Just like Stephon Marbury — the last New York Knicks guard acquired by the Boston Celtics at midseason expected to provide backcourt depth and a little scoring punch going into the playoffs — opinions were split on Nate Robinson being able to fit in with the Celtics.

At his best, Nate is a valuable scorer off the bench who can go for 20 points in 20 minutes, take over a game and drop 40 on any given night, and consistently brings energy to the court. Read More »

LeBron vs. Carmelo was the one intended to define the era. LeBron vs. Kobe became the one we’ve been trained to anticipate. But a lot of people will tell you the NBA’s real must-see rivalry is LeBron vs. D-Wade. Last night in Miami they turned in another classic … It took LeBron a whole quarter and a half to make his first field goal, but once he did, the floodgates were open. For one stretch of the second quarter, ‘Bron and Flash combined for 24 consecutive points, blending pull-up threes with and-one drives to the rack. Read More »

The relatively easy time Cleveland had running the Lakers out of their own gym in the most-hyped NBA game of the year was personified best by, of all people, Anderson Varejao. At the start of the second quarter, as the Cavs began to build a 20-point lead that the Lakers could never make up, Varejao looked amazingly competent on offense: He hit a fadeaway, used a smooth up-and-under to get himself a layup, and actually handled the ball for significant stretches without looking like a doofus … Meanwhile, LeBron and Co. ran most of the quarter, getting numerous transition opportunities off L.A. turnovers and taking some steam out of the Staples Center crowd. 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 »

Last year we debuted the “Highs and Lows” system — previewing the NBA season by predicting the respective ceiling and basement for each team. Same theme, different season…

Added: Rasheed Wallace, Marquis Daniels, Shelden Williams, Lester Hudson

Lost: Leon Powe, Stephon Marbury, Mikki Moore, Gabe Pruitt Read More »

The Big Three had the night off Tuesday (as did Mike Sweetney, so maybe that’s like The Big Five), leaving Rajon Rondo and Rasheed Wallace to carry the load in the Celtics’ win over the Nets. ‘Sheed posted 20 points and nine boards before tweaking his ankle in the third quarter, taking turns shooting Yi Jianlian‘s face off and beasting Ed Najera in the post; Rondo had 18 points and 13 dimes and took over in the fourth quarter. Big Baby helped seal the W by showing some vertical and swatting Courtney Lee on one of NJ’s last possessions, then getting a key offensive board on a Rondo missed FT in the final seconds. Read More »

When the NBA season gets underway, nobody has a longer list of scheduled ass-bustings on his calendar than Mario Chalmers. And not in the sense of getting lit up — more like dishing it out. All summer long, it seemed every out-of-work PG either brought up Miami as a possible destination (or the media did it for them), as if Chalmers would be a small obstacle in their taking a starting job next to D-Wade in the Heat backcourt. If and when those guys get signed, and just to the public in general, Chalmers will get to show them why Pat Riley wasn’t interested. And now you can add Rafer Alston to that list. Read More »

This will get the LeBron haters’ blood pressure up. The Orlando Sentinel polled 11 “NBA experts” (a.k.a. media) to handicap the Eastern Conference for next season, and the Cavs were given the No. 1 spot. The Celtics ranked second, and Orlando third. Apparently replacing Hedo Turkoglu and Courtney Lee with Vince Carter and Matt Barnes was seen as a step backwards for the Magic, while a healthy Kevin Garnett and the addition of Shaq helped pushed Boston and Cleveland to the top … Read More »

Nobody on this magazine/website’s staff is dumb. We’ve been at this game for years now, and believe we have a pretty good read on the pulse of both the industry and the fans. So we knew that by populating the site with several posts yesterday that were directly or indirectly about LeBron James, there would be some heavy backlash from some readers. But the level of some of the hating was crazy … Over the weekend, Dime’s Aron Phillips went to a Nike media summit/sneaker launch in Akron, Ohio, dedicated to LeBron, so naturally he returned Monday with tons of photos and stories. And naturally, not everybody was a fan. But before you accuse Dime of turning into a vehicle for LeBron, consider this: Read More »

Dating back to the failed ’09 deadline trade that was supposed to send Tyson Chandler to Oklahoma City for a package headlined by Chris Wilcox, every rumored deal we heard involving Chandler had the Hornets getting short-changed. Names like Rasho Nesterovic and Didn’t You Used To Be Ben Wallace were among those being thrown around, but if the trade that was reported last night to be close to happening actually goes through, the Hornets would be big winners. The rumor has Emeka Okafor headed to New Orleans in a trade for Chandler, and last time we checked, several sources are saying it’s just about complete … Read More »