Last night’s Hawks/Celtics game was about as close as you’ll get on TV to seeing good ol’ confrontational angry NBA action in-person without the actual risk of Jermaine O’Neal punching you in the face. We’re not sure if the Atlanta crowd was extra quiet or the court mics were just extra loud, but throughout the game you could hear pretty much everything Rasheed Wallace and Kevin Garnett were saying, especially ‘Sheed … Playing in the building he called home for about 20 minutes once upon a time, ‘Sheed was in vintage form: Yelling at every teammate, cussing at every opponent, and abusing every ref. Read More »
Late last night I was watching Rick Pitino weekly Louisville coach’s show — one of my favorite things about having 264 sports channels — when Pitino made a great point about defensive mentality.
Essentially, Pitino said, there are guys who get upset when they miss a shot, but aren’t nearly as bothered when they get beaten off the dribble. “We’re not going to be a good team until it bothers us more to get beat defensively than it bothers us to miss a shot,” he said. Read More »
In the past few weeks, NBA teams have been reaching into the D-League pool incessantly. Since our last D-League Hot Hand post on Jan. 11, there have been four more D-League call ups: Mario West (Hawks), Anthony Tolliver (Warriors), JamesOn Curry (Clippers) and Cedric Jackson (Cavs). The total of D-Leaguers called up in the 2009-10 season is now up to nine.
On top of guys earning 10 day contracts, several former D-League players have been making some noise. Sundiata Gaines hit a game winner against the Cavs a couple of weeks ago and has recently been signed for the rest of the season. With NBA players getting injured left and right, expect more and more D-Leaguers to get promoted in the coming weeks. Here are five players we think will be next. Read More »
Regrouping is never easy after losing your team’s best player, let alone your franchise’s three big stars. Even so, Aaron Brooks has the Houston Rockets gunning for the postseason once again this season. With his team currently in 8th place in the West, Brooks (18.7 ppg, 5.0 apg) is getting serious All-Star consideration. In the current issue of Dime, he talks about setting himself up for this breakout campaign.
ROCKET SCIENCE
It would have been all too easy to write off the Houston Rockets as Lottery bait heading into this season. Read More »
Three straight L’s at home. Scalabrine calling himself a starter. Big Baby assuming the role of crowd-antagonizing Bad Guy. Yeah, it was definitely time for Kevin Garnett to get back on the court. The day after being named an All-Star starter to surprisingly little objection (so-so stats and 11 DNP’s), KG returned for Celtics/Blazers with plenty of pent-up anger to unleash … First half, Garnett (13 pts, 2 blks) was receiving an entry pass when he shoved Rudy Fernandez to the floor and got whistled for a foul. While KG was arguing with the ref, Andre Miller casually poked the ball out of his hands, so KG gave ‘Dre a forearm shot to the chest without taking his eyes off the ref or even breaking his sentence. We believe doctors call that the Bully Reflex … Read More »
Don’t you hate it when somebody clowns you, but what they’re saying is true?
Responding to one Dime reader (appropriately named Eugene) accusing the magazine of an “institutional bias” against LeBron James, another reader, control, pointed out: “I think the main people Dime jocks on undeserving is Rondo, Stephan (sic) Jackson back in the day, guys who have potential but don’t fulfill it (Beasley/Gerald Green) and AB has this weird and sick mancrush on Zach Randolph.”
And I don’t even have a comeback. Yeah, I can admit I’m a bigger fan of Z-Bo than just about anybody I know who isn’t related to him, but I have my reasons: 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 »
Nothing against LeBron, Kobe, ‘Melo and the rest of the usual suspects, but if the Hornets make the playoffs, let’s just scrap the voting process and hand the MVP to Chris Paul. With his team battling to stay above .500 and tied for 10th in the West, CP might be carrying a bigger load than any superstar — and that’s only a “might be” because of Dwyane Wade … Hosting the red-hot Grizzlies, Paul again had to dominate just for N.O. to squeak out a win. He took over after Memphis went up by nine with 4:30 to go, scoring or assisting 17 of the Hornets’ final 20 points. With 40 seconds left, N.O. was up one when Paul (21 pts, 13 asts) froze Jamaal Tinsley with a series of shakes and stuck a mid-range jumper. “You just don’t want Child Welfare to come and say anything about the way he’s shaking him!” laughed announcer Gil McGregor … Read More »
A few quick things about me. I was born up north, but love the south – especially Atlanta, where I live. I work for NBA TV and take my work home with me every night. There’s nothing like working a 12-hour shift and then coming home to talk about the games on Twitter. I love stats. Until I decided to work for the NBA, I was going to be a fashion designer. I even have a portfolio. I do music on the side, and I work with hip-hop producers but write pop/soul lyrics. I played competitive tennis. And as you will soon see, I love to write. Read More »
