Photo. Jonathan MannionWith so much hype centered on the Celtics ever since they pulled off the Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen deals, it’s been easy to forget the C’s still needs to go through the reigning Eastern Conference champs to get the rings. Those champs would be the Cavs, who — flawed as they may be — still have some kind of pride as professionals, not to mention arguably the best basketball player on the planet right now. Boston came into Cleveland’s house Tuesday night with the League’s best record, and left with their second loss of the season. The game was tied with 22 seconds left when Ray (29 pts) went to the line and missed BOTH free throws. We’ve never seen that happen to him, not even at UConn. The guy is a Top-10 all-time free throw shooter and as automatic as anyone in the NBA today. So with a shot to win it, of course the Cavs didn’t run an actual play, instead just having LeBron (38 pts, 13 asts) brick a fallaway three. LeBron’s J was falling in the overtime, though, and the Cavs pulled away for the win … How about Drew Gooden? He was a beast in the third quarter, scoring 16 points and not missing a shot. He was like a rounded-out Carlos Boozer, finishing with 24 and 13 boards. During the broadcast, one of the announcers said Drew had told them his beard is so thick, he gets lint caught in it. Yeah, lint and pepperoni … Damien Wilkins, welcome to Kobe Bryant’s oubliette. We saw this one coming a mile away — the last time L.A. and Seattle played, back in the preseason, Kobe worked Damien over something awful. This time it was more of the same: spins, pull-ups, drives, threes. After a while, P.J. Carlesimo switched Kevin Durant onto Kobe (something he’d purposely avoided in that aforementioned preseason game). Mamba immediately gave KD one of his one-hand pump fakes, predictably getting him in the air and whistled for a foul. Later on Jeff Green took his turn on Kobe (35 pts, 8 rebs, 6 asts), but actually didn’t do a bad job. Kobe found Wilkins back in front of him in close-out time, though, and mercifully put him (and Seattle) away … Torii Hunter was being interviewed in the stands when Jeff Green caught a dunk over Andrew Bynum. The announcers asked Torii if he could get up like that. “Man, give me a ball and I’ll dunk on him.” Not sure if he meant he’d dunk on Jeff or Bynum, but for a 6-2 center fielder, that’s a tall order. Torii definitely has some serious hops, but those are some big boys you’re talking about … Up by one at the end of the third quarter, the Nuggets began the fourth with a small lineup of Iverson, J.R. Smith, Ed Najera, Linas Kleiza and Anthony Carter. They quickly lost the lead and built a significant deficit before George Karl had to put Camby and Carmelo back in … Trailing by three in the final seconds, with A.I. and ‘Melo both on the floor, Karl’s inbound play was designed for his nemesis J.R. Smith (George was on some other stuff last night). Drawing a foul on the shot, J.R. stepped to the line and made the first two before missing the third. To his credit, though, J.R. didn’t sulk and immediately went to foul Shawne Williams, who then got everything backwards. You’re supposed to make the first FT and miss the second on purpose, but Shawne bricked #1 and made #2 when he was trying to miss it. That left time for a final desperation heave, but ‘Melo couldn’t pull off the miracle … Marquis Daniels‘ thick high yellow socks had him looking like he was wearing uggs or something … The Bucks had their five-game win streak ended by the Sixers of all teams, and in Milwaukee at that. It started off bad for Philly: Willie Green was assigned to guard Michael Redd, and on the first two possessions got two jumpers in his face. But Redd was quiet after that, finishing with 17 points … The Bulls scoring a convincing win over the Hawks at home isn’t supposed to be a surprise. That it was just that yesterday shows you how far this Chicago team has fallen. On a positive note, finally looking like a legit NBA team with legit NBA scorers (Luol Deng had 22, Ben Gordon 21) is a step in the right direction. And how about Aaron Gray getting some burn? … Vince had his first real “Vince” game since the ankle injury, hanging 32 points on the Grizzlies. J-Kidd had another triple-double (12 pts, 15 rebs, 12 asts) and RJ dropped 27 points, and Jersey still found a way to lose. It could have