Smack / Jan 30, 2012 / 12:00 am

LeBron Takes Down The MVP; The Mavs Pull Out A Shocker

By

LeBron James

LeBron James (photo. Mannion)

If the Atlanta Hawks had been involved, they could’ve just called a re-do of the last minute. They really should’ve. Miami had an ugly missed shot and a turnover and were on the edge of falling behind for the first time all game. But Derrick Rose clanked two free throws, then got another chance after LeBron had clanked two freebies of his own, but was short on a floater. Forget the win/loss records, the Heat can hold the Eastern crown a little longer, 97-93. LeBron might’ve resorted to riding his bike to the arena, but his play was pure royalty yesterday (35 points, 11 rebounds), hitting pull-up jumpers at will in the second half and putting down one of the most unbelievable alley-oops we’ve seen. Rose (34 points) countered from the other side with some Houdini floaters. Seriously, on some of those shots, they should’ve awarded him five points. Nevertheless, it was unusual things that did Chicago in: missed layups and giving up 56 first half points … Carlos Boozer has been playing so bad that even his kids were cheering against him … LeBron might have a bike, but Kobe has a helicopter. And he wasn’t going to let James outshine him. 35 points and 14 rebounds, and the record (passing Kareem) for most field goals made in Laker history. He also swallowed his ego for a minute, and allowed Pau Gasol (28 points) and Andrew Bynum (21 points) to play high-low three possessions in a row in the final two minutes against Minnesota. Three buckets later, the Lakers had the room they needed to snuggle into a 106-101 road win … The Lakers were up 18 in the third before Ricky Rubio started throwing crazy lobs and hitting weird fadaway runners. Unique isn’t a strong enough word. This was the best five-point, eight-assist game we’ve seen, and his impact was enough to bring ‘Sota all the way back. But even with Kevin Love dropping a bomb (33 points, 13 rebounds), the Lakers were the ones creating the highlights in the final minutes, finishing the game off like this was 2009 … New Orleans got caught on the toilet, falling behind 27-6 to start the game against Atlanta, and the Hawks finished off the embarrassment, blowing out the Hornets in their own arena, 94-72. Jeff Teague tied his career-high with 24 … Keep reading to hear why Danny Granger nearly missed his game against the Magic …

Pages : 1 2
Related Posts with Thumbnails

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Posted in Smack |

← Older Comments
  • JDish

    @ beiber newz

    I have to say that in the NBA it surely seems that your expected to win right? To call out for a coaching change does not mean that we or I would want a coach to lose his job. The fact is It’s the NBA, I mean look at what happened with Paul Westphal getting fired from Sacramento, and Flip Saunders getting the ax in Washington. I was pretty down about those two coaches losing their job but it was necessary, atleast for those respective teams, to make a change and maybe improve the situation with those two teams. Besides these guys are making good money, and they already have a good rep as coaches. So losing a coaching gig isn’t the end of the world.

  • http://datpiff.com beiber newz

    sac town and washington…two teams which if they had terrible records would not have surprised anyone to begin with huh?

  • Fox

    Props to Beiber Newz, this guy takes heat from almost everybody on here and keeps on going. Relax people his opinion is HIS OPINION! Ignore him if you want him to go away. I think he enjoys the attention. He’s the Skip Bayless of Dime Smack blogs. Not that he’s tha knowledgable he just knows and revels in getting a rise out of you guys.

    On another note. I’m starting to think Rose has LBJ syndrome. Hopefully he can grow out of it but I’m not sure. IJS

  • JDish

    @ beiber newz

    On that note about Bargnani. I think many times there’s too much hype and pressure put on players to all of the sudden be the man and turn a whole franchise around. I think right now Bargnani is already a great NBA player, one of the top pf/centers in the game. And it is unfair to put the blame on him that the raptors aren’t a sure bet playoff bound team. Besides that, the raptors are a small market team, and when I hear about big name NBA players and rumors about possible trades most of the time its to large market teams with the potential to turn a franchise around and make it a playoff bound team. Or as we have seen in the last several years, big name ballers want to go to a team where there’s already gonna be another all-star basketball player to play along side with. But I don’t here many rumors about a super-star NBA player wanting to play alongside Bargnani.

