Smack / Dec 22, 2011 / 2:18 am

Blake Griffin & The Clippers Run Past The Lakers; Isiah Thomas Backs LeBron’s Superteam

By

Kenyon Martin

Kenyon Martin, Dime #3

Who caught Terrence Williams‘ insane windmill over Danny Green? This wasn’t one of those fake windmills that people try to tag regular dunks with. This was a legit windmill he put down right around Green while getting the foul as well. On the other side, Gregg Popovich doesn’t want to give his new players any credit. In fact, Pop admits he doesn’t really like anyone. But he better start enjoying Kawhi Leonard because last night the rookie won him a game. Leonard hit a long two in the closing seconds to secure a 97-95 win for the Spurs over Houston. Tim Duncan dropped 19 in the win … Behind 17 and nine off the bench from C.J. Miles, the Jazz escaped against Portland 92-89 … Boston and Rajon Rondo (17 points) beat Toronto by eight … And the Hornets aren’t writing their season off yet. They beat Memphis 95-80, dominating the final three quarters behind two of the new guys: Eric Gordon (17 points) and Chris Kaman (18 points). It wasn’t all bad for the Grizz. They played without Marc Gasol, but Rudy Gay (20 points) appears to be all the way back again … Isiah Thomas says there’s nothing wrong with the super team, and that he might’ve done the same thing LeBron did if given the chance. He probably wouldn’t have teamed up with Magic – we’re assuming because they both play the same spot – but probably would’ve with Larry Bird or Michael Jordan. He doesn’t necessarily want credit for sticking it out with Detroit because he had no reason to leave playing with people like Dumars, Laimbeer and Rodman. Thomas says every great player has tried to move to another team to win a championship at some point in his career … Kenyon Martin is coming home. Martin and the Xinjiang Flying Tigers have reportedly severed ties, allowing K-Mart to return to the States. But they will hold up his commitment (his FIBA letter of clearance) to the team until after the season ends, so Martin probably won’t be able to get back into the NBA until March. As part of the deal, it would’ve been appropriate for the team to make it mandatory that Martin get one more terrible Chinese tattoo before he leaves … Marcin Gortat should break his thumb more often. Apparently, Gortat broke it against Denver and then said it actually makes him a better shooter. His 8-for-10 from the line that night we guess proves he’s right … And what is going on with Monta Ellis in Golden State? A former Golden State Warriors employee has filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against him, which alleges that Ellis sent her unwanted photos of his genitals … We’re out like Drake vs. Common.

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  • http://www.psychodrama.com Chicagorilla

    @Jay

    Yeah I did peep the GTFOH, from AB. lol, we finally got him to join us on the disrespectfuly level. It’s like the great Lauryn Hill said
    “I add a muthaf^cka so you Ig’Nant n!gg@s hear me”

  • http://www.psychodrama.com Chicagorilla

    @Jay

    Your namesake (Jay-Z) is the one who started that Bull$h!t too. Don’t get me wrong, Jigga could always go in on a dude on wax, but then he started throwing that money ish around. Then 50cent followed suit.

    and if Drake thinks that will save then that shows just how “sweet” that lame is.

    The funniest thing about the whole “sweet” song is I never thought it was a diss towards Drake. Honestly, the first person that came to my mind was Kanye West. That fool sings more than anybody. And they are from the same area and f^&ks with the same people. I was sure he was taking a shot at Yeezy. He even claims “You know where I’m from. You know how i get down”.

    But looking at his CD credits (yes i bought the album and its dope), No I.D. is the producer on the album. That’s supposedly Kanyes homey too. And I thought Common was signed to G.O.O.D. Music (he was in the BET cypher with them a year ago) which is Kanye’s label.

  • K Dizzle

    @ Chicagorilla

    Let me rephrase. Pau BeTTER have been savin himself to go off like he did 1st month of last year when he was droppin the 20-10-5 with 2 blks.
    As it was, he put up 13 on 5-7 with 9 boards n 5 dimes yesterday but the shooters need to bring support or a 2-3 start could be comin…

    Lotta shit happenin today. Brook Lopez broke his foot; Stevenson got picked up by the Nets, and Chuckie Hayes’ reps are sayin tests show he got no heart issues…damn, Sac-town got some ‘splainin to do

    @ Austin – post 39 might be the most sense you EVER made.

  • http://www.dimemag.com Austin Burton

    Yeah, I guess I get extra defensive when people take shots at Gary Payton.

