Chris PaulWould you rather watch the All-Star Game, or Team USA bullying inferior international squads? Canada was first up in the pre-Olympic exhibition schedule, and they had the honor of getting mollywhopped as part of a free Vegas vacation. Picking out the best play of the game is up to you: We liked when Jason Kidd chased down a loose ball, turned and fired in one motion a beautiful football-style baseline-to-baseline pass to ‘Melo, who smoothly hit a streaking Chris Bosh for a two-hand hammer from the dotted. Or there was that ridiculous move Chris Paul unleashed at the end of the third quarter, going between his legs and faking a pass before dropping in a floater. Or there was the time Kobe picked Carl English like a tourist lost in Kingston and got a tomahawk dunk out of the deal … It was competitive for a while, even though it was pretty clear right off the bat that Team USA could have gone Anton Chigurh on Canada whenever they wanted. The U.S. did a good job of not falling into layup-line mode and running their system before it got out of hand — guys were all down to make the extra pass and played hard on D no matter the score … D-Wade got the start in place of LeBron (ankle) and scored 20 with his new baldie look. Who knew Flash was hiding a Gary Payton-sized hook under that hair? … Michael Redd (six threes) and ‘Melo also scored 20 apiece … Funny how we’ve all been fed the lines about how serious everyone on the U.S. team is taking this, and the first image you see on last night’s broadcast is Kobe (15 pts) launching lefty threes during warmups … Typical Rick Kamla sequence: “Bosh takes it away from Kendall, says ‘I’m an NBA baller and you’re not.’ Kicks it out to Chris Paul (hits a three) — UHHH!” Ten seconds after that he dropped a “Too cool for school” … E-mail from one of the Dime crew: “Kamla is such a dork. He should receive an electric shock any time he says the word ‘props’.” … Kamla was funny when he was trying to compliment Carl English and started off by saying he had “1/100th” the talent of Kobe … Did you see when ‘Melo threw a jab step at Levon Kendall (Pitt) and Kendall damn near jumped off the court? Nasty. Andy Rautins caught a cold flashback on that one … If there was a negative to Team USA’s performance, it was that we can see already that the lack of big man depth will be an issue. Carlos Boozer, Dwight Howard and Bosh weren’t bad (no one was), but they’re gonna have a battle when they go up against any teams that can trot out some legit big men … Is three years at $15 million too much for Sasha Vujacic? The Lakers kept “The Machine” in the fold by inking him to that deal yesterday, right after the whispers had gotten louder that he was considering offers from teams overseas … Meanwhile, the Hawks helped fill Josh Childress‘ shoes by signing Mo Evans. About Childress, has he ever gotten this amount of publicity? Even when he was killing at Stanford, he wasn’t popping up on ESPN every hour. And we think we caught a segment where they ended up debating Childress versus Brett Favre for some reason … Big move for the Wolves, re-upping with Ryan Gomes. We’d really like to see what Gomes can do on a good team, though … The Jazz matched OKC’s offer sheet for C.J. Miles. He’s had his issues with Jerry Sloan, but it’s not so much him being a bad guy as much as his work ethic not being up to snuff. If he gets that together and taps into the talent we know he has, he’ll be worth the gamble. This isn’t good news for Morris Almond, though, who just saw his potential PT go down … We hate to see when ballplayers fall on hard times after they leave the game. This is sad … The final day of the Rocky Mountain Review saw two games on the schedule: In the first, Thomas Gardner (Missouri) scored 27 with seven threes and Demetric Bennett (South Alabama) put up 30 in the Hawks win over the Warriors. DeMarcus Nelson had 21, six boards and five dimes in the loss, definitely the last time we hear from him before his inevitable overseas stint begins … Earlier in the day, the Warriors signed Anthony Morrow off their summer league team. He had some big games for them and with the Nets in the Orlando league. We’re not gonna lie and say we thought Morrow was an NBA player when he was at Georgia Tech, though … Charles Rhodes had 15 and Gerald Green scored 11 in Dallas’ win over the Jazz, who got 14 points apiece from Almond and Kosta Koufos … We caught some of the Nets/Mavs RMR replay from the other day, in particular one part where Jaycee Carroll and Julius Hodge did a chest-bump and one of the announcers said, “A little body love going on between Jaycee Carroll and Hodge.” … We’re out like Levon …
July 26th, 2008 at 12:11 am
Imperial-Mel says:
GOOD OLD FASHION ASS WHOOPIN…
did CP3 look good out there tonight or wht
July 26th, 2008 at 12:15 am
jackass says:
first bichezzz
July 26th, 2008 at 12:33 am
dagwaller says:
Better (and right before) than CP was Deron Williams putting two ridiculous moves on his defender on the break, finishing, then spiking his man’s shot on the other end - starting CP’s play.
