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 »

Ask anybody who knows anything about basketball which player they’d choose to build a team around long-term, and most likely they’ll choose LeBron. (Others would probably say Dwight Howard, and other renegades might throw out names like Chris Paul and Derrick Rose.) But if you need a clear example why a lot of those same people who’d build around LeBron for the future would take a handful of guys over him when it comes to a one-time clutch situation in the present, look no further than last night’s Cavs/Bulls game … Read More »

Erick Dampier was almost the headline photo for today’s Smack. Seriously. In the late stages of the fourth quarter of Mavs/Hornets, Damp (16 pts, 14 rebs, 3 blks) was the most clutch player in the building, getting a putback off a Dirk Nowitzki miss to break a tie, catching an alley-oop from Jason Kidd on the next possession, then scoring on another tip-in with 16 seconds left. That should’ve been the dagger, but Dallas killed themselves at the free-throw line in the final seconds: Jason Terry missed one after Chris Paul got T’d up for arguing a push-off call (CP had pushed off on J.J. Barea like 3-4 times in the fourth, but didn’t get called for it until what looked like N.O.’s last-chance possession), then Barea missed two freebies to keep the Hornets alive. Read More »

In lieu of making yet another LeBron/Jay-Z analogy, let’s put it this way: The Cavs are treating the Wizards like LL Cool J did Canibus. They’ll take some time out to address the beef, but always with a swagger that says “Who is this little pest?” It’s even trickled down to the announcers. When Washington came out blasting last night (”Second Round Knockout”) and put the Cavs down by as much as 18 in the first half, Austin Carr admitted the game didn’t mean as much to LeBron and Co. as it did to Gilbert Arenas‘ squad. Read More »

Allen Iverson made last night’s Grizzlies/Kings game worth checking out from the beginning, but Kevin Martin made it worth staying until the end. What was originally billed as A.I.’s big debut turned into K-Mart’s showcase, it may have been the best game of the season so far, and it was a hell of a timely ad for NBA League Pass as the free preview week wraps up … Checking in to a nice ovation from the Sacramento crowd, Iverson looked like he was just testing out his hamstring in his initial rotation, a scoreless five-minute stretch of the first quarter. Read More »

Even with Vince Carter’s ankle keeping him sidelined for his latest return to Toronto (where he could get booed in an Orlando uniform this time), there were more than enough ready-made story lines going into Magic/Raptors: Hedo Turkoglu’s first game against his old squad, the next chapter in the Dwight Howard vs. Chris Bosh rivalry (quietly and consistently more exciting than Deron Williams vs. Chris Paul), and the intrigue of seeing which players would be visibly sleep-walking for a 1 p.m. EST tip-off the day after Halloween. So you can understand why nobody was ready for J.J. Redick to become the headliner. Read More »

Breaking down the first-week performances of the serious 2010 title contenders, Spurs announcer Sean Elliott messed up his words and said the Lakers took an “old-fashioned butt cooking” from the Mavs on Friday night. As it turns out, that was the best way to describe what the Spurs were about to do to the Kings on Saturday … Despite Sacramento starting probably the worst frontcourt in the League (Jason Thompson, Sean May, Desmond Mason), it was one of those nights where Tim Duncan didn’t have to do much and could let the smaller guys go to work. Read More »

By now, you should know that when NBA announcers keep saying, “Kobe is really frustrated,” it’s actually code for, “Kobe’s shot isn’t falling and he’s battling with the refs.” … That was the case during Lakers/Mavericks last night, as L.A. got smoked on its homecourt and Kobe (20 pts, 6-19 FG) struggled between breaking out his best whiny faces. 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 »

For a franchise that supposedly doesn’t have any money, the Grizzlies went all-out for their home opener. After introducing the Pistons to the theme from Beverly Hills Cop (cute), the Jumbotron showed a dramatic over-the-top video where Allen Iverson and Rudy Gay talked about “Grizz Nation” and defending homecourt. Then the DJ put on a Michael Myers/Halloween-inspired track, and the Jabbawockeez appeared at midcourt to dance. THEN they brought out Three Six Mafia, wearing Memphis jerseys and performing “Stay Fly” to bleed into the player intros, complete with smoke machines and everything else. Read More »