Utah has been an odd matchup all season for Memphis, and after they jumped out early against the Grizzlies, we figured this would be the game that killed Memphis’ shot at homecourt advantage in the first round. Instead, the Grit N’ Grind gang did what they do best, and took it over in the fourth quarter, pulling away 103-98. O.J. Mayo had 17 in the fourth quarter, and his weak side triple in the final minute put Memphis up four, completing an unexpected turnaround that saw Juice score 20 and yet not have a single assist or rebound in 24 minutes. Just before that, Rudy Gay (26 points, 12 rebounds) had knocked down a triple and had a couple of beastly plays to open up a little Memphis cushion. Even with the Jazz getting another 20 points from Devin Harris, they couldn’t match the talent. Read More »

Everyone wants to talk about super teams. Of course, the Heat, Knicks, Clippers, Celtics and all the rest of ‘em capture the imagination of the NBA fan base. There’s nothing quite like feeling the anticipation and excitement in the air when you see that news hit telling you Chris Paul has finally been traded and he’s going to the Clippers. What immediately follows is typically more invigorating than what eventually happens. The promise of what could be is almost always better than what is. Even here at Dime, we find ourselves talking about one third of the NBA about 80 percent of the time. That doesn’t mean we don’t care about everyone else. Read More »

The Cleveland Cavaliers won just 19 games last season, good for second worst in the NBA. They also dealt away their most promising big man before the lockout began, which is kind of a downer for fantasy purposes. While there are some things to get excited about — the arrivals of a skilled rookie point guard and a promising rookie power forward, along with the return of Sideshow Bob – this Cavs squad has “timeshare” written all over it. Put on your sad face as we dive into the fantasy prospects for Dan Gilbert‘s crew. Read More »

Athletes will be athletes. As we saw in Thursday’s Smack, that’s why Oklahoma City guard Nate Robinson is half-seriously considering playing for the NFL, and coaches like Pete Carroll of the Seattle Seahawks are half-seriously thinking about that being a good idea.

It’s the same reason why we always want to imagine LeBron James strapping on the shoulder pads and coming off the edge as a defensive end or repeatedly overpowering any 6-foot-nothing corner for a jump-ball on a fade route. He’s such a good athlete we can’t even decide which position would be a better option. Read More »

For years, I’ve said that the Big East Tournament makes up my five favorite days of the basketball year. It’s not that I don’t enjoy the NCAA tournament or the NBA Playoffs, but to me, it doesn’t get better than many of the best teams in the college playing in the biggest city in the country in the World’s Most Famous Arena. Thursday’s games were just more testimony to my already strong beliefs. Here’s how it all went down… Read More »

The minutes leading up to the 3:00pm EST trade deadline Thursday didn’t disappoint. There was a flurry of last-minute swaps around the NBA, a league whose GMs appear to have caught some kind of bloodlust for transactions akin to the fever teenage girls have for Bieber. This means that there’s a whole lot to digest today. Let’s wade through the aftermath and assess the effects of the last-minute trading frenzy for fantasy basketball owners. Read More »

Danny Ainge definitely went to work today. Some may even say he went to town. After trading Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson to Oklahoma City, he traded three more players – Marquis Daniels, Semih Erden and Luke Harangody – to clear roster spots. Here’s what went down: Read More »

This summer, we let you in on a little secret: The gym is open in Boston. And with 457 participants during Converse’s fifth Open Gym in the Boston market this past weekend, 456 of them were kids. The other? Celtics rookie Luke Harangody. Read More »

This was one of those nights in the sports industry that becomes hard to talk about without sounding like a braggart and a name-dropper.

For last night’s Knicks/Celtics game at Madison Square Garden, I used my media credential to go behind the scenes and visit both locker rooms. When it was time for tip-off, I used my invite to a luxury suite — where I was part of a select group brought in to celebrate the launch of KnicksNow.com, the team’s new interactive social media website — to watch the game from the rich-people seats with rich-people amenities. And then after the game, maybe the best of the NBA season so far, I used my media pass again to access the locker rooms and catch the aftermath of an instant classic. Here’s how it all went down: Read More »

Before Delonte West even plays his first game back in a Celtics uniform, he may be on his way out of Boston. In the second known confrontation in less than a week, West and teammate Von Wafer reportedly were involved in a physical altercation today. HOOPSWORLD’s Alex Kennedy has the story: Read More »