Flashing Lights
D-Wade (photo. Jeffery Salter)
At least the game was good. Coming off a lackluster Saturday night, the pressure was on the NBA to bring this $700 billion All-Star production out of “forgettable” range and into something worthy of all the money and hype … The first half of yesterday’s All-Star Game was close, but then the East appeared to pull away in the third quarter, going up by 16. They were up nine with about four minutes to go in the fourth before the West rallied. Just under the two-minute mark, it officially got serious when D-Wade was called for a foul on Dirk and gave the first genuine “C’mon man!” to the refs. Dirk’s free throws made it a two-point game, then Chauncey Billups (17 pts, 5 asts) tied it up with a fadeaway. After a LeBron miss, Wade ripped Deron Williams, and for some reason Deron decided to intentionally foul him with 12 seconds left and the score tied. (Great camera shot of Dirk watching this unfold and screaming “NO!” at Deron.) Wade hit the free throws … Coming out of the West timeout, Reggie Miller said they should give Chauncey the shot, while Doug Collins said it should be Dirk. Kobe Bryant hovered around the huddle, just because he wanted to see what an actual last-second play looks like that isn’t called, “Give It To Kobe.” They went to Dirk (22 pts), who got fouled and tied it at the line, and on the East’s last possession, Chris Bosh got fouled and made two for the lead. Again with the last shot, the West gave it to Carmelo, who bricked a three at the buzzer. Wade got the MVP with 28 points, six rebounds, 11 assists and five steals … LeBron (25 pts, 6 asts, 4 stls) only confirmed what we always suspected: If he entered the dunk contest and just did something (relatively) basic, he’d still have the crowd and the judges eating out of his hand. LBJ’s two reverse dunks in the third quarter — dunks that weren’t that dope save for his swinging on the rim — got some of the biggest reactions of the night and had the announcers drooling. Dunk of the night was D-Wade’s lob to Dwight Howard (17 pts, 3 blks) that Superman caught chin-level to the rim … Despite Bosh (23 pts, 10 rebs) and Deron (14 pts, 6 asts, 4 stls) going for theirs, Dirk was the unquestioned hometown rock star. The ovation he got during player intros was the loudest we’ve heard a Texas crowd since Stone Cold Steve Austin‘s intro at Wrestlemania 17. Then he came out like Willis Reed and scored the game’s first two buckets to bring the crowd to a frenzy … Weird interview between Kobe and Craig Sager (and his sequined tie): Apparently a female fan had just gotten ejected for heckling Kobe, saying she’d spent $8,000 on her ticket and was pissed Kobe wasn’t playing. Sager asked Kobe, “What did that fan say to you?” Kobe said, “I have no idea.” So for $8,000 you didn’t even get to watch the whole game, AND Kobe couldn’t even hear your complaint …
Run This Town
As the game went down to the wire, Marv Albert informed us the last ASG to go overtime was in 2003, when Michael Jordan almost had the game-winner before Jermaine O’Neal and Kobe ruined it. Doug Collins added, “Michael looked like he was gonna be MVP until Kevin Garnett stole it.” Actually, Jordan was like 8-for-30 in that game. Had the East won, Allen Iverson had 35 points and should’ve been MVP. But it’s not like Collins has a history of sucking up to MJ … David Aldridge (whose voice was completely shot by the second half) reported there was a “50-50 chance” T-Mac gets traded to the Knicks. Isn’t any trade a “50-50″ scenario, as in either it will happen or it won’t? Just sayin’ … Celebrity roll call: Diddy, Chris Tucker (w/flecks of gray hair), Ludacris, Spike Lee, Terrell Owens, Eliza Dushku, Jesse Jackson, Floyd Mayweather, Gabrielle Union, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis (who contractually cannot be seen in public without those same fedoras from 1991), Jerry Jones, Arnold, and a lovely pair of breasts sitting behind KG on the East bench. And did you see the girl sitting behind T.O.? … This comment from Dime reader Ian made us laugh out loud: “I made a bet with my girlfriend on who wins the three-point contest. I laughed my ass off when she picked Pierce. Next Saturday I’m going shoe shopping with her. Awesome.” … All that arguing over whether Chris Kaman and Al Horford deserved their spots, and as these things usually go, neither of them made a blip on the radar. And what’s up with Jason Kidd only playing six minutes? … Other notable stats: ‘Melo had 27 points and 10 boards; Steve Nash handed out 13 assists; Kevin Durant scored 15 points; KG and Tim Duncan played the least among the starters at 12 and 13 minutes, respectively; Kidd played the least of anybody, and Kaman only saw 10 minutes; the West outrebounded the East 54-40, including 17 offensive boards … But after the main event game, the dunk contest, the celebrity sightings, the interviews, the parties and everything else, you wanna know the best part of the weekend? It’s the last time you’ll have to hear Usher‘s “More” song. And four months from now, it’ll be completely out of the shower-singing rotation. C’mon push it to the limit give it mooooooooore! … We’re out like Arlington …
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February 15th, 2010 at 6:55 am
Hatorade says:
first, get to the back of the bus
February 15th, 2010 at 7:09 am
Sweet English says:
All-star 2010 A.k.a Whack weekend.
