Smack / Feb 4, 2009 / 1:46 am

Crashing the Party

Ray AllenRay Allen (photo. Jordan Brand)

If Tuesday’s NBA schedule was an open audition for Jameer Nelson‘s suddenly-available All-Star spot, we’re gonna have to book that ticket to Phoenix for Ray Allen. As the Celtics stretched their win streak to 12 games, Ray made the two biggest shots of the night and finished with 23 points. Philly was up by one with a minute to go in the fourth quarter when they swung it around to Andre Miller (after Lou Williams miraculously passed up an opportunity to take a bad shot) for an open jumper to make it a three-point game. Ray and Paul Pierce worked a two-man game on the next possession, and Ray ended up with the ball on the wing and Reggie Evans in front of him. Despite being just a tad off-balance, Ray rose, corrected his form in less than a blink of an eye, and stuck a three in Evans’ grill to tie it up. After Andre Iguodala (22 pts, 6 rebs, 6 asts, 3 stls) responded with a HUGE pull-up J over Pierce — deservedly capped by a Big Balls Dance as Sam Cassell himself watched from the bench — Boston had the ball, down two, with eight seconds left. Of course Pierce (29 pts, 7 rebs, 6 asts) got it first with the option to shoot or pass, and as he surveyed the scene, Big Baby screened Thad Young on the elbow to allow Ray to slip into the corner. Pierce found him, and Ray had a wide-open look beyond the arc. Buckets. Philly had one more chance with half-a-second to go, but couldn’t get anything off … As for the other guys vying for that All-Star spot, Mo Williams put up 15 points in Cleveland’s win over the Raptors, and Vince Carter had a triple-double (15 pts, 10 rebs, 12 asts) in a win over Milwaukee … It’s only natural that following Kobe‘s 61-point barrage on Monday, everybody would look to LeBron on Tuesday to see what he would do. Hosting the Raptors — no strangers to getting savage buckets stapled on their forehead — LBJ had a relatively modest 33 points in a blowout, including 13-of-13 from the stripe and a spectacular block where he met Chris Bosh at the rim and snuffed his dunk attempt. LeBron’s real test? Later tonight, when the Cavs are in Madison Square Garden and ‘Bron gets a crack at the mentally wounded Knicks. If you’re Mike D’Antoni, do you just throw Wilson Chandler out there on an island with LBJ and hope he learns a lesson about resiliency, or send over a little more help than usual to cushion his ego? … Did you see where the Cavs blatantly jacked the Kevin Garnett “interview montage” commercial from NBA TV? The Cleveland version has similar dramatic music playing in the background; the only difference is that it’s all of the Cavs players instead of just one guy …

Sebastian TelfairSebastian Telfair (photo. adidas)

Pacers/Wolves was a clinic on how to blow a game. For starters, it never even should have been close, as the Pacers got out to a big lead early and pretty much shut down Al Jefferson (12 pts) altogether. But they got lazy, and by the fourth quarter, guys like Brian Cardinal were sticking big shots on them. With 30 seconds left, Minnesota held a six-point lead when they decided to fall apart. Danny Granger (28 pts) was left open to hit a three and cut the lead in half, followed by Mike Miller and Sebastian Telfair botchiing an inbound exchange that allowed T.J. Ford to steal it in the backcourt. But before anyone could have a Reggie Miller flashback, T.J. was fouled and sent to the line. He made one and bricked the second, but then the Wolves turned it over AGAIN in the backcourt, and T.J. went back to the line. Again he missed one of the free throws, and after Telfair hit a pair to put ‘Sota back up by three, the Pacers tried to go for a quick two when T.J. got away with a turnover; bouncing the ball off his knee out of bounds, only the refs didn’t see it and Indy got the ball back. Granger, however, missed a three with eight seconds left, and the Pacers didn’t even try to foul as the Wolves ran the clock out and Jefferson got a trash layup at the buzzer … E-mail from Dime’s Austin Burton: “Troy Murphy‘s my dude, but he robbed everyone of what would have been the funniest moment of the season. Fourth quarter of Pacers/Wolves, Brian Cardinal stepped in front of a pass intended for Murphy and took off with — as Rick James would say — delusions of grandeur. Before he’d taken more than a couple of steps, though, Murphy fouled him. Cardinal trying to go coast-to-coast and dribble at the same time would have been HILARIOUS.” … Speaking of comedy, it’s funny how Clyde Drexler thinks everything is funny. Yao was at the foul line during Rockets/Bulls when Houston’s play-by-play guy innocuously mentioned that Yao (28 pts) had hit 250 free throws this season. After a pause, Clyde quips, “251 now” and starts giggling. He’s like the anti-Rick Barry … With Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili (and Mike Finley) all sitting out, how did the Nuggets NOT crack the Spurs? Denver got the W, and Carmelo (35 pts) did his thing, but no way it should have been close down the stretch, especially seeing as the game was in Denver. The Nuggets had their own excuses, though: K-Mart was out sick, and Chauncey (ankle) got hurt in the second quarter and didn’t return. First Jameer, then CP3, now Chauncey; is this like Injured Point Guard Week or the Discovery Channel or something? … At what point did Renaldo Balkman realize he wasn’t going to be able to do a full-on Spyda move from the AND 1 Tour and put his feet on the backboard? Balkman looked like he was more than halfway into it after getting a dunk in the second half, then came down to find out he had a tech … We’re out like T-Murph’s sense of humor …