been that pesky problem of barely having any good players down low. The Nets grabbed more rebounds than Memphis, but consider than Kidd had 15 of them and Vince had nine. With Krstic, Magloire and Malik Allen notching DNPs, the remaining bigs (Williams, Collins, Boone) combined for 11 boards. That’s just pathetic. J.C. Navarro had that many by himself for the Grizzlies … Next time you wanna get on Vince or Kobe or whoever else for being a nut, remember Tennessee star Chris Lofton’s line from last night’s blowout win over North Carolina A&T. Lofton took TWENTY threes! He made eight of them, and took just one other two-point shot all night and no free throws. Who does that? The Vols were playing an overmatched squad and their system is all run-and-gun, but we can’t believe it calls for anyone to jack that many triples. What’s worse, the rest of the team took 30 treys, for a total of FIFTY three-pointers taken on the night. Unbelievable. Was Bruce Pearl going after some kind of record? … Stud freshmen watch: Eric Gordon scored 29 in a win over Georgia Tech, outshining Yellow Jackets frosh forward Gani Lawal’s 17; Taylor King hit five triples in Duke’s blowout win over Wisconsin; and Derrick Rose put 19 points and 12 dimes on Austin Peay. T-Mac’s little brother, Chance McGrady, a reserve junior guard at Memphis, got a little burn in that one … We’re out like Gold Glovers dunking on seven-footers …
November 28th, 2007 at 6:56 am
sans says:
Is everyone still drinking the Hater-Ade on Gooden? Yeah, he’s still trying to look like Goro from Mortal Kombat, but he is a better baller than people give him credit for. Yes, Lebron makes him a whole lot better, but even in the video games he gets hated on (73 rating in 2K8) despite improving every season.
Isn’t it funny how well the Cavs play when Larry Hughes is no where to be scene? They should try and trade him to Houston for a point guard–any point guard–or just buy him out. Larry just hasn’t been able to play since busting up his hand a couple of years back.
And everybody, stop yelling First! like some school kid getting ready to go to lunch. I know how the fat kid gets excited about everything, but, c’mon, grow up.
November 28th, 2007 at 7:41 am
the_don_mega says:
ei, dime… better change the cover to your current issue… the real beast in the east is not Dwight Howard, it’s Lebron!!! SECOND!!!
November 28th, 2007 at 7:56 am
Flying-Dutchman says:
Wow, 14-50 3-point shooting by Tennessee
November 28th, 2007 at 7:59 am
Celts Fan says:
Damn Ray Ray, you ain’t in Charlotte anymore…
November 28th, 2007 at 8:43 am
Keydets Fan says:
If you think UT and Bruce Pearl are crazy, go check out the stats for Virginia Military Institute. Their goal is to put up 50 3’s. Last year, they averaged over 100 points per game and had the nations leader scoring in Reggie Williams. They came within 3 points of beating Winthrop in the Big South Championship. Check out this article…
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2976156
November 28th, 2007 at 8:48 am
yoda says:
you dime guys realy love word oubliette
November 28th, 2007 at 9:13 am
Captain America says:
The Forgotten?
Include Charlotte who required a buzz beater by Ray Allen to win last game.
And, who can forget the sub .500 Miami team who came down to the wire playing Boston at the Garden.
November 28th, 2007 at 9:35 am
DOC says:
did you see Emeka put Shaq on his ass last night? Thats the first time I ever seen Shaq shit get swatted like that. Centers get old in one year.
November 28th, 2007 at 9:40 am
Eric says:
The Celtics played a mediocre game at best and lost in OT after the Ray Allen fluke. After some decent defense on LeBron for some of the night the KING really threw the hammer down on the Celts last night. The Celts were doing a real good job of showing with either Perk or Garnett on the pick n roll’s with LeBron early on. He does such a good job of distributing the ball in those situations.
I was watching the game with 2 of my boys who were taking great joy in harassing the heck out of me last night. Mr. Swoosh and Canadian beer (their true identies will be revealed at another point in time) were all over me like flees on Drew Gooden’s grill. He played a real good game, but what is with the beard? Dime, can we get some insight and perhaps a sound bite from Drew on why he continues to make himself look as terrible as possible? Thanks.
