Killer Bease
Michael Beasley (photo. Chad Griffith)Think back to about 12 months ago: Back when Michael Beasley was terrorizing all of college basketball, before Derrick Rose shot up the draft board and Beasley was a lock to go #1 whenever he decided to go pro. Back then, if someone had told you that B-Easy would do anything less than destroy Matt Bonner during crunch time of a close game, would you have believed them? Of course not. But that’s what happened down the stretch of Heat/Spurs last night. In what was overall a solid game for Beasley (15 pts, 12 rebs) — and while we’re at it, who would have guessed that Beasley’s first NBA double-double wouldn’t happen until January? — he scored nine points in the fourth quarter, but was also neutralized by Bonner on some key possessions that could have helped Miami pull out the win … Whenever the Heat got within striking range, somebody on the Spurs stepped up and hit a big shot to extend their lead. And in the last five minutes, it seemed everyone but Dwyane Wade (24 pts, 12 asts) was trying to shoot Miami back into it. When Wade did get his chance, swiping an entry pass intended for Tim Duncan (19 pts, 9 rebs) with 1:30 left and trailing by three, Manu chased him down and pulled off the Tayshaun/LeBron/J-Smoove/Crash rejection (cue the Manu fanatics vehemently pointing out that Manu kept the ball inbounds). The block set up Roger Mason’s jumper that was pretty much the dagger, which Tony Parker twisted with a lefty driving layup on San Antonio’s next possession … One time Bonner and Shawn Marion both touched a ball that rolled out of bounds, and when the ref called it for Miami, he was swarmed by the Whiny Police: Parker, Ginobili and Bonner converged on him in about 0.6 seconds, palms up and eyes wide, like dude was Rodney King … Even without Jermaine O’Neal and Jose Calderon in the lineup, you’d think the Raptors — fresh off maybe their best game of the season in Orlando over the weekend — could get past an Andrew Bogut-less Milwaukee squad, right? Wrong. Despite 31 points from Chris Bosh and 21 from Andrea Bargnani (who’s been killing it ever since J.O. got hurt), the Raps lost another winnable game. Credit this one to the Bucks’ backcourt: Ramon Sessions, Luke Ridnour and Charlie Bell all put in work down the stretch, and Michael Redd was just unstoppable, dropping 35 points for the game. With 34 seconds left and the Bucks ahead by two, Ridnour boldly pulled up and knocked down a three right in Bosh’s face to put the Raps to bed … Earlier in the fourth, Bell and Charlie Villanueva had a 2-on-1 break that looked promising. But right as the Bucks’ play-by-play man hyped it up (”The Charlies!”), Bell sent a pass sailing over CV’s head out of bounds. Color commentator Scott Williams groaned out loud and sounded like he wanted to just get up and go home … At least the Bucks announcers can get Luc Richard Mbah a Moute’s name right. It’s aggravating when all these other TV heads not only butcher his name, but then act like they’re doing us a favor. “In case you’re wondering, it’s Ma-BOO ah MAH-tay.” Actually, it isn’t …
Carmelo Anthony (photo. Mannion)Before the reports began to surface that Carmelo Anthony had indeed fractured his right hand, the Nuggets had reason to be pleased with themselves following Monday’s win over Indiana. While their defense was pretty awful for three quarters — overshadowed only by the Pacers’ even worse D — ‘Melo and crew put the clamps down in the fourth quarter, when they turned a three-point lead into a 20-point lead in about six minutes. Before Danny Granger (36 pts) even had a chance to respond, it was already garbage time … ‘Melo got hurt in the third quarter when Jeff Foster hacked him underneath the basket. He dropped to the ground like he’d blown his knee out or something, and after he got back up and stayed in the game, the Nuggets announcers wanted Foster’s head (and the referees’ heads) on a stick. One of them snarled sarcastically, “They say the hand is part of the ball, so if you break somebody’s hand I guess that’s OK.” … Did you know J.R. Smith is creeping up on Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf for fourth place all-time in three-pointers made in Nuggets history? Yeah, he jacks shots at an alarming rate, but it seems like J.R. hasn’t even been there that long … It was close, but the Jazz continued their ownership over the Warriors. Paul Millsap (19 pts, 14 rebs) and Memo (20 pts, 11 rebs) had the contractually-obligated double-doubles against Golden State’s one-man frontcourt — seriously, Jamaal Magloire and Juwan Howard could combine for 20 and 20 against this team — and Deron Williams picked apart the rest of that Swiss cheese D for 25 and 15 assists. “Bad Porn” Maggette hit a couple free throws to bring GS within three late in the fourth, but Millsap got a big bucket and a block to help Utah stay in front and ice it … Right before halftime, a fan blew a whistle during the action, causing a few Warriors to stop playing while Kyle Korver went in all by himself for a dunk. The points were allowed to count, but the crowd was warned to knock it off. Although if we didn’t know any better, we might have thought that’s just how the Warriors guarded that play … It’s only January 6th, and we’ve already found the ‘09 quote of the year. On WWE RAW, William Regal sealed the deal with, “My New Year’s resolution is to wake up 30 minutes earlier every day, so I can despise everyone longer.” We’ll give it 48 hours before Larry Brown makes that his ringtone … We’re out like ‘Melo …
January 6th, 2009 at 4:09 am
Kim Jong Il says:
First!
