Amid all the flopping and jawing and Chris Paul-saving the Clippers endured Monday night in their Game 4 win over Memphis, two dunks by two different Clips from two different teammates brought all 20,000-plus in Staples Center to their feet in a full-on “Lob City” moment.

Neither play is better than the work Paul did in overtime. Paul’s eight points in OT lit the entire city and the Twittersphere on fire like it was 1991 and everyone was trying to be in “Backdraft.” That was a flat-out backyard barbecue of Memphis’ backcourt. No, these are just a couple of nice alley-oops done by the gold standard team of alley-oopers. Paul’s dish to DeAndre Jordan and Mo Williams‘ dime to Blake Griffin came through as huge highlights. Read More »

If Chris Webber, who spent years playing with the man often credited with bringing acting to the NBA, is criticizing how much a team flops, there are problems. Webber partnered with Vlade Divac. He knows the intricacies of flopping and ref-goading. It became a perfect marriage then to have C-Webb call last night’s Game 4 between the Clippers and Grizzlies for TNT because that might’ve been the most blatant prolongation of flopping we’ve seen all year. It was ugly. It was bad. At times, it was downright embarrassing and frustrating. The Clippers’ star players are so good flopping should never come into it. Read More »

Oh, we want to put an asterisk by this so, so bad. But damn, Chris Paul is just too, too good. We can forget that CP and Blake Griffin will probably wake up today with whiplash from all of their flopping and flailing. Paul dropped eight overtime points, cooked half the Grizzlies roster, and finished with 27 points, nine rebounds and seven assists as the Clippers went up 3-1 on Memphis, 101-97. After not having a single second-chance point all game, L.A. had two buckets in a row off misses in overtime, and even with Mike Conley (25 points, seven rebounds, eight dimes) playing the game of his life, the Grizzlies couldn’t finish. Again. … Read More »

Thank you James Harden. With Dallas in danger of extending the inevitable, – OKC in the second round – the super sub stepped up and destroyed the defending champs down the stretch. Harden finished with 29 points in the Thunder’s six-point win to complete the sweep, and was so good, everyone forgot about KD (24 points, 11 rebounds) and Westbrook in crunch time. Dirk Nowitzki (34 points) was struggling to hold Dallas’ once 13-point fourth quarter lead as OKC hit them with a 12-0 run, which including one spurt where Westbrook had two straight steals, leading to big dunks from Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka. Eventually, it spread to a 21-5 run and Durant was in everyone’s face during a timeout to end the series. Read More »

There were some spectacularly embarrassing moments this season. From Nick Young and Vince Carter air balling layups to Devin Harris and Brandon Knight getting showers in the crowd, you needed a thick skin to survive these 66 games. Everyone was getting roasted. But upon watching this video, I only have one question: WHERE IS JAVALE MCGEE? Read More »

Considering the rare tragedies and triumphs that dominated Wednesday’s sports headlines — from the death of Junior Seau to Jered Weaver throwing a no-hitter for the Angels — nothing in the NBA playoffs could have happened to make the day feel any more surreal. Not even the fact that the Clippers and Grizzlies delivered the best game of the night. Wait a minute: Clippers? Grizzlies? Playoffs? You’re talking about playoffs? … Having been on the wrong side of that incredible Game 1 fourth-quarter comeback, Memphis faced a gut check in Game 2. Read More »

Dante Cunningham gave Blake Griffin a taste of his own medicine last night, coming from off his back to slam down a follow-up jam on the dunking machine’s head. Overall, it just wasn’t a good night for BG, and this punctuated it. Cunningham used his back as a ladder, and afterwards it wouldn’t have been complete unless he told Griffin, “Welcome to the playoffs.” Read More »

You see that? That’s what all those people in Boston and Minnesota used to talk about; what all those people in Utah still talk about. Last night, that was Al Jefferson showing his entire skill set, showing why he should be right up there in the discussion with Andrew Bynum and whoever else you think might be the second-best center in the NBA behind Dwight Howard … In a game the Jazz needed to win to clinch the final playoff spot in the West and eliminate the Suns from contention, Jefferson put up 18 points and 16 rebounds to go with four assists and two blocks. Read More »

Nothing gets us going in the Dime offices like a good ol’ fashioned debate, and the best debates are the ones that get heated. Trying to rate the best dunkers in the league is unanimously impossible. Do you want style? Force? Does a big man get points taken away? If a player is an epic dunker in warm-ups, does that count?

Back in the day, we had Vince Carter and there was no denying what type of dunker he was. But in the current NBA, outside of perhaps one or two guys, you could make a case for anyone. Read More »

Blake Griffin complained recently about all of the cheap shots he’s been taking. Does this count? Robin Lopez nearly put the headlock on the NBA’s best dunker, and the results were a double-edged sword. He got tossed for it, but the Suns gained momentum and ended up beating the Clippers. Read More »