Weekend Wonder: Kobe Bryant delivered two nice presents to his fantasy owners this past holiday weekend, averaging 36.5 points, 2.5 threes, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and 4.5 turnovers. He shot 44 percent from the field and 100 percent from the line in those two games. Kobe played a whopping 96 minutes in those two contests, thanks to a double overtime game on Saturday. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Joakim Noah rose to the challenge of playing against a stacked Lakers frontline and finished with 11 points, 20 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 6 blocks and 3 turnovers. He missed a bunch of tip-ins and ended up shooting just 25 percent (4-16) from the field and 75 percent (3-4) from the line, but his overall line was too good to overlook for this honor. He continues to exceed expectations this season. 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 »

When the NBA season gets underway, nobody has a longer list of scheduled ass-bustings on his calendar than Mario Chalmers. And not in the sense of getting lit up — more like dishing it out. All summer long, it seemed every out-of-work PG either brought up Miami as a possible destination (or the media did it for them), as if Chalmers would be a small obstacle in their taking a starting job next to D-Wade in the Heat backcourt. If and when those guys get signed, and just to the public in general, Chalmers will get to show them why Pat Riley wasn’t interested. And now you can add Rafer Alston to that list. 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 »

While No. 1 seeds UConn and North Carolina had little trouble getting through the first two rounds of the tourney and into the Sweet Sixteen, Louisville and Pitt haven’t looked nearly as strong. Yesterday, Pitt was tied with Oklahoma State around the 2:30 mark of the second half, struggling again to put away a lesser-talented team before Levance Fields took over. Read More »