Smack / Jan 16, 2008 / 5:41 am

Killing T Softly

By Dime Magazine

When Rip Hamilton drops major buckets on you, sometimes you don’t even notice how bad it is until you check the box score. Rip doesn’t blitz you with inhuman athleticism like LeBron (more on that later) or visibly impose his will on you like Kobe, and he won’t punctuate a big scoring night with a Top-10 highlight. Nah, Rip is just like water: always moving, always flowing, a quiet force of nature. Last night the Raptors saw this first-hand when Rip hit them for 39 points in a blowout Pistons win. No dunks, no 30-footers, just a series of efficient buckets (16-for-22 FGs) on everyone Toronto tried to throw at him. There was one play where Rip bobbled a pass coming off of a screen, but the way he recovered and casually blew past his man for a layup, it almost looked like the fumble was planned … And did you see the move Tayshaun Prince put on Jamario Moon? Prince used an up-fake to get Moon in the air, then went around Moon’s back for a dunk while Jamario looked like the punchline of a Barry Sanders highlight … You know who else is good at discreetly taking your soul? Sam Cassell. He gave the Suns 32 points last night, and the Clippers beat a good team for the first time in what seems like forever … Yeah, so about LeBron. He went ballistic on the Grizzlies, putting up 51 points, 8 boards, 9 dimes, 3 steals and 6 treys, winning an overtime game almost by himself that Mike Brown kept trying to lose by himself. Late in the game, Brown insisted on going with a big lineup (Anderson Varejao and Zydrunas Ilgauskas) and having Varejao guard Rudy Gay. So the Grizz proceeded to kill Cleveland with the pick-and-roll since AV couldn’t keep up with Gay, nor could he meet him up top when Rudy (30 pts) was hitting threes … As for LeBron, Mike Miller was trying, but he just doesn’t have the size, speed or strength to hang with ‘Bron. He also doesn’t have the excuse of being a rookie like Jeff Green had when he got mollywhopped by Kobe the other night … At MSG for the Knicks/Wizards game, we were disappointed to walk into the Washington locker room and see the infamous gold-and-black uniforms. Or as one of the Dime crew described them: “My wife saw those and said ‘Who is that team and why are they wearing those costumes?’” … Bolstered by Sunday’s win over Detroit and a non-hating crowd (David Wright got booed more than anybody affiliated with the Knicks), New York jumped out early on Washington, who may have been feeling themselves a little too much after the Boston wins. The Wizards starters looked so bad at the outset that Eddie Jordan emptied the bench early in the first quarter, and at one point the group on the floor consisted of Nick Young, DeShawn Stevenson, Andray Blatche, Dominic McGuire and Darius Songaila. If those five hung out after the game, would anyone speak a word to Songaila? … Then Oleksiy Pecherov came in during the second quarter, looking tipsy and with his jersey untucked. Whatever he was sippin’ on, though, it worked. He knocked down a few threes and was Washington’s most effective bench player … Eddy Curry vs. Brendan Haywood was like the Battle of the Underachieving Big Men. E-City got it started by air-balling an alley-oop, then Haywood bricked a layup off the bottom of the rim, and later traveled in the lane on his way to throwing a hook shot completely over the rim … How far did the wins over the C’s cause the Wizards to rise in our NBA Hit List? Check it out along with the other power ranking we dropped yesterday, our College Top 25 Hit List … Carmelo had his third straight game of 30-plus points, hanging 36 on the Hawks in a loss. The Nuggets were down big and came back to cut it to 10 with about two minutes left before they lost Allen Iverson. On back-to-back inbounds plays, the Nuggets were looking for A.I., who was being shadowed by Anthony Johnson. Both times, A.I. took a dive as soon as he felt contact from A.J., and both times the refs kept their whistles on mute. After the second dive/no-call, Iverson went nuts and got ejected. J.R. Smith got booted about 30 seconds later, but it felt like he was just trying to be Iverson’s buddy … The Rockets and Sixers wore some legit throwbacks in their game last night, which were honestly a lot better than what they usually wear. Philly is playing well. One night after almost catching the Spurs slipping on the road, they went into Yao’s house and picked up a win. Andre Miller (26 pts, 6 asts, 5 rebs, 3 stls) was killing Skip all night, which Skip almost made up for when he hit a big three to pull Houston within one in the final minute. The Rockets needed a stop on the next possession, but they let The Dalembeast get open for an alley-oop from Andre Iguodala. Then Yao missed a hook shot, and it was pretty much over … You may have seen it before, but this is our favorite Gus Johnson video of all-time, right behind the “Crawford for THRAAAAY!” and the Gonzaga/UCLA conniption from the Big Dance a few years ago … We’re out like A.I. …