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49 Responses to “Crashing the Party”

  1. bill says:

    all big babyyyy

  2. Big Sia says:

    Im excited to see what Kobe does in his next game against the Craptors. No one in the franchise can guard Trevor Ariza let alone a top 5 all-time SG.

    lol @ Denver almost losing to the San Antonio Bonners.

    I’m out like the Big 3…

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qyRYkvvSz4

  3. Big Sia says:

    Triple Double > Ray Allen’s 3

  4. control says:

    Early ass smack.

    I thought LeBron was going to go for 62 against the Raps…not like they could do anything about it. Watching my team play so poorly rubbed off on me as I had a horrible rec league game right after that…fucking Raps.

  5. Big Sia says:

    Control, time to abandon ship doggy.

    Might i suggest the Blazers? I heard they’re young.. or something

  6. that's whats up says:

    When Pop took off his patch his mind must’ve leaked out of his head.

    Why sit your three best players?

  7. Me says:

    lol, I thought that read “as Sam Cassell watched HIMSELF from the bench.”

    Loved the Balkman quip. Seriously, that rim showboating was so blatant.

    Was Jefferson’s last bucket a blatant attempt at padding stats? At least it wasn’t in a losing game.

  8. Me says:

    To the person in one of the Bynum threads who asked if there’s ever been a big man who recovered from two knee surgeries:

    Yes. Kenyon Martin. I believe he’s the only player in any professional sports to have come back from TWO microfracture surgeries.

    Oddly enough, I think in some ways it’s turned out to be a blessing, because he’s improved his shooting and range, and I think a lot of that is attributed to his down time while recovering. Often times when players are seriously injured, the only thing they can do is practice their shooting obsessively, since they can’t do much else.

    It seems like every time I watch him, he’s hitting his jump shots, and his range is quite good. So much so, that he’s shooting 50% from the three point line.

  9. Me says:

    ^To add on:

    Also, the point is, Kenyon doesn’t seem to have lost much explosiveness at all. He’s still getting up like crazy, blocking people’s shots and dunking. I don’t know if he’s just a freak of nature or what, but he should give hope to other big men trying to recover from severe knee injuries.

    I know for Bynum it’s a little bit different, since he’s gonna have to be down low against guys like Shaq and Perkins every night, but still, it’s not a given that his career will be greatly negatively affected by this.

  10. Me says:

    A couple more comments:
    Alonzo Mourning has the personality of a pimp. I’ve never noticed it before, but it was out full force tonight during the NBATV broadcast. Dude is sooo smooth and unrattled.

    Ray Allen truly deserves that All-Star spot. It’s a joke he wasn’t selected in the first place.

    Stern’s probably gonna pick Mo, though. So every major team gets 2 all-stars, like one big happy family. Even though it’ll be undeserving…

  11. Me says:

    Actually, I lied. One more comment/question, sorry.

