Smack / Apr 13, 2007 / 3:02 am

Cassell Therapy

By Dime Magazine

Say what you want about Kobe Bryant, but he’s one of only a handful of guys in the League who can cause the “Yo, turn on the game, [Player X] has 25 at the half” text message. That’s what happened last night, as Mamba ended up with 50 for the game, even though it turned into the Sam Cassell and Corey Maggette Show in the second half … Banged-up as he has been all year, Cassell came off the bench and sparked a Clips comeback from down 17 and helped them pull out a huge win in their race for the 8th seed with the Warriors. Sam-I-Am only had 12 points and 3 assists, but as announcer Kevin Harlan put it, “His fingerprints were all over” the Clippers winning that game. He was abusing Sasha Vujacic for a minute, than gave Smush a few buckets. On one play Cassell tip-toed the baseline to corral an offensive rebound and set Maggette (39 pts, 17-for-24 FTs) up for another trip to the stripe … Isn’t Mo Evans basically a less-productive version of Maggette? Both guys are built like tanks and go into bull-in-a-china-shop mode whenever they get the rock … Kobe’s first-half 25 was a lot more impressive than his second-half 25; as the Lakers fell apart down the stretch, the gunning became blatant … One guy who was worth the “check out the rest of this game” text in college this year and should be doing the same thing in the pros soon is Kevin Durant, who is of course our current Dime cover guy. Click here to read an excerpt of Pat’s cover feature on KD, “The One” … Also from Issue 32, we put up the latest edition of “Ask Ron” — Ron Artest’s advice column where he takes your questions and answers them in his own special Ron way … Can’t forget Elton Brand’s monster line: 32 pts, 12 rebs, 7 asts, 3 blks … E-mail from Christian: “Vladimir Radmanovic: We Must Protect This House!” Seriously, we’ve seen everyone from Dwyane Wade to Shelden Williams rocking the shoulder-protection sleeve this year, and Vlad managed to look sillier than anyone else with his … In the first half, Cuttino Mobley threw down a rare dunk in Jordan Farmar’s grill, and walked back holding his jersey in mid-pop before very theatrically wiping the sweat from his brow … LeBron dropped 35 on the Nets in a piecing. ‘Bron was getting into the paint so easily for dunks, you wonder how anyone is ever able to stop him, or if he just stops himself … Larry Hughes (19 pts) is two wins away from his magic number of $2 million … Crazy stat: the Nets have four 7-footers on the roster — Mikki Moore, Jason Collins, Mile Ilic and Nenad Krstic — yet Jason Kidd still leads them in rebounding, pulling down eight boards a night … More on the Bulls/Knicks Big Mac foolishness, this time from Bulls GM John Paxson in the Chicago Tribune: “I do think NBA players have jobs to do on the court regardless of the score. We have a 24-second shot clock and as long as a team has possession of the ball and that clock is on, those players have a responsibility to play the game. Were our players supposed to kick the ball in the stands or hand it to the New York players and let them shoot layups so the game could be closer?. I was around when the Bulls went through the years winning 15 and 17 games and recall many losses by 30 or 40 points. Not once did I ever hear a Bulls team complain about another team running up the score during that time.” … A slow day in the Dime office (or a fast-and-furious day in need of de-stressing at the end) means one thing: video games. Pat and Austin went a few rounds in College Hoops 2K7 yesterday — splitting a home-and-home between Duke (Pat) and Texas A&M (Austin). It basically came down to Acie Law vs. Jon Scheyer, aka “John Wilkes Booth” (because he’s an assassin). Game 1 was all Law cracking Greg Paulus inside and outside, while Game 2 saw Scheyer raining threes in a W … According to the Toronto Globe and Mail, it’s only a matter of time before the Raptors ink Sam Mitchell to a long-term extension (unless he takes that Bobcats job that some say he’s interested in). Remember earlier this season when Mitchell was reportedly right on the verge of getting canned? It’s crazy how coaches can go from hapless to genius in just a few months … If you’re keeping up with the Don Imus/Rutgers basketball story, than you know Imus was fired by CBS yesterday … We’re out like Jersey’s bigs …

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9 Responses to “Cassell Therapy”

  1. April 13th, 2007 at 3:32 am

    Dank says:

