At some point during the fourth quarter, as the Hawks were getting all they could handle from the Rockets and seemed on the verge of their first home loss of the season, Dominique Wilkins said the same thing you’re gonna hear from a bunch of opposing team announcers about the Rockets this year: “This is a GOOD basketball team!” in a surprised tone … In what might have been the most entertaining finish of the year, Houston went up by seven midway through the fourth when Aaron Brooks dusted Joe Johnson on a crossover/hesitation along the baseline for a layup. Read More »
You know what you’re going to get when the Cavs and Wizards play on national TV: Plenty of talk about LeBron’s “rivalry” with DeShawn Stevenson, LeBron’s rivalry with the Wizards, Mike Miller wearing LeBron’s shoes, maybe Washington’s injury problems … And then there was the story line for last night’s game that nobody wanted to talk about: The gossip-page reports saying Shaq got caught messing around with Gilbert Arenas‘ girl. Anyone think there’s a slight chance that’s really why Shaq sat out? Say what you want about being a professional and focusing on the game, but that’s grounds for any grown man to get punched in the face at any random moment. Read More »
What was initially diagnosed as a 6-8 week foot injury for Travis Outlaw will now keep the Blazers’ second-best clutch player out for three to five months following surgery earlier today.
According to the Oregonian, Outlaw’s foot had been bothering up for a few days leading up to Saturday’s win against Charlotte, when he suffered the fracture: Read More »
As this edition of Smack is being written, ESPN’s 24-hour marathon of college hoops is underway. Writing about basketball in the middle of the night while live basketball is showing on TV with no end in sight for hours? This is the life … Are the Hawks really this good? When we ranked Atlanta 5th yesterday on Dime’s weekly NBA Hit List — maybe the highest we’d ever had them ranked, at least in the last 2-3 years — the response was surprisingly strong that Joe Johnson and Josh Smith and crew should have been in the top three, maybe even holding the No. 1 spot. True, the Hawks had won four straight going into Monday’s schedule, but they’ve always been one of those Zab Judah/Asafa Powell-type teams: Read More »
After saying goodbye to seniors Justin Dentmon, the 2009 Pac-10’s most improved player, and Jon Brockman, UW’s all-time leading rebounder, Washington is still predicted to roll through its west coast rivals thanks to freshman phenom Abdul Gaddy. Read More »
In some respects, you have to understand where Allen Iverson is coming from. Going back to Little League and all the way through intramurals or whatever level you reached in your athletic career, we’ve all been taught that the best players start the game. Of course, it’s a little different in the NBA: If a coach really wants his second unit to have more offensive firepower or defensive stability, he might put one of his best five players on the bench, which is why Manu Ginobili and Jason Terry are annually up for Sixth Man of the Year.
That said, there are some backups who — forget what the coach might be trying to do — have no business being backups. And it’s not always because they’re so great, but that the guy starting in front of them shouldn’t be starting. Who should be taking a seat? Read More »
Don’t let the fact that Chauncey Billups shows little emotion on the court fool you into thinking he’s any less fiery of a competitor than Kobe, Dirk, LeBron, Wade or any other big-time clutch player who punctuates his daggers by making funny faces. You have to be iceberg to have hit as many fourth-quarter threes and last-second free throws as Mr. Big Shot has hit, but you also have to have a fire inside you to show up in the kind of shape he does every year and bring it at the high level he brings it every night … After Chauncey (17 pts, 6 asts, 3 stls) made the go-ahead free throw with 0.6 seconds left in last night’s Nuggets/Bulls game, he missed the second FT on purpose, giving the Bulls only 0.3 to make a game-winner. Read More »
From worst to first, ranking the NBA through the first couple of weeks…
30. New Jersey Nets (0-7) — They’re dropping like panties at R.Kelly’s house in Jersey, with starters Devin Harris, Courtney Lee, CDR and Yi Jianlian all missing games with injury and/or illness.
29. Minnesota Timberwolves (1-6) — The only bright spot of this past week was Jonny Flynn outplaying Brandon Jennings head-to-head. And the Wolves still lost that game. Read More »
Although Dwight Howard was the one guy on the Magic who didn’t look like he should give his paycheck back after last night’s embarrassing loss to Oklahoma City, that didn’t stop the Thunder announcers from using Dwight for a punchline or two. “Superman has met Lex Luger tonight,” joked commentator Grant Long. His broadcast partner came in for the correction (”Lex Luthor“) but Long had made his point: Orlando looked nothing like a championship contender on Sunday, their second such alarming performance in the last four games. 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 »
