Ranking the NBA from worst to first…

30. New Jersey Nets (7-56) — Garbage in, garbage out, garbage up, garbage down.

29. Minnesota Timberwolves (14-50) — In Monday’s loss to Dallas, Kurt Rambis sat Kevin Love most of the night and played Darko in his place, claiming he wanted to have a more active big man to give Dirk some problems. You’re over-thinking it, homeboy. Play the double-double kid. Read More »

After a disaster of a debut, Antawn Jamison was a lot better in Game #2 of his Cavs career. Jamison put up 19 points and 8 boards coming off the bench against Orlando, giving Rashard Lewis joystick moves in the paint and stepping out to bury jumpers in his face, but Cleveland still lost its third straight … Reminiscent of the “Kobe hates Shaq” era of annual Christmas Day games, ABC focused on the pre-game dap session to see how Shaq and Dwight Howard would interact. After a harmless fist bump, Old Superman and New Superman went to work: Read More »

With a day off in between the All-Star Game and the continuation of the NBA schedule, Monday was a time for trades, post-trade fallout, and trade rumors … As we wrote this column, the Blazers and Clippers were reportedly very close to closing a deal that would send Marcus Camby to Portland for Travis Outlaw and Steve Blake. The Blazers have to do something to cover the hole left at center by Greg Oden and Joel Przybilla‘s injuries, because going into the playoffs with Juwan Howard starting in the middle is just asking for a first-round exit. Read More »

There were just too many elements conspiring against the Mavs going into last night’s game in Denver. Facing the second part of a road back-to-back in the Mile High altitude is bad enough, but it gets worse considering the previous game was a grueling 48-minute track meet at Golden State. On top of that, Dallas was without Shawn Marion (back) and Erick Dampier (knee). And finally, Carmelo and Chauncey were back after missing time with respective ankle injuries. Stir it all up, and you have Dallas getting almost 40-pieced in what amounted to a scrimmage for the Nuggets … Read More »

Why would LeBron want to join the Knicks when he has such a good time destroying them? Hosting NY last night, ‘Bron turned in another “I own these fools” performance, dropping 47 points (17-31 FG), six threes, eight boards, eight dimes and five steals. Whoever Mike D’Antoni threw at him — Wilson Chandler, Jordan Hill, Jared Jeffries, Jake Sully, Jigsaw, etc. — got their eyebrows singed with a steady stream of jumpers. During one stretch in the first half LeBron scored 24 straight points. For anybody who still claims LeBron is limited to putting his head down and bull-rushing his way to the rim, watch this game … Read More »

Ranking the NBA from worst to first…

30. New Jersey Nets (3-30) Last week: Beat New York, lost to Cleveland. After closing out December by experiencing the thrill of victory for the third time, the Nets have a handful of winnable games coming up this month, including the Wizards, Pacers, Sixers, Bucks and Clippers at home.

29. Minnesota Timberwolves (7-28) Last week: Lost at San Antonio; lost to Utah; lost to Orlando; lost at Indiana. The League’s third-worst three-point shooting team (and 4th-worst in triples made) needs a shooter or two. Anybody know what Chuck Person and Anthony Peeler are up to? Read More »

They all count from here on out. Friday was the last day of NBA preseason action, with a nearly full schedule that included two national TV games: Hawks/Magic and Nuggets/Lakers … Orlando effectively ended their contest early, going up by 20-plus in the first quarter and capping an undefeated preseason with a near 40-piecing. Vince Carter dropped 26, hit all five of his threes, and was throwing down double-clutch dunks along the baseline while the Hawks basically watched. Dwight Howard put up 25 points, 13 boards and three blocks … Even more impressive about Dwight’s performance was that he managed to beast Al Horford. Read More »

Principal D-Stern had to have been pleased with his product yesterday, as two of the NBA’s three preseason games took place outside the United States. In Taiwan, the Pacers blew out the Nuggets: Troy Murphy put up 20 points with four threes, and Brandon Rush (20 pts) knocked down six triples, but the real story was Roy Hibbert. The kid was a BEAST, going for 20 points, 11 boards and eight blocks. Granted, Nene being out meant Denver started Johan Petro at center, but he only played 10 minutes before Birdman and K-Mart assumed most of the duties inside. It’s just preseason, but in the Nuggets‘ two games against NBA teams (they smashed a team of kids from Belgrade), they haven’t looked good at all … Read More »

A good sign that things are getting busier and crazier around here: A couple years ago, if the first televised NBA preseason game was on during the workday, you would’ve found at least 2-3 members of the Dime crew parked on the office couch in front of the TV, workload be damned. This year, the best we could do was catch some of Jazz/Bulls (from London) on a side-glance … No Derrick Rose for this one, as he reportedly hurt his ankle the day before in practice. (Funny how that coincided with his 21st birthday on Sunday. Not that we’re accusing anybody of anything.) Read More »

Thanks to some sloppy play by the Nuggets and that same ol’ sharp execution by the Jazz, there wasn’t much excitement left by the end of last night’s NBA preseason opener. Deron Williams (16 pts, 6 asts) and C.J. Miles (16 pts, 3 stls) led Utah as they teased a 20-piecing before halftime, allowed Denver to cut it to single-digits by the break, but pulled away in the second half to win 103-87. Carmelo (13 pts, 4-11 FG) and James White (13 pts) led the Nuggets, who had 27 turnovers as a team … Carlos Boozer started at PF and finished with seven points and seven boards in 20 minutes, while Paul Millsap came off the bench for seven points and three rebounds in 18 minutes. Boozer somehow didn’t get resoundingly booed by the home fans, but he didn’t exactly get a hero’s welcome, either. Read More »