In the final seconds of the fourth quarter of last night’s Sixers/Bulls game, Philly was down one with the ball. Allen Iverson was not in the building, as he was home dealing with a family illness. Elton Brand and Andre Iguodala, respectively, were having perhaps their best games of the season.
But even I’ve seen enough Sixers games to know what every Philly fan was fearing most: Lou Williams was going to take it upon his shoulders to lose this game. Read More »
LEBRON JAMES (by Austin Burton)
Remember when we weren’t sure if he’d get here? Back then, the King was still a kid, all promise and potential but still unproven to a League waiting to chew him up and spit him out like so many other failed phenoms. Back then, what made LeBron different from the other boy wonders was that he wasn’t the next Shaq or the next Mike or the next Larry: He was the next Magic, the one player who hadn’t yet had a “Next.”
Six and a half years into his pro career, LeBron is undeniably a legend in the making, only now his game is harder to peg. Read More »
30. New Jersey Nets (3-40)
Last week: Lost at Phoenix; lost at Golden State; lost at Utah.
You know how some teams can play any style and win? The Nets have become adept at losing with any style. Last week they lost trying to run. They also lose in the halfcourt, lose when they go big, lose when they go small, lose with a youth movement, lose with vets, lose at home, lose on the road … their company softball team probably stinks, too.
29. Minnesota Timberwolves (9-36)
Last week: Lost to Oklahoma City; lost to New Orleans; lost at Milwaukee.
If you’re into moral victories, the Wolves can be proud of at least taking the Thunder and Hornets down to the wire. The talent and competitiveness is there; you just see the execution failures that come with a young team. Read More »
Last Friday against the Lakers, while the Knicks were pretending to be a feisty underdog capable of putting a scare into a #1 seed should they crack the playoffs — only to be exposed against the Mavericks in a 50-piecing two days later — the All-Star resume of NY’s David Lee was one of the night’s themes. At one point, ESPN’s Jeff Van Gundy said that players from sub-.500 teams should be banned from making the All-Star team, presenting one extreme in the annual debate over how important a team’s win-loss record should be for an individual player’s All-Star case. Read More »
David Stern knew better than to seriously compete with the NFL conference championships on Sunday, putting only three games on the NBA schedule. And good thing the Vikings lost, because if Brett Favre had made the Super Bowl, the media hype over the next two weeks might lead the NBA to suspend their operation altogether until after the entire world hopped off Favre’s jock. Peyton Manning/Drew Brees — plus some Kim Kardashian sprinkled in — we can deal with; a 24-hour, 14-day Favre love fest would be too much to handle … The Mavs faced the Knicks at MSG, and, well, Dime reader JHUSTLE can explain it best: “Aight Dime the next post has gotta be how my Mavs just destroyed the Knicks by 50. FIFTY POINTS???!!! Woooooooow just burn the Garden to the ground after that one. That team should be ashamed of themselves. That’s a 2K10 score, not a real life NBA game score. SMFH.” … Read More »
Though it’s tough to cover everything in a concise manner, let’s attempt to traverse this broad topic by way of using a simple grading system. The first letter grade after each player’s name will be based on their performance thus far, in addition to how they’ve fallen short of, met or exceeded expectations; and the second grade will be based on their expected value during the second half of the season. Read More »
The best one-two punches on a team aren’t always a big man paired with a small guard. Sure Stockton and Malone and Magic and Kareem, were two of the greatest combos in league history. But the league has had some pretty damn good backcourts over the years, from Isiah and Joe Dumars to Chauncey and Rip. Read More »
When Blake Griffin went down for the season last week, there was a lot of disbelief emanating from Southern California. Whether it was talk of a curse or simply that the Clippers will never catch a break, it’s safe to say that no one knew how to stomach it. So searching for answers, I reached out to Steve Perrin (a.k.a. ClipperSteve), the brains behind popular Clippers blog, Clips Nation. Check below as Perrin sheds light on the injury, the curse and the fan reactions from Clips Nation. Read More »
