S-Jack (Photo. Eriberto Oriol)With Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson sharing the court, the Insane-O-Meter at Oracle Arena was in danger of going on overload. The damage wasn’t too bad: Ron-Ron picked up a technical foul in the first half, and S-Jack probably should have gotten one when he went temporarily ballistic on ref Violet Palmer following a no-call. And one time Artest went to the rack, got hammered by Kelenna Azubuike and Andris Biedrins, and while laying on his back went into what can only be described as a joyful temper tantrum before popping up and screaming “LET’S GO!” at himself … Artest and S-jack guarded each other most of the night; Jackson (26 pts, 6 rebs) had the quickness advantage and was feeling it from beyond the arc, but Artest (21 pts, 13 rebs, 3 stls) had the strength advantage, especially after Jackson tweaked an ankle in the third quarter and couldn’t hold his position defensively with any authority. As far as face-to-face altercations, nothing happened. Then again, Ron and Steve are tight. If you remember, in one of Dime’s “Ask Ron” columns, Artest was asked about S-Jack’s infamous nightclub shooting incident. “If I was there with Steve,” Ron said, “anything he woulda did, I woulda did.” … The game was decided by Monta Ellis, who was incredible. Or as the GS announcers put it, “Monta-zing.” Monta put up 34 points on 12-for-15 shooting, with 9 boards and 5 assists. He always seemed to make the right decision with the ball and always seemed to be in the right place at the right time for rebounds or steals. The only thing Monta couldn’t do was hit his free throws in crunch time, which allowed Sacramento to stay in the game until the final seconds … As if the Warriors weren’t whiny enough as a team, their announcers might be worse. Right before the first-half buzzer, Sacramento was inbounding when Baron Davis (who NEVER thinks he’s committed a foul) basically did a head-first slide into Mike Bibby’s feet trying to get a steal. Bibby fell down after getting undercut, and of course the refs called a foul. Not only did Baron get all upset as if he hadn’t just tackled Bibby, the Warriors announcers couldn’t understand why a foul was called. One of them even said, “Bibby could have stepped over him and gotten out of the way.” Wow … Is it a pick-and-roll or a pick-and-pop when Chris Webber refuses to do the “roll” part and has no “pop” in his step? It’s more like a pick-and-drift … During a timeout in the final seconds with the game hanging in the balance, we swear we saw Patrick O’Bryant (not paying a bit of attention to what was happening in the huddle) take gum out of his mouth and pretend-bowl it under the bench … Funny moment: Matt Barnes air-balled a three in the corner, and after Monta came up with the offensive board and fed a cutting Barnes at the rim, he then blew a layup/dunk/something ugly. Even though he wasn’t touched, Barnes went through the whole song and dance like he’d been hacked. He wasn’t fooling anybody … When Chris Duhon was playing like Gilbert Arenas against the Warriors a few days ago on national TV, it didn’t matter that Chicago was missing Luol Deng, Ben Gordon and Kirk Hinrich. When Chris Duhon plays like Chris Duhon, however, it does matter. CD’s 11 points and 8 dimes weren’t enough to deny the Jazz, who’ve won 11 of their last 12 games. Deron Williams gave Duhon 15 points and 11 assists, feeding Carlos Boozer (22 pts) and Andrei Kirilenko (15 pts) cutting to the basket and on alley-oops … Utah’s sideline reporter interviewed Deron post-game and wrapped it up by telling Deron to go take a shower and have a good night. Deron’s reply: “Are you trying to say I stink?” … How about Kwame Brown already logging DNP-CD’s in Memphis? Kwame never took off his warmups while the Grizzlies were getting worked over by the Hornets, allowing Darko to get the blunt end of David West’s 33-point, 10-rebound effort … We’re