Photo. Gary LandOverheard in the Dime office Monday afternoon: “I’m going to watch the Kings game and try to figure out why Kevin Martin is good.” That was the plan. Too bad Andrei Kirilenko got involved. K-Mart II did score 21 on the night, but his team got mollywhopped in Salt Lake City. Even with four minutes left and the Kings elbow-deep in a 20-piecing, Martin was still being face-guarded by Kirilenko (15 pts, 8 rebs, 8 asts, 3 blks) a good 40 feet from the ball, with AK just staring at his chest. Hellish, and super-frustrating. Martin and Francisco Garcia had to turn water into wine all night just for Sacto to score, and on the other end Carlos Boozer (32 pts) was scoring at will … It wasn’t just AK-47 bringing the pressure, either: Utah’s defense never let up, not even when the backups got in. When Beno Udrih got off the bench, he could barely bring the ball past half-court against Jason Hart … One bright spot for the Kings: Spencer Hawes. He got in towards the end of the first half and gave Memo buckets … Nuggets/Cavs was also a piecing. There was a stretch in the second quarter when Denver’s lineup consisted of Allen Iverson, J.R. Smith, Bobby Jones, Ed Najera and Marcus Camby — and they ran the Cavs off the floor. Jones was legitimately giving LeBron problems defensively, Najera was all over the place making hustle plays, J.R. was getting buckets from deep and in transition, and A.I. was running the show like Cool Hand Luke. It actually reminded us of Iverson circa 2001, when he and a defensive-minded center (Dikembe back then) carried a mediocre crew all the way to the Finals … After that big run, Denver came out in the second half and put Cleveland to bed, with A.I. (37 pts, 8 asts) and Carmelo (22 pts, 9 rebs, 6 asts) taking turns abusing their guys 1-on-1 and scoring at will. Iverson in particular was OWNING Daniel Gibson — Blue Magic injections straight to the vein. Allen was sticking threes and baseline runners off glass, and after a while Boobie had this glassy look in his eyes. When Mike Brown finally pulled him for Damon Jones, A.I. put Damon on his butt in a matter of seconds … J.R. Smith ended up with 29 points on 7 triples. It’s a shame he’s seems to have issues because he has legit skills … The Nuggets’ play-by-play guy described Camby’s jumper as “casting off.” And when you look at MC’s form, that makes perfect sense … LeBron ended up with 27. One time he buried a jumper and one announcer said, “Nothing but nector.” Huh? … After Tony Parker gave him the business over the weekend, Chris Paul came back strong in another marquee matchup with Jason Kidd. CP dropped 27 points and 7 dimes, and made two huge plays down the stretch. In the final minute, he got a steal after his own miss and dimed Mo Pete for a four-point play to tie the game. And with a little under three seconds left, Paul got to the cup and floated a shot over Nenad Krstic that proved to be the game-winner … J-Kidd ended up with 14 points, 9 boards and 10 dimes … One of our guys was at NYC’s Lotus nightclub over the weekend and spotted Mo Pete, Bobby Jackson, Q-Rich (naturally), Plaxico Burress, Dahntay Jones and Malik Rose … While Duke was stealing New Mexico State’s lunch, ESPN2’s color guy, Jimmy Dykes, opined that Coach K’s three stud freshmen — Nolan Smith, Taylor King and Kyle Singler — all “play harder than Josh McRoberts ever did.” Way to throw the kid under the bus … Although later on, the same guy made us laugh when he said Wojo’s newborn son will “dive on the floor for any loose bottle.” … Eric Gordon wasn’t being left out of the early hype bestowed upon Michael Beasley and O.J. Mayo. Indiana’s franchise frosh dropped 33 (with 7 treys) in his debut while the Hoosiers routed Chattanooga … Syracuse guard Jonny Flynn broke Carmelo’s freshman record with 28 points in his first game, adding 9 assists in a win over Siena … And don’t sleep on LSU freshman big man Anthony Randolph, who notched 19 points, 13 boards and 6 blocks in a win over SE Louisiana. Needless to say, this year’s freshman class is SICK … We’re out like places for Boobie to hide …
November 13th, 2007 at 6:27 am
Fish says:
Still think Iverson is the quickest dude in the league. All the competitors in that category will be the first to tell you that the dude is 32, and he can’t really compete with them anymore (Parker states something like this often), but he always just *looks* impossibly quick.
