There were quite a few compelling story lines after last night’s NBA action. Eddy Curry returned to the court, Dirk Nowitzki showed he is the most clutch player in the NBA, the Atlanta Hawks continued to prove that they are legit and the Cavs/Wizards “rivalry” was renewed. The Wizards, a staple of Reebok Still Talkin’ Quote of the Day series, were on a 6 game losing streak but had their team at full strength and use that strength to pull out a 108-91 victory. For today’s Quote of the Day we look at Gilbert Arenas’ post game remarks. Read More »
In this young NBA season, no team has been a bigger disappointment than the Washington Wizards. With Gilbert Arenas being healthy again and having arguably one of the deepest rosters in the league, there were high expectations for the team coming into the season. Right now, the Wizards’ record stands at 3-7 - fourth in the Southeast Division. Prior to last night’s big win against the Cavs, Washington had lost six in a row and four of those games were by double digits. That dramatic opening night road victory in Dallas seems like a distant memory. 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 »
Gilbert Arenas’s comments in the locker room after last night’s disappointing loss to the Miami Heat were almost as deflating as his 12 turnovers. “I don’t know what the hell is going on around here,” he told reporters. “I don’t know if some old player put a curse on us back in the day. I have no idea.”
Yes, Washington is dealing with some disappointing injuries right now (including Randy Foye spraining his ankle in the first half last night), but they are clearly are feeling sorry for themselves and it’s turning into losses. Quickly. And if Gilbert and Caron Butler don’t put a stop to it ASAP, a once-promising season will be over before it even gets a chance to start.
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Beast of the Night: Dwyane Wade put up 41 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and 1 block against the Wizards last night. He shot 48 percent (14-29) from the field, 92 percent from the line (12-13), hit a three and turned the ball over twice. Wade’s having difficulty replicating his spectacular numbers from last season but he’s obviously still an outright stud.
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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 »
There is one trade that can work, one fan base that would accept Iverson with (somewhat) open arms, one team that could slide him right into the starting lineup AND win some games in the process, one place where Iverson can work to rebuild his reputation and maybe even have a future beyond this season. 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 »
Buy Low:
Devin Harris, Antawn Jamison, Kevin Love, J.R. Smith, Rashard Lewis and anyone else who is going to return from an injury or suspension in the near future should be targeted for low-ball offers.
Danilo Gallinari has turned from being an Italian stallion to an ordinary pony in the span of a week. His owners are champing at the bit for him to put up studly lines again, and in the meantime you should be dangling carrots in their faces in hopes of nabbing this three-point hoss. 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 »
