D-Rose vs. D-Will in Boozer Bowl; Blake Griffin takes Manhattan
Blake Griffin (photo. Rob Hammer)
Some of the Dime crew was at MSG for Knicks/Clippers, a.k.a. Blake Griffin‘s first pro game in the world’s most famous arena. Blake started out on fire — it seemed all of L.A.’s points in the first quarter were dunks by Blake (21 pts) and DeAndre Jordan. After the crowd got what they came to see, the Clippers went on to hand the home team a loss … Not too long ago, we heard some TV head compare Lou Williams to Vinnie Johnson. Blasphemy, right? But before our calls to Bill Laimbeer and Rick Mahorn to run some Acolyte Protection Agency game on the offender were returned, Lou did look very Microwave-ish against Orlando last night. Early in the fourth quarter, the Magic were up eight and Williams had five points. Then he went nuts. He scored 18 of Philly’s final 24 points, including two deep threes under the 30-second mark … But Vinnie-like or not, Lou can’t execute for the whole team. After Lou’s first triple made it a two-point game with 26 seconds left, the Sixers wanted to avoid fouling J.J. Redick, but let Dwight Howard (30 pts, 17 rebs) get behind the defense for a breakaway dunk, which Elton Brand made worse by fouling Dwight in the act. Williams (23 pts) answered with another trey to cut the lead to two, but again not wanting to foul J.J., the Sixers let way too much time tick off the clock. Jason Richardson added two more freebies, and Lou didn’t have a four-point shot in his arsenal … Other stat lines from Wednesday: Rodney Stuckey scored 22 points off the bench to help Detroit hand Cleveland its 26th straight loss; DeJuan Blair posted 28 points and 11 rebounds, while Tim Duncan added 16 points, 7 boards, 6 assists and 5 blocks in San Antonio’s win over Toronto; Roy Hibbert posted 29 points and 10 rebounds as Indiana edged Charlotte; Jason Terry dropped 22 points off the bench as Dallas beat Sacramento; Monta Ellis had 37 points to lead Golden State past Denver; and Nick Young scored 26 points to lead Washington past Milwaukee, including a baseline dunk where Young went spread-eagle and Ersan Ilyasova somehow moved backwards in mid-air trying to avoid his date with YouTube … Here’s why Duke still has to be considered the NCAA championship favorite: They’re NEVER out of the game. The Blue Devils were dominated by North Carolina in the first half at Cameron Indoor last night, but when Nolan Smith hit that triple to cut the lead to 10 with 19 minutes left, you just knew the comeback was going to happen. Lo and behold, Duke eventually took the lead and held on down the stretch to notch another W in college basketball’s best rivalry … Smith was a beast, finishing with 34 points and securing his ACC Player of the Year trophy. Over the years we’ve been somewhere between underwhelmed and occasionally impressed by Smith’s game, but he looked like a pro last night … Forget D-Rose, Russell Westbrook and LeBron: The fastest man in basketball is that dude in all-black who went sprinting across Coach K Court at the halftime buzzer. He covered 90 feet in like 1.7 seconds … We’re out like the APA …
-->
February 10th, 2011 at 1:52 am
toby flenderson says:
first?
February 10th, 2011 at 2:04 am
sans says:
meow
February 10th, 2011 at 2:05 am
jackass says:
first
February 10th, 2011 at 2:31 am
BRUCE says:
You ain’t first, you are 2nd!
February 10th, 2011 at 3:43 am
lester says:
Actually he was 3rd, not 2nd.
February 10th, 2011 at 4:09 am
sadeye2507 says:
Nobody said 2nd!
February 10th, 2011 at 4:26 am
green machine says:
props to DRose, shutting up haters one day at a time. next up CP3
February 10th, 2011 at 7:57 am
JAY says:
Congrats to the first poster. You should ask Dime what your prize is.
February 10th, 2011 at 8:14 am
Stunnaboy2K11 says:
Why is my Dime still f’ed up?