February 15th, 2010 at 7:37 am
That's What's Up says:
poor Usher had to strap on his Urdle – a man girdle
even Robocop couldn’t pull that off
February 15th, 2010 at 8:15 am
Flying_Aussie_Dutchman says:
“lovely pair of breasts sitting behind KG on the East bench”
HHAHAH glad someone else saw that
February 15th, 2010 at 8:49 am
ShowKase says:
Man, those groupies were looking nice in HD!
My home girls said the NBA players’ shoes looked like the game was sponsored by Crayola. Watching the All-Star Game with those females was the highlight of my evening.
February 15th, 2010 at 8:49 am
Guitar Hero says:
usher looked like a stripper-Batman
February 15th, 2010 at 8:52 am
Dave says:
“Al Horford deserved their spots, and as these things usually go, neither of them made a blip on the radar.”
Horford had 8 points, most in the 2nd quarter, and shot 4-5. You sure are right there! Idiots. Go get a real job
February 15th, 2010 at 8:58 am
Beach Muscles says:
WOW! 8 POINTS! Surprised Horford didn’t get any MVP votes.
February 15th, 2010 at 9:11 am
fallinup says:
Wow, LAMEST ALLSTAR WEEKEND EVAR.
The game sucked. How the last 2 minutes aside from Melo’s brick at the end came down to foul shots is a testament to the crap calls that go around the league today.
Wanna know why the league was 400 mil in the hole??? It’s because they don’t let the players play anymore.
At least those titties behind KG were nice.
February 15th, 2010 at 9:20 am
Chicagorilla says:
OK DIME, since you refuse to say it I will.
The two players who looked like they did not belong on an NBA all-star court were David Lee and Rajon Rondo. Lee was dropping passes, couldn’t get those cheap rebounds and I think I saw him try a pick-n-pop.
Rondo looked TEEEERRRRIIIBLLLEEEE. He was actually f^king the game up so bad that DWade took the PG responsibilities from him. He kept shooting for some reason and was bricking jumpers. And not to mention he didn’t play defense. so in all, distributing and defense is what got him in the ASG, yet dumba$$ thought he was AI when he got there.
Horford was the only one playing D when he got in. He played like a baller.
Oh and 8pts on 4-5FG ain’t bad for an ASG, I guess it depends on how you got it.
Derrick Rose looks pretty hurt. Should probably rest for a week or so. He just kept passing the ball up court and refused to use any athletic ability.
WAde and Lebron looked like Scottie and Mike yesterday. If they end up on the same team this summer, you can pretty much hand them the trophy. It’s almost like they were trying to give everybody a preview.
Bosh was killing also. Shooting Duncans face off then banging on Dirk.
February 15th, 2010 at 9:36 am
Ian says:
game was decent saving a bit the worst saturday ever they should consider dropping the dunk contest if it keeps getting this boring i would rather watch a lion show or some clowns jugglin cups.
nice last 30 secs there by deron willims and dirk should have gotten the last shot.
again how did evans beat out blair for mvp?
again thank you paul pierce because of you its shoe shoppin for me next saturday all damn day.