November 13th, 2007 at 7:41 am
djKianoosh says:
“nothing but nectar” as in honey sweet… i get it, sort of
watching AI in philly all those years, last night would have been one of those nights he goes for 50. but on a team with so much talent (melo, martin and camby) he doesn’t have to, and he shoots 14-20!?!? damn that’s some good stuff from AI. he shoots like that and there’s no stopping him. there was another lineup in the 2nd half with AI, Melo, Najera, Bobby Jones and Kleiza which seemed to work nicely as well.
JR played nice, but he’s so wildly inconsistent. can he just string a few of these good games together finally? and just think how much more consistent this nuggs team will be when their point guards heal up.
November 13th, 2007 at 8:14 am
DOC says:
the sixers traded the wrong ai
November 13th, 2007 at 8:36 am
Gregg says:
HOF watch Ben Wallace? He’s what Zo was defensively in his prime with the championship as a starter but without the offense.
I also want to see Pau Gasol- World Championship MVP not too while ago. 20/10/2
November 13th, 2007 at 8:38 am
Kobeef says:
AI was awesome last night..he never gets mentioned in the best point guard in the league discussions but he has been playing PG for a while now…and I don’t believe that Deron or CP3 can handle him, yet. He is a great floor general when he wants to be.
JR was also great and I agree - if this kid can keep his head on straight the Nuggests starting lineup will be impossible to defend.
That said, it was sad to watch Melo with his very good team kill Lebron with a very weak team. Lebron is taking notes Cleveland.
November 13th, 2007 at 8:42 am
Brown says:
I haven’t heard of anyone getting “mollywhopped” in a long time. Love it.
Is it me, or does Utah seem to be on a mission this year? AK47 is back to playing like his old self…for now.
November 13th, 2007 at 9:20 am
Amar says:
It’s nice for utah to be able to beat up on a bad team by 20 when Deron is having his worst game of the season. Memo has been in a funk so far this year. Jazz need every piece to be strong in order to win. Without any true superstars that can take over (deron is almost there), the jazz will have to rely on gestalt basketball, where the sum of their parts is greater than their whole. If they do not play like that, don’t expect 6+ playoff wins this season.
Btw, check out brewers FG% . . .
November 13th, 2007 at 9:25 am
Amar says:
btw, salmons on the kings is under-rated.
November 13th, 2007 at 10:14 am
Tom from Cleveland says:
Cavs were on the 2nd night of a back-to-back at the end of a long road trip, so last night’s game wasn’t a true indication of how they’re playing. 4-4 and with their longest road trip of the season already out of the way. They’ll be fine.
November 13th, 2007 at 10:21 am
chrisGO says:
“HOF watch Ben Wallace?”
thats easy….NOT IN
November 13th, 2007 at 10:29 am
Bron42 says:
Gasol is a bum and will never be close to hall of fame. Hes a poor mans poor man of j oneal and jermaine got laughed at when dime brought his name up for the idea.
There might be guys quicker than iverson at this point, but your not gonna find many who are quicker and still under control. Guys like tj ford might have the foot speed but no where near the handle or flow that iverson has to use it. The closest is maybe parker.
The freshmen class is nice..for now when their all play small schools to get their ego’s up. We’ll see how they hold against big names. And its not like any of them will stay more then a year (maybe gordon) but beasly is def out, same with Juice mayo. Mayo would leave after 2 games if he could.
And the simple fact lebron is such a crap ass/streaky shooter. Any guy his size who is somewhat athletic gives him trouble because he cant really just barrel past them.
you think malik roses uses his spurs ring to pull girls at the club? Breakin out some “I remember we were down by 7 and duncan pulled me to the side like malik, I’m scared and we need you. Win this for us” type stories at the bar to 19 year old chicks.
November 13th, 2007 at 10:38 am
girllybballluver says:
LOL @ Bron’s Malik Rose story!!!!
November 13th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
JC says:
You know J-Hart was gonna play hard against Sacto. They treated him kinda poorly before he was bought out, even though he played hard and kept his mouth shut. Good for you J-Hart!
November 13th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
djKianoosh says:
at this point, Parker is faster with the ball. that finals mvp sealed the deal for me, and I love AI’s game. to me, AI does the two most exciting things you can do on the court, that is steals and finishing. he does those as great as anyone in the game. and that’s why he was soooo loved in philly. that’s all just quickness and anticipation for the steals and toughness/heart for finishing… but TP is a one man fast break that even the top teams out west haven’t been able to stop.
November 13th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
skurv says:
malik has more than one ring, and a failed philly cheesesteak franchise….and he plays the tuba. of course hes pullin in the underage ladies.
