Another Sixers’ game-winner; LeBron’s going for the sweep
Andre Iguodala (photo. Kelly Turso)
Remember when the Magic were stumbling at the end of the regular season, but we all figured they were doing themselves a favor anyway by conceding a top-2 seed and avoiding the Pistons? Well, Dwight Howard‘s team wishes they were playing Detroit now. Orlando went down 2-1 to the Sixers last night, dropping Game 3 in Philly and joining the Spurs and Hornets in that “WTF, we’re supposed to be better than this!” semi-panic mode … The Magic just got out-toughed in this one. No one could guard Andre Miller (24 pts, 9 rebs, 7 asts) or Andre Iguodala (29 pts, 7 rebs), and the Sixers were still able to win despite blowing a 17-point lead in the second half and having Iguodala brick some important free throws down the stretch … You know how Alonzo Mourning flew to Atlanta to play the big-brother role and yell at the Heat for playing soft in Game 1 of their series? And you know how the Celtics and Lakers have a ton of guys who can do that, i.e. Bill Russell and Magic? Who shows up for Orlando to fire them up? Nick Anderson? Horace Grant? Bo Outlaw? Of course, Shaq has some free time … After Dwight’s two free throws tied it up with six seconds left (who says you can’t go to him at the end of the game?), Orlando did a good job denying Iguodala and Miller on Philly’s ensuing play. The inbounds went to Thad Young, who blew past Rashard Lewis and ran into Dwight, who basically bear-hugged him. Everyone kind of stopped, expecting a whistle, but when none came, Thad took advantage and went around Dwight for the game-winning layup … Too bad the Magic wasted a postseason career night for Dwight, who went for 36 points (12-16 FG, 12-14 FT), 11 boards and three blocks, and dunked on pretty much everybody wearing white. Theo Ratliff caught the coldest one, a one-hand hammer with chest-to-chest contact and everything … No one’s talking about it yet, but Hedo Turkoglu is working on a Houdini act on-par with some of Peja Stojakovic‘s best work. Hedo is shooting 23 percent (7-30 FG) through three games and had five turnovers last night, and if it wasn’t for Rashard and Dwight coming through in the fourth quarter, would have hurt Orlando a lot more than he did. Not a good time for Hedo to go into a slump if he’s trying to opt-out and be a free agent this summer … Did you see that light-purple sweater Dwight was wearing after the game? He must have got that from Bernie’s Big & Not Human Outlet in Orlando … You had to feel bad listening to Rip Hamilton after Detroit went down 3-0 to Cleveland yesterday. Rip admitted how much it’s killing him to be in this position, “knowing how great you were” and now barely making the playoffs and on the verge of a sweep. It was like watching a Dad realize his son is definitely better than him now, only the whole world is watching this backyard beatdown … The Pistons actually got out to an 8-0 lead after tip-off and were right there early in the fourth quarter, but the Cavs went on an 18-2 run to put them to bed …
LeBron James, Dime #31
Probably not the best way for ESPN to advertise the NFL Draft by hyping No. 1 pick Matt Stafford, then segueing into naming the former NBA top picks on the court: LeBron, Kwame and Joe Smith. LeBron did his usual thing (25 pts, 11 rebs, 9 asts), Joe was actually playing out of his mind (19 pts, 10 rebs), and Kwame had his moments (3 blks), but otherwise you’re telling us that if we watch the draft today, there’s a 2/3 chance the guy who goes first will be a career role player or a total bust … Funniest moment of the night: Big Z getting a steal and leading a fast break, desperately looking for LeBron so he can get rid of the ball ASAP … Second-funniest moment of the night: After Yao Ming scored against the Blazers and Mark Jackson said, “Wow! He has such an amazing package.” DUDE … The Blazers defended the Rockets about as well as you can, throwing constant double-teams at Yao from different angles while Joel Przybilla and Greg Oden held their ground. Not only were they able to take Yao (7 pts, 2-7 FG) out of the game offensively, Ron Artest (9 pts, 3-8 FG) was a non-factor as well. And yet Houston still won. We liked Rick Adelman in the post-game, asked about not getting Yao the ball enough and basically answering, “We won, didn’t we? I don’t care.” … Brandon Roy (19 pts) fouled out with 24 seconds left and Portland down by three, but even as the Rockets paraded to the free throw line, Rudy Fernandez and Steve Blake kept the Blazers in it with a couple threes. Eventually Aaron Brooks ended up at the line with 2.7 seconds left and Houston up three. Brooks missed the FT that could have iced it, but the smallest guy on the court tracked down his own offensive rebound and sealed the W … Saturday’s schedule has Nuggets/Hornets, Spurs/Mavs, Hawks/Heat and Lakers/Jazz. How will Kobe come out after going 5-for-24 the other night? What about Chris Paul playing at home after getting Oz‘d by Chauncey in Denver? … Jason Terry will be presented with the NBA’s Sixth Man award before the Mavs game. Terry got 111 of the 121 first-place votes, finishing way ahead of J.R. Smith, Nate Robinson, Lamar Odom, Travis Outlaw, Manu Ginobili and Flip Murray. Yeah, somebody gave Flip a first-place vote. Paul Millsap only got one vote (3rd place), but it turns out he didn’t actually qualify for the award. Millsap came off the bench for exactly 50% of the games he played in (38 of 76), but the rules say you have to come off the bench for more than 50% … We’re (just about) out like the Pistons …
-->
April 25th, 2009 at 4:57 am
ART says:
What about Chris Paul playing at home after getting Oz‘d by Chauncey in Denver? LOL
April 25th, 2009 at 5:03 am
sans says:
Steve Blake’s full court sprint and airball heave (using 3.8 of the 16.3 seconds available) is one of the dumbest things that I have ever seen in sports. He must have thought he was releasing witht he buzzer right there his shot was so bad.