February 10th, 2011 at 8:31 am
sean.dynastybball says:
Click my name: Griffin highlights
What Dime… No mention of “The Machine” Sasha Vujacic and his 5 three pointers? You guys love mentioning him! WTF?
February 10th, 2011 at 8:41 am
JAY says:
Unrelated… last week someone brought up HoopsTV, to which one of the Dime writers said that a few editors from HoopsTV started Dime.
Well, i was cleaning out my closet and I found an old “Ball Above All” t-shirt that I won from HoopsTV.
Seriously, DIME should consider releasing these again. That slogan is killer!
BTW, if you guys at Dime actually end-up reprinting the shirts, can I get one for mentioning it? Lol. My old one used to be white… now it’s a color I call “streetball yellow”.
February 10th, 2011 at 8:45 am
Claw says:
site jacked again
Rose went off but need to have a healthy Deron with no wrist issues to make it a fair fight.
I’ll take CP3! Okafor isn’t back yet is he?
BD placed in the hot tub time machine these last 2 games! Clips are winning and Blake hasn’t been going off lately.
February 10th, 2011 at 8:45 am
Claw says:
site still f*cked up
February 10th, 2011 at 10:05 am
jdizzle says:
With the way the site is working they might as well bring back Hoops TV
Question: The longer this Cleveland losing streak goes, how much pressure is on the next team to not be the team Cleaveland breaks their streak against?
February 10th, 2011 at 10:20 am
hollywud15 says:
Man, after that game last night can anyone honestly blame Melo for wanting to leave. i mean, hes playing good all game, yet George Karl decides to not sub him in until 3 minutes left. Then Jr and Nene trying to play hero at the end of the game. Are they forgetting that Melo is arguably the most clutch player in the league!??? and its not like this is the first time it has happened. George always has some messed up sub patterns with Melo and He doesnt get the roc nearly as much as he should. I dont know any other superstar that has to deal with the bullsh*t melo has to
February 10th, 2011 at 10:25 am
That's What's Up says:
if Melo could/would play defense AT ALL he wouldn’t have to sit most of the 4th quarter.
February 10th, 2011 at 10:33 am
WinDelRoj says:
lol @15
Poor Melo. George is alwaying f-ing with him. How much more does he need to get the ball? Im guessing its hard for the coach to figure out a rotation when most of the team doesnt want to play defense. He was arguably outplayed by Wright (7 less points, 7 more rebounds,6 more assist,2 more steals and 4 less turnovers)that to me is ridiculous. Melo doesnt want out for basketball reasons.
February 10th, 2011 at 10:41 am
JAY says:
“He doesnt get the roc nearly as much as he should.”
Isn’t he one of the league leaders in shots per 48mins??
“I don’t know any other superstar that has to deal with the bullsh*t melo has to”"
Yeah… how dare George Karl ask melo to play defence. Poor Melo, no other star is asked to play defence.
Maybe Melo should just sign in NY. It’s the perfect coach for him… a coach who’s teams’ defence is their offence.
February 10th, 2011 at 10:49 am
PJ says:
I thought it was just me seeing dimemag’s site all basic and eff’ed up. The only thing that works is that stupid ticker on the bottom.
Melo was PISSED at the end of the game cuz JR BALLHOG SMITH didn’t pass him the ball. Good win for the W’s though. =)
February 10th, 2011 at 11:00 am
hollywud15 says:
@Jay… im not sure if hes a leader in fg’s per 48 minute games. But i watch Nuggets games alot and there are times when they go 4-5 posessions without getting him the ball. rarely does he even get to attempt 25 shots, which shouldn’t be too much to ask considering hes arguably the best scorer in the game
And if, IF u watch Nuggets games or even last nights game, u would know that melo is very capable of playing defense and locking people up. He had doreel wright frustrated last night. the nuggets just arent a defensive team and george karl cleary doesnt care about defense anymore
February 10th, 2011 at 11:05 am
WinDelRoj says:
noone questions that the man is capable. But when you are only willing to do it part time… you are no better than JR Smith.