July 26th, 2008 at 1:04 am
MoxWestCoastRep says:
I think Sasha is worth 5 mil per. He came up big in the playoffs and hit some big shots. The kid is only going to get better so I’d say yeah.
Lakers still need to address some defense and toughness issues.
July 26th, 2008 at 1:14 am
daQuesT?On says:
i wish i had seen the second half of the game but my fckin cable prvider blacked out the game for some stupid reason, n e wayz with the game out of the way im ready 4 tomorrw COTTO VS MARGARITO YEAAAA COTTO IS GONNA WIN GOOO COTTO
July 26th, 2008 at 1:14 am
daQuesT?On says:
COTTO COTTO COTTO COTTO COTTOO
July 26th, 2008 at 1:22 am
K-Diggs says:
Who is Team USA’s top competition? Greece? Spain? Argentina? Other?
July 26th, 2008 at 1:31 am
Mr. A says:
7th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
YES OMGZ IV3 ALW3Z WANT3ED TO B3 S3V3NTH!!!!
WHY WAS 6 AFRAID OF 7??
CAUSE 7 ATE 9!!!
WHEYYY OHHH!!!
BEST NUMBAA EVARRRR
July 26th, 2008 at 1:31 am
Mr. A says:
…fuck.
July 26th, 2008 at 1:49 am
Coach T-sun says:
well Canada has no hope Coach Rautins is a egomanic (met him personally) he just thinks he runs the country, instead of respecting what he has, i am shocked he’s still the head coach of the canadian team no wonder why sammy left after a good… ONE game. It’ll be very very hard for guys to develop north of the border if dumbasses like that continue to be the national coach. Sasha got a nice deal i mean if vlady radmanvic is getting around 6.8 mill next year then hes def worth it, they need to dump him and luke walton so they can keep ariza, kobe and odom could play the 3 a lil bit to spare ariza and give even more mins to sasha @ the 2. As for the whole “toughness” issue well first off boston LOST posey thats irreplaceable in my book, PJ’s done, Cassell’s done boston won’t be as strong and to address that issue i’ve got 2 words for you sheeps ANDREW BYNUM. Theres not one team in the nba thats taken that leap in contention so the lakers are fine.
July 26th, 2008 at 2:19 am
Stephon Marbury says:
Man my luck gets worse, first im not even the starting point guard and they replace me for chris duhon?? and now people are giving childress all the credit for opening the flood gates to europe. well guess what i did that remember at the beginning of the season when i said i was going to italy and yall thought i was crazy?? well who is laughing now huh??? u gonna get in the truck straight to europe or what?
July 26th, 2008 at 2:35 am
ninja cool says:
Welcome back Sasha. See you again–Jesus Shuttlesworth.
July 26th, 2008 at 2:46 am
Borgs says:
Did you see that Warren Buffet, Bill Gates and Kamla attempted a 3-way, 15-step handshake after the game, with one requiring treatment for a dislocated elbow and another accidentally crushing his glasses?
July 26th, 2008 at 3:01 am
daQuesT?On says:
COTTO COTTO COTTO COTTO COTTO COTTO COTTO!!!
July 26th, 2008 at 3:47 am
SkyGriever says:
The only regret I’m gonna have about the Cotto-Margarito fight, is that Cotto is gonna whoop Margarito’s butt so quickly it won’t even last 8 rounds…
July 26th, 2008 at 4:02 am
Stefan says:
D-Wade was impressive:
20 pts, 3 reb, 2 ast in 18 minutes (going 7-10 from the field)
http://www.squidoo.com/DwyaneWade
July 26th, 2008 at 4:49 am
Soopa says:
Damn near thought Mitch Richmond was back in action when i first saw Wade’s bald look!