12:30 Sunday in Boston…Round 2…Cleveland beware…
November 28th, 2007 at 9:55 am
Str8baller says:
I’m so gay - I’m GayBaller - 10th !!!
November 28th, 2007 at 10:12 am
Andy Buckets says:
Haha! “Drew Gooden looks like Goro from Mortal Kombat.” That’s great.
Is it me or does it seem like LeBron’s J goes in off of some sort of luck? I’m not hating, I just don’t see how one who shoots off balance manages to hit the shot again, and again
I guess that’s why he’s ‘The Chosen One’
November 28th, 2007 at 10:28 am
deez says:
for the love of god stop using oubliette. It was mildly amusing the first time, somewhat annoying the second, and now its just time to stop. you use it in every other post… its hard to read, nobody can pronounce it, if you missed the first post you have no idea what it means, and its FRENCH. seriously monsieurs, how bad a$$ do you think you sound talking le smack using frilly french words? i would like my smack sans le french. adieu
November 28th, 2007 at 10:59 am
JBFC says:
I told you fools last year, before the playoffs, that the Cavs were going to win the East–but all I heard from jokers like Pat Cassidy were how the Cavs were terrible, the Bulls were so good, Detroit is the king, etc, etc.
So at the start of this season, I thought — “Say, maybe those guys at Dime will learn from their mistakes last year. Say, maybe they won’t underestimate LeBron again this year. Say, maybe?” And yet, you predicted the Cavs would barely make the playoffs, and spent most of your time gawking at Boston’s Big Three, peeing your pants over how good they would be.
And once again, Pat and the rest of the gang look foolish.
When will you ever learn, Pat? Will you ever learn? The Cavs are for real. The Cavs are the defending Eastern Conference Champions. And the Cavs proved last night that they are still the best team in the East.
Get off Kobe’s jock and start recognizing that LBJ is the best player of our generation.
November 28th, 2007 at 11:07 am
MoxInTheWest says:
D-Ho is still the beast, and LBJ is still the King of the East. He made some HUGE shots in OT and still managed to keep everyone on the team involved(without LH and Donny Marsh).Scary. An easy selection for early MVP.
Do you think Danny Ferry called Anderson Varajeo last night? Probably said something like…”Did you see the game vs the celtics? Have fun in Europe, Big guy”
November 28th, 2007 at 11:21 am
João says:
No love for Miami ? J-Will and R. Davis coming of the bench ?
November 28th, 2007 at 11:36 am
Myrie in NY says:
Ray Allen let me down. Missing 2FT’s in the clutch? That ain’t like him. But you take the good with the bad I suppose.
I am not sold on the Cavs. Aside from LeBron, these guys seem all one dimensional jump shooters. Why not just got up on all of them. Dare them to drive and finish.
L Train (gotta luv that btw..), needs some real help. Dude has to put up 35+ just for the team to keep it close. After a long run last yr and team usa this summer…..this guy is gonna get tired down the stretch.
Cavs need to make a deal to get him some help. isn’t Bibby still on the market for them? Larry Hughes is a waste. He never did look right in a Cavs uni anyway. Ship him out for some office interns.
November 28th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
Jules says:
Aaron Gray’s 3 minutes is ‘burn’?
Well, I’m sure he was pretty winded afterwards, but still…
November 28th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
Big Aaron says:
Deez: If you can’t pronounce Oubliette, you clearly are an idiot.
November 28th, 2007 at 2:31 pm
Amar says:
deez = those hillbillies from Taladega Nights who get punked by SBC in that bar . . .
November 28th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
jo says:
That “oubliette” are not that cool at all…
November 28th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
Gareth says:
oubliette is my favourite word now thanks to smack. it describes things perfectly. putting ppl in the ‘chamber’ just ain’t badass enough to describe what kobe does to nique’s nephew.
November 28th, 2007 at 5:37 pm
Str8baller says:
sans: 22nd….. TOP THAT!!!!
November 28th, 2007 at 5:39 pm
Str8baller says:
Will the REAL STR8BALLER PLEASE STAND UP, NOT THAT FAGGOT WRITING B.S. Don’t imitate…Innovate. Punk ass. 23rd