    Props to the clippers. And as a fan of the Lakers, I am sad and I want to petition for the posibility of withdrawing from the playoffs, maybe switch spots with Memphis or something? i dunno. im out of answers. I watched them build up that 17 point lead and thought to myself “ok, ok, now we’re ready, bring on phoenix for yet another bloodshed”. Then the lead vanished, compliments of magicians Sam Cassell and Corey Maggette. I hate the clips, but they’ve had my respect since last year, and this year they’ve had me wishing that they carried on their success from last year and be even better. As far as the lakers go, i dont know what to say. Yay, smush stepped up! and… that was it, no one else showed up to the game. if i were kobe, i either slap some sense into Lamar and the laker bigs, or i call up the guys from “The Ringer” and sign them all to the team. how does a dude get triple team and his team isn’t able to hit shots and layups. just sad.

  2. April 13th, 2007 at 8:23 am

    Alan says:

    Sam is still hapless. If you watch any of the games, its stunning that the Raptors actually win so many of them. His whole “push-the-ball” philosophy just disguises the fact that the nuances of play-calling escape him. This whole season has been a mirage. As has been pointed out elsewhere, he has ONE play, high screen and roll/pop for Bosh with whoever is running PG. His substitution patterns are bananas. Colangelo deserves a ton of credit for putting this team together. Other than the Suns, i can’t think of a more unselfish team. If Mo-Pete ever discovers shots from inside the arc, the Raps will be even more dangerous. Next time the Raps have a lead of more than 10 at the end of the game, watch how Sam basically decides to stop doing anything and apparently tells the players to do nothing except waste time. The Raps have no killer instinct unless they start hitting the shot-clock beating threes they throw up in Sam’s patented “I wanna go home” offence.

  3. April 13th, 2007 at 12:20 pm

    Mike says:

    One of handful???
    Who’s the other handful of guys that can do what Kobe does, scoring-wise??
    He may not be the MVP, but nobody even comes close to him when it comes to just scoring the ball.
    If the Clippers didn’t run three guys at him every time down the floor in the fourth quarter last night, he would’ve easily had 60. He’s the only player in the league that REGULARLY draws triple teams.
    Saying that he’s just one of the best don’t do him justice. He’s the best scorer alive. Period.

  4. April 13th, 2007 at 2:10 pm

    shock_theatre says:

    I agree Kobe is a beast. His teammates suck however, and still going to make playoffs. Just off his sheer will. I watched MJ in his prime, but this kid is the real deal too. Can play defense and can hit you up for 50 a night. I just wish they could get some people there that want to be in the NBA. People hate on him why because he is the best rounded player in the Nba. Him and Wade are not even in the same category even Wade would agree to that.

  5. April 13th, 2007 at 3:22 pm

    kowtz says:

    Mamba and dwade? Hehehe…

    remember dwade dislocating his shoulder? drops down and cries in pain…

    not so far back Kobe dislocates his shoulder, what does he do? he runs to garry viti, ask for the shoulder to be popped back into place, shoot two free throws with his left arm, not opting for a replacement free throw shooter so he can get back at the game…

    C-H-A-R-A-C-T-E-R… dwade gets up when he falls down… Kobe falls down, smashes into little pieces, breathes, gathers himself up, stands up, and walks it off like he was just slapped in the arm…

  6. April 13th, 2007 at 6:59 pm

    Big Aaron says:

    To be fair, a dislocated shoulder is another level of pain from ligament damage, broken bones etc. So Kobe is a little tougher than Wade, so what? I’d rather have Wade in my team than Kobe purely for the fact that Kobe will pass the ball but still wish he’d shot it. Don’t get me wrong, Kobe is phenomenal at what he does, but D-Wade is just slightly less selfish.

    That said, I;m a Magic fan and you can keep your Kobes and your Wades. We got Keith Bogans. If you can’t handle him, we’ve got JJ Redick coming at you for a whole 10 seconds before he’s subbed out for the rest of the game! Watch your backs.

  7. April 14th, 2007 at 12:30 am

    kowtz says:

    Ey, put kobe in orlando and they would be division champs right now, contesting detroit for the top seed… :D

  8. April 14th, 2007 at 2:24 am

    Dank says:

    put kobe anywhere and they’d be division champs…anywhere except LA

  9. April 15th, 2007 at 10:28 am

    Doc says:

    kobe needs kg bad

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