Photo. Chenoa MaxwellOther than Shaq dominating Marcus Camby on the game’s first few possessions — or as Suns announcer Eddie Johnson called it, “gangsta’ing” Marcus Camby — Phoenix couldn’t get anything going against the Nuggets in the first quarter last night. Guys were forcing too many bad shots on offense and giving up too many easy looks on the other end; not just open jumpers, but layups and dunks where no defender was even near the lane, let alone under the basket … The Suns were getting cracked at halftime, but made huge runs in the third and fourth quarters, eventually cruising to a 15-point win. Steve Nash (36 pts, 8 asts, 8 threes) shot his team back into it in the third, playing maybe his best game of the season, while Amare (41 pts, 14 rebs) went nuts in the fourth, beasting Kenyon Martin “like a high schooler” according to EJ. Although, K-Mart did almost break Amare’s wrist in the first half when he smashed on him something serious … One time the court mics caught someone on the crowd scream, “He’s wearing a BABY BLUE uniform!” Not sure who they were talking about exactly … It took a few games, but Shaq (20 pts, 12 rebs) and STAT are working together better than any big-man tandem in the League. That’s why we don’t get when people worry about “clogging the lane” with two scoring bigs. Since when has having two talented post players a bad thing? Hakeem and Sampson seemed to handle it pretty well, not to mention Duncan and Robinson. Not every duo ends up like Eddy Curry and Zach Randolph … Was George Karl wearing jeans? Whatever the material, that blue-pants/brown-jacket combo wasn’t working … During the Suns game Johnson said the first home game back after a long road trip is always tough. That might apply to everyone but the Jazz, who are so good at home and so bad on the road lately that it doesn’t even make sense. After losing to the Wolves on the road over the weekend, the Jazz came back to Salt Lake and DESTROYED the Wizards. Deron Williams put up 12 points, 16 dimes and 3 steals, caking off C.J. Miles like he’d made a bet with someone that he could get anyone on the Jazz to score 30 points. Miles ended up with 29. He actually could have cracked 30, but one time when it looked like Deron was firing him another pass, Carlos Boozer darted in front of C.J. and took the the ball in for a layup of his own … And what did we say about DeShawn Stevenson in yesterday’s Smack? Put him up against Kobe or LeBron and he plays like an All-Star, but against everyone else he’s just another guy. DeShawn started out trying to recapture Sunday night’s magic against the Jazz — pretty much shooting every time he got the ball — but after a while just blended into the background … If the Raptors have any chance of winning in the first round of the postseason, they need to finish the regular season strong. Last night they came back from a halftime deficit to knock off the Bobcats on the road, showing some defense in holding the ‘Cats to just 10 points in the third. Chris Bosh gave Emeka Okafor a healthy 32 points, and T.J. Ford played well (16 pts, 7 asts), but what’s up with Jose Calderon? He played 17 minutes off the bench but it was like he wasn’t even there (1 point, 1 dime). Imagine being at that game and trying to convince the person sitting next to you that Calderon was considered an All-Star snub just a month prior … J.O. is back. Coming off the bench, Jermaine posted 9 points and a couple of boards against the Heat. No need to ask who won. Down the stretch, will the Pacers end up adjusting to J.O., or will he adjust to them? … E-mail from one of the Dime crew: “My boy just sent me this text: ‘Greg Oden and Stephen Curry are the same age.’ Oden looks like he’s 105 years old and Curry looks like he should be in middle school.” … Monday was a big night if you are (or were) any kind of wrestling fan: Ric Flair, coming off of his final match at Wrestlemania over the weekend, was given a surprisingly classy send-off by the entire WWE family. We say “surprisingly” because any time they do something like that, you expect (and often get) Vince McMahon infusing a storyline into it, where the man being honored ends up getting wailed on by a bad guy they’re trying to put over. Last night, Flair came out and thanked the fans, then Triple H got in the ring to thank and bow to the Nature Boy. HHH proceeded to bring out all of Flair’s old running buddies — Ricky Steamboat, Harley Race, Greg “The Hammer” Valentine (looking rather awful) and even the Four Horsemen. You know, considering how wrestlers live their lives and the things we’ve seen in recent years, it’s actually kind of incredible that all four of the Horsemen are even alive. (Arn Anderson looks like he could still legitimately kick some ass.) A few active wrestlers got in the ring to pay respect to Flair, including Shawn Michaels, and then Ric’s family was brought to the ring. Finally, every wrestler in the company came out and filled up the ramp, giving Flair a standing ovation. That part was kind of weird; it was like a carny bus broke down and all the freaks were just milling around … We’re out like the Nature Boy …
April 1st, 2008 at 2:17 am
Jah says:
1st…
…b*y*tch.