January 6th, 2009 at 4:44 am
BRUCE says:
Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf —- Where is Chris Jackson. Last time, I saw him, he wore a Kings uniform.
January 6th, 2009 at 5:24 am
Steve Nasty says:
Foster should be shot
January 6th, 2009 at 5:29 am
Duke says:
How bout dem Longhorns?!
January 6th, 2009 at 5:33 am
KBY says:
“the Whiny Police”
so true
January 6th, 2009 at 6:16 am
Mo says:
JR Smith rocks:
http://www.squidoo.com/JRSmith
January 6th, 2009 at 7:00 am
S-SiN says:
everyone needs to go vote for KG (the runner up eastern forward in the voting) to be on the safe side with the whole yi the starter bullshit! do do right now! yi is creeping in!!!!
January 6th, 2009 at 7:01 am
S-SiN says:
Hey, why is Corey Maggette a “bad porn”? what did i miss?
January 6th, 2009 at 7:40 am
Craig says:
S-Sin;
a few articles back they covered the new name for maggete:
why is maggete similar to bad porn?
“Sure, there’s penetration and scoring, but are you really happy with what you’re seeing?”
January 6th, 2009 at 8:19 am
fallinup says:
Leave it to Dime to spit on a respectable win by the Spurs.
January 6th, 2009 at 8:37 am
loc says:
MAGGETTE FOR JO TRADE!!!
the raps get a legit slasher, the warriors get a big man.
January 6th, 2009 at 8:46 am
doc says:
Maggoty aint legit at all.What games u talking about?
January 6th, 2009 at 8:51 am
rangerjohn says:
leave it to dime to TRY to trash the spurs on the last line!! gonna have to try harder. and no chance of mentioning that the red rocket was lighting up beasly when ever it mattered? how about bonner making 3 of 4 from deep, and 5 of 7 overall for 71%, sure beasley got some buckets in teh 4th but he has absolutely ZERO DEFENSE.sure beasley shot 50% but then bonner has never been accused of being good on defense, and he also was not the #2 pick either lmao. and how about wade getting calls, the nba’s other other golden child was offensive fouling left and right, how about the dropped shoulder driving into bowen and bowen gets the foul? how about the 2 fouls he commited on manu fighting for the ball while manu was on the ground. the swat was just a bit of payback.
its ok dime, we know you gys hate on the spurs and find any thing you can but you cant bring us down!
January 6th, 2009 at 8:57 am
Billy Hoyle says:
Goddammit i hate the Spurs and wish their fans would shut the hell up
January 6th, 2009 at 9:04 am
northern lights says:
@ post 11… hahhahaha… if the raps bring in maggette i’ll stop cheering for them. Bad Porn’e also a black hole, and I gotta think he does nothing for the chemistry of the team.
January 6th, 2009 at 9:06 am
QQ says:
I hate the Spurs too, but they are fucking winners (and have been fucking winners for a decade) so what’s with the Spurs hate, bitches? If yall gonna hate, hate on the losers and soft asses (T fucking Mac).
January 6th, 2009 at 9:26 am
fallinup says:
“So what’s with the Spurs hate, bitches? ”
“The Killer Bease” gets 15 and 12 in a loss to the Spurs and he still gets more respect than SA. (laughable)
A. Bron didn’t play.
B. A nobody didn’t “cram” on a no defense playing foreign player.
C. A new shoe didn’t get released.
D. And the Knicks didn’t play.
So yeah. Gotta depend on plan E.
January 6th, 2009 at 9:29 am
control says:
Dwade is like 50% skill, 50% refs right now. Has the guy EVER had a call not go his way? If he misses a shot during the warm ups, the refs are giving fouls to the other team and/or fans. The refing situation in the NBA is going from horrible to wtf?.
The Raps are pretty much unwatchable right now, living in Detroit you see alot of fans of the Detroit Lions going through some pain…but being a Raptors fan right now seems almost worse. Unless they have a 30 point lead going into the 4th, they will fold and lose. 20 point lead is 50/50 chance of winning. Watching them fold over and over is almost like GSP kicking me in the nuts daily.
