The Beast is Back
Photo. Jonathan MannionAfter hollering at Dwight Howard for the first time since we shot him for our November ’07 cover and seeing him on the court in person for the first time this season, we have to bring back the nickname we gave Dwight last year: The Centaur, a.k.a. half-man, half-beast. DH went off for 22 points and 20 boards against the Knicks at the Garden last night, and while the box score credited him with 3 blocks, you can’t quantify the impact he had on the Knicks defensively — challenging everything, and over the course of the game you saw Steph, Crawford and Nate putting a lot of extra arc on their shots just to avoid The Centaur’s reach … Some of Dwight’s dunks were just bananas. One time he sprinted past Eddy Curry in the open floor (shocking, we know) and caught the ball in stride for a LeBron-style tomahawk, after which DH had to move his head to avoid smacking the backboard face-first. Later, he caught a backdoor alley-oop from Hedo with one hand that left MSG in a silent shock. And on another oop, a two-hander via Jameer Nelson, Dwight could have put one of his goofy All-Star stickers high on the glass if he’d wanted to … In the locker room before the game, Dwight was his usual class-clown self, showing the guys on the team how to do some new dance out of Atlanta (Bo Outlaw probably did it better than Dwight) and rattling off Friday quotes. Same thing after the game, as Dwight was singing “Crank That” on his way to the showers … While Dwight was dominant, Jameer (24 pts, 10 asts, 3 stls) was carving up Steph on the low. He was getting into the lane at will, hitting floaters and taking advantage of Orlando’s matchup mismatches … Other than that, the Knicks looked good for three quarters before falling apart in the final 13 minutes. They’d cut Orlando’s lead to one late in the third quarter, but a carry by Crawford, a Curry hook shot that hit side-backboard, and some blown defensive assignments led to a double-digit deficit before the Knicks knew what hit ‘em … Spotted in the crowd: Carlos Beltran (getting more boos than anything), NY Giants Antonio Pierce and Osi Umenyiora, and supermodels Selita Ebanks and Chanel Iman Robinson … Speaking of high fashion, Clyde Frazier was rocking an old-school brown leather jacket with gaudy silver zippers all over. And he made it look cool as hell … During the game we were box score-watching, paying attention to three games in particular: Celtics/Hawks, Heat/Suns and Bobcats/Pacers. Why? Because Kevin Garnett, Shawn Marion and Emeka Okafor were working on some monster stat lines. KG ended up with 27 points, 19 boards, 6 dimes and 3 blocks in a Boston blowout. Marion hung 17 points, 24 boards and 5 steals on a Miami squad that wasted a great game by Shaq (25 pts, 10 rebs, 3 blks). And Okafor notched 25 points and 23 boards in a win over Indiana … If you’re wondering why a team would still be willing to pick up J.R. Smith, find a clip of the dunk he had last night. Ridiculous … Don’t crown Chris Paul and the Hornets just yet: they ran up against the Spurs last night and got a reality check. CP took 27 points and 8 dimes from Tony Parker. Respect the rings, kids … Crazy finish between the Jazz and Sonics. After Delonte West and Chris Wilcox botched a drive-and-dish with the game tied in the final minute, they misplayed Utah’s pick-and-roll and allowed Carlos Boozer to get loose for the go-ahead layup. With a chance to tie it back up, Seattle went to Wilcox again, but he had it poked away. Seattle took their last foul to give, and Kevin Durant deflected the inbounds to get them another chance. But KD’s layup was barely swatted by Andrei Kirilenko. Game over … Before that it was a lot of Boozer doing whatever he wanted in the paint, but he was getting it as much as he was giving; Jeff Green (19 pts) got off some Shot Stick Pro moves on Booz in crunch time … We’re out like — Oh yeah, there was this other game that happened in Houston yesterday that more than 200 million people decided was worth watching: Rockets vs. Bucks, better known as Yao vs. Yi. Of course the two main attractions didn’t go head-to-head, but both of them did their thing. Yao racked up 28 points and 10 boards in the W, while Yi had his best game in the League with 19 points and 9 boards. While we’d still put Ray Allen at the top of the list, Yi’s jumper is one of the prettiest you’ll ever see … We’re out like E-City’s wheels …
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November 10th, 2007 at 5:02 am
K-Dizzle says:
How’d the Raptors do?
