Austin Rivers must’ve known I was there because he tied the perfect bow to the end of a trip that started in Hoboken, New Jersey and ended with a once-defeaning crowd of 21,750 eerily silent. The buzzer beater that won it for Duke set off hysteria for the party behind Duke’s bench – Doc Rivers and his crew – but for the rest of us there, it was more quiet than the school’s library. If you’ve been keeping up with my posts the last few days, you know I was in New Jersey for the launch of the Air Jordan 2012, and that Jordan Brand also brought me down to Chapel Hill to see one of the biggest rivalries in all of basketball up close and personal. Read More »

When Dime‘s own Sean Sweeney ventured into the Dean Dome last night, all we wanted was an overtime or a buzzer beater. We got what we came for. Austin Rivers is a stone cold assassin. He’s like Vincent from Collateral, except with blacker hair, and just doesn’t give a you know what. On the final possession of the biggest game of his life, Rivers came off the screen and roll just as he had probably 30 other times throughout the game, sized up Tyler Zeller and unleashed hell to bring Duke a one-point win on the road. Read More »

I never called Nick Van Exel shy. Too many jumpers early in shot clocks proved he had no conscience. I never called him timid either. Too many arguments with Del Harris proved that. I also never called him faint-hearted. He had enough street cred to get name-dropped in a song by Jigga. I figured he had a little Cypress Hill in him when he shoved Ron Garretson into the scorer’s table. And busting out “the monkey” midgame, against the Jazz no less (I doubt anyone on that team had even heard of “the monkey”), should’ve been all the evidence needed to sum it up: Van Exel had himself some big ol’ Sam Cassell-sized balls. Read More »

If you haven’t heard, Rasheed Wallace wants back in the game. Let’s all forget that he was virtually useless during his final season with Boston. Let’s all forget that we can almost guarantee he’ll come back looking like a hibernated Shawn Kemp with a championship belt that even he can’t fit into anymore. Let’s all forget that the last time we saw him playing ball, he was a statue in the lane getting dunked on by everyone across the entire state of North Carolina in summer pro-ams. What I can’t forget though, is this dunk back in the day. So crazy. So slept on. Hit the jump. Read More »

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge Rasheed Wallace fan. But an NBA comeback in an already shortened season? This just doesn’t make sense. He played 15 seasons, made over $150 million and won a championship. What more does he have to prove? Regardless, this is what we’re hearing. Read More »

Just put Dwight on the line, right? That was Mark Jackson’s strategy on Thursday against Orlando and it seemed good for a while against the career 59 percent free-throw shooter. The Magic didn’t lead through the first quarter after going wire-to-wire against Portland in its own building the night before. Well, Howard’s not exactly Mark Price from the stripe but if you send a guy there an NBA-record 39 times (he made 21), he’s going to get his, anyway, and score with a stopped clock to help a comeback, too. That’s how Orlando held off Golden State, 117-109. Read More »

Now that Christmas Day is here and all of your shopping and holiday partying is done, you have nothing left do but sit back and wait for the real gift of today – NBA games.

As you’re watching the clock tick down til tipoff, we have some holiday cheer to send your way, compliments of the NBA.

Here are some of our favorite videos of NBA squads singing Christmas carols throughout the years: Read More »

Over the course of his 16-year career, Theo Ratliff played for nine different franchises (and two of them twice). But with the 2011-12 NBA season set to start on Christmas Day, the 38-year-old free agent will be watching from home. A league source told Dime on Wednesday afternoon that Ratliff is retiring. Read More »

It’s not like flopping is a cultural phenomenon solely owned by the NBA. It’s a disease that’s infiltrating every corner of professional sports. Take last weekend for example. Jerome Simpson, a 25-year-old wide receiver for Cincinnati, drew a 15-yard penalty against the Browns last Sunday by flopping harder than Rollerball. One little shove and boom, he was up, up and away, launching himself five feet off the ground, the largest jack rabbit anyone had ever seen. What made it even worse was the ref didn’t see it and yet still drew the flag. Read More »

Thank God for Steve Blake. The man who couldn’t hit a shot to save the Lakers’ season in the playoffs might just be bold enough to save the NBA season. Sam Amick and Adrian Wojnarowski broke the story on Twitter, saying Blake is doing whatever he can to rally the troops, and gain support for a vote by Wednesday. He’s irate at the union and wants to play. He’s not pushing them to take the deal; He just wants a vote. A few other players, and some big names like Kobe Bryant and LaMarcus Aldridge, are willing to look into this deal the owners are offering. Amick even said he called two agents who represent 19 players in total, and that every one of those players wanted to take the NBA’s deal. Read More »