April 25th, 2009 at 5:06 am
Petrutiu says:
if the Rockets advance to the second round, t-mac should dress up no matter what; maybe play a couple of minutes when the lakers blow them out. it could be the only chance in his career to play in the semis…
April 25th, 2009 at 5:06 am
sans says:
oh, and DIME, can yall ask your boys at Adidas how Jordan Farmar made it onto their banner add on your site, next to KG, who isn’t playin, Dwight and Timmy? WTF is that about?
I know TMAC’s injured, but Jordan Farmar–Derek Fischer’s backup? They need to sign somebody if that’s as deep as their bench goes.
April 25th, 2009 at 5:08 am
sans says:
I know he’s the only Laker, but that is desperate.
April 25th, 2009 at 5:17 am
Soopa says:
Sans i was thinking the exact same thing yesterday lol. Isnt Billups an addidas guy? Im guessing he has earned him some add time these first couple of games!
April 25th, 2009 at 6:36 am
AB_40 says:
hmm dwight called it himself didn’t he he said it’s between me and him and well the other guy he was talking about is his coach and dwight is doing all he can… so it’s a coaching thing, the guy is negative and doesn’t see when his players are injured thus other players from the opponents squad have easier times on D and easier times on O ask thad young and iggy… ah well
April 25th, 2009 at 6:44 am
QQ says:
Orlando’s struggling. There’s no other explanation. We’re not playing with any heart right now. Too bad, Dwight had a monster night.
And good call on Turk. He was our best finisher during the reg, but it seems he decided to challenge Peja as the most UNclutch foreign player in the playoffs.
April 25th, 2009 at 7:02 am
Coop says:
Dime it seems you might have been looking down on Horace Grant which is just stupid. On a related note, get Dennis Scott in to do the team talk haha
April 25th, 2009 at 7:15 am
Alex "Robocop" Murphy says:
Dennis Scott?
How about Scott Skiles? Brian Shaw? Koncak? John Amechi? Tree Rollins? or better yet Rony Seikaly!?
April 25th, 2009 at 7:44 am
markito says:
it’s not dwight who’s the problem for the magic, he’s been stepping up. it’s that their team is defensively soft. philly’s playing with no fear.
bron and the cavs put up the dirty finger and just shut up the pistons. gotta feel for mcdyess, he and rip are the only ones who care. sheed is a zombie.
And at this point, it’s gotta be hard watching stuckey miss jumpers and chauncey draining 3s from all over.
as for oden, he showed two strong dunks over yao but then PUT DOWN 2 SILLY FOULS AFTER that got him out of the game. Tim Duncan he ain’t.
April 25th, 2009 at 7:48 am
biglang liko says:
was it me, or were there plenty of empty seats in detroit for a play-off game?
kwame was trying in the game. but joe smith was really hitting some big shots.
mo alley oop to bron was straight N-A-S-T-Y.
April 25th, 2009 at 8:29 am
Prof. TX says:
Von Wafer had a couple of nice dunks last night. The fast break after the steal was pretty good, but the high rising one after the pass from Lowry got me up off of the couch. Houston has some really little guys that can fly.
April 25th, 2009 at 9:13 am
sh!tfaced says:
Playoffs have done nothing but expose the Magic’s need for a closer. Maybe they should give A.I. a shot this summer…?
April 25th, 2009 at 9:17 am
pig says:
Denver will sweep NO hopefully
April 25th, 2009 at 9:39 am
josh tha roc says:
turk is injured. simple as that. have you ever tried playing on a bum ankle? not fun.