November 10th, 2007 at 5:26 am
Neil Bodman says:
How sad is it that you now refer to a 25 and 10 game from Shaq as “great?” That used to be status quo…maybe even a little below status quo.
November 10th, 2007 at 7:33 am
Raf says:
Raptors won…barely
November 10th, 2007 at 7:38 am
kobeef says:
What the hell is wrong with the Grizz?! They got killed by a blazers team that lost their star and dumped their vetrans.
Lakers were a completely different team with Odom on the floo. Fisher is also a big upgrade in the backcourt. I was impressed with Odom’s first game..not much rust. A good sign for the lakeshow.
November 10th, 2007 at 8:32 am
bigdre says:
i’ve been waiting for a stat line like that for marion from day 1. finally!
nice to see yi doin so well.
November 10th, 2007 at 8:41 am
Amar says:
andrei barely blocked that last shot, but hey, he was punking durant all game (save for that time durant just was too fast and drove by him for a jam) . . . andrei was passing craxxy and doing it all (as usual), and almost had a tripple double (as usual), and didn’t get any mention in smack. (as usual)
lol
hope the jazz keep winning. can’t wait for hornets vs jazz, that’ll be a good game.
November 10th, 2007 at 8:58 am
Damon says:
Did you hear del harris talking about yi jianlian?
he said there’s no 7 footer in the league who is as fast and as athletic as Yi.
my god, why is everybody always exaggerating things and making it even harder for the younger players.
btw, yi is ok, but most athletic? puh
November 10th, 2007 at 9:29 am
allah says:
I know he doesnt fit your mold, but I bet you guys go do a nice cover feature on Yao and his evolution. Dude has been a beast lately, and those that doubt he has a mean streak need to watch some more games. Its amazing how far hes come. I was watching old highlights where dudes upper body looked like Kevin Durant’s, now hes just a monster–playing 40 minutes a game in RA’s “uptempo” offense (A lot of ppl thought he wouldnt be able to keep up for 30 minutes). Hell just put him and Yi on the cover and sell the issue in China–cha ching.
Im out like Yao hate.
November 10th, 2007 at 10:43 am
seth says:
shit i remember playoff games in the lake show’s first title run where 25 and 10 was the status quo first half for the Diesel…makes me feel old waching him now.
November 10th, 2007 at 10:43 am
CCB says:
“Kiss the rings b” Dave Chappelle as Al Roker on the reperations episode. I’m just thinking about the ‘respect the rings’ line, pretty funny.
November 10th, 2007 at 11:12 am
John Adams says:
andrei kirilenko is the best passing forward in the league. he would have half as many turnovers, given more aware teammates. 7 assists in the first half of the first quarter.
November 10th, 2007 at 11:18 am
Bron42 says:
Not only is shaq 36, comin off injury, but the fact they changed the rules where he cant really just bully people (since everyone wants to go euro now)25 points and 10 is still nice, and still better than what 90% of the centers in the league do. Not to mention he had amare shook.
Ya for real, Yi is a average athlete by NBA standards, they need to stop overhypin him with that before he has to guard dwight or amare. Who were they comparin his athletic ability to? yao?
Is all of JR Smithes retardedness really worth one dunk? couldnt they just get james white or sean banks for 12 dollars and have the same problems?
See what happens when jameer isn’t having a 7 turnover game?
p.s: Callin it now, YI is starting in the allstar game, and not cuz of his stats.
November 10th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
Patrick Corcoran says:
I don’t think Dime hates Yao or the Rockets. It’s just that the Rockets don’t fit the Dime “demographic profile”, and Yao for sure doesn’t.