January 6th, 2009 at 9:31 am
Kermit The Washington says:
This year’s all-star game could conceivably have Shaq, Kobe, and Phil all on the same team! That’s dope. I see lots of Kobe to Shaq alleys and vice-versa.
January 6th, 2009 at 9:43 am
Ross says:
“whiny police”?
That’s because the ball was blatantly out on Miami, and the ref’s were wrong.
January 6th, 2009 at 10:08 am
robert says:
Lol @ #17…that was a low blow to the dime staff.
January 6th, 2009 at 10:09 am
Sanpitch says:
LOL @ post 17. You hit it on the head.
I am surprised that the refs didn’t call a foul on Manu for cramming that shot of Wade’s back. Wade and Kobe are the worst for getting “phantom” fouls.
Wasn’t Beasley supposed to be the self-proclaimed “MVP” and ROY?
I love the Maggette “Bad Porn” nickname. I didn’t think Dime would stick with it.
January 6th, 2009 at 10:37 am
MSkittle says:
Good call about the Heat game. It seemed like Chalmers and Beasley were the only ones getting looks
January 6th, 2009 at 11:00 am
LakeShow84 says:
I think Dime just hates Western Conference teams.. But they are nice to the Nuggets for some reason..
And Wade has BEEN getting phantom calls.. Game 5 anyone?? And its annoying because aint nothing worst than Phantom calls going against your team..
The only thing i dispute about Kobe getting phantom calls is the fact that sometimes he get NO CALLS.. i think this is because the officiating is already somehow biased they just dont know how to call Kobe no more.. One second he’ll get r@ped under the rim, no call.. Next he gets a foul call on a jump shot with no contact.. its mind boggling but it goes to show the game is called based on who is officiating and who likes who.. And why does every single crew call different stuff?? How hard is that play with.. But one thing is for sure and no one, including me, knows why..
D-Wade gets the most phantom calls of this decade.. And if someone were keeping count he has probably caught up with Kobe’s CAREER in total Phantom calls..
January 6th, 2009 at 11:11 am
WinDelRoj says:
If D-Wade and Kobe are the kings of phantom fouls. Then the whole San Antonio Spurs are the kings of whining without getting T’d up and flopping.
January 6th, 2009 at 11:24 am
Amar says:
in other news, kosta koufos had a few dunks last night, pushing him ahead of dunk contest hopeful (and 11 career nba dunk having) rudy fernandez!
January 6th, 2009 at 11:37 am
Mister Sun says:
lol at rangerjohn commenting on the spurs everytime and nobody from dime answering.
he wines EVERYTIME there are some bad words about the spurs. laughable
January 6th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
BEdger says:
@ Amar….how many dunks do Alexander and Westbrook have?
January 6th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
Austin Burton says:
I’m still looking for the alleged Spurs hate…
January 6th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
LakeShow84 says:
I hate the Spurs!!!
They tanked to get Timmy!! No pride in the Organization and they tanked and now they are called the class of the NBA?? JOKE..
I hate em..
Hate, Hate, Hate.. Gregg Poppovich wife looks like she wears underwear with d#ckholes on them..
January 6th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
LakeShow84 says:
Good??
January 6th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
Austin Burton says:
There we go. Wasn’t seeing it in Smack.
January 6th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
derrick says:
man that fake whistle was bs. EVERYBODY froze before the ball was thrown downcourt the same way players throw the ball at the rim after the whistle.
January 6th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
baron von faulk says:
Austin it was the whiny police line obviously. I am a huge Spurs fan and didn’t take all THAT much offense, it’s a typical comment about SA anyway for the last however many years Duncan has been doing the bugeyed look thingy.
January 6th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
J-Lod says:
Yi for all star? if he’s on the roster, i’ll quit on the NBA..
January 7th, 2009 at 2:55 am
Jau28 says:
hahahaha I love how everyone is hating so hard on the spurs. I love the spurs personally b/c they just get shit done. As a raptors fan I have so much respect for them b/c my team is the complete polar opposite… doesn’t compete, loses EVERY loose ball battle, NEVER boxes out to rebound, ALWAYS folds b/c we don’t know how to spell defense, and oh ya we are SOFT.
the reason ppl hate the spurs in the same way I used to (and still hate) the patriots is because they won multiple chips.
although i have to admit spurs ARE a dirty team and DO whine ALL the time but hey… whatever it takes to win the game right? wouldn’t you want your teams to do the same? I mean if arguing a call or every call in the case of the spurs results in changing another call in the future, wouldn’t you do the EXACT same thing? especially if you get away with it.
p.s. if Yi is on the all-star then Bargnani should be too lolol ya like those two will ever be close to allstars
January 9th, 2009 at 2:11 am
nicky says:
william regal is the greatest of all time…or top 3 for sure