And the Jeremy Lin magic rolls on. The Force is so strong with this guy that even when he doesn’t necessarily play all that well (as was the case last night), his team still wins and somehow overcomes the force of nature that is Kevin Love in the process … Lin led the Knicks to a come-from-behind win over the T-Wolves in Minnesota, 100-98, getting 20 points, six boards, eight assists and three steals. He was only 8-24 from the field, missed a few foul shots and turned it over six times, but, really, who cares? Read More »

Hopefully Kobe knows who Jeremy Lin is now. After spending time between the Lakers’ win in Boston and last night’s 92-85 loss in NYC doing his best to try to say he had no clue who the NBA’s newest sensation was, Bryant got one-upped by the man who has now scored more points in his first three starts than any player ever has since the NBA/ABA merger. Lin blew up for 38 points and seven assists, incubating Derek Fisher (He had one spin move in the first half that sent Fisher back to 1996) and running the lazy Lakers all over the half-court. Read More »

When Dime‘s own Sean Sweeney ventured into the Dean Dome last night, all we wanted was an overtime or a buzzer beater. We got what we came for. Austin Rivers is a stone cold assassin. He’s like Vincent from Collateral, except with blacker hair, and just doesn’t give a you know what. On the final possession of the biggest game of his life, Rivers came off the screen and roll just as he had probably 30 other times throughout the game, sized up Tyler Zeller and unleashed hell to bring Duke a one-point win on the road. Read More »

A legend passed a legend in Boston tonight. Paul Pierce needed 10 points to move past Larry Bird for No. 2 in Celtics history but Pierce dropped him by the third quarter as the Celtics beat the Bobcats, 94-84. Pierce will never move past the man from French Lick in the hearts and minds of Boston fans, even with now 21,797 points, but tonight wasn’t just about the points for The Truth. He added nine assists and eight boards to go with 15 points. Is that how a Celtic captain does it or not? … You knew Rajon Rondo (14 assists and 10 points) was looking for Pierce every time down the floor, too, and the C’s were setting up sets for him every chance they got. Not that the Bobcats could focus solely on the record man tonight. The other Big Two, KG (22 points) and Ray Allen (17 points) kept the Bobcats guessing … Read More »

Forget Steve Nash and Baron Davis. Jeremy Lin is taking over NYC. The Knicks survived New Jersey 99-92, and it was their popular bench warmer who had the city juiced. Deron Williams (21 points, 11 assists), the former best point guard in the world, was getting worked over by Lin (25 points, five rebounds, seven assists) down the stretch. Jumpers. Pick-n-rolls Everything was out of wack for New York. Carmelo (3-for-15) couldn’t make a shot, and Amar’e Stoudemire wasn’t much better, but Lin was pulling out reverses, and after a three-point play, Tyson Chandler was doing the Brandy Reed celebration from back in the day … Read More »

The Knicks decided real basketball was for the birds, and started launching a monsoon of treys. That might work against some teams, but not Miami, especially when Dwyane Wade is healthy and cooking. With Carmelo Anthony sitting out, the Heat weathered a random Bill Walker night (21 points, all on treys) and a bunch of other weird stuff (in the first half the Knicks were 5-for-19 on twos and 10-for-23 on threes) to pull away in the fourth quarter, 99-89. LeBron and D-Wade were all over the place, combining for 59 points and only 15 missed shots. Read More »

Yes, the title of this post is my attempt at a pun on the Wu-Tang Clan‘s debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). Regardless, the following photos depict the Minnesota Timberwolves indulging in some cryogenic chamber therapy on Tuesday. And they’re awesome. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Stephen Curry finished with 32 points, six rebounds, seven assists, four steals and six three-pointers last night. He shot 63 percent (12-19) from the field, 67 percent (2-3) from the free-throw line and had just one turnover in 38 minutes of play. Curry has racked up 74 minutes of run in his last two games, which is a good sign that his ankle is fine for the time being. Barring any further setbacks, he’ll handsomely reward owners who bought low or exercised patience on him. Read More »

Lob City’s a Laker town again, if only for a night in this upside-down season where the Clippers are the supposed juggernaut in town. With Andy Garcia looking on with an, ahem, obvious Lakers’ interest, Metta World Peace was as much a factor tonight as he hasn’t been the rest of the season. His physicality and hesitation three, his only bucket of the night, with 3:30 left capped an 11-4 run and the Lakers put the game away from there, thanks to two key plays from Andrew Bynum (19 points). In the closing seconds, he caught a lob from Kobe and finished, and then snuffed DeAndre Jordan‘s layup. Was this truly the night the big kid finally grew up? Read More »

Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love and Danilo Gallinari can all stretch out and smile. They have extensions, and won’t be going into next summer having to deal with offer sheets and money and teams vying for their services and their own teams pulling them back in. After back-n-forth rumors that nearly escalated to JoePa levels these last few days about Love, it’s official. He has agreed to a four-year, $62 million extension to stay in Minnesota. It wasn’t the max extension Rose and Westbrook both received. Reports are saying the Wolves wanted to save the “designated player” status for Ricky Rubio (in the new CBA, teams are allowed one designated player contract, which can run for five seasons). But Love will be in Minnesota, for at least until 2015, when he can opt out for an even bigger deal. Read More »