    Does anyone know why George Karl started Jr Smith instead of Dahntay Jones? It was a horribly wrong decision, at least in the second half. After Chauncey went out, it was clear they needed SOMEONE in there to keep up the defensive intensity. That’s Dahntay’s whole purpose. So why choose this game of all games to not start him?

    I can maybe understand if George wanted JR in in the beginning, to give the Nuggets some early offense in case Duncan & Parker stepped in later, but once Chauncey was out, Dahntay should’ve been in.

    Does anyone know if replacing Dahntay with JR in the starting lineup is supposed to be a permanent thing?

  12. Me says:

    Ya’ll didn’t mention the Houston/Chicago game? It was the only other game on the schedule, I think. lol.

    Anyway, TMac posterized the hell out of Tyrus Thomas:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mFAUGTb8Jc

    Loved the glare at the end of it. That’s what made it so nasty.

  13. Me says:

    Oh, yeah, you did comment on the Houston/Chicago game, I just forgot. Weird, since I laughed at the Clyde Drexler thing, and could even hear his voice saying that in my head, as I read what you wrote. It’s late, that’s my excuse for forgetting.

    It’s weird you didn’t mention TMac murdering Ty Thomas, though.

    k, I totally took over this comments section, lol. Sorry.

  14. Big Aaron says:

    ^^^ What it doesn’t show is Tracy holding his back, crying and hobbling off the court for six-to-eight weeks.

  15. Biglang Liko says:

    Damn Big Aaron, that was ice cold! but true!

  16. Hi, Jurg from Denmark says:

    hi hi from jurg.

    wow, i have seen some good talkers to smack for some many months, but our new reader mr Me is a fresh one with some big attitude. and a hi hi to you mr Me.

    and this is from jurgo the great dane. hi.

  17. rodnets says:

    Hillarious moment BOS @ PHI. The Rocky Balboa music they played after Ray Ray stuck the three. I believe it belonged to Rocky I (where he lost), cause no one in the entire building thought Philly was pull out the W with .5 secs in the clock.

    @Me don’t feel sorry this comment section is to comment.

    Peace

  18. Ross says:

    So Kevin Garnett refused to get a team ordered flu shot, and now he has the flu.
    Karma, and its not done yet.

  19. QQ says:

    I hope the news on Jameer (maybe) out for the season will be like 90% of the Dime Trade Rumors: Bullshit.

    Damn.

  20. Bron42 aka Downtown Funky Stuff Malone says:

    No love for tmac jumping off the wrong leg and banging on tyrus thomas? So much that after the ball went through the net and tmac stared tyrus down, tyrus just stood still with his face down pouting…shameless

  21. Bron42 aka Downtown Funky Stuff Malone says:

    @QQ, nah, jameer tore his shoulder muscle which pretty much means he can’t even lift it…so if he does rehab (like wade tried) he’ll still be done for a while and the slightest touch will kill him…

  22. rangerjohn says:

    LMAO at denver, to all those guys who said “denver is gonna knock the spurs out this year” i say NOT THIS YEAR BUDDY.

    pop sat everyone!! after a hard, long game sunday i guess he decided he wanted the extra rest. he wanted extra minutes to see who WANTED to play.

    this should also put to rest any of those “mason is only shooting this well because he has duncan in the middle. he went what 50% from 3? how about both oberto AND bird man with 4 blocks! i was almost impressed with birdman until he blocked mason and then walked off the court with some look like he was either a rabid pitbull or a baby who just shit his pants and wants out of his diaper.i always liked that guy, in a sad sorta way.

    good loss for the spurs, BAD WIN for the nuggs

  23. GEE..."Yo bald-headed granny!" says:

    Houston Up!

    A few rain drops last night.

    Still the flood is coming!

    Love the way Pop knows how to rest his players. 1 would be shocked how that 1 game rest will do them. LOL at it being against the Nuggs, isn’t that like a slap in the face, basically saying we ain’t worried about you all come playoff time.

    Come on Philly you got to win that!

    Probably sure DIME didn’t mention the T-Mac bang cause they knew everyone else was. Ol Boy had some Kemp in his swag last night.

    Nice tri-doub Vince, now only if he would do that more!