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45 Responses to “Killing T Softly”

  1. January 16th, 2008 at 5:52 am

    M Intellect says:

    Gold

  2. January 16th, 2008 at 6:04 am

    jz_smoove says:

    FYI, nobody cares who is First…

  3. January 16th, 2008 at 6:09 am

    K-Dizzle says:

    ok, I’ll man up and admit that I might be wrong about Kobe “easily” takin over the scoring lead from Lebron because of nights like this.
    Celtics, right now, need to pry Sam Cassell, from the Clips, before they realize how valuable he’ll be as a mentor when Livingston gets back.
    I don’t wanna be that dude but who the heck is Oleksiy Pecherov .
    Celtics for real need to put out some feelers for both Gary Payton AND Latrell Sprewell..yeah, I said it

  4. January 16th, 2008 at 6:12 am

    jz_smoove says:

    the Pistons has the Raps number since Toronto came in ‘95. Washington got cocky. And good for the refs for not giving in to AI flops. Lebron striking 50 only means Kobe will try and 1 up that soon enough, especially since Bynum is out which gives him the excuse to do do. Time to pick up KB24 in my fantasy lineup.

  5. January 16th, 2008 at 6:16 am

    YOUNGFED says:

    Yeah it seems like everytyime Lebron plays great Kobe has to come back and do better. Lebron is pushing him for MVP.

    Sam Cassell gets the all-time immortal award (LOL).

  6. January 16th, 2008 at 7:25 am

    M Intellect says:

    Real talk, I don’t care about the whole first thing.

    I care about why people care about the first thing.

    I’m just tryna make that dude who sets his alarm to get the first post on smack to leave that shit and get a good nights sleep before he kills someone sleepin’ at the wheel.

    And FYI, it’s GMT over here. I’m posting Gold at like 11 am at my desk.

  7. January 16th, 2008 at 8:08 am

    jz_smoove says:

    M, no worries i dont got no beef with you over first, its a basketball forum, we jus need to concentrate over b ball you know?

  8. January 16th, 2008 at 8:40 am

    QQ says:

    Haha, I love the Songaila line. That’s gold Dime.

    I’m quite worried about the Lake Show, but I think Mamba would comply. Dropping 48 proves that.

  9. January 16th, 2008 at 8:58 am

    Brown says:

    Here’s a question. Who’s been the most inconsistent team this year? As in a team who beats teams they shouldn’t, then turn around and don’t beat teams they should.

    As a Raptors fan, I have to say it’s them. They beat Portland even though they tried their best to give the game away, then go to Detroit and forget to bring their game with them.

    Other candidates: Rockets, Wizards, Jazz, Nets, Hawks.

  10. January 16th, 2008 at 9:16 am

    djKianoosh says:

    Brown, the nuggets are getting dangerously close to being that team…

    still, it’s early, right?

  11. January 16th, 2008 at 9:25 am

    YOUNGFED says:

    I’d say the Hawks Brown. They should be better than they are but when they are playing good they can run with the best of em’

  12. January 16th, 2008 at 9:30 am

    Str8baller says:

    11th…

    hahahahahah. The Str8baller doesn’t give a damn about being first NO MO…

    I got bigger fish to fry. And FYI… I don’t set my alarm either. I’m in Barcelona kid so it’s almost 10 a.m. when I post.

    So enough off the alarm setting jokes.

    I’m out like tryin to stop Video Game James

  13. January 16th, 2008 at 9:53 am

    crashing back to reality says:

    okay….when Portland takes out the Celtics tonight, all you C’s fans have nothing to worry about. That team needs a rough stretch to do some soul searching.

