The Oklahoma City Thunder laid the smackdown on the Bobcats on Monday night, winning 114-69, and negating the positive work new head coach Mike Dunlap had done with the Bobcats to start the season. The Thunder’s 45-point rout of the Bobcats was highlighted by their early 79-25 lead, which prompted DailyThunder blogger, Royce Young, to tweet: “It’s time like these where I really miss Cole Aldrich.” Hasheem Thabeet even recorded his first career double-double (!) in some prolonged garbage time. Read More »

The 1997 NBA Draft is one of the worst in the history of the NBA. And that’s what makes this do-over so hard. There was no doubt that Tim Duncan would be selected at No. 1 by the Spurs, but after that it was anyone’s guess. And when you see some of the players taken in the Lottery, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Read More »

We argue. You decide.

JOHN CALIPARI (by A. Macaluso) When it comes to family, no one is closer than the Italians. You used to be able to say the same about John Calipari and his predecessor, Rick Pitino. Both coaches have known each other ever since they worked together at Five Star Camp. Both head coaches were actually friends in the beginning, with Pitino helping Calipari land the head coaching position at Massachusetts in 1988. Read More »

Known as a basketball institution, the Kentucky Wildcat basketball program is widely regarded as one of the best programs in all of college sports. But it was the 1995-96 men’s team that was arguably the greatest team ever assembled. With nine NBA first round picks, and a 34-2 season that capped off with a NCAA Championship, the facts are hard to argue with. That’s why Derek Anderson has produced a must-see documentary, The Untouchables: The Greatest Team Ever, chronicling that legendary season. Read More »

You know the only way a preseason game between the Knicks and a team that isn’t even in the NBA would crack the sports highlights shows on an NFL and baseball playoffs Sunday is if something crazy happened. And in the third quarter of New York’s game against Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel), things got appropriately insane. After Maccabi head coach Pini Gershon got himself ejected thanks to a couple of techs, he refused to leave the court — if you saw the Season 2 premier of “Tool Academy,” he pretty much acted like the dude who got kicked off that first week. The refs wouldn’t re-start the game until Gershon left, so it turned into a standoff. Read More »

With the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremony taking place today, we wanted to give the true diehard fans of the Dime Magazine community an opportunity to write about the 2009 class. Dime reader and Chicago native Jason Oliver, better known to you as “smity far away,” shares his thoughts on Michael Jordan:

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It’s hard to say something about Mike Jordan that hasn’t already been said by much more established and accomplished men. But Mike’s impact and influence on basketball means as much to me as Pac‘s impact on music and Malcolm‘s impact on ethnic empowerment. Read More »