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

    Has any NBA player gone from one team to another, put up the exact same stats for Team 2 as he did for Team 1, but his profile went from All-Star/budding star to The Forgotten quite like David Lee?

    Lee is putting up 19-10 in Golden State just like he did in New York, but aside from his fantasy owners, NOBODY talks about him anymore. And it’s not like he played with a winning team in NY so he got extra attention. Those Knicks lost just as much as these Warriors.

  • K Dizzle

    Man, if Orlando only knew this shit was comin, would they have been so quick to trade Gortat? Dude has been a legit top 3-4 centre this season. It woulda been a lot easier to trade Dwight when you had a solid center backing him up.
    Oh well.
    Why do cats keep sayin Dwight to Chicago? DRose damn near rolls his eyes when reporters brought it up and Chicago ain’t even on Dwight’s list. Unless some team just wants to rent dude for 30 games, it needs to be one of the teams he’ll re-up with. I got a feelin Otis gonna phuck this up somehow. Shoulda traded dude like Utah did with D-Will before the word started gettin out. Even Denver kept winnin with Melo wantin out.
    Orlando just embarrassin right now. 3 straight 20+ losses against inferior teams with no centers.
    No, I would not trade Bynum and Pau for “that” Dwight Howard…

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

    I’m still saying Dwight will find what he’s looking for in Atlanta. They may not be on his wish list now, but I think once he lands in his hometown, gets to play with his boy Josh Smith (assuming Orlando doesn’t demand Smith be part of the trade), gets to be the focal point of a more-talented team and a coach who will make sure he gets the ball as much as he can handle, and brings fans back to the arena, he’ll be willing to sign long-term.

    But I could also see where Orlando wouldn’t want to help a division rival improve when they’ve already got to deal with Miami for the next 5-6 years.

  • K Dizzle

    @ Austin – silver anywhere else becomes platinum in New York, according to them, then when they bounce, the hype usually fades, whether the numbers remain the same or get better.
    Lotta players fit that story:
    Charles Oakley was a defensive rock in New York, but was even more valuable to the Raptors during Vince’s prime, but you never heard about him outside the T-Dot
    Guess you could say the same for John Starks, the formerly “untradable” Channing Frye; the severely overhyped Iman Shumpert; Allen Houston was the same player in Detroit, but blew up in NYC, numbers remaining the same; Anthony Mason became an all-star in Charlotte I think, and his hype died down too.
    It’s all media driven and mostly in the NBA. Small markets rule the NFL on equal footing as the big markets. It’s just seen as if you can do it in NYC or LA, it’s bigger than doin the same thing in Milwaukee or Cleveland

  • JDish

    jaja… just read the article on espn.com. It said Dwight Howard is willing to play with the Bulls, Derrick Rose. Chicago is officially on DHowards I-want-to-get-traded-to-there list. But that the Bulls aren’t calling the Magic to get the big man.
    Ok then, it sounds like this is getting nowhere.

  • the shaman

    can’t wait for Manu to return! he was KILLING it before he got hurt, shooting like 60% from three and such. would have made the Mavs game mean more anyway.

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

    @JDish — I read the same Dwight article, and I think people read too much into this stuff. From what I read, all Dwight said was basically, “I like Derrick Rose. We’re cool. If I got a chance to play with him I wouldn’t complain.” Which is what he’d say if you directly asked him about any team/player in the league because he’s going to be diplomatic about it. If you asked Dwight straight-up about Brandon Jennings and Milwaukee, he’d probably say, “Brandon is a great player. If I had a chance to play with him and that’s what God wanted, it will happen.” Doesn’t mean the Bucks are on his list of teams he’d sign with long-term.