April 1st, 2008 at 3:18 am
Gareth says:
who gives a shit about wrestling, I thought this was a basketball magazine
April 1st, 2008 at 3:25 am
Bobby B says:
Damn! You guys STILL watch wrestling?! I’d rather watch women’s college basketball.
April 1st, 2008 at 3:55 am
the_don_mega says:
bitches shut the crap up and cut the dime crew some slack!!!
zip it or imma lace a figure-four on your asses!!!!
WOOO!!!!
April 1st, 2008 at 4:01 am
marcus says:
yo haters… dime just gave a workhorse (flair) the due respect… what’s wrong wid dat?
try being body slammed… you’ll have respect for them grapplers…
April 1st, 2008 at 4:10 am
What is this!? says:
I’m not sure who it is…I think its “Gee” that always says this on this site, but now I have to agree… the Nuggets will not be able to take it to next level as long as George Karl is coaching that team. People can say what they want about the players not playing any defense or their style of play… but the fact is Coach Karl has probably cost his team more games then any Coach in the entire league this season. I have never seen a Coach that is worse then him at substituting players at the right times and calling time outs when they need to be called. Don’t get me wrong, he is a good Coach, but just not the right Coach for that specific team anymore.
That team does have parts that fit together, Melo and Iverson have shown that they can share the ball, they could play off of one another better…but that also goes back to Coaching. Them, along with that team are entirely too versitile for Coach Karl to not be substituting players at the right moments, its ridiculous! JR Smith plays his @ss off, yet Coach Karl keeps him on the bench the entire 4th quarter and finally brings him in when Denver is down by 11 pts! As soon as JR gets in he hits a 3 pointer, and the Suns announcer goes “why wasn’t this guy in earlier”? That team is very scary when they are clicking on all cylinders. The problem is Karls Coaching style, does not fit that team and it is painfully obvious. That team has won the majority of their games off their talent alone.
I don’t care that they lost a game, it happens, but its sometimes the way that they lose is what boggles my mind. Your up 19 at the half and lose by 15?! GTFOH!! Some blame can go on the players…but Karl needs to take responsibility for a lot of it. Real talk. The crazy thing is, although Denver is fighting for a playff spot, they have a good record and I read that this year has been their 3rd best year (record wise) in the history of that franchise…so, no matter what happens, i’m not sure if they would fire Karl under those circumstances. I hate to see people lose their jobs..but he had got to go!! And if he doesn’t get fired, then Iverson needs to opt out before they try to ruin the rest of his career.
Anyways, I also hate to say this, but I think the window for the Suns to win a championship has closed. People talk about Denvers defense, but the Suns also gave up 70 pts. in the first half as well. And I just don’t think they are as dangerous as they used to be. To me, Denver lost that game themselves because of foolish mistakes…okay i’m finished ranting now. LMAO!!
April 1st, 2008 at 4:11 am
word says:
Not every duo ends up like Eddy Curry and Zach Randolph
^^ LMAO, yea shaq is good now, he’s adjusted well, and amare’s benefiting from it.
by the way the raptors will be out first round.
and who the hell gives a shit about wrestling. no offense man but that shit is fake! i can’t watch it.
April 1st, 2008 at 4:13 am
word says:
#6 i agree with you, didn’t Karl get fired from like at least 3 other teams? he needs to go, or AI needs to b/c he will never win a ring on that team.