July 26th, 2008 at 8:32 am
miamiVIS3 says:
D-Wade was definitley balin’
@ everyone shocked by D-Wades bald look he’s gone bald for the playoffs every year since 2003.
@ post 11
kinda makes me think why don’t the Knicks just buy him out (like the blazers did to franchise) then he can go to I taly the knicks dont have him this yesr and they still have the benifit of his contract coming of the books next year.
July 26th, 2008 at 8:43 am
Mike says:
1st
July 26th, 2008 at 8:46 am
Kokot says:
please americans, don’t be so cocky. Yeaa…. Ass whooping Canada without Nash , dalembert… That’s impressive, huh. Remember arroyo and that PR team whooped ur ass couple years ago. Greece, argentina, spain, lithuvania, Italy, etc …. That’s your main competition…
July 26th, 2008 at 8:56 am
rangerjohn (fedor is king) says:
hey dime, i am proud of you guys, you had a hawks summer league game and no mention of ACIE LAW IV. good job!
July 26th, 2008 at 9:15 am
Imperial-Mel says:
@Kokot Its going to be the same exact way for the rest of the tourney! Did you not notice that Lebron didnt play, You can go ahead and ad another 20 points to that. And Nash would have been the only other factor that could possibly did some damage. But i do give credit where credit is due, that guy with the blonde mohawk was going at Kobe. Thanks team Canada…
July 26th, 2008 at 9:24 am
Skeeter McGee says:
Kokot,
Nobody is being cocky, we’re just excited to see our country play another country for the first time this year… Need I mention LeBron wasn’t playing and need I say that this (as the other exhibitions will be) was a tune-up for the Olympics…
Rick Kamla tries too hard. Fran Frischilla (hope I spelled that right…) could have smoked a blunt, taken pills, and downed a bottle of liquor and still wouldn’t have been able to be that stupid…
July 26th, 2008 at 9:31 am
that's whats up says:
I bet Geiger impregnated one of those cows
July 26th, 2008 at 9:55 am
doc says:
@kokot Im being cocky because cant no team in the world fuck with this one.Dont nobody care about that old ass olympics when PR got the upset.Our starting point was Stephon Marbury.Of course we gonna lose with him in there.Hes thetop loser in the game.U didnt say shit about the maulings PR got last summer.It was about 3 of them from this tuneup shit and the tourney.Who is your team?Because everybody keep saying they gonna lose but dont come out with your own team.You justdont want us to get on your ass when we win by 50.Aint gonna be no problem with big men dime yall crazy.What bigmen besides Dirk and Yao and Gasoft is legit out here.We got the most 3 legit besides them.We gonna kill the whole thing.SHUT IT DOWN USA.DREAM TEAM THE NEXT ERA!
July 26th, 2008 at 9:56 am
doc says:
Where are the 15 dickheads who said it would be a chance we take a L.Get they websites dime and block them off this site.
July 26th, 2008 at 10:05 am
Imperial-Mel says:
@ doc….its 20 dickheads now….excuse my American….lol
July 26th, 2008 at 10:05 am
that's whats up says:
an unnamed cow has filed a paternity suit against Matt Geiger forcing him to say “well, I guess I’ll have to pony up some cash to that heifer”.
July 26th, 2008 at 10:18 am
that's whats up says:
is it me, or is Dwyane Wade starting to look more and more like Magic Johnson everyday?
July 26th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Big Freeze says:
Wow, that sick windmill by D-Wade confirms that his knee is healthy again. His head was nearly flush with the rim. Eww, that was gross.
The scary thing about this game is that USA was played pretty sloppy, they didn’t have King James, and they still managed to put a 55 point piecing on the Canadians. It’s gonna be global slaughter when USA gets Lebron back and they all get on the same page.
