All Your Bulls Are Belong To Us
Kobe Bryant (photo. Chris Sembrot)Despite getting lit up by Pau Gasol early and often (he had 22 points in his first 12 minutes and finished with 34), the Bulls were right there with the Lakers until midway through the second quarter, when Kobe checked in and sparked a 13-0 run that turned the game into a blowout. Although he didn’t seem 100% on-point, it was one of those times where Mamba decided, “Alright, this ends HERE” and wanted to put the Bulls to bed before the break … Late third, Kobe (21 pts, 6 asts, 3 stls) and Trevor Ariza were on a 2-on-1 break when Kobe flipped an underhand ‘oop to the trailing Ariza, who seemed surprised that Kobe gave it up and couldn’t do anything but pass it back in mid-air. Kobe took the ball in the corner, stood there for a second — while no one from the Bulls bothered to check him — and buried a three to give L.A. their largest lead at the time. And when Chicago made its last-ditch rally in the fourth, Kobe again came off the bench with his cape on and hit a triple that sealed it … Before Kobe’s first-half run, L.A. was down one when Sasha Vujacic had a breakaway and couldn’t decide if he wanted to dunk it or drop in a finger roll. Either way he missed, and Lakers announcer Stu Lantz deadpanned “Sasha’s not a dunker.” … Meanwhile, Gary Payton and Ahmad Rashad were KILLING Luol Deng all night in the NBA TV studio. Ahmad kept saying stuff to the effect of, “He’s there, but we don’t see him,” and GP wrote Deng off altogether, saying he “won’t show up all year.” GP got on Deng for not diversifying his game since he entered the League, and guessed that he’s in a funk since Derrick Rose and Ben Gordon are taking all the shine … Before the game, an graphic erroneously said Drew Gooden was averaging 25 points a night. Chris Webber almost fell out of his chair on that one. “Is that his average or his number?” … (The last time we said something bad about Ahmad, Gary and C-Webb in the studio, a lot of readers wanted to know what we didn’t like about their on-air dynamic. Here’s the thing: While GP is entertaining in a Barkley-ish way, when he gets with the other two, it’s basically Ahmad saying the name of who scored on the highlight while GP and Webber go “Ooooh!” and “OH MAN!” No one offers any insight, and Ahmad doesn’t know who any of the non-superstars are. Although GP’s visible disdain for any guard who he thinks he’s better than — and is therefore stealing a roster spot from him — is worth watching alone) …
LeBron James (photo. Mannion)The Cavs ran their winning streak to eight in New Jersey behind LeBron’s 31 points. Some of the Dime crew was in the building, and we saw first-hand the media circus surrounding LeBron. Sadly, not one reporter wanted to talk to Tarence Kinsey, who is honestly one of the funniest guys in the League … Here’s part of Andrew’s account from the post-game locker room: “Lorenzen Wright sat in the locker room eating the post-game spread (BBQ wings) wearing a dress shirt and tie without any pants on. He even had a crazy diamond-studded watch on. But no pants.” … On his list of NBA players he’d hate to play with, Pat included “Everyone on the Wizards not named Caron Butler.” If you don’t get where that came from, you should have seen Washington’s loss to Miami. Ninety percent of the time the Wizards would shoot after one or two (or zero) passes, and they generally play like they have no idea what’s going on with the scoreboard or the clock. With 1:30 left in the fourth quarter, Antawn Jamison cut Miami’s lead to three with a three-pointer, and the next time he touched the ball he jacked a long two with plenty of time on the shot clock, basically wasting a crucial possession to run a heat check … Watching D-Wade and Caron chat after the game, we realized something: With Wade playing his college ball in Wisconsin, and Caron growing up there and coming back faithfully every summer, what are the chances those two got in some pickup runs together? In an area that’s not exactly a hoops hotbed, can you imagine the damage Flash and Tough Juice would do? … Speaking of hometowns, Mike Beasley (6 pts, 3 rebs) had a rough go