  • Ian

    austin
    star jumpers not role players and that duncan thing you said doesnt even make sense the ring counts less for horry is anything.

  • http://www.zwani.com/graphics/funny_pictures/images/88funny-pictures128.jpg JAY

    Gary Payton’s breath smells like feet… *waiting for it*

  • http://www.zwani.com/graphics/funny_pictures/images/88funny-pictures128.jpg JAY

    ^ Just messing with you. Lol.

  • Big Island

    I feel a little bit sad, but more proud that AB has stooped to our levels. It’s almost like the first time your little brother gets in a fight. You’re pissed that he did it because you want him to be better than you, but you’re happy that he stood up for himself. *sheds tear*

    The whole ring argument is garbage, but it’s one that always comes up. My buddy is a 49ers fan, and he always says they are the best team because they never lost a super bowl. Um, they didn’t win as many as other teams, and they missed playoffs and stuff all of the time. THEY’VE NEVER LOST A SUPER BOWL!!! It’s basically an argument brought up by people who want a certain guy (championship guy) to be better than another guy (non champ) and that’s their argument. Whatever…

    The complete player argument is garbage too. Sorry Chicagorilla. I get it, and a complete player is great, but most of the time the complete player isn’t as good as someone who is an absolute freak mismatch. Joe Johnson is a more complete player than Kevin Durant. He is just solid all the way around, nice game, all-star player. But Durant is such a freak it doesn’t matter. Dirk can’t stop a guy one on one. It doesn’t matter. He can shoot from anywhere, put the ball on the floor, and he creates such a big problem for the other team’s defense that it doesn’t matter. Derrick Rose isn’t as complete as some point guards, Don’t care, better. Dwight Howard isn’t as complete as Bogut. Don’t care, better. Like I said, I would take Dirk right now, but if I had to sign him or Griffin for 5 years, I am signing Blake.

    While I’m at it, the big game thing is garbage as well. Some players just aren’t the guys who have the ball in their hands all of the time. Blake Griffin needs someone to give him the ball or he has to get it off of the glass. He’ll get 8 or 10 off of hustle, but then the guards need to feed him. You can support any argument with numbers. Dwight Howard is the best because he scores a ton, especially in the playoffs, he carried that team. Or is it Dwight’s playoff numbers were nuts because everyone knows he can’t win a game for you so you just let him get 40 and slow everyone else down. Shaq, Jordan, and, oh god, I can’t believe I am going to say this, Kobe, would just kill you. It didn’t matter how many people you threw at Shaq, he would kill you. Jordan killed you. Kobe killed you. Regardless of what you did, they killed you. They all gave you whatever they wanted to no matter how many different ways you tried to stop them. Dirk came through in the clutch last season, but Miami could have slowed him down with some triple teams. Dwight doesn’t even get double teamed. So I can argue he is a beast and nobody stopped him, look at the numbers. Or I can argue that he got those numbers because nobody cared to double him because you can live with him getting those numbers.

    We’re all slightly above retarded levels here. Most of us have played at a decent level. You know what’s good and what isn’t. All of the crap we use to support our arguments is simple because we like or hate one of the guys in the discussion. That’s it. If you think LMA is better than Dirk, you just hate on Dirk or love LMA. If you think Griffin isn’t a top 5 PF right now, you just hate on Griffin.

  • JBaller

    So Sacto voided Chuck Hayes’ too big contract because of an ekg reading, then he was declared healthy and cleared to play. That kind of sounds like Sacto just screwed him out of his contact. Then he said he’d like to return to play for the Kings. WTF?

  • http://www.dimemag.com Austin Burton

    @Ian — Let me try to explain it again. You said that a championship “counts less” is a (star) player has to jump to another team to get it. Glen Rice going to L.A., Gary Payton going to Miami, Shaq trying to get rings with Cleveland and Boston, those are the guys I assume you’re referring to because they left the teams they were trying to LEAD to a title to take on a supporting role while another player led the way.

    So I’m asking you this: If those rings “count less” for the Glen Rices and GPs of the world, shouldn’t they also “count less” for their teammates? After all, the teammates benefited from the contributions of Rice, GP, etc.

  • vlad

    i mean for a player like blake with all his tools and a lot of dollars commin´the only thing for him ist getting rings.for a player like bron, dirk, kg,dwight, ….. its the most important thing to reach.i see blake as a top ten overall player now and as the top talent in the nba.period.nobody is that strong, fast and athletik. perfekt balance for a pf.so if he can improve his postmoves, and we saw some sick hakeem moves against the lakers he will be the best!