    …and the Lake Show with the best record in the West???
    They’ll be lucky to get the 6th seed when it’s all said and done.

  14. January 16th, 2008 at 9:55 am

    control says:

    As a Raps fan, I knew they were going to lose last nite. Detroit just got ripped up by NEW YORK, probably the worst team in history (if not in record, in spirit), there was no way Detroit was coming home and not letting that slide, that is why they are an elite team.

  15. January 16th, 2008 at 10:35 am

    isotope says:

    So who y’all wanna see in the slam dunk contest?

    Ariza?
    Igoudala?
    Rudy Gay?
    Gerald Green (is he still in the league? or in the NBDL?)

  16. January 16th, 2008 at 10:57 am

    rodnets says:

    The best way of ingoring that first stuff is don´t even mention it.

    Why Cleveland sticks to that awfull coach? Has Lebron something to do with it, saying let me do what I want? Do they owe Brown big bucks to opt out of the contract?
    I don´t get it…

    Sorry for my crappy english

  17. January 16th, 2008 at 11:00 am

    rodnets says:

    I like to see Yao in the slam dunk performing “the freezing bowling dunk” with the aid of Malik Rose and E-City

    Yao is the only player in the L that could show so little emotion in his face after a cram like that.

  18. January 16th, 2008 at 11:07 am

    Myrie says:

    DIME:

    Explain to us how this Smack section works? There were eight games last night, but not all of them received mention in the Smack piece above. That happens alot.

    Isn’t this section suppose to give a quick rundown on each game, each morning for those of us who don’t have League Pass? Or do you presume we all watch NBATV Daily in the morning?

    Yeah, it might take a while to comment on every game, every morning in this section….but so what?

  19. January 16th, 2008 at 11:53 am

    K-Dizzle says:

    Myrie

    It wasn’t that bad. We got reviews on 6 outta 8 games. Of course, Too Easy and S-Jack put the wood to the T-Wolves so we don’t really need to hear about that,and the Bulls got their own story in Hoopla cuz that 4th quarter against the Magic is makin that pot boil over.

    Anybody else see Ben Wallace laughin on the bench as Rashard was actually EARNING his contract?

    DIME
    Need more info on that Wallace-Noah mash-up at halftime.
    What’s the worse situation right now? Miami or Chicago?

  20. January 16th, 2008 at 11:56 am

    Byrd says:

    Yo how come no mention of DLEE ruining Songaila’s life?

  21. January 16th, 2008 at 11:57 am

    Brown says:

    I wanna see Rudy Gay and Jamario Moon in the dunk contest. Gerald Green to, I wonder if he has any dunks we haven’t seen in him.

  22. January 16th, 2008 at 12:04 pm

    GEE ...this ain't even my church says:

    Rip does his thing. For real the Pistons are a great squad of vets. It honestly just makes a different when you have vets and then bring in some young guys every now and then for juice. Your vets have to be on it though.

    Honestly teams should look into the Pistons training because you don’t really hear of them getting injuries a lot. I mean I know injuries can happen regardless of how hard you train and all that I am just saying, I think of teams where the star players are hurt and not performing and its ridiculous. For some reason the Pistons stay pretty intact.

    Come playoff time the Boston Fans are going to be going nuts, you wanna talk about home court advantage, it’s going to be sick. Boston get Sam-I-Am.

    It’s great LeBron is getting 51 (has to get 51) but I don’t know, if that was me I would be happy and mad. Honestly things like that do add to the legend of LeBron but come on can he get some help. I don’t even know if I could chill with the team knowing they are scrubs and really not putting in work on wins. I saw one play where Varejao was smiling in Bron’s grill after he made got an and 1 and I am thinking, Bron got to be feeling like dude get yo over paid non–playin a$# out my face.

    LOL Mike Miller was guarding King James with all he had for him not to hit that winning shot lol. His hair was going all crazy and everything. LeBron should have drove to the hole.

    It’s probably just me but the Knicks just look heavy and out of shape. I was looking and like dang they are porkey. Even lil Nate looks like he’s been at the eating table to long.