  • K Dizzle

    Saw this on ESPN:

    Nothing quite sums up the Hornets’ circus season so far like this tidbit: Unless the Knicks wake up soon, New Orleans is going to get a worse draft pick from the Clippers (Minnesota’s unprotected 2012 first-rounder) than it would have scored in the original CP3 deal with the Lakers and Rockets (New York’s 2012 first-rounder).

    Somebody please remind me how this trade was sooooo “perfect” for the new ownership n franchise…

    -Sincerely yours from a still ticked Lakers fan who gets sick of hearing “Lakers need to get a point guard cuz Fish is old” like we didn’t have a deal done

  • First & Foremost

    ^^^ It is easy to say that now. When the Knicks signed Chandler everyone was talking like they’d contend for the ECF because Boston is on their last leg, Superman is in his fortress, and you’d have to assume NYK has the fire power to topple the bulls defense AND keep pace with the Heat. Who would want the 27th+ pick in the draft? Especially when a team put together by David Khan can still be laughed at.

    You think David Stern will screw his own team over? I’d an autographed Kwame Brown rookie card the Hornets get a top 4 pick.

  • First & Foremost

    Depending on how bad he wants to sell the team, they might get picks One AND Two.

  • EN FUEGO

    If Kareem had a “farewell tour”, Dwight has his “I would like to play here & consider talking to them” tour.

    He did it when they went to Boston. And he’s just saying it to Chicago now. Besides, isn’t it not in the best interest of Adidas having Rose and Howard playing the same city?

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

    @KDizzle — Again, consider the possibility that Stern is just as bad a basketball decision-maker as any NBA owner. You trust the L.A. front office, but they’ve had their share of deals that looked good on paper and didn’t work out later. Same for every other team in the league.

  • JDish

    @ Austin

    And how awesome is the media to say that the Bulls are now on Dwight Howard’s list of “potential destinations.”
    Way to get the early scoop… sooo it wouldv’e the same thing if they would have asked him (after a big loss to a less talented team) about Jennings and the Bucks, or maybe even Ricky Rubio and the Wolves… DH: “If I could play with (insert all-star NBA player here) and God wanted it that way, it will happen”…”It has nothing to do with not wanting to play with (insert all-star NBA player here). I love him, He’s my brother.”
    Yea this is just media hot air trying to pick something up and throw everyone a bone to chew on while Dwight Howard and/or the Magic FINALLY do something. Great.

  • http://www.bettlejuiceXs3.com Chicagorilla

    Damn that was a tough game. I’m not gonna trip about the foul calls or nothing like that, by now I’ve come to expect that. And I’m sure the Bulls knew it was coming. But those FTs hurt. I have a feeling DRose will get a similar chance come playoff time and shyt will be different.

    As for the Dwight to Chicago talk. I read the articles. Dwight said something like “If God wants it to happen then it will happen.”
    Take that for what it’s worth.

    @Dime
    I really don’t understand the UConn frontline comparison. You can’t exclude the main player (Drummond) in order to make a point about the other starter vs the back ups.

  • JDish

    Want to get off of the Dwight Howard subject for a bit and ask if Ricky Rubio is actually getting more minutes and at the same time he’s averaging like 6 pts and 7 assists per game? So are we still saying that they should take minutes away from Luke Ridnour and give them to Rubio?
    Is it true also that Rubio averaged 5 pts and 6 asts per game in his last two seasons in Spain. Was he injured??
    So hopefully he’ll pick it up right or he’ll continue giving us 5 & 6 per night for now on.

  • http://www.bettlejuiceXs3.com Chicagorilla

    @JDish

    Rubio is playing better as a starter. The only thing that has dropped is his shooting percentages. But Rubio has been playing closer to 35min a night since he became a starter and was on a 4 game string of double digit assist that was broken in yesterdays game. Rubio starting has helped the TWolves get off to much better starts from game to game. So they don’t have to fight to climb back into every game. And now with B-Easy back in the line up, they have even more firepower. They can become very dangerous in the next couple months.

