Twitter and Instagram have added yet another avenue for basketball fans to connect with the personalities of their favorite NBA, college and high school players. It’s damn near impossible though for most normal people to stay up with everything that gets posted to Instagram on a daily basis, so we’re gonna help out the best way we know how: by collecting the best pics each week for our readers to cruise through at their leisure.

Here’s the best of this past week. Let us know what we missed in the comments section below. Read More »

If you’re like us at Dime, our lives center around hoops and music. Both of those passions, however, draw their (literally) most powerful imagery from something else entirely: a prize fight. World champ boxer Manny Pacquiao knows something about that and is honored with this new incredible mashup tee from UNDRCRWN. Read More »

Unless you’re Skip Bayless and your job is to swim against the current of popular opinion — that being LeBron James keeping Miami almost single-handedly from exiting the playoffs was an incredible, once-every-50-years performance — LBJ was the first thing you talked to your friends about around the water cooler. And why wouldn’t he be? The wrong-footed jumpers (he even banked one in over Kevin Garnett; so filthy), the tip-dunk where his head was at the rim, the 15 rebounds, there was more than enough to go around for conversation. Read More »

Our prediction? Two matchups will determine the outcome of tonight’s NBA Finals Game 2 (8 p.m. EST, ABC): Kobe Bryant vs. Ray Allen, and Pau Gasol vs. Kevin Garnett. In breaking down Game 1, you could credit L.A.’s rout primarily to Kobe (and/or the refs) keeping Ray on the bench and out of rhythm, and Gasol treating KG like the hairy, sweaty guy did Ben Stiller in Along Came Polly … Garnett looked old and creaky on Thursday, but he’s gone back and forth from good days to bad days throughout the season, and could very well have a new chip on his shoulder. Read More »

Boxing or MMA?

My favorite fighter of all-time is Mike Tyson. Second place? Bruce Lee. Those who only remember the ear-biting, post-prison, forgotten-fundamentals version of Tyson may not believe it, but once upon a time Mike 100% earned the title “Baddest Man on the Planet.” Young, focused Tyson won fights with his power, speed and technique as much as he did with menacing intimidation. But even while that Tyson seemed unbeatable to me as a kid, I used to wonder how he would have fared with a fast pair of feet coming at him as well as fists. Read More »

Who would win in a fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather?

After Manny Pacquiao knocked out Miguel Cotto in the 12th round on Saturday night, it didn’t take long for everybody and their mothers to start talking about the person they’d like to see Pac-Man fight next: Floyd Mayweather. Manny has said all along that he wants a piece of Mayweather, but Pretty Boy Floyd has been hesitant to sign up. Many believe Mayweather can match Pacquiao’s speed, while others think Pac-Man has better footwork and more skill.

What do you guys predict would happen if they squared off in the spring?

If you haven’t been watching HBO’s reality series “24/7 Pacquiao/Cotto,” you’ve been missing out. Chronicling the preparations and back stories of both fighters as they train for their November 14th showdown, the four-episode series has been great. Check out this clip as Pacquiao and his trainer Freddie Roach talk about his passion for basketball, its role in training camp and the agreement between the two about the sport and the approaching fight.

How long would you last in the ring separately against (1) Manny Pacquiao, (2) Kurt Angle, (3) prime Bruce Lee, and (4) Anderson Silva?

As often as you guys call Dime writers crazy on a daily basis, you don’t even hear most of the insanity that goes on in the office. Every couple of days it seems, somebody says something just flagrant: From “I could beat J.J. Barea one-on-one!” to “I swear Melyssa Ford was giving me ‘The Look’ at a hot dog stand!”

Yesterday, somebody claimed he could last 10 seconds in the ring with Manny Pacquiao. Read More »

Like you needed another reason to hate on Kobe. Forbes unveiled its list of the world’s highest-paid athletes in 2009, and Kobe is near the top, along with a few other NBA players. Combining salary and endorsements, here are the notables:

* Tiger Woods is #1 with approximately $110 million in earnings in the last year. (And consider that Tiger missed a lot of opportunities at tournament prize money due to his knee injury.) Read More »

If the Nike Air Trainer 1 collaborated with Anthony Carter, it would officially be the greatest shoe of all time. Right now, it’s on the cusp. Nike has already created exclusive makeups for some of the sweetest athletes in the universe: Manny Pacquiao, Adrian Peterson, Brandon Roy, Larry Fitzgerald, and Troy Polomalu. Add AC in there and it’d be a sealed deal. Read More »