    Tracy needs to come on back. No way when you up by 13 should you not win against the Sixers. They just stop playing D and couldn’t hit nothing. They deserved to lose last night, Houston is pissin me off. It’s hard to support dudes that just quit. Tracy come back soon, and can the Rockets please trade and get Gay back. What happen to Mike James? Dude was really scoring good in Toronto I think and now he is m.i.a.? Sigh.

    Since I always seem to be the only one giving props to LaMarcus again I want to say dude is doing good and as much as Bynum gets press LaMarcus has been getting his …and consistently too. I like his hustle.

    LOL I am out like the New Fat Boys (Knicks)

  23. January 16th, 2008 at 12:06 pm

    Fish says:

    Wish the rockets held onto Gay instead of using him as an excuse to jettison the embarrassing “our new starting PF” Swift. Battier is a “good teammate” and all, but on watching him a few times this season it’s obvious he likes to run on half cylinders.

  24. January 16th, 2008 at 1:59 pm

    K-Dizzle says:

    Fish

    I don’t think you can state that enough.
    Gay for Battier is the worse personnel move of the past 5 years. A future superstar with unlimited potential for a complimentary dude who takes charges…Damn

    Right up there with Joe D draftin Milicic.(never lettin that one slide)
    Picture Wade….or Carmelo….or Bosh on that squad. I mean Rip or Tayshaun comin off the pine or a frontline of Tay, CB4 and Sheed? That’s the diff between dynasties and a 3 year run.

    Not lettin my Lakers slide tho: Caron for Kwame Brown….nuff said

    Did I miss anything?

  25. January 16th, 2008 at 2:02 pm

    Ian says:

    isotope
    i wanna see james fucking white

  26. January 16th, 2008 at 2:06 pm

    Eric says:

    On Retro Jersey nights, why do the home teams insist on wearing their AWAY retros? It’s so weird to see the away team in white. This is not football!!

    Only the Knicks (surprisingly) get this right and have worn there HOME RETROS @ Home!

  27. January 16th, 2008 at 2:19 pm

    nick says:

    the pistons have the raps number. just like the warriors are a bad matchup for the mavs as we all saw in the playoffs.

  28. January 16th, 2008 at 2:26 pm

    isotope says:

    I’m still not sold on Gay. He’s like a less-experienced nd less-talented TMac. I really dont see how they would play together. Plus Rudy is trigger happy now and acts like the Grizz is his team; wouldnt work in Houston. I still think the trade was bad, horrible. Mostly because the rockets gave too much up for Battier. I would have gotten someone/something else for Gay/Swift.

  29. January 16th, 2008 at 2:43 pm

    What is this!? says:

    Someone said that Iverson was flopping, no he wasn’t, he was pushed, if you watched the game you would know that. Even the commentators in Atlanta said that the ref made a bad call and they were talking about it on ESPN. Its crazy how some refs can just stand there and allow that type of action to happen simply because it’s “Allen Iverson” or “Carmelo Anthony”, they get calls….but there has been plenty of times that Iverson and Carmelo get mobbed and no call is called, that ain’t cool. That ref deserved to get cussed out. I’m not sure if the Nuggets would have won with 39 seconds left in the game, but they could have at least shot some threes to bring them even closer, the ref basically screwed up the flow. They can’t expect fans to continue to watch the game if they are going to continue to allow the refs to determine the outcome on their own. What a waste.

  30. January 16th, 2008 at 3:00 pm

    T.M.P.B.W.O.T.P. says:

    Rudy is trigger-happy in Memphis because, (1) that’s the system they run, and (2) he’s been given a green light. If he played in Houston he wouldn’t be taking as many shots. If you noticed at UConn he didn’t gun because that’s not what their system called for, even though he had the talent to average 20 ppg in college.

  31. January 16th, 2008 at 3:09 pm

    Myrie says:

    ON A SERIOUS SIDE NOTE……

    What is this about Nene Hilario having a testicular tumor? Possibly cancerous?

    Yikes!!