April 25th, 2009 at 9:56 am
Dennis Castro says:
What is up with Iguodala missing critical FT’s at the end of playoff games.
He’s now gone 0-4 in game icing situations from the line this year in the playoffs. Not a good look. But he dropped 29, so I can’t complain much.
Thad Young is going to be the best player on the Sixers in 2 years.
April 25th, 2009 at 9:56 am
heckler says:
sucks for dwight. he is the shit. but his team sucks. the coach sucks. and their style sucks. their style gets you beat in the playoffs.
no way should philly be up in this series. magic need some more toughness. right now, they should be thinking of doing a sign-n-trade with Hedo. same way they got rashard. magic need to re-sign hedo and trade his ass to GS for Stephen Jackson. Jackson will give them 20-5-5 and more of the toughness they need.
Portland and Houston is a better series than many of you would have thought (i had houston winning in 6). almost evenly matched squads.
Houston needs to add some size to that team. they small as hell. when yao sits, the tallest player is like 6’8 or 6’9. that aint gonna get it done.
April 25th, 2009 at 10:02 am
heckler says:
Pistons are a sad bunch. sad sad sad. where is the heart in this squad? they just sitting around getting bitched slapped. and for all their accomplishments, they got only 1 ring to show for it. kinda like the ’90s Atlanta Braves.
Pistons have a chance to regroup real quick and be good again. $40 million will come off the books (iverson,wallace). so they will have money for free agency. so they gotta make a risky choice: carlos boozer this summer or chris bosh next summer? and neither is a guarantee.
2nd…rodney stuckey is not a true point guard. and they are kidding themselves if they think he is the legit PG of their future. he good, but can you really see stuckey being the starting point guard on a team in the conference finals?..seriously?…only if the rest of the roster is stacked
April 25th, 2009 at 10:30 am
uneeda says:
Remember when mcdyess refused to go to the nuggets, since they didn’t have a prayer of making the playoffs…
I know he has bad memories of bein in Denver – injuries etc – but damnnn.
April 25th, 2009 at 10:53 am
Rafa23 says:
u mean mcdyess refused to go to denver this year? i hope not, because your reason is wrong.
April 25th, 2009 at 11:02 am
E$ says:
Don’t need Ron/Yao when u got the VON!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7wWD8thcZg
April 25th, 2009 at 11:11 am
comon sense just aint comon!! says:
lol at that asian boy in the wafer vid.. like team genu from dragonball z..
April 25th, 2009 at 11:48 am
djKianoosh says:
The Magic really ARE dumb! see, it’s not that Howard didn’t do his thing, cause he did, and the Sixers have no answer for him. We just don’t ever match up well with dominant big men. for like the longest time i can remember. what their real problem is, from what I see, is that they seem to not know how to play WITH Howard dominating like that. they don’t seem to focus their whole offense around him. fine, they want to get cute, then they’ll lose. but it’s like they don’t really know how to work off of him, or they just dont go inside on EVERY single trip down the court which they absolutely should. like I been saying all week, Howard should be averaging 40-20 on my sixers. but that’s just not the makeup of that team i guess.
shoot, i’ll take it. let the sixers go to the 2nd round and get some more experience. it’ll probably end there, but still, can’t beat the experience…
April 25th, 2009 at 11:48 am
tim says:
I respect Dyess for his loyalty in coming back to Detroit. I wish him the very best when he leaves in Free Agency or choses to retire…
I saw the Pistons make up a package and trade for Bosh this summer. Maybe get Chandler for scraps from New Orleans since they seem to just wanna get rid of him…
Dime, what kind of things can the Pistons do this off season…i know they have a lot to do, but what’s realistic…
Pistons should sign and trade Sheed to Philly for Andre Miller.
April 25th, 2009 at 11:50 am
tim says:
^^^^^oops…accidentally hit submit comment by accident…Sheed to Philly for Miller wouldn’t even be right straight up…
I also think they should throw Amir at someone and see if they bite…
It’s going to be a hopefully eventful summer for Joe D…
April 25th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
QQ says:
@ 14:
No, thanks.
April 25th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
BERN BROGDEN says:
PHILADELPHIA iz in da BUILDIN!!!!!
We got ORLANDO’S # without MEER MEER.
Hedo = Peja LMFAO! but even Kucoc came through once in a while. Still time for redemption for both of them.
I aint gonna front, I wouldv’e never guessed that TRAILBLAZERS, SPURS, SAN AN, and MAGIC were gonna have THIS much trouble. Not at all. Hornets are a 2man team, aint surprised about them. But DALLAS! The Mavs playin’ like grown ass men, that’s crazy. 6ers taking it to the rim CONSTANTLY and finishing CONSTANTLY. IGGY gettin’ busy.
