Whether it’s accurate or not, you often hear Kevin Garnett being referred to as a bully. Well, last night the Boston Celtics did what bullies do – they humiliated a weaker, defenseless opponent. The Milwaukee Bucks experienced the equivalent of having their lunch money taken and then stuffed in a locker as Boston held them to just 56 points – a record low for the shot clock era (Boston scored 87). It was an absolute defensive clinic by the Celtics who just imposed their will on the Bucks. “That’s about as humiliating a defeat as you’ll ever see,” a disgusted Scott Skiles said after the game. “They got us on our heels and took our competitive fight away from us. We pretty much just gave into it.” … How bad was it for the Bucks? Earl Barron (10 points) was the only Milwaukee player who finished in double figures. John Salmons, who seems to exist only to put the ball in the hoop, failed to record a single point … Read More »

MADISON SQUARE GARDEN — Carmelo Anthony delivered the blow, full-impact right in the face of his opponent, then broke into a speedy yet awkward backpedal, looking like a man built to play defensive end trying to imitate a cornerback.

And the New York crowd, at their loyal and passionate best, gave him a wild standing ovation. Wait … what?

There were plenty of surreal moments during Carmelo’s first game as a Knick, but for me, that was the standout. Read More »

Some debuts, for all their hype, are ultimately quiet and relatively forgettable. That was not the case for Carmelo Anthony with the New York Knicks last night. Some of the Dime crew was at MSG for Knicks/Bucks, which was almost an entire workday in of itself — the introductory press conference for ‘Melo and Chauncey Billups began at 5 p.m., and the last post-game interview with ‘Melo didn’t wrap up until after 11 p.m. In between, ‘Melo dropped 27 points and 10 rebounds in his NY opener, Chauncey put up 21 points and 8 assists, and the Knicks spoiled Milwaukee’s plans to play spoiler … Read More »

Beast of the Night: Josh Smith gave his owners some love on Valentine’s Day with a line of 27 points, 14 rebounds, three assists, three steals and one three-pointer. He shot 65 percent (11-17) from the floor, 100 percent (4-4) from the free-throw line and had five turnovers. Smith is averaging season-high marks in his shooting from the field, scoring, rebounding and steals so far in February. He’s also shooting free throws a lot better lately. Read More »

Beast of the Night: LeBron James finished with 41 points, 13 rebounds, eight assists, three steals, one block and two three-pointers made. He shot 65 percent (15-23) from the field, 69 percent (9-13) from the line and had four turnovers. This was a nice “bounce-back” game after having two relatively quiet games after his 51/11/8 game on Feb. 3. James has been a top-five fantasy player during the past month. Read More »

On paper, Magic vs. Clippers was shaping up to be a nice showcase for the NBA. You had Dwight Howard and Blake Griffin, the two most ferocious dunkers and beastly physical specimens in the League, sharing the court. You had one of the top teams in the East hosting an up-and-coming threat in the West. You had random entertaining guys like Jason Richardson, Baron Davis, Gilbert Arenas and DeAndre Jordan lurking in the supporting cast ready to do something … But then the game started, and frankly, both teams looked amateurish for stretches while putting the Amway Arena crowd to sleep. Read More »

Injuries are inevitable and hard work pays off. Just ask Chris Johnson (Blazers) and Garrett Temple (Bucks), former teammates at LSU and the two most recent NBA call-ups from the D-League. These two were the benefactors to open rosters spots due to a rash of injuries on the Bucks (Brandon Jennings, John Salmons) and Blazers (Marcus Camby, Greg Oden). Read More »

No one knows whether or not the San Antonio Spurs really care about the regular season, and the strange events that took place at Madison Square Garden last night didn’t give us any better indication. After hanging within striking distance of the Knicks throughout the second half, the Spurs found themselves down by 10 with three minutes left after Ray Felton (28 pts, 7 asts) went berserker in crunch time. That’s when Gregg Popovich pulled all of his starters — bringing in Chris Quinn, Gary Neal, Ime Udoka, Matt Bonner and Tiago Splitter to replace Tony Parker (26 pts), Manu Ginobili, Richard Jefferson, Tim Duncan and DeJuan Blair. Read More »

Winning really does fix everything. Similar to how the early-season needling of LeBron and Chris Bosh has been all but muted since the Miami Heat started cracking off W’s like Popeye’s makes biscuits, we’re also hearing nowhere near as much noise about Pat Riley coming in to save Erik Spoelstra from himself on the Miami bench. Last night’s Heat/Warriors game was another vote of confidence for Spoelstra, who watched his team sleep-walk through the first half, then got them to strap up defensively and pull off a comeback win in the second half … Read More »

The haters are running out of reasons to throw rocks at the Heat. Last night’s blowout of the Hornets — a team that has W’s over Dallas, San Antonio and Miami already on its resume — provided an answer to just about every criticism that’s been levied against D-Wade, LeBron and Bosh‘s crew … You say Wade and ‘Bron can’t play together? While Wade dominated the second quarter, scoring 20 of his 32 points, LeBron owned the third, scoring 13 of his 20 as Miami turned a one-point halftime deficit into a seven-point lead going into the fourth quarter. Read More »