April 1st, 2008 at 4:15 am
What is this!? says:
And oh sh*t…I forgot J.O even played in the L!! I’m just playin…welcome back Jermaine!!
April 1st, 2008 at 7:16 am
Ian says:
the undertaker
16-0 fuck yeah
lol
April 1st, 2008 at 7:29 am
the_don_mega says:
marcus is right…
ya’ll give ‘naitch’ the respect he deserves…
dime just gone out of their way to show some respect to THE MAN…
ya’ll should to…
April 1st, 2008 at 7:52 am
evan says:
In St. Pete I lived 2 houses down from Greg Valentine who looks the same now as he did then. Back then, he would mow his lawn wearing his wrestling trunks! Great neighborhood fun.
April 1st, 2008 at 8:54 am
Daily boy says:
Big prop’s to the Nature Boy Ric Flair(one of the best Wrestler’s that this country has ever seen)
P.S. The Suns are really starting to scare teams, Shaq’s words about Amare are coming true(A BEAST!!!!)
April 1st, 2008 at 9:22 am
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! says:
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
April 1st, 2008 at 9:57 am
2 Easy says:
First off lemme just say WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Honestly the outcome of matches may be fixed but to say wrestling is fake it like sayin the NBA is fixed. You cant learn how to fall a wooden mat with a little padding for 36 YEARS and still be fine. Flair is/was/forever will be the man although he could have retired anytime over the last 20 years Im glad I got to see it. Funny thing is I was thinking the same thing Dime was about someone coming out to beat his ass but then I was like nah not gonna happen.
Now back to basketball. Amare is a freakin gorilla that they shaved from the zoo and taught to shoot. This dude is a freakin animal that can not be stopped and I dont know how Shaq helped but now he’s hittin his FT’s too. The Raps have a chance to get out of the first round as long as they dont slip to 7th because they can beat Orlando or the Cavs. Will they? I doubt it but they have a much better chance against them than the Pistons. O yea and Dime no mention of JR’s ridiculous And1 in the 1st quarter? He stepped on Barbosa’s foot started falling down and chucked it up off glass, redunkulous. I think that is all I had on my mind.
16-0 yea Taker WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
April 1st, 2008 at 11:02 am
dagwaller says:
Someone once told me that if a team wins or loses a blowout, it’s on the players, and that if a team wins or loses a close one, it’s on the coach. The thinking being that a team should be well prepared enough to compete in ANY game, so unless they play out of their mind or just slack off, there’s no reason any game should be out of reach one way or another. Close ones? It comes down to just two guys making moves (the coaches).
The Nuggets don’t seem to have many “close losses”. That, to me, says that they’re an inconsistent team. We know that they can’t play defense; it’s just a matter if they can have a good night (130 pts) or if they don’t score well (110 pts) to offset the other team invariably scoring 120. Karl DOES have a lot of talent, but when you’re up by 19 (didn’t see the game), exactly what moves did he make that were SO bad that they cost his team 19 pts?!?! Seriously, if you put that on the coaching, there’s something wrong with you. That’s 12 players f*cking up for the entire second half, not the coach.
Good post, What is this?!, but I just disagree. Also with your point about the Suns. Now that they’re starting to win, you question their chances? I think your cue was a few weeks ago, homes.
April 1st, 2008 at 12:08 pm
GEE...I am the Russian Sickle! says:
To be the man …Wooooo! You got to beat the man! I am the stylin and profil’n, wheeling and dealing, limo riding, jet flying, son of a gun, and when you have been to space mountain…Wooooo! It’s hard to come down! 16 times a world champ and it doesn’t get any better than the Naitch!
I grew up on wrestling and still love it, and thanks DIME for laying that down in Smack! From Magnum T.I., Nikita Koloff, L.O.D., Dusty Rhodes, Ronny Garvin, The Freebirds and all, I love it!
Aight moving on.
Houston up!