in front of his D.C./Maryland peoples. He was in foul trouble early, only played about 15 minutes, and was nowhere near the court in crunch time … You shouldn’t have been surprised to see Chris Bosh hang 40 points and 18 boards on the Magic, nor should you have been surprised to see those numbers weren’t good enough for a win. No one really talks about it, but Bosh kind of owns Dwight (he’s the anti-Okafor) even though his team can’t seem to figure out Orlando … Mavs/Bobcats was just ugly. Dallas jumped out to a 15-0 lead and helped Charlotte fans break an NBA record for the earliest into a game that large groups of people were seen leaving, and by the fourth quarter it was just target practice, with Dirk (32 pts) and Josh Howard (21 pts) firing up open shots like they were in an empty gym. Meanwhile, the Bobcats’ starters — Felton, Carroll, Wallace, May and Okafor — COMBINED for 27 points on the night … In the fourth quarter of Blazers/Warriors, the GS announcers were going crazy wondering why Nellie wasn’t running more plays for Anthony Morrow, who had a team-high 22 points at the time but couldn’t get the ball because Stephen Jackson was steady gunning. And when Morrow checked out of the game, the Warriors fans damn near gave him an “M-V-P!” chant. Crazy. This kid was barely in the League two weeks ago, and now he’s the savior … Golden State did everything they could to give the game away, but got lucky when Rudy Fernandez popped off at a ref and drew a tech in the final seconds that let Morrow (25 pts) ice it at the line … Seems like we’ve been waiting two years to say it, but here it is: Greg Oden was a beast. He put up 22 points and 10 boards, and had a couple of two-hand dunks where he almost ripped the rim off …
T.J. FordAre we sure Mike Woodson studies game film? And are we sure it’s film from this season? The way the Pacers outran the Hawks, and the way ATL didn’t look ready for it at all, you’d think Woodson prepared his guys by having them watch tapes of the Reggie Miller/Rik Smits-era Indy teams. T.J. Ford and Jarrett Jack ran the show like option QB’s, Danny Granger (34 pts, 4 threes) did whatever he wanted, and even Jeff Foster was getting buckets … Foster is definitely the most popular guy on the Pacers. Whenever he scores the Indiana crowd goes nuts, and when he hit a three at the first quarter buzzer last night, they exploded. After the commercial break, the announcers were acting like Foster had just had his jersey retired, showing his wife in the stands and talking about him in glowing terms for minutes on end … There was some 80-year-old man in the crowd who the announcers said was Rick Pitino, but we’re not sure if we believe them. Either Rick the Ruler always wears TV makeup and gobs of Just For Men and forgot to slap it on, or he aged 20 years over the summer … When did Jamal Crawford become the new Ben Gordon? Name one other guy in the League who can drop 30 points one night, get three points the next night, and none of it surprises you … Did you catch the Oklahoma/Davidson game? Stephen Curry dropped 44 points (six threes), and he wasn’t even the best player on the court, as the Sooners’ Blake Griffin put up 25 points and 21 boards in the win. Oklahoma was blowing the Wildcats out until Curry started dropping 30-footers and led his team on a 14-0 run to get them back in it. Towards the end he cut the lead to three when he hit a step-back trey in Griffin’s face (remember, Curry is 6-2; Blake is 6-10) while toeing the sideline. But Griffin was just a little bit better. (One time Fran Fraschilla compared him to Amare.) Every important rebound ended up in his hands, and he was going coast-to-coast for dunks when he wasn’t beasting his way to the line. Straight animal. He’ll look good in a Bobcats uniform next year … We’re out like Vujacic in the Dunk Contest …
November 19th, 2008 at 5:01 am
Steve Nasty says:
Can Okafor get any worse?
November 19th, 2008 at 5:10 am
bamba says:
props to dime for the long dime smack
November 19th, 2008 at 5:11 am
shage says:
Beasley def. had a rough night. If he keeps this up he is going to lose big time to Rose, Mayo, Rudy, etc. for ROY honors.