    Tonight’s gonna be interesting. Sorry New York, it’s gotta suck sometimes to have dudes wanting to break records on ya, in YOUR place!

  24. fallinup says:

    Pop wanted a huge break for the big 3. They didn’t play yesterday and now have 4 days until the BIG Sunday game @Bos. And I’m sure Pop had that mini roadtrip on his mind next week. I’m pretty sure he’s looking at the schedule and seeing where to start the streak…and a good place would be Boston on Sun….then NJ on Tues, and Tor on Wed. After that, 5 more days off (Allstar break) then another 3 game road trip for the following week. All games aside from the Boston one are very winnable.

    Look out Lakers. You know what the tail end of the season means.

    I predict Spurs start smelling that #1 spot close to the time they meet up again with LA on Mar. 12 (the tie breaker game, in SA).

    BTW, LA is @Tor tonite, @Bos tomorrow, and @Cle on Sunday. (two big games, two possible L’s for LA)

    And yeah, Gee…that was a classic head game that Pop through @ Karl. And Karl was quite pissed with his players that it was so close. ole Georgie porgy isn’t the best motivator when his team lets him down. haha

  25. vinny says:

    @me-7 posts in a row-has to be some sort of dime record!
    @ ranger-how does pop just give duncan and parker the night off because they had an overtime game the night before?? oh and there is no such thing as a good loss!

  26. vinny says:

    @Big Sia- that’s good shit-that video. man u should of had frazier stripping west and going in for a layup from the playoffs,lol!
    and damm i forgot how sweet white chocolate was!
    and pistol pete was a bad MF!!

  27. E$ says:

    no Tmac love, Dime is full of Hate!

  28. calvin brodus says:

    LMAO at ranger jack

    “good loss for the spurs, BAD WIN for the nuggs”

    WTF? OK ranger, you can have you loss, we’ll take the W. the nuggs performance last night was AWFUL. But we got out with a win AND take the season series from SA (2-1). First time we’ve won the season series against SA since 87-88. I’m surprised Pop was dumb enough to sit his top three players when Denver is now just one game behind them in the standings and a tiebreaker could very likely come into play. But I was surprised he was dumb enough to play small ball with GS on Monday and had to rely on the refs to steal a game for them…again.

    I’ll tell you this too, Denver radio and blogs are DESTROYING Pop, Timmy, Tony and SA this morning. Quote from Pop on why they he didn’t play Tony, Timmy, Finley…”they needed a break”. Really?!? Too tired from stealing the game in GS last night. Timmy need a nappy? Be sure he gets his favorite blankey and all tucked in by Pop.

    And another thing…the Spurs and their fans are the Gold Standard for double standards. Spurs get an atrocious, stolen victory on Monday, and they got no problem with that. But when the nuggets get a hideous win against them the following night, it’s a “BAD WIN”. Manu steals another game, with another flop Monday night, and that’s all good according to the spurs. But if there is even the slightest questionable call against the spurs, sean elliot’s head explodes and the spurs are all mutually outraged. At the 1:30 mark of this clip, you can see the flop I speak of:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjRcD6lPnHw

    But keep dissing the nuggies, ranger jack. I’d much rather see you in the playoffs than LA. trust that. And if we do see you in the second round, make sure timmy and tony aren’t up past their bed time so they’ll be ready to play and you want have any excuses when we clobber your squad.

  29. rangerjohn says:

    vinny, there is always good losses, we got to see how little the nugs really where made of, we got to get some minutes on our younger guys, it was a learning game, for pop, for the young guys, for the nuggets. if you can learn from a loss, its a good loss, and it was expected to be a loss from teh get go so keeping it as close as it was (2 points with less then 3 minutes to go) says a whole lot. the fact that pop was out there coaching and getting in the refs shit even for the rooks. hell i remember seeing kleza and johnson push mason out of bounds and the refs called it a turnover, POP was on that ref as much as if it where tony that got pushed.

    i repeat GOOD LOSS, BAD WIN!

