Beast of the Night:Carlos Boozer pummeled the Spurs with 27 points, 14 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks. He shot 60 percent (12-20) from the floor and a perfect 3-3 from the line while turning the ball over just once. He’s been a roller coaster all season but last night’s line against Tim Duncan and the Spurs, one of the teams favored to get to the Finals, has to inject some confidence in his owners. The window to buy low on Boozer might be closed. 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 »
Four matchups to watch on Thursday’s two-game schedule…
Chicago @ Cleveland: Luol Deng vs. LeBron James
For all the grief he took last season — getting the big contract, then promptly going into the tank with injuries and subpar play — Deng has been earning his money this year (17.8 ppg, 10.5 rpg). Read More »
Because the Jazz have the Knicks’ first round pick this year, they pretty much already have a good lottery pick in the 2010 NBA Draft. By the way their playing, they’ll have two lottery picks. At 1-3, the Jazz are off to their worst start in six years. In each of their three losses, they have lost by double digits. They blew a 15-point fourth quarter lead against the Mavericks on Tuesday night and were outscored 44-18 (29 of which were courtesy of Dirk Nowitzki). Read More »
Erick Dampier was almost the headline photo for today’s Smack. Seriously. In the late stages of the fourth quarter of Mavs/Hornets, Damp (16 pts, 14 rebs, 3 blks) was the most clutch player in the building, getting a putback off a Dirk Nowitzki miss to break a tie, catching an alley-oop from Jason Kidd on the next possession, then scoring on another tip-in with 16 seconds left. That should’ve been the dagger, but Dallas killed themselves at the free-throw line in the final seconds: Jason Terry missed one after Chris Paul got T’d up for arguing a push-off call (CP had pushed off on J.J. Barea like 3-4 times in the fourth, but didn’t get called for it until what looked like N.O.’s last-chance possession), then Barea missed two freebies to keep the Hornets alive. Read More »
In lieu of making yet another LeBron/Jay-Z analogy, let’s put it this way: The Cavs are treating the Wizards like LL Cool J did Canibus. They’ll take some time out to address the beef, but always with a swagger that says “Who is this little pest?” It’s even trickled down to the announcers. When Washington came out blasting last night (”Second Round Knockout”) and put the Cavs down by as much as 18 in the first half, Austin Carr admitted the game didn’t mean as much to LeBron and Co. as it did to Gilbert Arenas‘ squad. Read More »
By now, you should know that when NBA announcers keep saying, “Kobe is really frustrated,” it’s actually code for, “Kobe’s shot isn’t falling and he’s battling with the refs.” … That was the case during Lakers/Mavericks last night, as L.A. got smoked on its homecourt and Kobe (20 pts, 6-19 FG) struggled between breaking out his best whiny faces. 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…
Earlier this week, Sports Illustrated ran a poll with a bunch of NBA scouts for their season’s predictions. Not surprisingly, the scouts had the Lakers and Spurs at the top of the Western Conference, but what struck me as interesting is they had the Jazz fourth behind the Blazers. I love my Jazz don’t get me wrong, but I also try to be objective with my opinions. Read More »
Judging NBA talent is in Ryan Blake’s blood. The NBA Assistant Director of Scouting is the son of legendary scouting guru, Marty Blake. On top of overseeing scouting reports for the NBA, Ryan can also be found on NBA TV around draft time, analyzing college and international prospects. Blake sat down with Dime recently and gave his two cents on which rookies you need to keep an eye on for the 2009-10 season. Read More »