Detroit was competitive for 3 quarters. Gotta give it up to them! Sike nah, aint no moral victories on this side. Detroit’s perimeter players are the only ones who came to play. What’s up with that?
Cavs BACKCOURT was straight DOPE last night:
MO: 1/11 FGS, 0/6 3FGS, 1/2 FTS, 4 BOARDS, 7 DIMES, and 2 POINTS
DELONTE: 0/7 FGS, 0/3 3FS, 2/2 FTS, 5 BOARDS, 2 DIMES, 2 STALS, and 2 POINTS.
*They both took HARD CHARGES that knocked them off their rockers. If that counts.
What you missed in those RIDICULOUSLY GOOD stats is – IF Delonte and Mo DON’T IMPOSE THIER WILL on the Pistons, then the Cavaliers WOULDV’E won by only SINGLE DIGITS instead of DOUBLE DIGITS.
Big difference! LOL
I can spin this some more…
As you can see, they continuously FOUND THEIR WAY to the charity stripe..gettin’ MAD POINTS off the clock. 4th Q – 61-58 Cavs…he may not have scored but MO helped on 6 DEVASTATING POINTS to grab the W. Mo passes to Joe for a bucket: now 63-58 Cavs. Dishes to Joe again: now 65-60. Breakaway…Mo and LBJ hook up for an instant most viewed youtube clip: 73-60 Cavs.
Toast – Pistons were toast. That game was tied at 53 before all of this nonsense.
2 Quick Questions though – with 1 minute left, the score at 79 to 66 –
Why did Lebron jack a three?
Is this D.O.P?
(disrespect on purpose)
April 25th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
QQ says:
“DOP” or not, the Pistons has no business in demanding respect from the Cavs. They should just shut the fuck up, leave the poliitcally incorrect (‘He just launched a three, and they’re winning… that’s IMPOLITE!!!!’) and ego issues at home, and start playing ball for a change.
April 25th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
POPPI GEE says:
Houston Up!
Von is just nuts. I ain’t gonna front because of his name I used to be a lil scared.
Still that lil dude doing his thing, he don’t pass a lot though lol.
Collectively the team stepped up last night in the clutch, Still gotta stop giving up big leads.
Keep hoping and thinking Ron is going to come with it eventually and not in a way of just tossing up any shot.
Rockets defense was LIKE THAT!
April 25th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
the cynic says:
the Magic don’t look like they are having any fun. The team looked like they were having a blast all season, now in the playoffs they look uptight. Shaq was right on in calling Stan Van Gundy the master of panic. Van Gundy killed his career by calling Shaq a flopper
April 25th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
jackass says:
where the fuck is youngfed now???
April 25th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
knock knock says:
lmao you can’t honestly watch the cavs-pistons and wonder why the fuck are the refs home cooking the cavs in the palace. every time i turn to the game i see touch fouls being called every time lebron makes a move and the pistons are driving and getting hacked with nothing called. I’m by no means a pistons fan but it’s unbelievable what the refs will do to keep the “golden boy” in the game.
April 25th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
QQ says:
@ 33:
Here comes the >insert superstar name here< conspiracy theory bandwagon again. Yes, we all know that Kobe is a cheater, Chris Paul plays dirty, Lebron gets special treatment, Wade always travels, blah blah blah, and that Stern is doing everything to protect them. But PUHLEASE… Can you guys be original for a change? Like ‘Damon Jones is a robot’ or something.
Seriously though, just fucking enjoy the games.
April 25th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
sh!tfaced says:
@32
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL
April 25th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
rodnets says:
luis scola’s stat line 19 – 9
Isn’t that good enough to mention this.. you have space to tal about Yao’s package
April 25th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
Mark says:
pig: hopefully 4-1, then?
April 25th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
bomb da boom says:
agree with #32! umm you cant really when lebron is averaging about 1 foul a game. ONE FOUL A GAME DURING THE SEASON. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME. im surprised no one thinks of that before you start getting on lebrons nuts. Those that have played basketball know that lebron is one of THE GOOFIEst players in the game hence him traveling and palming the ball every other possession. it aint a conspiracy but its obviously special treatment.
April 25th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
bomb da boom says:
i meann #33.
April 25th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
Big Island says:
Bye bye Spurs…
April 26th, 2009 at 4:21 am
daddy yankee says:
Dirk is hands down the softest most inclutch eury in the league… I have a dvd of the 2006 finals and the series against the warriors if no one believes me…. D wade biw
April 26th, 2009 at 8:04 am
daddy yankee's brother says:
And he spends most of his time alone in his room with that DVD!