Three of the best five teams in the NBA are in Texas, and none of them get much “tick” here…. Dime isn’t about good basketball. It’s about selling image. Putting “a beast” with six-pack abs on every cover.
You’re not going to get that tough-guy image from Dallas or San Antonio or Houston — you’re just going to get a whipping that hurts for 48 minutes, and then a nice handshake and a clean towel for your efforts. Hard to sell that if you’re Dime, when really all anyone is buying is some man-porn disguised as a hoops journal.
November 10th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
bixby says:
dime is gay? makes sense now
November 10th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
Bone says:
If the NBA is smart and wants the All-Star Game to maintain what litte credibility it has with the fans who PAY to see the game, it will leave Yi off the All-Star ballot. The guy has game, don’t get me wrong. But really, should he be starting at forward over KG and Lebron? That would be making a mockery of the All-Star game, worse than Yao starting as a rookie over Shaq. Yao would at least have been Shaq’s backup that year. Yi is not even close to being an All-Star. Three years from now? He probably will be.
November 10th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
Bron42 says:
would you all quit your bitching…you talk about demographics? if you knew anything about marketing you would kno its their JOB to put popular athletes on the cover to sell. Does that mean they dont give duncan his shine in the mag? if you read one u’d kno their on his nuts. You really think they have a issue spotlighting houston cuz of yaos boring ass? at the cost of overlooking tmac? no, so calm down.Everyone will get theirs in due time and if you dont like it you can go to slam and read all their lovely advertisments or start your own mag and put a cover of dirk,yao and darko every month. till then calm ya self and take the sand out ya vagina.
p.s: ya its funny, melo,lebron and chris paul were all “too young” to make the allstar game as rookies when they earned it. Meanwhile yao got voted in an yi will too with less than par stats as rookies.
November 10th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
Tim says:
What? No love for the best team in the East (Detroit) crushing the previously undefeated Clippers?
November 10th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
The mox says:
Just to clarify, the all-star game has no credibility. Its a glorified pick up game. Its just for fun and if Yi gets the start it would be right in line with the game. Rediculous.
November 10th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
Austin Burton says:
J.R.’s dunk…
http://youtube.com/watch?v=5XpCwGKNL4s
November 10th, 2007 at 4:58 pm
Amar says:
Austin — that’s a sick dunk.
November 10th, 2007 at 5:49 pm
Bron42 says:
Mox it may not mean much to you, but to most of the players it does..
The dunk was decent, not much compared to what we’ve seen him do before…anyone else see von wafer lookin REAL bored sittin beside melo on the bench at the end?
November 10th, 2007 at 5:58 pm
Phil B says:
man, memphis got destroyed last night because the blazers came out and played D in the second quarter. shut down gasol completely. miller was pretty worthless in the second quarter as well. i was in the tenth row and there were three times in the fourth quarter during inbounds that mike conley looked terrified! it was weird. gay was getting whatever he wanted though. but so was lamarcus, roy and martell. memphis is gonna be good in the future once they gel, but so is portland… especially once they get oden back. and they’re gonna surprise this year. lamarcus is gonna replace randolph’s numbers easily and be twenty times better on D.
November 10th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
Phil B says:
i meant “played D in the second half”. the blazers actually looked horrible on D in the second quarter.
November 11th, 2007 at 1:20 am
Damon says:
yi coulb be starting the allstar game, but he has to beat lebron and kg, should be a close one
i just hope they change the voting system, its just ridiculous that way
November 11th, 2007 at 8:00 am
JodysOldMan says:
Chanel Iman Robinson? …isn’t that a picture of Denise from The Cosby Show ???
November 11th, 2007 at 8:03 am
JodysOldMan says:
I think Denise made that oufit she’s wearing at the same time she hooked up Theo’s gold and black shirt with one exra long sleeve
November 11th, 2007 at 11:09 pm
Gee says:
Yao got China on lock.
Roooooockeeeeeetttsssss!