July 26th, 2008 at 11:03 am
Skeeter McGee says:
Doc you pretty much said what I was thinking haha
LeBron is gonna be manning the power forward position when Melo goes out, so I think we’ll be fine as far as size is concerned. I’ll take a matchup with a quick, strong guy like LeBron over a big white Euro anyday…
And it’s nuts how people on here will either say “US is gonna win it all” and then when we don’t it’s because we’re not good and all that bull, but if we do it’s because the competition was weak and blah blah blah. You dudes can’t have it both ways…
D-Wade lookin like he should be starting after last night. Granted he was beating up on a skinny white dude with a mohawk whom you thought was a Canadian soccer player, let alone basketball player…
July 26th, 2008 at 11:19 am
Big Freeze says:
Yo, that “skinny white dude with a mohawk” was the only player doin shit for Canada. He actually crossed up Kobe a couple times, until he was stripped naked and cold cocked on by Kobe.
July 26th, 2008 at 11:24 am
M says:
Yo guys, anyone know if I can watch the game somewhere? It’s not broadcasted where I live; I live in the Netherlands.
July 26th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Data says:
That skinny whiote guy with the mohawk is Carl English. He played at U of Hawai. He was suppose to go in the draft a few years back. He had a tv crew at his draft party and never eneded up getting drafted (the reactions were priceless). He’s been to a few Raps training camps but never made the squad. I think he was taking this game as a chance to audition for some training camp invites.
It might be because it was their foirst game but the US looked too aggressive on defense. They were pressuring sto the point were they were getting beat cause they comprimised themselves. I’m sre they’ll tighten it up cause if they don’t they won’t be able to full-court press a team like Spain. Canada just wasn’t up to the task so it’s hard to tell how good the US will be.
July 26th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
doc says:
@data They’ll be good enough to win the Gold.Everybody nitpicking.They first game together and they win 120-65.That sounds like good D to me.
July 26th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
nick says:
usa will have competition with spain, greece and argentina. most of those teams have played together for like 5 yrs so their chemistry will be solid. i’m not saying usa loses but it aint gonna be a walk in the park like alot of ya’ll are making it out to be.
July 26th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Austin Burton says:
Weren’t there a couple guys with Mohawks? One of them was Tyler Kepkay (U of Utah), who was in Dime a while back.
July 26th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Amar says:
toldja ceejay would be back!
July 26th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Steve says:
Good to see the real Dwyane Wade back
July 26th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Kokot says:
yo doc..what happened in 2004??? remmeber ???
July 26th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
Spliff 2 My Lou says:
@ daquest?on
I think Cotto is going to win too but remember what happened when you all but guaranteed Puerto Rico would make the Olympics. Since I have money on this bout let’s hope you don’t jinx Cotto like you did PR.
July 26th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Kokot says:
Ok DOC….wasnt USA stacked with superstars on that Olymnpic team back in 04 too ?? I believed Wade, Lebron, A.I,Arenas, Carmelo Anthony, Stoudamire…Ooooohh and the great TIM DUNCAN….ya’ll still got BRONZED..am i correct ??? wat make u think u guys just gonna go in ass whoopin people?? Marbury was still balling back then. ..yall just typical ignorant self-centered ass American. I dont have a team to rep since my country donnt even have a basketball team, but i’lll sure will root for every team that play against USA,
July 26th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
alaskan_fire_dragon says:
04 was stacked
but with the wrong players
AI and stephon in the backcourt
they were stacked with great individuals
but as far as this team goes
CP, Kidd, D-Will, D-Wade, and an unslefish kobe
c’mon
its different this year
and i feel it
and everybody else does too
GTFO kokot
July 26th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Austin Burton says:
I don’t think anyone’s being cocky, just calling it like they saw it. Whatever’s gonna happen in the Olympics is yet to be seen, but yesterday Team USA looked like the best team in the world. Would you disagree?
July 26th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Big Freeze says:
LMAO @ the USA hater kokot
It’s a shame that you’re country is too insignificant to gather up enough local scrubs to make a basketball team that USA could pound alley oops and windmills on. Enjoy rooting for a bunch of foreign dudes getting facialized by Kobe, Wade, Bron, and the rest of the new Dream Team. It’s gonna be a global b-ball holocaust!