November 13th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
Gee says:
J.R. Smith is going crazy with the oops! Man I predict right now he will have the “Cram-of-the-year” on some poor soul. Fa Sho!
The Jazz seem to be the same team to me that they were last year. I personally don’t see any dramatic improvement that will take them further than they were depending on who they face in the playoffs.
If only a lot of big men had the heart of AI!
The freshman class is really good, to bad they aren’t forced to stay around. I don’t know how but I so wish all players had to stay for 4 years. Just imagine how nasty the college game would be!
CP did his thing! Kidd needs help…bottom line!
November 13th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
Joeman says:
I wonder what kind of advice Bron gave Boobie after that one: “Next time just foul out the game instead of getting embarrased like that!”
Back to back don’t mean nothing, the Raps whacked my Bulls after a back to back. Everyone says that they don’t know what happening. Skiles is the problem, his team is not young anymore, so the scare tactics are not as effective as they used to be.
November 13th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
TJ says:
“I wonder what kind of advice Bron gave Boobie after that one: “Next time just foul out the game instead of getting embarrased like that!””
Let’s be honest, I doubt Lebron cares much about defense
November 13th, 2007 at 5:16 pm
K-Dizzle says:
lol. still laughin at the Malik Rose club-pick up.
I love AI and TP, but I gotta put Barbosa and Kidd(when he feels it) up there with the quickest with the rock; honorable mention being Monta Ellis and Devon Harris.
November 13th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
K-Dizzle says:
Damn! I said saw the poll question. That’s damn near impossible. They’re all gonna be lottery picks, they’re all studs, and they all play on good teams so it’s just gonna be who’s still playin by the time the Final Four rolls around
November 13th, 2007 at 5:26 pm
Kudabeen says:
Great Assesment of Iverson’s talents vs the quickness of other guys like a Tony Parker Bron. Parker is a great finisher, but he’s not always in control. Iverson has the ball handling, anticipation, and the athleticism that seperates him from others.
Kobeef is right. AI doesn’t get credit for being a really good distributor. I’d take 30pts and 7ast any day. I guess the main issue is is AI shooting the way he is with Denver. He looks really comfortable out there. In Philly he’d be running for his life to get an open bucket…I think to be a great PG you have to be able to score and who does it better than AI? Deron has a better J and is physical on D, Kidd is a more physical defensive guard and gets boards, Paul is a better passer, Nash is a better passer and more efficient scorer, BUT AI has the best overall package: He is a good passer, one of the best scorers of all time, plays excellent defense, but because he is AI steals and reeking havoc in the passing lanes don’t count, and he is a durable ball of energy that infuses confidence in the guys around him.
Gee:
There is a big difference for the Jazz this year as opposed to last (two actually). AK is balling again and seems involved. Ronnie Brewer is getting the time he deserves on the floor and he is producing on both ends. Jazz never had a guy with this range of talent at the two. Closest was Deshawn, but he was NBA level garbage when with the Jazz
November 13th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
Kudabeen says:
I have a question:
If you were to swap Iverson with any other PGs in the league which teams would be worst off?
I think he is an upgrade over every one…that’s me seeing from the perspective of watching him put up big assist numbers with guys doing their jobs around him and witnessing the total package at work hundreds of games…
Hey Dime make a poll! Please…
November 13th, 2007 at 6:49 pm
Tamilan says:
Phoenix would never swap guards
November 13th, 2007 at 6:49 pm
Amar says:
Gee seriously . . . this time around the jazz aren’t starting a 30+ year old 6′0 guy with a career 41% fg at shooting guard, and have a young, athletic, fast, 6′7 guy who is throwing it down on everybody. (did you see his dunk last night? probably not . . . because it’s not like you know anything about the jazz)
AK is doing his think on offense and defense (he did nothing last season)
The bench is better, and all the younger guys are a season better.
Deron is playing like an all-star.
The jazz of last season won 9 playoff games. What’s your favorite team, and how many did they win? This jazz team is improved, and will probably win 6 this season at least.
November 13th, 2007 at 6:50 pm
Amar says:
no jazz starter is even 29, and the rest of the bench is full of young guys, or guys in their primes. if they don’t shock you again this season — they will in the next 3 or so. (you know, when deron williams is 26 years old and okur is 31)
November 14th, 2007 at 12:26 am
94by50 says:
Once again my boy Jerryd Bayless gets no love when it comes to this year’s frosh class. Simply appalling.
Almost as appalling as my ‘Cats scraping by Northern Arizona tonight. Then again, it’s not like they lost to Mercer, or Gardner-Webb…