Beast of the Night: Nene put up a monster line with 20 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals, 4 blocks and 2 turnovers while shooting 62 percent (8-13) from the floor and 80 percent (4-5) from the line. It was his finest game of the season so far and his owners have to be hoping that he stays healthy. Read More »

If you’re purely interested in the best interest of Allen Iverson, you’re glad the Grizzlies had one of their business-as-usual losses against the Clippers last night. Having gone 0-3 since A.I. joined the lineup earlier in the week, for Memphis to win after Iverson had left the team for undisclosed personal reasons — even if it was against the Clips — would have brought up all the same criticisms of Iverson you saw in Detroit and at various points throughout his runs in Philly and Denver. Mainly, that A.I.’s team is better without him, and that certain young stars (i.e. O.J. Mayo in this case) are better off when he’s not in the picture … Instead, the Grizzlies did what they typically do with or without Iverson, putting up a lot of points while giving up even more. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Kevin Martin finished with 48 points on 52 percent (14-27) shooting from the field and 72 percent (13-18) from the free throw line, hitting 7 threes and adding 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals, 1 block and 3 turnovers. He was toying with O.J. Mayo during parts of the game, hitting a variety of difficult shots over his outstretched hand. K-Mart’s picking up right where he left off last season and the only major limitation to his value is his health. Read More »

The worst part about preseason polls is that voters adopt a loyalty to those pre-determined spots even after the season shows us some of those picks were just wrong. College football gets it the worst, but the same often applies for the NBA; the only saving grace is that, at the end of the day, voter opinion doesn’t matter because the NBA has a playoff.

That said, we ignored making a preseason NBA Hit List power ranking, so as not to influence this first week’s edition. Counting down from worst to first… Read More »

Light schedule of only four NBA preseason games on a day where the biggest (rumored) news was that the replacement refs probably won’t make it to the regular season due to the League being close to an agreement with the union guys. We hit on this a little bit yesterday, but it’s funny how so many media and fans are bashing the replacements as if they’ve been so much worse than the regulars. We even heard one TV talking head praise the return of the “real” refs, because the ones they’ve had in the preseason are obviously fake refs. How long will it take for NBA players to start complaining about every call again and for the rest of us to remember we thought the “real” refs stunk at their jobs, too? About 24 minutes into the first game? … Read More »

There’s no question that the class of 2008 is front-loaded with talent. And now that the rookie jitters are gone and contract extensions are in sight, how will they fare after a year in the League under their belts? The reality is, a case can be made for almost 30 guys to be on this list in some way. For instance, where do Danilo Gallinari and Roy Hibbert go with such strong coach-backing? It’s still too early to close the book on any of these guys, but so far here are my predictions. Read More »

With LeBron James not quite over his might-be-swine-might-be-regular flu bug, can you really blame the Spurs for putting some of their guys out of harm’s way last night? Manu Ginobili (the most fragile of the Big Three), Richard Jefferson (the expensive new acquisition) and Gregg Popovich (the mastermind) all took the night off from Spurs/Cavs, but San Antonio got the W anyway. Tony Parker put up 22 points and seven assists, and Tim Duncan had 13 points and nine boards in the first half before sitting out the second. LeBron finished with 22 points and six boards, including a half-court alley oop dunk, but said he’s “down probably 20 percent” as far as health … Read More »

Friday was supposed to be the glorious return of “Showtime” for one night only as the Lakers returned to The Forum, but the Warriors turned it into a Run-TMC flashback instead. Coming off an ankle injury he suffered in the preseason opener, Monta Ellis dropped 24 points and eight assists in the GS 20-piecing, while Kelenna Azubuike scored 18 and Anthony Randolph added 18 points and eight boards. (OK, so maybe it was more like Hardaway, Spree and Billy Owens.) … You think Stephen Jackson might be trying to get himself traded? He picked up five fouls and a technical in NINE minutes. Read More »

The Knicks rolled out what might be the worst NBA starting lineup you’ll see all year (Chris Duhon, Larry Hughes, Jared Jeffries, Al Harrington, David Lee), but they still managed to beat the Nets in yesterday’s preseason opener for both teams because, frankly, the Nets also have high potential to stink. Harrington led NY with 23 points, Lee had 20 and nine boards, and Wilson Chandler came off the bench for 21 points. Chandler is expected to take over that starting SG spot soon enough, but he’s been a little banged up in training camp … Nate Robinson was curiously quiet, coming off the bench for 17 minutes and scoring six points. Read More »

NBA training camps are underway, meaning it’s time again for Dime’s team-by-team season previews. Last year we debuted the “Highs and Lows” system — predicting the respective ceilings and basements for each team. In other words, what is the realistic best-case and worst-case scenario for the 2009-10 campaign?

Added: Rafer Alston, Terrence Williams, Courtney Lee, Tony Battie Read More »