February 15th, 2010 at 9:41 am
Spliff 2 My Lou says:
Most of the game was like watching hair grow, especially the first quarter.
Even worse than Usher’s man girdle was his leather capris. When he was singing “Yeah” my girlfriend was like “no”!
Although I like the NBA all star game more than any of the other major sports I still think they should make it mean something. I’m not opposed to home court advantage for the winning side in the finals like baseball does.
February 15th, 2010 at 9:54 am
mules says:
“Isn’t any trade a “50-50″ scenario, as in either it will happen or it won’t?”
Not exactly Dime, Would you say it’s a 50/50 shot that Bosh gets traded to LA for Bynum…most trade rumors are wild speculation with perhaps a 10% chance of actually happening. As far as most trade rumors go, 50/50 actually indicates a relatively high probability of it happening…sounds like ya’ll are picking on Aldridge just for the hell of it.
February 15th, 2010 at 9:58 am
Scoob says:
Lol @ Spliff. My homegirl said that it looked like he was rocking a corset.
February 15th, 2010 at 9:59 am
mavs all the way says:
wasn’t able to watch the game.
if the west had won it, who do you think should’ve brought home the MVP trophy?
February 15th, 2010 at 10:00 am
rangerjohn says:
usher didnt sing his 1st song, there where many times they where showing his mouth moving and the words just not coming out. it was straight mili-vanili. not my kind of music so i stopped paying attention pretty quick.
hell tool academy season 3 was better then the game lmao.
ian, blair got fucked by the fans vote just like AI was voted in as a starter.
February 15th, 2010 at 10:01 am
Ian says:
spliff
i was thinking the same thing i dont know about finals homecourt but put something on the line. thats why imo baseball allstars games are the best players care. remember that it used to be taking turns for homefield in the worldseries not by record so i dont think the nba will throw that in.
February 15th, 2010 at 10:12 am
relll says:
Wow Chicagorilla, it is official that you are either a Rondo hater or don’t know anything about basketball. How can you call Rondo a gunner in the allstar game if was only 2-3 from the field? He only took 3 shots and made 2 of them. The one who was a gunner was your boy D.Rose with 8 shots in only 15 minutes. I guess you got your player mixed up.
Really I can’t believe you hate Rondo so much that you are getting this work up about a exhibition game.
February 15th, 2010 at 10:17 am
Chicagorilla says:
@rell,
settle down I’m not worked up. I watched Rondo Make several terrbile decisions. The All-star game is ran by the guard play (and Lebron) and Rondo did a terrible job.
I agree that Rose was jacking too, but he also made some passes that kept the game flowing. Rondo just didn’t belong.
February 15th, 2010 at 10:20 am
Chicagorilla says:
Oh, and yes I am a Rondo hater. Don’t get me confused. I hate his guts. But if he does something good I will give him respect due. But he won’t so I never will.
February 15th, 2010 at 10:20 am
control says:
“i would rather watch a lion show” – Ian
For some reason that comment made me laugh out loud. I can just imagine Joakim Noah and Valgina sitting on pedestals with balls on their noses and growling to the crowd looking all mean and shit.
February 15th, 2010 at 10:24 am
relll says:
@chicagorilla
So even though Rondo is 4rd in assist and 1st in steal in the league, you don’t think he deserve to be an all-star. So you believe only 1 point guard in the east deserve to be a all-star and that is Derrick Rose?
February 15th, 2010 at 10:43 am
control says:
relll
Rondo still doesn’t deserve to be an all star, he’s only one of the worst 5 shooters in the NBA (notice I upgraded him from the worst). Kid is still a douche bag too, I am really disappointed he wore a pair of hypermax (same shoe I wear) during the game.
February 15th, 2010 at 10:47 am
jzsmoove says:
the main ASG was aight this year as a whole (just the Sunday match). When all the players where introduced, the only person who does not belong was Kevin Garnett. Even after all the debate on who should be in, after the dust settled KG should have relinquished his spot to a more deserving cat. KG’s hilite of the night was having raving tits behind him. I couldnt complain about D Lee and Rondo and Kaman being there once they were on the floor. They put in some work and they belonged. Although their performance in the game itself is another matter.