about five days away from All-Star Media Day, but we’re predicting right now that David West will be the guy with the smallest group of reporters at his table … So Kareem Rush - who’s apparently been given a complete green light with all of the Pacers’ injuries - took 19 shots (9 threes) against the Blazers, and ended up with 10 points to show for it. Meanwhile, Danny Granger put up 17 attempts and scored 29 points in the Pacers’ win … Why does everyone feel the need to constantly point out that the Suns have to pay Shaq’s $20 million salary and ignore the fact that they would have been paying Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks the same amount anyway? … The Hawks got shut down in Houston; Joe Johnson and Josh Smith were each held to single-digits, and leading scorer Josh Childress did more damage at the line (18 pts, 10-for-11 FTs) than anywhere else. Meanwhile, Yao schooled Al Horford and Zaza, dumping 28 points on ‘em … O.J. Mayo’s been compared to everyone from D-Wade to Baron Davis. Washington State’s Kyle Weaver has been compared to Bruce Bowen with an offensive game. Yesterday Weaver held O.J. to 14 points and forced 5 turnovers, while scoring 17 points of his own on 8-for-8 shooting, along with 7 boards, 5 dimes and 4 steals. WSU won in a rout … At this point last year, we weren’t so sure about UConn’s 7-3 Hasheem Thabeet as a future Lottery pick. Now? He’s been beasting the Big East this year, and in a nonconference matchup with Georgia Tech yesterday, gave the Yellow Jackets 24 points, 15 boards and 6 blocks. He’s ready to be a pro … We’re out like Kwame’s minutes …
February 10th, 2008 at 3:29 am
JOB33 says:
Can’t believe i’m giving into it but i can’t help it..first
February 10th, 2008 at 3:32 am
Captain America says:
Insane-O-Meter is the apt phrase. I hope they had a magtometer outside the respective locker rooms.
February 10th, 2008 at 3:41 am
Duke says:
Damn, Kwame must be depressed.
February 10th, 2008 at 6:05 am
Str8baller says:
Nocioni did it again…. POSTER. Insert Sportscenter theme song here.
my 2 cents
February 10th, 2008 at 6:13 am
sans says:
Bowen had to have had an offense in college–even Rodman got buckets in college.
February 10th, 2008 at 6:17 am
kobeef says:
O.J. = overrated
Derick Rose had a decent game(15, 5ast, 1block, 3 reb) but was again the leader of the best team in the nation.
Beasley had 23,13 and 5 blocks, and will eat hasheem for lunch when they meet in the L.
Why is Don Nelson starting Webber? He is slow and out of shape.
Yi got benched and did not get is contract 20 minutes last night and guess what (predictably) happened? Charlie V went for 21pts, 13 reb, 2 blocks.
All those people who talk about Kaman being a top 5 centre should note that he got Dalem-beasted last night going 2-10 in 38min and getting blocked 3 times.
February 10th, 2008 at 6:28 am
YOUNGFED says:
Kwame should retire. How could anyone not love the Artest comment about S-Jack. They was both ready to shoot the club up (LOL). Kareem Rush should never shoot again. Oh C-Dubb should re-retire.
I’m out like C-Dubb’s chances of getting a ring.
February 10th, 2008 at 6:30 am
YOUNGFED says:
Kobeef Mayo is not overated, sorry.
February 10th, 2008 at 7:17 am
CDog says:
Mayo is the future Kobeef. He may get a lot of love from the media, but hey if i were in the media business i would want to make good relations with a future All Star and possible Hall of Famer now, and what he is doing at USC deserves mention too.
February 10th, 2008 at 9:29 am
oldfed says:
Anybody catch the ESPN Mag article where they compared OJ to Bruce Bowen? What the @#^&*! is that about?
February 10th, 2008 at 10:07 am
Ashlov says:
They mention the $20 million for Shaq because his fat lazy ass will be on the books for longer than Marion’s $17 million. In two years, Marion will still be productive. Shaq will be eating chocolate eclairs on the bench, telling Grant Hill to pass him a Sprite.