  • control

    I hate it when reporters ask one player about another player. They will NEVER get the truth out of the guy, instead it’s going to be a canned response. You see it a lot with boston and questions about Rondo, his teammates get tired of his attitude, but they’ll say something like “he’s really passionate and maturing” instead of “the guy is a douchebag and I can’t stand him”. It’s why I HATE it when people quote shit that another player or coach says about someone, and use it as proof of anything.

    How many people who are on the Lakers are going to bash Kobe’s shot selection and call him out on it straight up? They might say something like “Kobe’s the greatest player in the history of the game, he really puts up a lot of shots but he’s the greatest player of the game.” instead of “that ball hogging motherfucker lost us the game with his bullshit, I was being guarded by the weakest front line in the league and only got 5 shots, wtf?”.

    Bottomline, 98% of what players say about each other, even if they are on different teams, is canned response bullshit and nobody should pay any attention to it at all.

    KDiz

    That media bullshit you are referring to is the entire reason I hate ny like I do, the people, fans and entire city buy into that same bullshit. It is how guys like Ewing get tossed around as greatest center to ever play the game discussions.

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

    @control — There are a few guys who will speak honestly about certain players, but you’re right: For the most part players just say what they think reporters want them to say, or just whatever is the least controversial.

    So if the popular narrative is that Kobe is the best clutch player in the NBA, and you asked most NBA players who they’d want taking the clutch shot, they’ll say Kobe just to fall in line. In reality, most of them probably want that shot themselves, or they’d pick whoever is the top clutch guy on their team. But let Marvin Williams say, “I’d want to take the shot myself” or “I think Chris Paul is the most clutch guy in the NBA,” the next day’s headline will say something like “Marvin Williams thinks he’s better than Kobe Bryant,” or “Williams says Kobe is overrated in the clutch.”

  • http://datpiff.com beiber newz

    oh austin..you mean how the popular pick for mvp would be to say durant or lebron and when i said, in my opinion, melo would play like an mvp..everyone on this dime website came for my life, bank savings, future kids and family members because i stepped outside the box?

  • http://datpiff.com beiber newz

    you know what…i remember when aaron brooks was the ill problemo at the pg when he was balling in houston. for some reason he fell off n got sent to the bench in favor of lowry. but i think, if it’s possible, he should go to ny or da lakers.

    he would play well in dantoni’s system, i think even pre-benching form and in LA he would spread the floor and would bring back fast breaking la. and he can hit that 3 boyyy. ef gilbert, brooks should be 1st n foremost. but i think brooks can command some money so i don’t actually see it happening.

  • First & Foremost

    LOL… If Marvin Williams said he wanted to take the last shot, they would draw up a play that has him inbounding the ball. Before they break the huddle, “Remember pass it to Joe when he is open… then step in bounds to watch.”

    But Beiber, Melo hasn’t done very little in NY to warrant MVP consideration. Aside from taking the last shot, what does Melo do to “put him in the discussion”? Is the focal point of the offense to make the game for his teammates easier? Does he play excellent weakside defense? Does he even lockdown his position? Besides being a scorer what would he do to get meaningful MVP votes?

    You voiced your opinion oh so many weeks ago and it just happened to be on the other side of the fence as a lot of other people. Oh well, only time will tell. Until then, keep it movin’

  • http://datpiff.com beiber newz

    mvp is a discretion thing. all the things you mentioned, did dirk or nash fill all those criteria?

  • EN FUEGO

    HAHAHAHA. Still trying to weasel your way out being homo for Melo. Admit it. You got caught with MVP cock in your mouth. Stop spitting and just swallow it, fag.

  • http://datpiff.com beiber newz

    but i was just trying to draw parallels to what austin said about talking about the norms. i wasn’t speaking on melo being mvp. i was more so, ignoring what i spoke of specifically of melo-mvp, just making a comparison of how dime readers came at me guns blazing, because i said something “out the norm”. that is it. i been moved on from the topic itself and my feelings towards it. here, i was just speaking of the outcome specifically i received because i said something not everyone would have agreed with and how if marvin williams said something no one agrees with, he would get treatment like that as well.

  • http://datpiff.com beiber newz

    en fuego, u giving advice on swallowing semen? u have experience doing so?