  • Ian

    let me say it again those are role players whi gives a shit about them (role players when they won cuz those 2 were awesome in their primes)

  • http://www.psychodrama.com Chicagorilla

    @Ian

    So lets compare role players.

    Is Robert Horry better than…lets say Charles Oakley because he has more rings?

    Is Steve Kerr better than Craig Ehlo because he has more rings?

    Is Michael Cooper better than Kendall Gill because he has 5 rings to Kendalls zero?

    Would Oakley, Ehlo, and Gill not be able to fill in the roles/numbers that Horry, Kerr, and Cooper filled in for their teams but better?

    See, your thought process here is flawed. Championships are won by teams filled some combination of great players, coaches, chemistry, or management. Sometimes all of the above.
    But very rarely, is ONE PLAYER, the single reason his team has won the championship. In most cases, you can replace that superstar with another superstar and that team would still win the Chip.

    Put Kevin Garnett or Chris Webber on the Spurs with David Robinson and they still win the Chip without a doubt.

    Put Vince Carter or T-Mac on the Lakers with Shaq and they win the chip no doubt.

    Switch Magic Johnson with John Stockton on those 80′s Lakers teams and I guarantee they still win some championships.

    Put Wilt Chamberlin on the Celtics instead of Russell, and Wilt would have two hands full of rings too.

    To me, there are only a few players who are the sole responsibility for their team winning the chip and no other star would’ve been able to duplicate their dominance on their team.

    –Hakeem’s back to back chips in 94/95.
    –Jordans two-3peats.
    –Wilt Chamberlins 67′ Sixers.

    Any other championship team you can argue would have won while swapping superstars of similar skill. These three guys were so unique to their teams success (and i’m going by watching the games except Wilts) at that point in their era, that their teams were built perfectly to support their talents.

    In Wilt’s case, he had to battle those great Celtic teams that were nearly impossible to beat. He was without question the better player between he and Russell. Russell just happen to have fell into a much….MUCH BETTER situation than Wilt. Wilt still managed to win one ring in that time span and get another later.

    Does that mean Russell is > Wilt? I doubt anyone would say that.

  • First & Foremost

    @AB, Common vs. Drake is a bit silly. But Drake isn’t doing anything that is groundbreaking or new. People act like 50 cent didn’t go from making Wanksta to various love songs. People act like Ja Rule didn’t go from doing whatever it was he did to harmonizing. People act like Nelly didn’t do Country Grammar to whatever the double disc album he put out. LL went from “I’m Bad” to “I Need Love”.

    The name of the game is selling records. N****s bootleg shit to no end. Women will buy an album twice just to give the 2nd one as a gift to themselves.

  • http://www.psychodrama.com Chicagorilla

    @Big Is

    I totally disagree.
    If the complete player is BS, then why does every player that wants to get better try to work on all parts of their game? No one (other than Dirk’s a$$ lol) goes into the off season and says “I want to get better at the things i’m already great at”. That would be dumb. Unless your game is complete.

    If we go by your argument that freak offensive players are better than complete players that means Dominique Wilkins is better than Larry Bird and Dr. J right?
    Or that Andrea Bargani is better than Andrew Bynum because he is more of an offensive mis-match?

    That’s complete BS.

    Dirk is one demensional. He’s 30+yrs old so we know he ain’t gonna change anytime soon. Why does this work for him? Well for one, it didn’t work very well up until last year. But it worked last year because the team and coach around him was the perfect fit for his skill set. Dirk may have been terrible at defense, but Tyson Chandler, Haywood, Marion, Butler, Kidd, Stevenson are all good-great defenders. Dirk is a decent rebounder, but because he shoots so many fallaway jumpers he’s never in position to help his team get offensive rebounds. The Mavericks GM addressed that perfectly by not only adding Tyson Chandler to attack the boards, but two of the best rebounders at their positions (PG/SF) ever in Jason Kidd and Shawn Marion. Near Genius pick ups considering that their talents complement Dirk so well.

    If Dirk was surrounded with guys of his same skill set (Andrea Bargani at center, Mike Dunleavy at SF, Steve Nash at PG) there is no way his team could win the championship because Dirks game itself isn’t complete enough.