February 10th, 2011 at 11:12 am
JAY says:
@hollywud
No I didn’t watch the game but if Melo did such a good job defending Dorell Wright, how did Wright get 23pts, 11rbs, 8asts, 3stls and ZERO TOs?
BTW, each of those numbers are better than his season averages.
Please explain.
and I know Melo is CAPABLE of playing good defence, he just doesn’t want to. Having the ability is different than having the desire.
ie: VC had the ability to be one of the best players ever… but the desire wasn’t there.
February 10th, 2011 at 11:20 am
JAY says:
@ hollywud
Just for the record, Melo is 6th in the league in shots per game.
and of the top-10 volume shooters per game, Melo shoots the lowest FG percentage, AND second lowest in 3pt percentage.
So your question earlier; “How much more does he need to get the ball?”
I guess he wants to lead the league in shots taken per game.
February 10th, 2011 at 11:44 am
hollywud15 says:
@Jay: Dorrell wright got those numbers BECAUSE MELO BARELY PLAYED IN THE 4TH QUARTER… last time i checked it was pretty hard to guard someone when ur on the bench
February 10th, 2011 at 11:47 am
hollywud15 says:
and i STILL believe he should take more shots. alot of the times he feels like he has to shoot when he gets the ball because he doesnt know when he’ll get it back. And also, having the ball in your hands more doesnt mean he needs to shoot more. Melo is a very good and willing passer. With the amount of attention he defense gives him, all the nuggets wud have to do is give him the ball every time, he’ll either score or find the open man after being doubles
February 10th, 2011 at 11:50 am
WinDelRoj says:
Im starting to wonder if you are Carmelo Anthony.
February 10th, 2011 at 12:08 pm
K Dizzle says:
@ JAY – your boy, hollywud, is reachin. Dorell Wright had 2 POINTS and 2 boards in the 4th quarter.
This is why I dont wanna give up Bynum and Lamar for Melo. Dude put up 50, no assists and the Nuggets lose. Then, vs the Warriors last night, his teammates ain’t even lookin for him at crunchtime. Keep bitchin about goin to NYC, your teammates will eventually start to tune you out. Melo’s destroyed that squad’s chemistry…..and no, he doesn’t play defense.
Question: Will Nolan Smith be a more successful pro than DeMarcus Nelson???
February 10th, 2011 at 12:15 pm
nizzio says:
I give props to the new Pacers coach for trusting Roy Hibbert. He’s been producing in the last few games and The new coach has only one loss so far: against the Heat
February 10th, 2011 at 2:30 pm
JAY says:
@hollywud
These two quotes from one of your posts….
“alot of the times he feels like he has to shoot when he gets the ball because he doesnt know when he’ll get it back. ”
“Melo is a very good and willing passer.”
Soooo… in your opinion he feels like he has to shoot when he has the ball because he might not get the ball back…. but he’s a willing passer. Can you see the contradiction there?
I agree 100% with K Dizzle. He fucked up their chemistry, period. It’s not Karl’s fault, and not his teammates’ fault. And frankly, i don’t blame them for tuning him out. I would do the same if my teammate was more interested in “where will I play next”, than his current team.
BTW, thanks to K Dizzle informing me that Wright only had 2pt and 2rbs, I can now confidently say Melo didn’t defend shit. So in 3 qtrs, Melo had 21/9 stamped on his forehead? Awesome. He surely proved himself a capable defender. Or in your words, he “frustrated Dorell Wright” who bested all of his season averages with Melo defending him. It must be really frustrating it must be to top your season averages.
It bothers me when people make up shit to prove their points.
February 10th, 2011 at 3:04 pm
Claw says:
@JAY – You are confusing the topic with logic!
Perfect team for Melo is the Bucks, they play solid D but can’t score the buckets and Bogut is legit. Let me see NY where the “D” word is not mentioned at anytime during practice or at the end of games when they can’t stop anybody. Perfect.