Flash in the Plan
D-Wade, Dime #19The $14 million salary helps, but after that, it’s too bad that the only thing Dwyane Wade will get out of this season is a third-place (maybe second) finish in the MVP voting and a first-round (even shakier maybe second) playoff exit. D-Wade has been killing himself trying to carry Miami past “long shot” status on the championship contender scale, and over the last week has been especially brilliant individually. Last Sunday he dropped 50 on the Magic in a loss, then put up 31 points and a career-high 16 assists against Detroit, and last night Wade posted 46 points, eight boards, 10 assists and three blocks while the Heat still barely edged out the Knicks … Miami as a team looked awful for the first three quarters, going into the fourth down 15 while making Nate Robinson (29 pts) look like Bow Wow after he found the shoes in Like Mike. But then Flash came to the rescue, dropping 15 points during a 19-0 run and 24 total for the quarter. Wade hit the go-ahead bucket on a pull-up J with about a minute left, then with Miami holding a one-point lead on their next possession, got to the rack basically uncontested—that’s New York defense for you—to throw down a two-hand dunk. The Knicks had their chances after that, but Chris Duhon and David Lee botched a pick-and-roll, then the team with more gunners than any team in the NBA suddenly decided to get unselfish as everyone grew hesitant about taking the possible game-tying three. Larry Hughes passed up a real good look, forcing Nate into a bad shot … Earlier in the fourth quarter Nate got into a chest-to-face altercation with Jermaine O’Neal, where both guys looked ready and willing to throw down. And somewhere, Jeff Van Gundy was screaming, “Don’t do it, Nate!” at his TV screen … On Friday, the NBA told Wade he can’t wear his decorative Band-Aids anymore. The stitches that Wade was originally wearing the Band-Aids for healed a while ago, and according to a League spokesman, “A player can wear a Band-Aid for healthcare purposes, but it shouldn’t have any name or identifications on it.” The NBA was a little too late if they were trying to stop a mainstream trend, though; we already saw Lil’ Wayne rocking a Band-Aid with “Wayne” on it the other day … Miami sideline reporter Jason Jackson needs to be fined or back-slapped for wearing a big red Band-Aid on his face when he interviewed D-Wade after the game. That’s not only shameless, it’s also beyond corny … Since T-Mac isn’t around, the Rockets probably don’t mind as much when Ron Artest goes into his “Screw the playbook” mode and starts jacking whenever he feels like it. Last night it was working for the most part, as Ron-Ron dropped 32 points (13-24 FG, 6-12 3PA) on the Bulls …
Ron Artest, Dime #21But after Houston blew a big fourth-quarter lead—Chicago ended the game on a 10-0 run and went ahead on a tough Derrick Rose (22 pts) bucket in traffic—and needed a three on their last possession, the whole horse-blinders act cost them. After getting the inbounds around midcourt, Artest literally put his head down and dribbled through three defenders to take a horrible shot that John Salmons blocked. During the play you could see Von Wafer working hard to get himself open and into Artest’s line of vision, but eventually he just stopped, as if he realized there was no way Ron was giving it up … Steve Smith’s description of Luis Scola on NBA TV: “He knows how to play, good fundamentals, and he plays hard.” Sounds like Smitty lifted that straight from the NBA Draft Analysts’ Book of How To Describe Random International Players You Know Nothing About … Continuing the theme of blowing fourth-quarter leads, the Sixers outplayed Orlando through the first three quarters and were up double-digits in the fourth—gladly letting the Magic shoot themselves out of the game by bricking threes left and right (they took 37)—until Courtney Lee of all people started hitting, and Orlando stormed back to steal a win on the road. Lee drained two threes to book-end an 11-0 run that put his team up for the first time midway through the quarter; then Lee, Hedo and Anthony Johnson stuck three more triples down the stretch while trading shots with Andre Miller (23 pts), who at one point scored 10 straight Philly points … Eventually it came down to the Magic holding a three-point lead with 17 seconds left, and after Andre Iguodala split a pair of free throws, Hedo hit Marcin Gortat with a full-court outlet touchdown pass for an open dunk that iced it. Everyone on the court for Philly forgot about Marcin on that one … Other big stat lines from Saturday: Zach Randolph put up 33 points in a loss to the Bobcats; Ronnie Brewer had 26 and four steals in a win over Sacramento; Charlie Villanueva dropped 25 points to beat the Wizards; and in front of a crowd of 52 people, Jeff Green had 27 points and 10 boards in a win at Memphis … Watching the Arizona/Washington game, where projected ’09 first-round pick Chase Budinger fouled out late with 20 points in an eventual UA loss, something occurred to us: Budinger grew up in the San Diego area, pretty much playing beach volleyball every day. Then he went to Tucson, Ariz., for college. So if he gets drafted by a team like Milwaukee or Minnesota, or even Philly or Portland, isn’t it very likely he’s gonna be MISERABLE? And wouldn’t that naturally affect his play? If we’re running an NBA team, we’re thinking about that if Budinger is on our board … We’re out like Nate fighting 7-footers …
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March 1st, 2009 at 5:29 am
K Dizzle says:
Do NOT piss off Dwayne Wade…
March 1st, 2009 at 6:05 am
InsideHoops.com says:
D-Wade is lucky he didn’t piss Danilo Gallinaro off. Gallinaro was ready to drop 50 but just didn’t feel like it.