November 19th, 2008 at 5:26 am
sans says:
I’ve said it to many people in my bar, Blake goes #1 this year. Rubio/Jennings #2 (if brandon goes nuts, it’ll be close; plus he had no opportunity within our infrastructure to go out for the Olympics, unlike Ricky). Why is Curry a consistent “mid-2 late 1st round pick”? It’s like Chewbaca loving Endor–it makes no sense.
November 19th, 2008 at 5:39 am
smity far away says:
nice smack. i’d take gordon over crawford (but not by much)
November 19th, 2008 at 5:48 am
solomon says:
long smack, nice though…
blake to the cats? naaaaahhh… stern will work his magic and send blake to a high market team like the clippers or the warriors…
we’re out like scoring 40+ and winning…
November 19th, 2008 at 6:21 am
loot says:
“Watching D-Wade and Caron chat after the game, we realized something: With Wade playing his college ball in Wisconsin, and Caron growing up there and coming back faithfully every summer, what are the chances those two got in some pickup runs together? In an area that’s not exactly a hoops hotbed, can you imagine the damage Flash and Tough Juice would do?”
I do remember Caron was with Maimi? :S
November 19th, 2008 at 6:27 am
Denis says:
Poor Blake. The Clips are his “high market”. He’ll get injured.
November 19th, 2008 at 6:29 am
BENNYHILL says:
Anthony Morrow, you have to love the fairytale, another couple of games like that and he will join ROY talk
November 19th, 2008 at 6:51 am
Sweet English says:
Great name for todays smack Dime. Dime editors clearly realising that most of its readers not only spend too long playing ball but spend way to long on the internets and therefore get that joke.
To continue the trend, Vujacic in the dunk contest?
DO NOT WANT.
November 19th, 2008 at 7:08 am
AB_40 says:
caron butler and dwayne wade wow good combination uhm wait a minute. didn’t they draft butler? make the playoffs in his seccond year? trade him with lamar odom and brian grant for this big talkative center? I don’t remember. They’re former teammates.
Jamal Crawford is the x factor for the knicks whenever he scores big they’ve got a big chance to win games which arn’t defensive orientated.
Blake Griffin = Carlos Boozer
November 19th, 2008 at 7:16 am
QQ says:
Orlando still won despite Bosh’s effort… Hey Dime, where is Orlando’s problem now??? Can’t seem to see it, something wrong with my vision?
November 19th, 2008 at 7:25 am
YOUNGFED says:
Kinda lame smack today so here we go.
TOP 5 POWER FORWARDS SO FAR
1.) Zach Randolp
2.) Amare Stat
3.) Bosh
4.) KG
5.) Sheed
Let me know what yall think.
BANGER OF THE DAY: 50
http://www.xxlmag.com/online/?p=19109
GOOD READ: Kwame
http://www.freep.com/article/20081118/SPORTS03/811180386/1051
HOLLA!!!!
November 19th, 2008 at 7:44 am
Sweet English says:
‘When did Jamal Crawford become the new Ben Gordon? Name one other guy in the League who can drop 30 points one night, get three points the next night, and none of it surprises you’
Q-rich
Gil
Yao Ming
November 19th, 2008 at 7:49 am
magnifico says:
derrick rose was beasting. Get used to that. Oden is finaly showing it.
November 19th, 2008 at 8:03 am
iannyb says:
Go Lakers was really dissapointed with that loss to the Pistons but I know the best is yet to come.Andrew Bynum hasn’t been getting the touches I would like to see him get,Trevor is my man and he makes not being able to get Artest somewhat ok. Would love to see A.B and G.O go at it again .I trust this time my Lakers will prevail.
Showing love from St Lucia
November 19th, 2008 at 8:11 am
Chaos says:
BennyHilll – Morrow will not get rookie of the year talk because if he keeps scoring and playing well, Capt. Jack, Maggette and Azubiuke will start gunning…even more…not to mention when Ellis gets back there will not be any shots to go around. Morrow was probably a nice surprise but it wont last.
Griffin somehow needs to find his way to miami.
