Famously, Bill Russell used to vomit in the locker room before every game for his Boston Celtics. He would get so worked up vomiting was the only way to deal with the intensity he wrought on himself before going out and dominating for 48 minutes. Read More »

In all sports the basic concept is to beat your opposition. You never want to lose a game to anyone, but when your rival beats you there’s a different feel. When your rival beats you, there’s suddenly an everlasting second wind about you. When your rival beats you it feels like the whole world is laughing at you in shame. Read More »

The word “rival” is lost in the NBA today. Too often we see camaraderie between players on opposing teams. With the growing presence of AAU basketball, the players have gotten closer and closer.

AAU isn’t the only thing that brings the players together as one. The Olympic basketball experience has done it as well. Obviously when these guys are all on the same team, they must get along in some capacity, but the 2012 NBA champion Miami Heat were formed because of a rumored plan that was created during an Olympic run in 2008 by LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Read More »

Dime gave you a sneak peek last week into the second chapter of Kyrie Irving‘s “Uncle Drew” campaign for Pepsi MAX, but now there’s more from the set of the latest shoot, including how he and Bill Russell worked together. Read More »

Ballots are big news in 2012; for the NBA’s purposes, however, the way it defines “big” on its own ticket is dramatically changing. Today the NBA was reported to reveal that instead of voting for two guards, two forwards and a center for the All-Star teams, it had eliminated the center position. Now you’ll just vote for three big men — a victory for forwards playing center everywhere (looking at you, Tim Duncan). Read More »

In the new issue of Dime Magazine, we took a look at the best – and worst – the game has offered since the turn of the century. From the players to jerseys to sneakers to teams to even trends, you can relive the past 12 years by scooping up the new issue currently on newsstands nationwide. In those pages, you’ll find the following feature… Read More »

Are people really still criticizing great basketball players for wanting to play with other great players? Two years after LeBron went to Miami, four years after Boston brought together the Big Three, and about 50 years after Bill Russell played on some pretty loaded Celtics teams that everybody seems to love, this is still an issue? Jeff Van Gundy took his shot at schooling the ignorant while talking to ESPN about Dwight Howard‘s move to the star-studded Lakers: Read More »

Okay, so Monday was technically Left Hander’s Day. But you didn’t know that did you? I didn’t, not until about 10 p.m. that night because quite frankly, I never realized we had a Left Hander’s Day. So this post is a little late, but that doesn’t matter. You care about reading up on the 10 best lefties to ever put on a NBA uniform, not when you read about them. Read More »

Some NBA Finals series come to an end with a sweep, while others go seven games. In each and in everything in between, there’s a player whose performance in the closeout game is the turning point. Part of the reason the public is so interested still in the Oklahoma City-Miami series is because of LeBron James’ reputation as a non-factor in “clutch” situations. This may be the most anticipated Game 5 of a 3-1 series ever — has there ever been a series this seemingly over that’s still been considered as wide open? Read More »

Ninety-four percent of all playoff series that went to 2-0 were won by the team with the first two. When the figures about the teams that have escaped that hole and won are broken out, it’s never to inspire hope in a rally; instead that percentage is like hearing your probability of living after a grisly diagnosis. You have a 94 percent chance of not making it past the next month. Alert your kin. When we were bringing out those figures just a week ago in these NBA playoffs, though, we didn’t see the defibrillator being brought in the back door. Read More »