February 10th, 2008 at 10:15 am
eyeused2b says:
What happened to Kwame Brown? Early on in his career, he would have the occasional 20-10 game that made you think that he’d have a decent career, but even those occasional flashes of potential don’t happen anymore. Poor (rich) kid, I think he was just too emotionally fragile for the life he chose. He may have a chance to salvage something if he pays Pete Newell to adopt him.
February 10th, 2008 at 10:40 am
Big Aaron says:
Can you honestly see any team picking up Kwame when his deal expires this year? I can’t think of anyone that needs whatever it is Kwame allegedly brings to the table, even for the minimum contract and scrub time.
Kwame will move to Europe as a back-up C. OWNED
February 10th, 2008 at 10:55 am
laballer says:
kwame is the equivalent of an eskimo with no igloo…my bad..had a dumbass bill walton moment…
not feelin the “monta-zing” comment..im thinkin we’re gonna have to throw that one away with the quickness..
ashlov..ur an idiot..they would have had to pay way more to marion to re-sign him and still had banks on the books who wasnt doin shit..the 20 mill each at 2 years works out to be less than the resigning of marion with banks’ contract still there..
this shaq trade works for them in so many ways..watch…
February 10th, 2008 at 11:15 am
Chris says:
“All those people who talk about Kaman being a top 5 centre should note that he got Dalem-beasted last night going 2-10 in 38min and getting blocked 3 times.”
Lucky for Kaman we judge players on seasons and careers and not one game. This season he is undeniably a top 5 center.
February 10th, 2008 at 11:51 am
T.M.P.B.W.O.T.P. says:
1. Dwight
2. Yao
3. Camby
4. Amare
5. Bynum/Kaman/Chandler
Kaman’s borderline Top-5. Remember he’s been operating under the Gasol Rule this year: The best low-post option on a bad team will get tons of touches and, therefore, put up good numbers if he has any kind of skill.
February 10th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Willis says:
Dime, I’m proud. Thats the most ink yall have given Sac all season. Sad thing is, nobody cares bout my Kings. Speaking of which, Artest gets a little more insane everyday, and he’d look so much better in a different uniform.
February 10th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
crazy says:
saw this picture of Paul Pierce and thought it was funny.
It looks like his nipple is showing while some other player is grabbing his crotch.
http://www.nba.com/playerfile/paul_pierce/career_stats.html
…and it’s the official NBA.com picture !!!
February 10th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
94by50 says:
Yeah, Jackson probably should have gotten a tech from Palmer, but in his defense, it was Palmer - not one of the better refs in the league. It was probably justified… That thing that Webber does is probably best called the “pick-and-limp”. Or something like that… So Deng, Gordon, and Hinrich are all out. It’s too bad we didn’t have that excuse at the beginning of the year… It is all kinds of weird knowing that Kareem Rush went from balling with Shaq and Kobe to being Danny Granger’s right-hand man on an invisible Pacers team… I was going to respond to the Shaq-Marion salary deal, but Ashlov beat me to it… O.J. Mayo has “DaJuan Wagner 2.0″ written all over him. Well, hopefully not including the bladder infection… James Harden vs. Jerryd Bayless, part 2, starts in about 10 minutes. I’m out.
February 10th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
totempole says:
Kwame is the new raef lafrentz over paid to do nothing on the team except pick up his check. Maybe even be that factor that makes trades possible for financial reasons. I wish I could be one of those guys…
February 10th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Lee says:
Marion is playing well with Wade. Could be interesting next year, don’t they have Ricky Davis’ contract coming off next season too ??
February 10th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
94by50 says:
Lee (#21):
Yes; Williams’ contract is up, too.
February 11th, 2008 at 12:53 am
chris says:
thabeet doesn’t play 7′3″ - more like 6′10″ (6′8″ on offense), but that can get you some excellent stat lines in college. he ain’t a lottery pick yet, and other that price, uconn ain’t much fun to watch- yet.