An essential element in the cult of Michael Jordan is the fact that the man never lost an NBA Finals. It’s how we choose to remember him: Perfect. 6-0 in the endgame. Unassailable. In doing so, we place him in the tiniest of circles, that being multiple champions who never lost a title. Read More »

So it’s true. Following the Deron Williams-to-Turkey saga on Twitter yesterday had us dizzy. It went from “OMG, what?” to “No way that’s true. NO WAY” to “Well, maybe Williams really wants to play” to “Holy s^&* he IS gonna play.” Rumors were rampant all day until Williams’ new agent, Jeff Schwartz, finally confirmed it: the All-Star point guard has a deal in place that will pay him $5 million to play next season for Besiktas while offering an opt-out for whenever the lockout does end. Read More »

Blake Griffin is a beast. But you already knew that. Hopefully by the end of Friday night, those who don’t have NBA League Pass and have only been exposed to Blake Superior’s rookie brilliance got to see how beastly DeMarcus Cousins and John Wall can be … For the second straight year, the Rookies beat the Sophomores in the All-Star Rookie Challenge, but this may have been the first time it wasn’t an upset. Blake did his thing, finishing with 14 points in 13 minutes, pretty much all of it on dunks. Read More »

There would be something universally appealing, even to members of the Basketball Atheists Society, about the hoop gods arranging an NCAA championship game pitting UConn against BYU.

Unlike the NBA, rarely in college basketball do we get to see the two best players in the sport go head-to-head to decide the biggest prize. We missed out on Durant vs. Oden in ’07, Carmelo vs. D-Wade in ’03, Shaq vs. Laettner in ’92, and Ralph Sampson vs. whoever could have challenged him during the three years he was the reigning MVP of the NCAA. Read More »

We’ve been spoiled the past two years with ridiculous Hall of Fame crops: Michael Jordan, John Stockton, David Robinson and Jerry Sloan in 2009, followed by Karl Malone, Scottie Pippen and the 1992 Dream Team in 2010. With that said, this has now opened the door for superstars left on the ballot to finally break through. Today, NBA.com’s Scott Howard-Cooper unveiled the nominees for the 2011 Hall of Fame class, but we’ll leave it up to you to decide. Here we go: Read More »

It seems like the easier the opponent, the harder Team USA insists on making things for themselves. But at least they’re still winning, and usually by blowout margins. Yesterday’s World Championship matchup against Group B doormat Tunisia was supposed to be a harmless stomping — and when it was over, Coach K‘s team was up 35 on the scoreboard — but the lasting impression was that the most talented team in the WC field let a clearly inferior squad hang in with them for the entire first half (Team USA led by six at the break) and some of the third quarter before Eric Gordon (21 pts), Russell Westbrook (14 pts) led the bench mob in restoring order to the mismatch … Read More »

*Dime’s NCAA Tournament Day 2 coverage*

Jordan Crawford just made himself a lot of money. Projected as a late first-round NBA Draft pick in 2011, the Xavier junior two-guard put on the whole f’n show today against Minnesota: dropping 28 points, five boards, five assists and handful of blocks and steals. Always known as a sick athlete who can score, Crawford showed he can shoot — he buried a dagger three with 38 seconds that put Xavier up nine — and play solid defense to go along with his scoring ability. I’d compare him to J.R. Smith without the knuckleheaded-ness. Read More »