  30. rangerjohn says:

    lmao at nuggets fans LMAO is all i have to say to that shit. good try, you where right about one thing calvin, the nuggets sure did play aweful and that was against the spurs 2nd and 3rd stringers! ahahahahahahaha lmao but keep telling yourself that you guys have a chance against ANY of the teams in the west, nuggets current standing is a pure fluke. denver has had one of the weakest schedules in the league so far. i mean i will give credit they did beat boston early this season, they beat NO once. they beat the spurs 2 times yes, but then the 1st time was with no tony, no manu, the second was no tony, no tim, no manu, no finley. spurs are not scared of the nuggets lmao. denver has beaten 9 teams with winning records for a total of 12 of thier 32 wins against +500 teams. that means 20 wins over bad teams!to their credit of their losses they have only lost to 1 bad team gs. everyone else has been +500. but that makes them 12-15 against +500 teams.

    try again next time.

  31. calvin brodus says:

    @ rangerjack

    stay cocky. sleep on us, i love it. but if you going to keep putting asterisks on the losses we handed you. Let me put in asterisks on the win we got off you. The nuggs were without kmart and Chauncey last night. That makes us very far from a complete squad. Plus, I counted FIVE times you just used the LMAO acronym in one post. That’s just stupid.

    But stay cocky, you sleepy spurs. I love it.

  32. rangerjohn says:

    calvin, come on man keep telling yourself all this shit, LMAO there you go another one for you. see billups did play last night, he played the entire 1st half, and the spurs where actually closer in the 1st half then in the seconds (until the last couple minutes of the 4th when they where down by 2)

    its ok though, you keep up the cocky too. continue to over look the obvious and the spurs (or who ever) will exit your no defense, lackluster team in the 1st round AGAIN! tell me when was the last time the nuggets got out of the 1st round again? damn i thought we where tlaking realism here not pipe dreams. with a name like that, you maybe should put the pipe down calvin

  33. GEE..."Yo bald-headed granny!" says:

    Snoop I thought you were a Lakers Fan? What you doing poppin off about Denver?

    Anyway serious DON’T WE ALL really want Vince to take Nelson’s spot in the All-Star game? I ain’t saying dude is more worthy of the spot than others. I am just saying for his high-flying alone, and he can still fly high, he would be WAY MORE FUN to watch than Mo jacking shots, and Ray just shooting 3′s.

    I hope Vince gets it.

    T-Mac’s dunk got me wanting to go Youtube Shawn Kemp dunks!

    Jason Richardson really should be in the contest this year. You know the first time Nate misses a dunk, you are going to hear a collective “Here we go again” from the world lol.

  34. that's whats up says:

    snoop ain’t poppin’ off about Denver as much as he’ shatin’ on the Spurs – LMAO – LMAO – LMAO

    another spurs hater Brodus? wow, that never happens. Originality is your forte.

    Point is, Nuggets ain’t shit and they ain’t winning against ANY team in the playoffs. 1st round and out, as usual.

  35. that's whats up says:

    repeat – Nuggets ain’t shit

    they ain’t winnin’ shit

  36. calvin brodus says:

    @jackranger

    is this a history blog? to awnswer your quesion, the last time the nuggs were out of the first round was when we beat seattle (ironically, coached by george karl) many moons agao with mutombo and laphonso ellis.

    but who gives a fuck?

    If you’re content to rest on your laurels and be happy with what you’ve done in the past, great. But I’m talking here and now. The here and now in which the nuggs are just ONE game behind SA (probably a half game after our win tonight) in the standings and just took the season series. I’ll gladly concede that the spurs are a good squad. I’ll concede that the homeless guy they have coaching is probably better than our coach. But I also know the spurs and NOT EVEN CLOSE to being a lock to take the western conference, let alone a chip. The spurs can be had, fuck, so can the lakers (although less likely). The nuggs are a sleeper and we’ve slaughtered a giant before in the playoffs (we were #8 and beat #1 seatle in the playoff series I mention above) that had the nerve to overlook us. So keep sleeping jack, keep up the infallibility of you team. Seriously, I love it.

  37. WinDelRoj says:

    Ranger the only thing surprising about the game was the fact that Nene and the other Denver bigs didnt foul out in the first half. When people want to see a classic giveaway of a game by the refs, they watch a Nuggets-Spurs game. First round of the playoffs against the spurs only to watch Nene and Kenyon get slapped with ridiculous fouls against Timmy. Glad Pop chose to sit them down so I wouldnt have to watch those 3 and their whiny faces all game.