March 1st, 2009 at 6:09 am
Anthony says:
Ron Artest is the 2Pac of basketball.
March 1st, 2009 at 6:14 am
Shrink This says:
The only way Danilo is dropping 50 is if he has one in his pocket.
March 1st, 2009 at 6:14 am
Jones says:
Someone hates DWade…If this had been someone else he’ll be hailed as the greatest of all time irrespective of what it meant to his playoff chances
March 1st, 2009 at 6:50 am
mavs all the way says:
LOL at InsideHoops.com and LOLer at Shrink This. damn! he might as well drop a hundred.
March 1st, 2009 at 6:55 am
QQ says:
‘Since T-Mac isn’t around, the Rockets probably don’t mind as much when Ron Artest goes into his “Screw the playbook” mode and starts jacking whenever he feels like it.’
Isn’t it TMac who usually destroys his team’s plays by jacking like a hormonally charged teenage dude? And it isn’t jacking if you are making it (Ron shot for more than 50%).
Come on now, stop the fucking TMac love. It gets sadder and sadder everyday. Dude is fucking done.
March 1st, 2009 at 7:48 am
that's whats up says:
I busted a Krypto-Nut on my girl last night that was scarier than Nate is
March 1st, 2009 at 7:53 am
Amar says:
ronnie brewer was flat out dominating, like no other 4th options should. 26 points (50+ fg% shooting), 7 boards, 4 steals, 2 assists and a block — with plenty of ‘yo momma’ style dunks all over sactown’s “big”men. jazz missed 9 FT’s and had 16 turn overs at home — should not have won last night’s game. brewer was a difference maker late.
early on it was the memo show, scoring 26 points in 29 minutes. dude has been ‘money’ from deep of late, he’s hit 15 of his last 20 shots, and something like 20 of his last 30. he’s shooting 47% from there for the season — 3rd best in the L. not too shabby. jazz have now won 7 in a row, went 10-1 this month (best the the L this month), and are 1 game off of the 4th seed in the west.
making the right moves at the right time the Jazz are on the warpath right now.
this is kind of off-topic, but the miller family had the wake (or funeral or something) of former team owner at the stadium. all the players went (no afternoon naps for them), and LHM was pretty vocal about his stance on gays — but his coffin was pretty flamin, if you ask me. bright blue?
March 1st, 2009 at 7:58 am
that's whats up says:
what’s with misspelling “expense” in the BK b-ball battle banner at the top of this page?
March 1st, 2009 at 8:06 am
Amar says:
yeah, but can your nut dunk?
March 1st, 2009 at 8:15 am
that's whats up says:
down to the base baby
March 1st, 2009 at 9:40 am
Celts Fan says:
pretty sure Chase’ll trade the weather for the $$$ if need be and get the fuck up out the second he’s a free agent to somewhere like LA or South Beach. but yes, I’m from a cold area and I’m miserable 6 months a year, dude might hang himself in his closet the first winter after the 3rd blizzard
March 1st, 2009 at 11:22 am
jzsmoove says:
UNREAL !!!!!!!!!! i caught the end of that game while being informed at that point that Miami is on a 17-0 run while Wade has scored 24 pts so far. wow!!!
March 1st, 2009 at 11:25 am
MoxWestCoastRep says:
The bigger issue if I’m thinking about drafting Buddinger is the fact that he’s not that good. I can think of 20 players in college I’d rather have…
March 1st, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Dennis Castro says:
Going into the Sixer Magic game, I knew the Sixers would lose. THey might be the worst defensive 3pt team in the league. And the only reason they had a lead, like was mentioned up above, is because Orlando couldn’t hit ish for 3 quarters.
And, at times, it looked like the Sixers didn’t know how to play the pick and roll the Magic were running with Hedo. You can never go under the screen when Hedo has the rock, cause he’ll hit the 3, but that’s what the Sixers were doing.
I can’t even say I’m frustrated as a fan, I know this team is nothing more than a .500 team without Brand, but if the Sixers were going to go through struggles this year with Brand and still be a .500 team, I would have taken that with the assumption that by next year they’d be much better.
March 1st, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Al Qaeda Jada says:
Wade needs more help
March 1st, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Amar says:
“d-wade couldn’t do it without me” – Shaq
March 1st, 2009 at 1:27 pm
doc says:
I like when Nate hit the trey and ran down the court on his shaq shit.