Aint no f***ing way Curry is going mid to late first round. i watched that game. aint no one in college bball that can turn it on just like that. he just said “f*** it, i aint getting embarrassed in this bitch!” and started going lights out on oklahoma.
November 19th, 2008 at 8:27 am
Kevin says:
nice smack
November 19th, 2008 at 8:28 am
Stef says:
Stop being a Vujacic, learn to dunk:
http://www.jumplikevince.com
November 19th, 2008 at 8:32 am
hopper5013 says:
AB_40
CARLOS BOOZER = no where near as athletic as Blake Griffin!
THAT GAME was Crazy Steph Curry looks like a PG with a bum ass team that he has to carry by scoring. I look to see him picked very high he is unconscious in the cluth.
I am thinking that maybe Caron and Wade are cool because they played on the heat together.
Chris Webber, BJ Armstrong, Scottie Pippen and Avery Johnson are the worst athletes that I have ever watched analyze there sports.
November 19th, 2008 at 8:42 am
it aint easy being green says:
apparently boston didnt play last night. i was looking forward to getting to work this morning and reading the verbal abuse thrown at my man VEAL. guess not.
curry’s amazing
whos gonna beat UNC. they looked unstoppable w/out psyco T
November 19th, 2008 at 8:43 am
JA says:
“All Your Bulls Are Belong To Us” – class title Dime
November 19th, 2008 at 9:10 am
garbageman33 says:
Yesterday, I made an “all your base are belong to us” reference in response to a poster with fractured english. Today, it’s in the title of Smack. Coincidence?
November 19th, 2008 at 9:14 am
vinny says:
Grog oden grabbed a rebound out of the air with 1 hand last night-that dudes hand must be huge, if he stays healthy(big if) he is going to be a beast!!
the laker game was telecast on 2 different chanels last night-1 with no play by play with the sound up and better camera angles-there was a timeout in the 3rd quarter and ariza and sasha were having an argument walking to the bench and i thought ariza was going to smack him!!-that dude sasha is an annoying mf.
November 19th, 2008 at 9:21 am
Obmij says:
No pub on the Boston-NY game?
November 19th, 2008 at 9:22 am
MSkittle says:
Good call! I was just comparing Jamal Crawford to Ben Gordon last night! (especially because of their shot selection)
November 19th, 2008 at 9:46 am
E$ says:
There was a J.J. Redick sighting last night in Orlando…..are we still hating T.J. ford? lol
November 19th, 2008 at 9:51 am
JBFC says:
Is this the same DIMEMAG that for the past three years has done nothing but dog LeBron and the Cavs? Is this the same DIMEMAG that I accused, just last year, of having an institutional bias against LeBron — a charge which the editors never refuted (and, thus, tacitly admitted)? What happened here, Dime? Has the institutional bias been addressed?
This begs a further question — DIMEMAG, or DUMBMAG?
November 19th, 2008 at 10:00 am
P_Dizzle says:
Beasley has a long way to go if he wants to get ROY and MVP! You can’t be putting up this stat line 6 pts 3 rebs 2 to and 16 mins and expect to be a serious contender for MVP, let alone ROY!!
November 19th, 2008 at 10:00 am
Ian says:
youngfed
i imagine u consider duncan a center right?
November 19th, 2008 at 10:00 am
Ian says:
if not everyone on the list goes a spot down
November 19th, 2008 at 10:01 am
Pskila says:
Man Luol Deng…is terrible…he should have just not played last night…He is not worth 70 millions dollars, I am glad someone finally got on his garbage A@@ last night..I have been saying for two years, trade him away while he is on the upscale…
November 19th, 2008 at 10:01 am
Ian says:
btw dime i think bosh avgs 40 and 20 vs howard he does that shit everytime they play
November 19th, 2008 at 10:04 am
dapro says:
Good smack today,
I watch the Bulls hang with Lakers for awhile but several things stood out (same as always)
1)Bulls held on to the trio of Gordon, Heinrich, Deng combo for two long
Deng looks bad and out of synch(Dime called it before but they seldom have a good game together)
2)Drew Gooden makes some of the dumbest decisions I’ve ever seen
3)Rose, Thabo, Deng, Thomas,Gray should start bring Joakim and Gordon off the bench for energy and a scoring spark
November 19th, 2008 at 10:23 am
Bruce says:
Morrow — Flip Murray or Ike Austin. Take your pick.