Tracy McGrady is on some ol’ injury stuff now, with a sprain shoulder I think. I am thinking, come on man don’t lame up now. Houston has a solid spot at making it, and after running 22 wins, it would be a d$^% shame not to make at least the playoffs. So here is hoping Houston runs the next four road games.
What is this, I said it, and I stand by it. NO GOOD THING CAN ULTIMATELY HAPPEN AS LONG AS G.K. IS THE COACH OF THE DENVER NUGGETS.
Still crossing the fingers, toes and eyes and whatever else will cross that Houston doesn’t meet up with the Suns in the playoffs. Their middle is so strong it’s just stanky ridiculous.
Aight you all know it’s always some (star) player to get thrown out, or fight, or something to mess his team up in the playoffs who yall got? In the East I think I am going to roll with Sheed and in the West, I think Bruce Bowen is going to over play D and get caught possibly retaliating or fouling someone to hard and mess San. An up. Just a guess.
Anyway I won’t even dig into the whole Jose thing as many Raps fans just get so aggrivated lol, but DIME did I read 1 and 1…..dang homey lol.
J.O. is back…they still won’t make the playoffs. He should have just stayed out.
Nobody did it like The Nature Boy! Woooooooo!
April 1st, 2008 at 1:17 pm
MoxWestCoastRep says:
Easy, did you just call Amare a gorilla? Maybe pick a different word playa!
I know you didn’t mean anything but come on yo.
Suns look good now but let’s see them run for 7 games against gsw or LA. Shaq will be huffing and puffing down the court and gasol will be running laps around him!!
April 1st, 2008 at 1:53 pm
no doubt says:
STAT can score, but he has to, to make up for his horrible, non-existent defense. The same lame defense that helps them get bounced out of the playoffs every year. Better hope Shaq can cover his ass in a (4) game series.
I still think Spurs are coming out of the West.
April 1st, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Jeffrey says:
That ric flair sendoff was emotional for me being a wrestling fan since i was 4. The undertaker even came and showed love.
April 1st, 2008 at 3:55 pm
What is this!? says:
Dagwaller… if you didn’t watch the game (like you stated) maybe you shouldn’t have commented.
First, George Karl had a really good line up that was effective on Shaq and Amare in the first half. He had Nene in (who was amazing on Shaq and Amare). Everything seemed to be flowing right. In the second half Nene did not play at all (they said because Nene didn’t feel up to it because he is still recovering) which is fine, but when he had Camby on the bench, he put Najara on Amare and sometimes on Shaq? Really? When you have another 7′ footer in Steven Hunter sitting on the bench that you barely use.
He waited untill the Suns went on a run and cut the lead from 19 pts to 6 pts to call a timeout…isn’t the point of a timeout to stop the opposing teams momentum? Why wait that long? After that, he sent Camby to the bench a few minutes after the 4th started when the Nuggets were down by like 3 pts and didn’t put Camby back in untill the end of the 4th, by then the Suns had their momentum in full swing and where up by like 10 pts. Camby left the game before it even ended out of frustration, he said he couldn’t stand sitting there while Shaq and Amare was just doing whatever they felt like. JR Smith, who has been playing great, scored 23 points in 23 minutes. He had JR Smith sitting the entire 4th quarter and didn’t put him back in untill there was like two minutes left. Its a known fact that Iverson torches Steve Nash everytime Steve Nash is gaurding him, why not mix things up and start Iverson at the point and start JR at SG for this game? Instead of starting Anthony Carter at the point and watching Anthony Carter get his @ss handed to him by Nash? Thats what I mean by when I say this team is too versitile for Karl to just be sticking with the same things. He has a talented enough team where he can switch things up…that team would be so ridiculously dangerous, because people wouldn’t know whats coming. Another example of Karl Coaching costing thatteam games is Iversons 51 pt game against the Lakers earlier this season…Iverson was shooting like 80% from the field and Karl switched Iverson from SG to the PG position in the 4th and told him to pass the ball. WTF?! Everyone knows you ride the hot hand. And guess what? That mistake cost them the game. Reggie Miller was even talking about it on t.v that next night, how Karl made a fatal mistake. I am not the only one seeing this, obviously.