March 1st, 2009 at 1:56 pm
GEE...This got to be the weakest snow everrrr! says:
Houston Up!
I ain’t really trippin on the lost to Chi. Still a few bullets!
*First the Chicago announcers are HORRIBLE, not only are they big homers but they were just saying ridiculous crap. Like Ron had come down and hit a 3. The next 1 or 2 possessions Chi. got a stop and the announcer goes….that is 6 stops in a row for the Bulls. …The hell?
*Brooks has no hope against stronger bigger guards that back him down. Rose was having his way with him in the post.
*Ron was the only one keeping them in that game and suddenly the rebounding went to crap in the 4th. I have no problems with Ron getting that last shot, it was just all weird how it went down.
*The aftermath of the game of Ron staying on the court protest against the refs and Deke yelling at him to come on was to funny. I would have love for that to be “wired up”.
*Lastly I seen something that I fear will be the quick undoing of the Rockets sooner or later. With losing T-Mac and trading Alston, the Rockets have no one to give a good pass in the paint to Yao.
Dude was working hard batteling Miller and didn’t see the ball in the 4th and it wasn’t him not getting position so much in as much as it was THEY COULDN’T GET HIM THE BALL.
Obviously the pg spot is still the weakness, and with the way Brooks plays D he is going to get dropped on the ground sooner or later. I like that he tries but he over committs sometimes and that is going to get him eventually.
I am happy with the Rockets squad but still all the intangibles of T-Mac and Alston are already being missed.
Still hopefully Rick can work those out with time, although it may be to late.
Deuces!
March 1st, 2009 at 1:57 pm
GEE...This got to be the weakest snow everrrr! says:
Wow comments await moderation now. Hahaha cool.
March 1st, 2009 at 2:09 pm
vince says:
dime pick up this story:
http://basketball.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/57609/20090301/cavs_interested_in_surprise_free_agent/
any guesses?
gooden? sheed? (nah) just joe smith? kemp?
March 1st, 2009 at 2:21 pm
InsideHoops.com says:
Vince: Gooden
March 1st, 2009 at 2:53 pm
kennypayne says:
t-mac got the curse of the orlando magic- see penny hardaway and grant hill. its sad because they all had serious skills before injury
March 1st, 2009 at 3:06 pm
dagwaller says:
Kenny, don’t forget Steve Francis.
March 1st, 2009 at 3:50 pm
Will Purdue says:
@#3, Ron Artest is more like the Noreaga of basketball. Thinks he’s the best, will throw down, but in the end, no one will care all that much.
March 1st, 2009 at 4:41 pm
that's whats up says:
what the f*** is in Shaq’s mouth? is that supposed to be a mouthpiece?
It looks like he’s chewing on a used tampon
March 1st, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Austin Burton says:
My fiancee was watching when Shaq dove into the crowd the other day and asked, “Is he eating a cookie?” when she saw his mouthpiece.
March 1st, 2009 at 4:45 pm
flavur says:
don’t blame the knicks d blame David Stern for forcing dwyane to take off the bandaid and blame Gallinari for busting D-wades lip that really ticked him off.
March 1st, 2009 at 5:42 pm
haslem says:
seems like Dime has listened to the haters and has started only putting up smack.
If so and it is not my imagination I disagree, some of the non smack stuff was also quite good.
March 1st, 2009 at 6:37 pm
Big Island says:
@KennyPayne- Detroit screwed up Grant Hill the year before he went to Orlando. They ran him into the ground in the playoffs the same year SA shut down Duncan. Worked out well…
But I agree with GQ, T-Mac is done. Always thought he could’ve been the best skillwise, but never had that extra something. Done. Off the nuts.
March 1st, 2009 at 8:34 pm
jackass says:
slow news day huh dime???
March 1st, 2009 at 8:43 pm
GEE...Big Poppa says:
So my last comments didn’t make it through moderation I guess?
March 1st, 2009 at 8:47 pm
GEE...Your comment is awating moderation too! says:
Ok DIME I am not enjoying the moderating thing. Then I come back to the site after typing up some comments and they aint there. So what is this comment awaiting moderation thing all about?
Can we get some splanation?
March 1st, 2009 at 8:59 pm
GEE...mobile says:
Come on DIME? Why yall freezing me out? What’s good?
March 1st, 2009 at 9:05 pm
GEE...mobile says:
Thank you. Now Houston Up!
Dime why the moderation?
March 1st, 2009 at 10:54 pm
dagwaller says:
If you’ve ever visited this website for longer than one week, you know that they only do Smack on the weekend – wait for the week for more of the good stuff.
March 2nd, 2009 at 1:20 am
C says:
gooden bought out, so was smith
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:08 am
InsideHoops.com says:
Told ya it would be Gooden.