February 15th, 2010 at 10:48 am
jzsmoove says:
it was also nice to see a few 1st timers in the group. its time to see new fresh faces.
February 15th, 2010 at 11:08 am
spark says:
id diddnt saw any tits…
pics/videos please?!
February 15th, 2010 at 11:10 am
Mike Honcho says:
Usher looked like a homeless superhero in Batman….Alicia Keys is thicker than 3 packs of bacon on a Sunday morning….Rondo is trash and did nothing int he game to show he should have been there….the breasts behind KG were very nice, I almost forgot he was the focus….and Wade showed that he has a great all-around game and Amare should want to go to the heat…And I don’t know what it is, but Gabby Union was the sexiest thing I saw!
February 15th, 2010 at 11:12 am
Shakers says:
@chicagorilla and control
Rondo’s shot looked pretty terrible as he drilled 3 after 3 hanging with Durant in HORSE. Your blind hatred is crazy.
February 15th, 2010 at 11:16 am
Spliff 2 My Lou says:
@shakers
Anybody can be a good shooter when they’re not being defended in a game situation.
February 15th, 2010 at 11:24 am
Shakers says:
How about the fact that he has earned enough respect from players and coaches to play crunch time minutes in the All Star game. I’m not saying he’s the best PG in the League, but he deserved to be there.
February 15th, 2010 at 11:48 am
HeadkickerB says:
Shakira rocked the house.
February 15th, 2010 at 11:53 am
Cha-Ching says:
The whole weekend was weak. I’m glad that I passed on tickets to it. No Kobe was the real downer. I think we would have seen everybody step up a little more with him on the floor. Its like an allstar game that Jordan sits out. Deron was the bright spot during the game. Wade closed it out. Alley oops were expected.
February 15th, 2010 at 12:06 pm
Name (required) says:
Only reason Rondo is in the game is because the top 3 PGs in the East (Lebron, Wade and Johnson) aren’t technically PGs. Next year Jennings joins Wade, JJ and Rose in the east Backcourt, so i hope Rondo enjoyed this weekend cus he’s gonna retire a one time all star.
February 15th, 2010 at 12:35 pm
control says:
Shakers
Rondo hitting 3s in HORSE, and Paul Pierce winning 3pt contest is probably the worst thing that could have ever happened to the Celts. Now both of those guys have a chance to turn into outside jackers. Rondo is a dumb ass, doesn’t need much encouragement to do stupid shit and be a douche.
I can see the Celts falling to 5th or 6th in the East, and 2nd in the Atlantic due to their oldmanness and douchbaggary. Not sure if the Celts “deserved” 3 All Stars, really not one of them is playing like an All Star this year (though they are talking a good game).
February 15th, 2010 at 12:40 pm
Reddi Red says:
ok,
1. i only saw the second half, but it seemed like a pretty good half.
2. i saw a little of the “Shakira” act and I have to say this……without a doubt …she is fine as hell, BUT, i’m really tryin to watch the game. I’m not tryin to see the pop stars sing and all the other commercial bull$hit they’ve added to the game.
if i want to see a concert, i will turn to Fuse, or MTV.
3. “the pressure was on the NBA to bring this $700 billion All-Star production out of…..”
700 BILLION DOLLARS??? I’m sure you probably meant 700 million dollars, but still…..all that money to commercialize the sport i love.
$$$$ is why we get the HORRIBLE officiating!
sorry for the rant.
February 15th, 2010 at 12:42 pm
ab_40 says:
this all star weekend was kinda weak. they should’ve given some players money to be in the dunk contest which was the biggest dud event. the game was kinda weak as well. the intensity didn’t pick up after the first half. at least not was much as I’d hope. but 108713 is a huge amount of tickets sold. I’m not sure if they were all there at the same time but that is a huge number of fans in one arena.