  32. January 16th, 2008 at 3:41 pm

    GEE ...this ain't even my church says:

    Please someone answer him

  33. January 16th, 2008 at 3:43 pm

    Ian says:

    nick says:

    “the pistons have the raps number. just like the warriors are a bad matchup for the mavs as we all saw in the playoffs”

    it doesnt work that way cuz the pistons are the better team by far
    u can apply it to golden state because dallas is the better team

  34. January 16th, 2008 at 3:53 pm

    control says:

    About Nena, I heard that last night on the sports radio and just started laughing for some reason. That guy has the worst luck, guy has been injured for like 90% of his career.

  35. January 16th, 2008 at 4:00 pm

    jonny says:

    Knicks win two in a row without marbury.. guess the rest of the team really does hate him. he’s truly the epitome of a team cancer.

  36. January 16th, 2008 at 4:12 pm

    noname says:

    are we live?

  37. January 16th, 2008 at 4:24 pm

    Celts Fan says:

    Nene may have the worst luck w/ injuries, but he’s got the most money of the Brazilian dudes, and the least talent, so he’s lucky somewhere (or has a lucky agent!)

  38. January 16th, 2008 at 4:41 pm

    Ian says:

    overrated
    melo
    arenas

    underrated
    manu
    lebron

    i agree with three of these but lebron isnt underrated hes one of the top 3 players in the league with kobe and duncan.

  39. January 16th, 2008 at 5:17 pm

    Doug says:

    Iverson flopped. (If you were at the game, sitting in the good seats, you saw.) Anyway, immediately prior to the first flop, Anthony Johnson got called for palming, which was about the worst call I’ve seen all season. The first flop call may have been a well-deserved make-up call for the Hawks.

    The Hawks get no respect, and no breaks from the refs. (Maybe an occasional break from their own scorekeeper. Ha!)

  40. January 16th, 2008 at 5:37 pm

    hatinonmanu says:

    Ian,

    That Manu is even rated at all means he’s overrated. Guy is a scrub, and he looks weird.

  41. January 16th, 2008 at 5:52 pm

    What is this!? says:

    Doug,

    I don’t live in Atlanta, I live in California were the “good seats” cost thousands and not $25 dollars… I was at home watching the game and you don’t have to be sitting in the “good seats” in Atlanta to see that those were BS calls. So I guess the guys at ESPN and the guys that were commentating the game sitting in the “best seats” were wrong about the no calls as well? Give me a break, I know some of you make it your job to hate on some of these players constantly, but those no calls were rediculous. Even if they didn’t call the first one (which was the more obvious push), the second one should have been a make-up call. Period. Now the Nuggets still probably would have lost, but that first no call was a differense maker, other Atlanta fans that were at the game that I have seen online were saying the same thing, other then YOU ofcourse… so I guess lastnight your Hawks got the “breaks” from the refs you wished (that and the fact that the Nuggets were playing sloppy untill the fourth)…oh well, it doesn’t matter anyway, onto the next game.

  42. January 16th, 2008 at 6:24 pm

    dagwaller says:

    Ouch! I thought Doug was pretty on point, especially with the scorekeeper thing. Ha!

    Either way, I figure AI probably deserved at least one of those, but I only saw the replay once, so who knows. Plus, I feel like AI has gotten a lot of calls over his career, not getting two won’t kill him. Congrats on passing Bird and Payton, too.

  43. January 16th, 2008 at 7:04 pm

    Doug says:

    What is this?:

    Did you see the AJ palming call IMMEDIATELY preceding the first Iverson turnover? A very poor call. At least the first Iverson call was poetic justice, regardless of its accuracy. I don’t know what seats in Cali cost, but good seats in Atlanta don’t cost $25. Bottom line, the Nuggets got creamed, and the final score did not reflect the shellacking. Carmelo and J.R. (great shooter) outplayed A.I.; Nuggets poor free throw shooting probably hurt them the most. But it was back-end of back-to-back road games, so result is understandable. The Hawks ain’t half bad. Don’t hate.

  44. January 16th, 2008 at 7:49 pm

    Ian says:

    hatin
    please just let it go
    u only come here to check if someone mentions him

    u r starting to sound more like a stalker than a hater

    are u a suns fan? if so i can see where the hate comes from

  45. January 16th, 2008 at 8:10 pm

    Ian says:

    hatin
    everytime manu plays the suns he can go teddy kgb on them and say “remember last time i stick it in you”

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