Call it a motivational tactic or simply of moment of brutal honesty, but Doc Rivers delivered what had to be a sobering blow for the Celtics yesterday: “One of the guys said, ‘We’re better than Orlando,’ and I said, ‘No, you’re not. They knocked you out of the playoffs last year.’ Orlando is better than us right now. Atlanta is better than us right now. L.A. is better than us right now.” (Notice how he didn’t include Cleveland, though.) … That quote was following Boston’s decisive loss to the Magic, one of just two NBA games on Super Bowl Sunday. Read More »

There’s no question that Amar’e Stoudemire would be one of the most pursued free agents this summer if he was on the open market. But it looks more and more like he’s going to go the route of Carlos Boozer and – if not traded before then – remain with the Suns for at least one more year. Read More »

If we had told you Nazr Mohammed more than quadrupled Kobe Bryant’s scoring total on a night where Kobe played 36 minutes and wasn’t missing a major limb or anything, would you believe that the Lakers still won the game? Moreover, would you believe that we weren’t on ’shrooms? … Following his 44-point performance against Memphis, Kobe scored a season-low five points (2-12 FG) against the Bobcats, and yet L.A. still managed a win. Kobe made a three in the second quarter, hit a fadeaway in the third, and otherwise bricked everything he threw up and hurt his foot when Lamar Odom stepped on it. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Kevin Durant continued his hot streak with 33 points, 11 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 block and 2 turnovers. He hit a three and shot 50 percent (9-18) from the field and 100 percent (14-14) from the line. Virtually all of his numbers are up this season and he’s managed to hoist up his field goal percentage after a miserable start. Some thought using a No. 4 draft pick on him was bullish, but it’s turning out to be about right. Read More »

There we were, all ready to make fun of Chris Webber for predicting Shaq would have a big night against Memphis because his “ego is bruised” from his All-Star snub and he wanted to take his frustration out on All-Star Zach Randolph — and then Shaq went out and made C-Webb look like Negrodamus, posting 13 points, 12 boards and four blocks next to Z-Bo’s eight points on 3-of-14 shooting in a Cavs rout … Shaq wasn’t dominant, but he helped set the tone right away. On one of Cleveland’s first possessions he beasted Marc Gasol for an easy dunk, then a couple trips later he took Z-Bo into the chamber and drew a foul. Read More »

Weekend Wonder: Kevin Durant ended January with a bang, averaging 37.5 points, 7.5 boards, 3 assists, 1.5 steals, 0.5 blocks and 1.5 threes in his last two games of the month. He also shot a blistering 70 percent from the field and 94.1 percent from the line in those games. Durant’s on a scoring binge lately and hasn’t scored fewer than 25 points since Dec. 19. Read More »

In a lot of ways, Lakers/Celtics shouldn’t have even come down to Kobe Bryant and Paul Pierce looking to trade daggers in the final seconds. The Lake Show dominated the first quarter as Andrew Bynum (19 pts, 11 rebs) took ownership of the paint and Kobe (19 pts) hit his typical array of tough shots that he made look easy. Then, after Boston recovered to make it a ballgame, L.A. found themselves down by double-digits in the fourth thanks to Rajon Rondo (21 pts, 12 asts) carving up the defense and Eddie House throwing in some big threes. So the Lakers rallied, and with 45 seconds left, Ron Artest made an awkward runner — yes, you could say all of Ron-Ron’s buckets are awkward — to cut the lead to one. Read More »

Yesterday morning, Dime gave all our loyal readers a chance to ask questions to some of their favorite players on the Raptors. There were some awesome submissions and this is definitely something we can do again at some point this season. As promised, I was able to fire away some of your guys’ questions before the game last night. Read More »

It’s not that Rashard Lewis isn’t clutch. Anybody who watched him take down the Cavs and scare the Lakers with some big-time shots in last year’s playoffs knows better than that. But the way Raw Lew sent the Celtics home last night — not with a corner three or a turnaround jumper, but with a strong drive to the cup past one of the best defenders in the world — it was the last thing you’d expect out of him … Read More »

So much for suspense. Since every reporter and their intern decided to leak the 2010 NBA All-Star reserves earlier today, tonight’s official announcement on TNT loses quite a bit of intrigue. Still, here are the official rosters as named a few minutes ago…

EAST G – Dwyane Wade G – Allen Iverson F – LeBron James F – Kevin Garnett C – Dwight Howard Bench G – Rajon Rondo G – Derrick Rose G – Joe Johnson F – Gerald Wallace F – Chris Bosh F – Paul Pierce C – Al Horford Read More »