November 19th, 2008 at 10:37 am
parinaz suns says:
thanks for the long smack im bored out of my mind in class
November 19th, 2008 at 10:37 am
star_bury says:
I love Smack. I thought I was at the end of it after the Oden comment, but then re-loaded the page when I didn’t see a “We’re out like…” comment. Then I saw another whole section!
No word on UNC winning (easily) over UK without Hansbrough or Ginyard?
And how does someone that votes for the AP Top 25 give a vote to Virginia Military?
November 19th, 2008 at 10:44 am
Antwonomous says:
Did anybody watch the FSN2 “courtside telecast” of that Lakers-Bulls game? You got to see the action from a sideline point of view (obviously). Anyways, after the play where Kobe got too unselfish and tried to throw the lob to Trevor, only to have Trevor pass it back to him and Kobe nail an open three, they go back to the bench. I click over from FSN to FSN2, and I hear Kobe making the analogy of um, how can I make this unobscene? He was trying to explain to Trevor how he wanted him to finish the lob, and he used the analogy of, this is how I’ll put it: reaching the perfect climax, er, ending. You get my drift. Anyways, funny as hell. We weren’t supposed to hear that. I was floored when that happened. No big deal, really, NBA players are just like the rest of us, they aren’t saints, they talk the same way the average person does, we all know this. Still though, it was shocking. And hilarious.
November 19th, 2008 at 10:51 am
sans says:
that UNC game was brutal, wtf do you do in Kentucky without a legit Wildcats team? Watch blue grass grow?
November 19th, 2008 at 10:54 am
Mrbball says:
Zach Randolf, #1 Powerforward? Youngfed has lost all credibility.
November 19th, 2008 at 11:20 am
YOUNGFED says:
@Ian
Yes
@Mrbball
You need check out how he’s been destroy guy’s this year. What other PF tells his team he’s getting 20 and 20 and done it this year. Also that list was only for the games played thus far and yes, he’s played the best. Name anyone who’s playing better.
November 19th, 2008 at 11:23 am
mike says:
nice video game ref
November 19th, 2008 at 11:26 am
YOUNGFED says:
@Ian
Yes
@Mrbball
You need to check out how he’s been destroying guy’s this year. What other PF tells his team he’s getting 20 and 20 and done it this year. Also that list was only for the games played thus far and yes, he’s played the best. Name anyone who’s playing better.
November 19th, 2008 at 11:28 am
CitizenB says:
Although the ring was nice, we(the HEAT)should have kept our team pre-Shaq:
Alston
Wade
Caron
Haslem
Odom
Zo, B.Grant, Eddie Jones, Rasual Butler, Keyon Dooling
We coulda picked up some other pieces along the way but that team seemed more ours than when we got Shaq
November 19th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Mamba says:
Pau well done,
Kobe brought it when he had too,
helps slightly heal the sting of the Piston loss,
But after last June I am still scarred, hope that game last Friday wasnt a forshadow for whats to come in the playoffs,
My ego couldn’t take two of those in a row,
I just cant take another summer of listening to my lame bandwagon Celt fan friends bump gums about how amazing Boston is
November 19th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
quick wit it says:
dime- great title- i laughed out loud
gordon and deng should look at their statline and see that they need to shoot less and let d.rose take more. d.rose shot 11-18, while gordon shot 6-22 and deng was 4-10. so so awful…and by being more selective, they’ll be taking better looks, hopefully hitting more, and improving confidence….
or is that just me daydreaming?
November 19th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
JCARR says:
Well done! Good smack. I thought Gasol was going to score 50 the way he was playing. He had 24 at the half.
