Seven matchups to watch on Friday’s 13-game schedule…
Detroit @ Orlando: The Demons vs. Dwight Howard
How else do you explain Howard consistently looking his worst against the Pistons no matter who’s on the roster or the coaching staff? Earlier this week, old nemesis Ben Wallace led a new unit of goons that limited Dwight to eight points and five boards, and fouled him out in just 17 minutes. How much money would Superman pay Krypto-Nate Robinson this summer not to sign with the Pistons if it looked like things were headed that way? Read More »
Eight days into the NBA season is always a good time for overreaction. It’s not that it’s too early to make observations — e.g., I don’t think it’s going out on a limb to predict a monster year for Carmelo Anthony right now — but it is too early to put the tombstone on some players who aren’t starting out so hot.
Players like Russell Westbrook. Over the summer, I was the main one leading the charge in the Dime office over Westbrook, insisting he’d blow up this year like Deron Williams blew up in his second pro season. 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…
One sequence defined last night’s Lakers/Nuggets national TV preseason game: In the second half, after Kobe Bryant had already come out of the locker room with That Look in his eye, he pulled off his new favorite move on Kenyon Martin; getting him in the air with a pump fake and spinning a quick 360 to his left, dropping a jumper as K-Mart harmlessly floated back to Earth. Then on the Nuggets’ ensuing possession, Kobe jumped a passing lane and finished with a breakway one-hander, slapping on the bottom-teeth snarl as an exclamation point … 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 »
No team will ever admit it — not even the OKC Thunder — but some NBA uniforms are just plain ugly. From the ’90s Nets (tie-dye?) to the original Vancouver Grizzlies to the Wizards’ gold/black tragedy, there have been some bad ones along the way. And with their bright orange base and the checkered-flag side panel for “special” occasions, the Charlotte Bobcats have cracked the list since their inception. Yesterday, however, the ‘Cats unveiled their new unis, the one Gerald Wallace is wearing in the photo. No more bright orange overload; it’s blue for the road and white at home. (The orange is “avant garde” according to the press release.) Read More »
With Bruce Bowen retiring last week and John Stockton headed for the Hall of Fame this week, the concept of the “dirty” basketball player has been in discussion around the Dime office.
Even the casual NBA fans knows about notorious thugs like Bowen, Bill Laimbeer and Ron Artest, who wind up on “SportsCenter” with every elbow, slide-under ankle-breaker, hip check and hard foul they deliver. But you really have to watch the games to point out the guys who are sneaky-dirty; the ones less like Bowen and more like Stockton, whose slight-of-hand acts don’t get as much attention as the guys with reputations that precede them. Here are 10 of the sneakiest/dirtiest, a.k.a. The Wood Harris All-Stars: Read More »
It’s not exactly breaking news when an NBA backup says he wants more playing time, and that he’ll be gunning for a starting job come training camp. It is more noteworthy, however, if you’re talking about the defending NBA champions and a position battle where the backup could conceivably unseat the incumbent starter.
You want to cause a splinter within the ranks of the Solar Temple of Michael Jordan followers? Ask them whether they think MJ’s second comeback with the Wizards was a good idea. It’s like if Lauryn Hill dropped an album this year: Half her fans would be thrilled to snatch up anything by L-Boogie, while the other half would be terrified of the potential damage to her legacy when she’s clearly not at the top of her game right now.
But really, the concept of “going out on top” is one that has become strangely unique to sports. Read More »
Welcome to the (so far) most Twitter-infected edition of Smack ever written. We begin with Nate Robinson, who was arrested yesterday in NYC for driving on a suspended license, and broke the news himself — on Twitter. Nate actually tweeted while he was being pulled over (if only this kind of technology existed when Rodney King got popped in ‘91), and what started with his windows being too tinted turned into a revelation that his license had been suspended for an unpaid ticket he says he didn’t know about. Granted, this is a very minor legal matter, but it’s also horrible timing for Nate when he’s still technically unemployed … One of the League’s other high-profile jobless guys, Allen Iverson, took his free agency news to the Twitter crowd. Read More »