July 26th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
daQuesT?On says:
@ spiff 2 my lou lmfao yea i hope i dont jinx it lol it seems everyone i root 4 loses, i understand kokot, i am rooting 4 team usa and they are the best team out there, but u cannot get excited by this win because canada sucks, the real teams have enough talent to upset team usa. i saw the greeks play and they have the perfect balanced offense and the perfect balanced defense, plus they rotate all their players every 5 min. Spain has legit nba players, jc navarro, jose calderon, jorge garbajosa, pau gasol, ricky rubio, marc gasol, i mean the talent is there for an upset, so is argentina, hermann, ginobili,delfino, oberto, scola nocioni and and other players that are very good, plus they are the champs, i am puerto rican but im a very big team usa fan i love the nba, im as big of a fan for team usa than i am for team pr but i dont buy into the cocky attitude until we have beaten a spain, a greece, a lithuania, an argentina
July 26th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Big Freeze says:
USA owns Puerto Rico. I mean literally, Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States. I hope USA lays the pound game down on the rest of the world.
July 26th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
daQuesT?On says:
@ big freeze wtf does that have to do with anything i said u bitch motherfucker??
July 26th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Big Freeze says:
Lol at angry daQuest. I was addressing how Puerto Rico is a US territory, so it’s crazy to think how Puerto Rico actually beat team USA before. In response to your nearly incoherent post, I am buying the cocky attitude bro. Fuck the rest of the world. Why not, I’m an isolationist. It’s this kind of attitude and apathy towards the rest of the world that causes every other country to hate the USA, but fuck it. In the infamous and annoying words of DJ Khaled, “We da best!”
July 26th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
daQueSt?oN says:
@ big freeze apparently ur parents never taught you how to be humble.
July 26th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
Skeeter McGee says:
Wow…
In 2004 LeBron was 19 and Melo was still immature (isn’t he kinda now too?) and D-Wade was young as well. I’m pretty sure that comparing 2004’s team to this year’s squad is like comparing apples to oranges. No Kobe, no Redd, had Steph, had AI… Larry Brown didn’t like playing any of the young guys (Bron, Melo, etc.) and the team wasn’t together for 3 years at summertime like the current squad has been.
Basically Kokot, your argument is weak. Denial is not just a river in Egypt my friend…
July 26th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Kokot says:
Yes Big Freeze, just like your ” Fuck it” and ” We da BEst” attitude, you’re country’s economy is fucked up and goin down…you aint the best when your dollars is behind Euros and pounds
July 26th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
AB_40 says:
yeah they won but canada had 10 offensive boards and shot 42 percent from three. If they let greece spain or even germany do that they’ll be in trouble. willams and paul is a little too much point guard play… they miss amare on the inside. all though he’s only 6′8 1/2 there I said it. what I’m saying is team usa is SHORT. too short we’ll find out in the upcoming month
July 27th, 2008 at 5:49 am
K Dizzle says:
lol @ post 10
“i am shocked he’s still the head coach of the canadian team no wonder why sammy left after a good… ONE game”
4 points and 2 boards is a good game?
time to raise yo expectations….
July 27th, 2008 at 11:48 am
Steve says:
Too short?
Our Power Forward is a half inch and 5 pounds less than Karl Malone (Lebron)
Our Center is a half inch shorter than Patrick Ewing. (Dwight)
Our backup center is 1 1/2 inch shorter than David Robinson.(Bosh)
Our backup PF is bigger than Malone (Boozer)
Plus we have two versatile 2/3/4’s in Melo and Tayshaun.
We gonna kill it. We have so much versatility. Wade can play the 1 or 2 or 3.
Kidd can play the 1. Deron can play 1 or 2. Cp3 is a 1. Redd can play the 2 or 3. Lebron can play 1 2 3 or 4. Bosh can play 4 or 5. Howards a 5. Kobe can play the 2 or 3. Melo at 2 3 or 4. Tayshaun 3 or 4. Boozers a 4. Etcetera.
We’re good. We have the most dominant 7footer in the world anyways cleaning up in Dwight Howard.
You really think a Kidd/Kobe/Lebron/Boozer/Howard lineup is gonna be too small when we need to go big? YEAH RIGHT, theyll outrebound ANYBODY in this universe.
August 16th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
USA R. Pussies says:
Who cares? Girl’s sport anyway.
Oh, and learn the intricacies of spacing when writing…