeBron James and Johnny Unitas may be. Ever since Broadway Joe and his scrappy AFL upstarts unseated the NFL’s mighty Indianapolis Colts to make good on Namath’s infamous guarantee, professional athletes promising wins has been en vogue, albeit to varying levels of success. Add the Milwaukee point guard to the list.

The Miami Heat have come along way since the days of The Decision, transformed entirely at both team and personal levels to the point where they’re the hands down favorite to win the NBA championship. If you thought the Big Three were imposing three years ago, or even last year when they won their first title together, think again.

In 2004, the Detroit Pistons accomplished something that will probably never be done again: they won an NBA title without a superstar. It may seem somewhat premature to make such a bold declaration, but the facts certainly support it. We are fully entrenched in the era of the “superteam” and there is seemingly no looking back.

That this post is even necessary is a shame in itself, but an individual or series of individuals who fancied themselves important enough to inflict their disturbed will upon the lives of hundreds and thousands of innocents – physically, through the successful detonation of a pair of explosives at the world-renowned Boston Marathon, and emotionally, as any attack close to home does.

Kobe Bryant injured his Achilles this weekend, that much we all know. What’s been lost in the shuffle of disappointment however, is that the actual name of the tendon that the future Hall of Fame guard tore isn’t the only similarity he and the mythological hero share. Mark Milner explains.

On March 30, the Philadelphia Sixers celebrated Allen Iverson bobblehead night during a home game. The diminutive former MVP shooting guard was in attendance himself, making the media rounds and enjoying the adulation of Sixers fans. Of course, this wasn’t the first time that Philly has trotted out Iverson during a home game and it probably won’t be the last, but it has been the most transparent so far.

While we’ll still have to wait until Monday to determine who will be crowned the 2013 NCAA Men’s Basketball Champions, there is no doubt that we can proclaim social media to be a winner when it comes to its growing involvement and popularity in the sporting realm. By providing fans with up-to-the second type access and an avenue for interaction with athletes, media members and other fans, the use of social media has become an adjunct to our sports watching experience. March Madness has only stoked the fire, but how? And why?

Kevin Ware has become a household name, and not for reasons that he would have hoped for. When Ware gruesomely broke his leg on national television fans, players and consumers of March Madness in general were forced to take a step back and evaluate the game and the role that student athletes play in it.

Remember the other recently ended NBA streak, the one not getting as much buzz? The Denver Nuggets just ripped off a 15-game win streak, which unfortunately happened to coincide with that of a certain other club’s. It’s too bad the Nuggets aren’t getting more attention: they’re one of the best teams in the tough Western Conference and they’re ripping through opponents without any superstars. They’re a team any basketball fan could love. A team you should love. Allow me to explain.