After the Grizzlies let Kobe stamp 60 on their foreheads last week, good for them to man-up on Tuesday and not get embarrassed again. (Besides, that 18-54 record is embarrassing enough.) And not only did Memphis relatively lock Kobe down, holding him to 23 points on 7-for-26 shooting, they beat the streaking Lakers on the road. Memphis played a box-and-one on Kobe, which he said he hadn’t seen since high school. Now that it’s worked for the Grizzlies, do you think some other team will break out the box-and-one for Mamba in the playoffs? … Just the other day one of the Dime crew seriously asked who Tarence Kinsey was, and last night he led the Grizzlies with 24 points and had some clutch buckets down the stretch. “Even though I’m a rookie, I’m a man. It hurt my pride, it hurt everybody’s pride,” Kinsey said about last week’s 60. Rudy Gay put up 20 and 12 … Jermaine O’Neal is starring in Being Kevin Garnett. Once again J.O., playing hurt, had a huge game (32 pts) and once again the Pacers barely had any help for him and lost to the Cavs. LeBron dropped 26 to help Cleveland lock up a playoff spot. Rick Carlise called Jermaine “a horse and a warrior” afterwards, and at this point, J.O. must completely understand how KG has felt for most of the last decade … Speaking of Frustrated KG, we’re guessing he didn’t sleep too well last night. Minnesota was up by 25 late in the third against Seattle, and somehow blew it to the Ray Allen-less Sonics. KG put up 20 points, 12 boards and 9 dimes, but couldn’t do anything about Rashard Lewis taking over in the second half. Rashard ended up with 35. Standings-wise, the loss really hurt the Wolves’ playoff hopes, but that kind of L takes more of an emotional toll. Playoff teams don’t blow leads like that to short-handed Lottery teams … The Mavs disposed of the Hornets, and if you hadn’t noticed, Dallas is on another win streak. This time it’s up to seven games since the Phoenix loss, but the Suns are coming up again this weekend. For now, though, the Mavs are back on top of our updated NBA Hit List … The college AP All-American teams were announced the other day: the first team is Kevin Durant, Greg Oden, Alando Tucker, Arron Afflalo and Acie Law. No arguments there. The second team is Jared Dudley, Nick Fazekas, Chris Lofton, Joakim Noah and Tyler Hansbrough, and the third team is Jeff Green, Al Horford, Aaron Brooks, Al Thornton and Aaron Gray. You could make a case for Green getting the nod over J-Dud, but if you’re basing it off of the regular season, Dudley had better numbers. Green didn’t really become That Dude until the Big East and NCAA tourneys … And don’t forget, if you haven’t subscribed to Dime before, now is the perfect
time. We’re celebrating the end to an amazing tournament by offering $4 one
year subscriptions. This offer ends as soon as “One Shining Moment” finishes Monday night … Hosting his little bro from out of town, one of the Dime crew hit up Flight Club NY yesterday, and Hassan Adams happened to be in the building. And a few hours later, Tracy Morgan popped up at a Times Square movie theater, leading to this exchange:
“What do you think he’s here to see?”
“I don’t know. Is he in anything that’s out right now?”
“Why would he pay to go see his own movie?” … While our guy said his brother dropped $300 on some Jordan 11s at FCNY, on the other end of the spectrum, Ben Wallace is joining the Starbury fam. Ben will start rocking the $15 Starbury IIs this week — debuting them when the Bulls play the Pistons on Thursday — and will get his own “Big Ben” kicks this summer … Actual exchange in the Dime office yesterday:
“Did you guys hear about Eddie Griffin?”
“Oh man. What’d he do now?”
“No, the comedian Eddie Griffin.”
“Oh. What’d he do now?” … Griffin totaled a super-rare $1.2 million Enzo Ferrari, crashing it into a wall during a promotion for his upcoming movie Redline. Griffin was OK, but the car was a wrap … We’re out like the Ferrari …