    Just look back on history, whenever someone talks about the best players ever at whatever position, those guys have multiple skill sets that seperate them from others.
    Magic, Bird, Jordan, Zeke, J.West,Dr. J, Hakeem, Ewing, Shaq, Admiral, Barkley, Malone…the list goes on an on.

    when Derrick Coleman first entered the NBA, guys like Charles Barkley immediately declared that he could end up being the best PF ever. Why? Because the guy could do everything they could do, but better. Coleman had the potiential to avg 25ppg 12reb 7apg 2blk 2stl and pretty much do everything from the PF position.
    Unfortunately he was lazy.

    Then you say that “Big Game” situations don’t matter because big guys need someone to give them the ball. but EVERYBODY needs someone to pass them the ball. It’s a 5 man sport. And part of being a great player is being able to willingly draw the attention of double teams then hit the open player. Big guys aren’t always expected to take the last shot only because they usually can’t shoot from far out or hit FTs.
    Take a guy like Yao Ming. If your team needs a basket and your coach can’t find a way to get the ball to him then he needs to be fired. Guys like Yao, Dirk, KG, Duncan, Barkley, Malone, Webber, Kareem, Hakeem, Ewing, DRob were all big guys who could create/hit a shot from anywhere inside the 3pt line. So there is no reason to not give them the ball.
    Another reason your argument is flawed is because it’s actually harder for 6’6 and lower guys to get a shot off in traffic. It’s a much tougher shot and from usually further away. If Kobe and Dirk had the same clutch tendencies, why would you go to Kobe instead of Dirk on the inbounds play? Dirk is 7ft and has a better chance of getting a clean look. Kobe will have to dribble, pump fake, and fade away before he gets the shot off.

  • Big Island

    Chicagorilla – Maybe I wrote it wrong, or maybe you misunderstand my argument on the all around player. Someone who does a ton of things great is obviously better than a guy who does one thing great. But a guy who does one thing great is better than someone who does everything well. If you rated everything on a scale of 1-10, 10 being best, I would take a guy with 10′s offensively and 5′s on defense over a guy who had all 7′s and 8′s. The 7 and 8 guy is better all around, but the 10′s make all the difference. If a guy is all 10′s, then obviously it’s better. But a guy like Dirk who is a 10 on offense, maybe a 7 on the glass, and a 5 on defense is better than a guy like LMA who is a 7 on everything. And don’t ever use Coleman to support an argument on anything other than “this is what happens if you don’t work hard”.

    A taller guy gets the shot off better. But getting to the shot is easier for a small guy. The shot is the last thing that happens, you know that. You have played/coached enough to know better than that. It’s almost as bad as the “if I were as tall as you” crap short guys say. It’s easier to rip a tall guy because the ball has to travel 4 feet from the ground to his hand. They are easier to stay with on screens. So yeah, Rose can’t shoot over the same things Dirk can, but Dirk can’t get to that shot as easy as Rose. So to answer your question, for an inbounds play, it depends on how much time is left. A lob play, I go to Dwight Howard. Catch and shoot, I go to Dirk. Eight seconds left on the clock, Kobe gets it every single time and twice on Sundays. Why? Because Kobe, the smaller guy, can make the moves to get an open look better than a big guy. Half a second, Dwight jumps higher, go for the dunk. One second, Dirk can catch and shoot. It all depends on the situation.

    Not one guy you mentioned on your list brought the ball up for his team. They had to have plays run for them. Dirk, KG, Duncan, Kareem, Hakeem, and Robinson won rings. Yao, Barkley, Malone, Webber and Ewing didn’t. Malone was always labeled a choker because he couldn’t beat Jordan? Dirk was a choker until last year? Webber never stepped up to beat LA? It’s all crap. Ewing could never get a ring. That is all crap that sticks with them, and it isn’t all on their shoulders. They need to have someone get the ball in a position to score. They can create their own shots, but I’d let Ewing get it on the wing all day. Or Malone at the top of the key. Or Robinson on the block, back to the basket. Or Webber at the wing. Or Dirk on the block. They all have spots where they are effective, or more effective, or unstoppable. Other guys have to get those guys the ball, then get out of the way. All I am saying is that there are more things that can cause a “bad” game for one of them than there are for someone like Lebron, who calls his own number when he brings the ball up the floor.

  • beiber newz

    does anyone think it’s weird that deshawn stevenson got signed by the nets even after jay-z (part owner of the nets) made a diss song about dude defending lebron? somebody blow the whistle on this one!

  • control

    Ian

    Manu was a role player for his championships on the Spurs…

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