PS what about rasho nesterovic???
November 19th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
YOUNGFED says:
THIS JUST IN: BREAKING NEWS
Shaq said Phil made me and Kobe Argue.
http://www.dailynews.com/lakers/ci_10990499
Remember where you heard it 1st
November 19th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Bruce says:
At YoungFed – That is old news, brother.
Shaq said, “Kobe and I, we are the best 1-2 in Lakers History.”
November 19th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Bruce says:
Shaquille O’Neal recently told the Sacramento Bee that he and Kobe Bryant are the best one-two punch in Lakers history. Is he right?
November 19th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
YOUNGFED says:
@Bruce
It can’t be to old it’s dated 11/14/08
But Shaq and Kobe might have been the best 1-2 in Lakers history. Maybe in NBA history. I know I’ma get killed for saying it but it might be true.
November 19th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
vinny says:
man magic and kareem have 5 rings-aganist better comp. and managed to get along for 8 years- they are the best combo in lakers history!!
November 19th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
control says:
I’m late coming on, but damn YOUNGFED, I’m about to feed you some hate juice.
Zach Randolph as the best power forward so far? Are you straight mad or just smoking some laced shit? Chris Bosh has by far been the best so far. Amare, Tim Duncan, KG, hell even Chris Webber reporting from the sidelines have all been better than Zach. Ease up on the crack son.
Any ounce of respect you had concerning your basketball knowledge is now gone.
November 19th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
control says:
Here are some numbers to bash that whole “Zach Randolph is a the best power forward so far” bullshit.
The good:
20.5ppg
12.5rpg
The bad:
7-24 3 points attempted/made
0.3 blocks per game (yeah, that’s 0.3)
0.434 field goal % (probably worst for a power forward in nba)
Essentially he plays like a fat shooting guard. A slightly retarded fat shooting guard.
November 19th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
vinny says:
@control- did you get mugged in new york and hate all things about ‘the city’ since then?
November 19th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
YOUNGFED says:
LMAO @Vinny….
All I’m saying is Zach has been tremendous given his situation. If he had Shaq he’d be even better.
November 19th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
control says:
vinny
Nah, just spent too much time there. Actually made a decent amount of cash there, just can’t stand a majority of the people there.
November 19th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
baron von faulk says:
youngfed is a trip, always sayin some out there shit, like rodney stuckey is better than jose calderon…
all i gotta say is…TIMMAGH!
November 19th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
vinny says:
@control- i’m from jersey but i have been in la a long time so i visit new york whenever i go home-nice place to visit wouldnt want to live there. But there are some things good that come out of there! just saying!
November 19th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
control says:
vinny
As long as you don’t think you are better than everyone else in the world just because you happen to live in “the city”, it’s all good. Problem is, 90% of the douche bags in NY think they are better than the entire world just because they were born and/or live in NY. It’s an extreme example of typical american arrogance.
November 19th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
karizmatic says:
Did you see Eddie Jordan’s ridiculous comments about how the Wizards are built for Gilbert? I would have fired him.
November 19th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Ian says:
baron
timmeh is the best pf but youngfed said he considered him a center thats why hes not on his list
now on the lakers one two
its magic and kareem easyyyyyyyyy
then id take west and wilt
fuck that id take wilt and whoever first
shaq must be crazy
November 19th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
VINNY says:
@ian- wilt was not better than Kareem- i am old enough to have watched both.
November 19th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
PJ 310 says:
did anyone else hear Kobe tell Trevor Ariza that if would have completed that dunk “it would have felt like busting that one good nut”?
That ish was the highlight of the game for me
November 19th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
VINNY says:
@pj-were you watching the no announcer channel? did you see ariza look like he was going to smack sasha?
November 19th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
PJ 310 says:
I didnt tune in until after halftime, but i think they should show all the games like that. you really get a sense of how big, fast and strong the players are.
November 19th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
VINNY says:
yea the camera angles are better and they let you hear a lot more. It was enjoyable to watch and hear.