If the Cleveland team that showed up Monday night routinely shows up this May/June, there’s no way LeBron doesn’t win his first NBA championship in 2010. Yeah, they were playing the Knicks. Still, the Cavs would’ve been tough for the ’80s Pistons to stop last night with the way they passed, moved without the ball, and played D — plus everybody had an extra spring in their step like it was Midnight Madness on a college campus … LeBron (22 pts, 7 rebs, 7 asts) had about 3-4 dunks in the first quarter, then in the second he hit some other level of craziness: Read More »
“And now, the rest of the man’s legacy is on the line. Is Kobe a Top-10 player of all-time? Top five? We’ve created a glass ceiling wherein nobody can touch Jordan, Russell, Wilt, Magic and Bird — and often but not always, Oscar, Jerry West, Kareem and Doctor J — that Kobe is threatening to shatter.
“Why not? Kobe has more rings than Bird and more buckets than Magic; he’s better defensively than West, better offensively than Russell, more clutch than Wilt. His flair for the dramatic is exceeded only by Jordan.” Read More »
LEBRON JAMES (by Austin Burton)
Remember when we weren’t sure if he’d get here? Back then, the King was still a kid, all promise and potential but still unproven to a League waiting to chew him up and spit him out like so many other failed phenoms. Back then, what made LeBron different from the other boy wonders was that he wasn’t the next Shaq or the next Mike or the next Larry: He was the next Magic, the one player who hadn’t yet had a “Next.”
Six and a half years into his pro career, LeBron is undeniably a legend in the making, only now his game is harder to peg. Read More »
Check out the exclusive sneak peek from the much-talked-about new McDonald’s commercial featuring LeBron James and Dwight Howard. For those who remember the 1993 version, this might look familiar. Tune in to CBS before the kickoff of Super Bowl XLIV to see the rest. Read More »
Score a few more votes for Lionel Hollins in the Coach of the Year race, because he may have just figured out the best way to guard Kobe Bryant at the end of a game. Last night the Grizzlies were up two on the Lakers with 21 seconds left when Mike Conley blew a chance to ice the win and bricked two free throws. Then it was Kobe’s turn, and as he was going into his move to get space for his trusty mid-range jumper over O.J. Mayo, Marc Gasol switched onto him. The 7-footer kept his arms up the entire time, and was quick enough on his feet to stay in front of Kobe long enough to force him to pass. Kobe did find Ron Artest wide open on the wing, but he missed and Memphis won. Read More »
On Friday afternoon Sports Business guru Darren Rovell posted an article on on his CNBC.com column about how McDonald’s has reportedly shot a TV spot with LeBron James and Dwight Howard that recreates the famous MJ/Larry Bird “Nothin’ But Net” commercial from 17 years ago.
Rovell got up with Jim Ferguson, one of the ad execs who came up with the idea for original spot, for the story of how the commercial shoot went down: Read More »
On the basketball court and in the corporate arena, Dwyane Wade’s potential appears limitless. As the perennial MVP candidate and newest Air Jordan pitchman confronts off-court distractions and constant speculation about his future, he’s not close to giving up his spot on the medal stand as one of the undisputed top three players in the game.
Earlier this season, Wade posed for the cover of Dime #54 (on newsstands now) and sat down to interview for this story. Read More »
One night after his back locked up in San Antonio and forced him to sit out the fourth quarter of a big game — which, knowing the man, means it had to have been debilitating pain — Kobe Bryant was in Dallas on Wednesday trying to give it a go against another West contender. For the first half of Lakers/Mavs, Kobe was obviously hurting, gingerly running around like late-model Patrick Ewing and serving as not much more than a decoy. In the second half he was moving a little better, but in true dramatic fashion, saved his best for last: Tied up with 42 seconds left after Dirk Nowitzki (30 pts, 16 rebs) hit a three, Kobe got a clear-out on Josh Howard, milked the clock, took him to the right elbow and dropped a pull-up jumper for the go-ahead bucket. Read More »
Remember when everybody looked at the Celtics’ roster last summer and realized that between KG, ‘Sheed, Pierce, Perk, Eddie House, Scalabrine and Rondo, this could be the most unlikeable NBA team of all-time? As it turns out, those guys have been fine; if anything, the main reason Boston is hard to root for remains good ol’ Tommy Heinsohn … If you turned to NBA TV last night hoping to catch a simple Celtics/Hawks game between two of the best teams in the League, we’re sorry you had to be subjected to Heinsohn’s act. Late in the third, after Doc Rivers had been ejected (stemming from an admittedly weak flagrant call on Big Baby) and the Hawks had cut a double-digit lead down to three, Heinsohn growled, “The officials have officially given this Atlanta team the game.” Never mind that Boston kept leaving Jamal Crawford wide open, they couldn’t do a thing with Joe Johnson (36 pts, 5 threes), and they couldn’t stop turning the ball over. Read More »