  • EN FUEGO

    haha. nice try, fag. your the only one here with that kind of experience. you get cumfaced in smack most of the time.

  • EN FUEGO

    also doing “parallels” to what you’ve been saying and getting technical all the time. too pussy to back it up bout what you say. is it so hard to come out of the closet and admit something and be wrong for once?

  • Bilal

    @JDish
    Comparing stats of european ball and nba can’t be done. The whole ball philosophy is different. For a rookie in the nba (especially an international player) dishing 8 assists (3rd in nba) is pretty damn good.

    Man I wish the players would stop being so nice about other players. Sometimes just sometimes I wanna see someone be “real”. But the media would turn it into an episode of “When keepin it real goes wrong”

    I think all the players (except kobe) are soft. I want an nba with fire, rivalry, controversy etc. I mean I’m from England, there’s no love between soccer players from different teams, I remember watching a post game and some guy told the reporters he doesn’t respect this other guy as a player and a person. Come on stern, I don’t want tellytubby nba.

  • control

    Bilal

    I agree 100% with ya about players being soft, and that is mostly because of Stern’s iron hand coming down on any guys who “keep it real”.

    I’d love to see a Mike Tyson sort of interview, with some guy saying something like “I hate that guy, and want to eat his damn kids”. You know there are guys out there who hate each other, like when Fat Davis ran into LeBron in Vegas and wanted to say hi, LeBron’s entourage told him to go ahead and fuck himself, haha. We need more hate in the nba, and less wanna be haters.

  • First & Foremost

    Did Nash make the game for his teammates easier? I’d be inclined to say yes. Those MVP years for him, he was the sole leader of those teams. As Nash went, everyone else went. He had the ball in his hands 90% of the time he was on the floor. Melo, is just a scorer. He thrives in a solo role. If he could he’d Iso himself on the wing and as long as he got his stats nothing else would matter.

    Dirk’s reason for winning, I personally don’t agree with, was that he was the best player on the best team. The best player on the best team. The best team is pretty damn good without their best player so why should the best player on that team be rewarded for how good his team is? Where is the value in that player? Anyway, the Knicks would somehow have to become the best team. Unfortunately they are too unbalanced. Also with Miami being as good as they are, the Knicks would be hard pressed to even be the best team in their own conference. Dirk was the sole leader of his team. Melo bullied his way into a situation where a star was already the sole leader of that team.

    It is hard to win MVP without being the leader of the team. I could argue Dwight not being a leader was just enough of an edge for Rose to win last year. Melo is not a leader. Votes will be taken from him in favor of other leaders in the league.

    FnF’s MVP List: No particular order
    Rose – Lebron has to have an “average” couple of months.
    Lebron – 45Ws 30ppg 7reb 7reb. Wade would have to coast through the year willingly or being hurt.
    Wade – Lebron would need to have a Nancy Kerrigan moment after practice.
    Durant – 30ppg and in conference or at least 5th in the league. Westbrook falls in line.

    IMO, no one else has a realistic shot. Personally I feel the MVP should be a player that their team absolutely can’t function without. Joe Johnson, the Hawks aren’t that great when he doesn’t show up. Living in the shadows, he will never win. Dwight is pissing away a season just to get traded. LMA, mofo is crushing everyone at his position and is the leader of his team, but living in the shadows works against him too.

    If Melo were to win, he’d have to play point forward and be seen making a defensive play. Chances of those things happening, slightly higher than Jordan becoming the best Crawford ever in the league.

  • http://www.bettlejuiceXs3.com Chicagorilla

    @Control

    Funny you mention it, because Joakim Noah is THAT GUY. He has said on several occasions that he doesn’t like Lebron and Kevin Garnett. Nobody hates him for it either. So really there’s no excuse that players don’t speak up more. I think they all just have a punk mentality. Some of it has to do with the media and marketing im sure (Nike guys like Kobe and LBJ can’t be fighting eachother) but i think these guys just don’t have it in them.

  • http://datpiff.com beiber newz
← Older Comments
-->