Beast of the Night: Elton Brand finally emerged and put up 19 points, 11 boards, 2 assists, 3 steals, 6 blocks and just 1 turnover while shooting 47 percent (8-17) from the field and 75 percent (3-4) from the line. This was vintage Brand and owners who have remained patient or bought low on him have to be giggling with joy right now. He’s not out of the woods just yet, but things look are looking way up for Brand and his owners today. Read More »

As this edition of Smack is being written, ESPN’s 24-hour marathon of college hoops is underway. Writing about basketball in the middle of the night while live basketball is showing on TV with no end in sight for hours? This is the life … Are the Hawks really this good? When we ranked Atlanta 5th yesterday on Dime’s weekly NBA Hit List — maybe the highest we’d ever had them ranked, at least in the last 2-3 years — the response was surprisingly strong that Joe Johnson and Josh Smith and crew should have been in the top three, maybe even holding the No. 1 spot. True, the Hawks had won four straight going into Monday’s schedule, but they’ve always been one of those Zab Judah/Asafa Powell-type teams: Read More »

During the ‘09 conference finals, Shaq showed up at one of Orlando’s home games against the Cavs, to the chagrin of a lot of people associated with the Magic. Last night Shaq was back in the building; this time wearing a Cavs uniform. Throw in the tension leftover from when Diesel was talking greasy about Dwight Howard and Stan Van Gundy last year, and you know the fans had a lot of venom toward Big Witness Protection. He played into it, too, doing stuff like leaving his hand in the air extra-long after a free throw. And the crowd was even more pissed when Cleveland walked out with a win … Read More »

Over the weekend, Richard Jefferson served up one of the meanest dunks of the season so far at the expense of Greg Oden. But it was the Oden and the Blazers who got the last laugh, beating the Spurs 96-84 on Friday.

It’s like the schedule makers did all they could to allow LeBron to run the show Friday night. For this season’s lone trip to MSG, ‘Bron had the national TV stage while his chief rival for attention, Kobe Bryant, was stuck playing the Grizzlies in what would surely be as low-key a Lakers game as can be. Or not. Dumping 41 points (19-30 FG) on Memphis, Kobe solidified his spot as the League’s leading scorer and likely put himself in front of the early MVP race in the eyes of a lot of voters, and he surpassed the 24,000-point mark for his career; becoming the youngest to ever hit that milestone … Read More »

Every NBA season begins with a bloated numbers of players dreaming All-Star dreams. Over the summer and in the preseason, you hear guys with All-Star talent promising this will be the year they break through, or guys who are barely impact players vowing to make the leap to All-Star status. Or more often than not, it’s a coach or a teammate who runs the campaign for them. Either way, each October there’s 50 “potential” All-Stars, some of whom won’t even be mentioned in the All-Star discussion come January, and some who will fall just a bit short. Who’s on that list this year? Read More »

When the Spurs smacked the sting out of the Hornets in their season opener the other night, everybody but Tim Duncan looked like world-beaters. Last night in Chicago, Duncan proved he’s still dominant when he needs to be, but his teammates didn’t show up and San Antone took an L … The Bulls just had too many weapons to counter the Spurs’ one-man show. Derrick Rose put up 13 points and seven dimes and Luol Deng had 17 and nine boards, as the whole starting five and sixth man Kirk Hinrich scored in double figures. Read More »

Beast of the Night: LeBron James repeats as Beast of the Night, hanging a triple-double to the tune of 23 points, 1 three, 11 rebounds, 12 assists and 2 steals in a loss against the Raptors last night. He had 4 turnovers and shot 57.1 percent (8-14) from the free throw line, which seems to be his one flaw yet again this year. Read More »

Now that the 2009-10 NBA season has finally begun, we’ll have brief overviews of the previous night’s games each day, highlighting noteworthy performances and trends, along with some recommendations. These will be fantasy-focused posts and hopefully, you’ll find these to be at least a bit helpful as you navigate your fantasy squads through the regular season. Read More »

Contrary to what Chris Webber said last night, the Celtics are not going to win the 2010 championship because they picked up Rasheed Wallace. While ‘Sheed will definitely play a role, Boston isn’t winning jack (or Larry) unless Paul Pierce performs up to Paul Pierce standards. Last night was vintage Truth, as Boston downed the Cavs in the opening game of the new season, a rare home loss for Cleveland. With a little over a minute remaining in the fourth and the Celtics up by four, Pierce (23 pts, 11 rebs) ran a pick-and-roll with KG near midcourt against LeBron and Shaq. Advantage: Boston. Shaq reached, Pierce teached, then stuck a jumper from the top of the key that was essentially the dagger. Read More »