The event didn’t live up to the hype
February 15th, 2010 at 12:45 pm
Diego says:
Horford did alright–4/5 in pretty limited minutes with several boards and a block, is solid.
Now Lee was just bad–how many times did he pretty much just lose the ball off his feet out of bounds? He must have still had his mind on his buddy’s wedding he had to miss.
Shakira and her dancers looked nice. Mmmmmmmmm…Shakira.
February 15th, 2010 at 12:51 pm
heavy d says:
Al Horford did as much with his minutes as any sub (8 pts on 4/5, 4 rebs, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block and 0 turnovers in 14 minutes). I don’t count Bosh since he was in effect playing starter minutes instead of Garnett.
You embarrass yourself by going after him instead of David Lee (3 TOs in 12 minutes), who demonstrated that he might have not even been a good replacement choice.
February 15th, 2010 at 1:31 pm
sporty-j says:
Allstar weekend was a big dissapointment except for the game in itself and hopefully nex year CP3 and Kobe will be 100% so it can be even better. Some guys at the end started thinking about the MVP trop and almost ruined a great ending to the game because on 1 play when it was under a minute to play. Wade cut to the whole and was wide open but Lebron would not pass because he wanted that trop instead of the easy layup for the win and it was a good thing Wade got it because he deserved it and these egos r getting out of control in the NBA, and i hope he does not pull a stunt like that in the olympics. But in all honesty. It would not be fair if they are teammates next summer because they did look like jordan and pipen out there will all do respect to pipen, but they looked like JORDAN and JORDAN out there on the same team and the way there connection was so fluid and easy. The basketball world better hope that they are not on the same team because that will be the best duo in the history of the game and you might as well hand them the trophy and pull a raffels out of a hat on who should win league MVP and Finals MVP because they really did look like they were giving everybody a preview of this summer especially if lebron doesnt finally get that ring in cleveland. I think that he would definitely be out of there, either to N.Y. or to south beach. Darkhorse is the Nets! Calling it now cleveland fans. No disrespect because i know he means everything to the poor city of cleveland that would go back to being irrelavant in history again but the signs are pointing towards 2 of the big 3 in Bosh,Wade or Lebron being teammates or else they would have sign contract exts by now, especialy Lebron because he has a pretty good team around him now to contend unlike Wade or Bosh but he has not signed yet so it is getting more and more obvious especial after he made that JERSEY change comment which is not to boost Jersey sells because hes #2 in that depart behind Kobe. So i know these players have been talking behind closed doors or whatever and are planing to shock the world in 2010.
February 15th, 2010 at 2:06 pm
DN says:
this all star weekend, we witnessed the worst defensive backcourt ever: Steve Nash & Ason Kidd
February 15th, 2010 at 2:20 pm
Ian says:
really you guys like shakira?? maybe its the latin thing you guys like cuz i find her plain and normal.
February 15th, 2010 at 2:51 pm
Khalvin says:
ok i got to ask anyone got a link or a pic of this exceptional fan behind garnett?
Otherwise this was a total waste of a weekend.
@Ian
I bet my 15 yr old nephew that paul pierce would lose, stuck buying food all week for the kid and doing his dishes.
February 15th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
Ian says:
khalvin
lol at least my punishment is only one day.
February 15th, 2010 at 3:48 pm
Eduardo says:
“Kobe Bryant hovered around the huddle, just because he wanted to see what an actual last-second play looks like that isn’t called, “Give It To Kobe.””
LMAO This shit is great=D One of the best Smack’s I’ve ever read..
THIS IS ALL-STAR SMACK!!!
February 15th, 2010 at 3:52 pm
Eduardo says:
@Guitar Hero
Hey,tu és do Porto não és?Eu acho que li isso num comentário teu antigo.Eu também sou, é bom ver o nosso pequeno cantinho por aqui=D
Abraço
February 15th, 2010 at 4:05 pm
LakeShow84 says:
@ Ian
I was thinking about that too.. dont get me wrong Shakira is attractive but there is much more attractive Latinas in the world.. all she got going is what she can do with her hips.. which is wow but still..
but if she didnt run around in her underwear and give straight “hows my ass look?” poses i doubt she’d be so popular..