  38. that's whats up says:

    whoever called out Bron’s bad free throw shooting yesterday has go to be laughing today.

    13-13 is nice

  39. Sydney Dean says:

    @ Denver Fans

    Rabbit ears? Am I getting to you?

    haha

  40. calvin brodus says:

    fallinup

    “another spurs hater Brodus? wow, that never happens. Originality is your forte.”

    thats just a dumb comment.

    “Point is, Nuggets ain’t shit and they ain’t winning against ANY team in the playoffs. 1st round and out, as usual.”

    All you spurs can see into the fucking future…it’s amazing. You’re all clairvoyants.

    “repeat – Nuggets ain’t shit

    they ain’t winnin’ shit”

    excepct for .667 percent of games we’ve won this season. one less than the spurs.

    Stay cocky, sleepy spurs.

  41. fallinup says:

    @ calvin

    Your rage is clouding your vision.

  42. calvin brodus says:

    @fallinup

    Possibly. I’m stepping away from my laptop now. But I still like a nuggs/spurs series in the second round. Good day, gentlemen.

  43. rangerjohn says:

    lmao (there is anotherong for you calvin)

    i repeat, go look at the standings and the wins the nugs have, they are not good against the good teams. they have a losing record against the good teams. they have one of the weakest schedules in the league which is the only reason they have as good a record as they do. you are so blinded by your “big win” that you cant see the truth, your team is not as good as you think it is.

    i also have never once said SA WOULD WIN THE WEST. go back and look at every one of my posts, i have NEVER said that. while i believe they can i have never said they would. IMO it doesnt mater who comes out of the west, i think cleveland wins it all provided they dont get beat up playing the magic and then the celtics. if that happens then who ever comes out of the west wins it all.

    bottom line, since you like history so much, all you can do is look at the past to tell the future. the spurs own the nuggets, like they own the suns. who knows maybe melo gets mad again and does his famous punch and run antics and gets suspended. maybe manu goes down with his ankle again. or maybe the spurs and nugs meet again in the playoffs where the spurs andc nuggets SHOULD be at full strength in which case we have already spanked you guys with a 50% manu, a 85% tony.

    and for the fouls, just that one game alone (the spurs win in dec) the nugs shot more FTs 5 more and still lost by 17. hell denver shot 37 last night and only won by 8 pts. and they shot 3 more ft’s then the spurs did in the game in nov. but your right, the spurs get all the calls.

  44. fallinup says:

    I’ll say it ranger.

    I think the Spurs will win the west. And I’ll think they’ll be there by the end of March. It is totally dependent on how the Lakers fare during the stretch run, and Lakers schedule is BRUTAL.

    Like I said, by the Mar. 12th meeting, the Spurs should be knocking on the door.

    Aint talking shit, just calling like I see it. It’s the Lakers spot to lose.

  45. fallinup says:

    And winning the west I mean. Taking top spot in the west.

    Just to clarify.

  46. doc (i like kobe AND bron) says:

    2thats whats up-Yeah somebody was on they shit like-when was the last time Bron was perfect from the line.That shit always happen when people spit BS like that.T-Mac dunk was nice but that shit look like it hurt him.He looked like Yao.Its all good though,at least he playing,because u dont know if he is or aint until tip-off.I gotta call T-Young and trash him for leaving Ray-Ray.Thats my dog still though.Ranger u can learn from any loss or win.Bottomline yall got that ass whipped.

  47. BROGDEN says:

    RANGERJOHN – Do you PROOFREAD??

    “good loss for the spurs, BAD WIN for the nuggs.”

    Kmart was out, Chauncey got hurt so he had to leave the game and this was a BAD WIN?

    Damn!! I guess the Nuggets should’ve LOST with 40% of their starting line-up reeling from injuries.

    Then, according to your philosophy, that would’ve been a GOOD LOSS, right?

    What planet are you on?

  48. jamesinva says:

    nuggets are out in the first round, quit yappin

  49. that's whats up says:

    true dat

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