The Nuggets are inconsistant? No duh. Sometimes they look like a championship team and sometimes they look like an AND-1 street team or the Harlem Globetrotters. You said they don’t have many close loses…they have just as many close loses as they do some blow outs just like any other team in the NBA. The notion “they can’t play defense” is highly overrated, because I have seen that team win games by their defense…hell, they have won twice against the Spurs this season playing the Spurs type of game. They are inconsistant with it, yes, but to say they just “can’t play it” is silly. I said in my post that the players can take some of the responsibility, but they are not responsible for the timely timeouts or the substitutions. Anybody that even watches that team can tell that Coach Karls style does not fit that team, period. Sometimes it looks like there are absolutely no offensive sets what so ever. It looks like he wants them to play free style (like the Warriors), and that is not the type of team you can do that with at all times. A player can be held responsible for their lack of effort, missing their shots or sometimes not getting back on defense…but a Coach is responsible for keeping things under control and flowing as need be. Karl didn’t do that lastnight.
As far as the Suns, they are winning their games right now…the Nuggets had a 5 game winning streak up untill lastnight themselves…doesn’t mean they are going to win the Championship? People kill me talking about which teams play defense, but the Suns gave up 70 at the half themselves. That might work against the Nuggets (and their Coaching), but not against teams like the Spurs, Pistons or Celtics…the Suns got blown out last time on National t.v in Denver with Amare and Shaq, its part of the game..sh*t happens.
April 1st, 2008 at 5:28 pm
GEE...I am the Russian Sickle! says:
It’s funny cause I read on some espn sight where one reporter was saying every time the Nuggs play (wouldn’t Nuggets be the girls ..that is just Gee anyway) it’s like they just met each other for the first time. The way they play does remind one an awful lot of a pick-up game.
Dude also said they might get the record for the team with the most tatoos. It was all comical.
Anyway this season ultimately goes on the coach (es) and GM.
The players are who they are. Granted the GM has put together what should be a phenomenal group. Different players prove on any given night they can drop plenty of buckets.
So then it falls on the coach (es) to motivate and send the proper message of playing D, having a game plan to stop (or slow down) certain scores of opposing teams and seeing the importance of it all.
Sorry I have to think had Larry Brown, Flip, Rick, Rudy, Lenny, John Thompson, Coach K, Rick P. and a whole list of other coaches could have Denver doing better than they are doing (cause don’t get me wrong they have an outstanding record). With what they have, right now they should be fighting for the 1-3 seed. Plain and ($^&#%%^%%in simple.
Houston up!
Jeffrey ol’ Flair took the jacket off and dropped an elbow on it. I love that mess!
April 1st, 2008 at 7:23 pm
Phil says:
About time you all admitted to being fans of wrestling, it’s been clear since one of the very first Smacks. Ric’s the man. Big up noting him here and the rest of you that disagree or even knock wrestling need only look at the numbers they do and admit that it’s a legit form of entertainment - as wel as the NBA. Disagreeing with the tribue? Get a damn life. By the way, Arn can probably still bust out a spinebuster or two.
April 1st, 2008 at 11:20 pm
Beantown, son! says:
Where the F has Fantasy Doctor gone?! He’s a punk
April 1st, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Beantown, son! says:
WHERE THE F DID FANTASY DOC GO??
HE’S A PUNK…HE STOPS DOING A COLUMN ABOUT FANTASY B-BALL DURING THE FANTASY PLAYOFFS??
EVRY OTHER SITE BEEFS UP THEIR NEWS/COLUMNS AND THIS DUDE DISAPPEARS
April 2nd, 2008 at 7:30 am
STOP CRYIN' says:
SUCK MY FANTASY DIC
April 2nd, 2008 at 6:21 pm
AB_40 says:
yeah stephen curry and greg oden are the same age now get this al thornton is older then lebron james… that’s crazy, joey dorsey too and he’s still in college, that’s CRAZY ish right there