@ DIME
So Karl drew up “Give it to Melo” lol.. riiiiggghhhtttt.. anyone noticed Karl’s stupendous work yesterday as coach??
it was pretty obvious by half time who was going to help the West win it.. they didnt even really look like they had any set plays.. cant believe that man was the coach..
@ Shannon Brown
For reals dog?? u got all those hops and thats it?? Damn.. i agree with Kenny.. Dontletshannondunk.com next year lol
February 15th, 2010 at 4:11 pm
quest??? says:
@ chicagorilla for the first time i agree with u..rondo and lee did not look like they belonged, but since dime is in love with both of them,they would never admit that.
February 15th, 2010 at 4:29 pm
Dean says:
Watching Nash kick butt with the Skills comp. was a cool thing. Dunk sucked, 3pt sucked, Pierce? WTF?
The HORSE comp. was very very gay.
All-Star game, last qt. was pretty good stuff. WADE for MVP, hell yes! You could tell Lebron was angry. LOL.
And will plp STFU, he & Wade will not play together. If you think that then your a moron.
AND WOW, how sick is AI’s daughter for him to miss this weekend? I assume not good at all. What’s the story?
February 15th, 2010 at 4:40 pm
Bill says:
Could someone find a picture of those lovely breasts and share it with all.
February 15th, 2010 at 4:57 pm
Khalvin says:
All this talk of T&B has me waiting on that pic link lolz
February 15th, 2010 at 5:05 pm
Heckler says:
word. we demand cleavage!!
February 15th, 2010 at 5:08 pm
Eduardo says:
Yeah, I almost forgot a about Iverson. What’s the story? Anyone?
February 15th, 2010 at 5:41 pm
quest??? says:
I read that his 3 year old daughter is really sick, and the doctors do not know what is wrong with her.
February 15th, 2010 at 5:41 pm
control says:
Anyone notice that the smack pic of Dwade looks like one of those little league soccer pictures they take? Dwade is really one of the least photogenic people in the NBA, he always looks like he just had his wisdom teeth removed and his face is swollen the fuck up, not to mention he looks like he should be on a suicide watch or something…just saying.
February 15th, 2010 at 6:00 pm
LakeShow84 says:
Lol @ Control
It is one of those high school football pics..
@ Dean
Yeah let them hope lol and seriously i doubt they would play together because they wouldnt WANT to play together.. those 2 want to be on top of each other and it reeks when they play together or against each other..
Lebron was trying HARD to be MVP..
Dwade WAS MVP..
February 15th, 2010 at 9:29 pm
got beef? says:
how can people still continue to hate on rondo the dude’s 4th in assists per game, 1st in steals per game, and was the point guard down the stretch for the all star game… if he looked like he didnt belong then why did he finish the game with the East, and if 3 shots is “jackin em up” then what do you think about Kobe? how can you hate someone who did nothin to be hated? its beyond me
February 16th, 2010 at 12:08 am
quest??? says:
@ got beef he was the pg down the stretch because the east had no more pg, rose was hurt….
February 16th, 2010 at 1:24 am
Mo says:
Despite the 2 nice dunks Deron Williams had I was totally not surprise to see him turn the ball over in crunch time.
February 16th, 2010 at 9:27 am
Patrick says:
Let’s be honest, Rondo is having a good if not the best year of his young career. That being said, he is definitely a product of the system and team he is with. Do you think he would be putting up those numbers if he was playing with Chicago or New Orleans? I’m all for being confident in your abilities, but I just don’t understand how he can challenge Chris Paul and say that he is a better pg b/c he has a ring. Come on man! You know you got that ring because of the 3 future HOF’s you’re playing with. Does any Boston fan really think that Rondo is better than Chris Paul?
February 16th, 2010 at 1:11 pm
got beef? says:
i didnt say better than chris paul, but ever time they play eachother rondo manhandles him, Derek fisher is playin with kobe and gasol and bynum and odom but why isnt he an allstar, its not that rondo is playin with 3 HOF that makes him good, its that he is good, does playin with hall of famers make you lead the league in steals?