Bulls/Magic was over the moment Derrick Rose crashed to the floor and sprained his left wrist. On a night when the Bulls were already playing without Joakim Noah (foot) and Luol Deng (calf), and Orlando has been smashing all non-contender squads during their now seven-game win streak, Chicago’s only chance would be if D-Rose went off like Shep in Above the Rim — or if Vinny Del Negro hopped in a Hot Tub Time Machine and brought Mike and Scottie back with him … Late in the first quarter, Rose went to the rack and threw his body into Dwight Howard, hurting himself when he tried to break the fall. The play was exactly like the one from last month when Dwight and Rose collided and Rose wound up with a hip injury. Read More »
LEBRON JAMES (by Austin Burton)
Remember when we weren’t sure if he’d get here? Back then, the King was still a kid, all promise and potential but still unproven to a League waiting to chew him up and spit him out like so many other failed phenoms. Back then, what made LeBron different from the other boy wonders was that he wasn’t the next Shaq or the next Mike or the next Larry: He was the next Magic, the one player who hadn’t yet had a “Next.”
Six and a half years into his pro career, LeBron is undeniably a legend in the making, only now his game is harder to peg. Read More »
On the basketball court and in the corporate arena, Dwyane Wade’s potential appears limitless. As the perennial MVP candidate and newest Air Jordan pitchman confronts off-court distractions and constant speculation about his future, he’s not close to giving up his spot on the medal stand as one of the undisputed top three players in the game.
Earlier this season, Wade posed for the cover of Dime #54 (on newsstands now) and sat down to interview for this story. Read More »
If Scottie Pippen had his druthers, the only time he’d be issuing statements is when he’s inducted into the Hall of Fame later this year. That’s why I can’t believe the following statement was issued today by the seven-time NBA All-Star regarding his role in the movie Midgets vs. Mascots. I’m warning you now, it’s crazy. Read More »
Arguably, the ‘96 Chicago Bulls are the greatest team of all-time. You had (again, arguably) the greatest player of all-time in Michael Jordan, a top 50 NBA player in Scottie Pippen, one of the greatest rebounders of all-time with Dennis Rodman and the Zen Master himself, Phil Jackson, roaming the sidelines. Then you have their 72-10 record (best in NBA history) and the fact that they won the championship that year – the first of three. It’s hard to build a case why they aren’t the best squad ever. Read More »
In all honesty, we’ll be surprised if Vinny Del Negro still has a job by the time the Dime crew makes it up to Madison Square Garden tonight for Knicks vs. Bulls. Just when you thought the Bulls were getting their act together and had put together some well-played games, they went out on Monday and — whatever you want to call it — did something that deserves a new word other than “collapse.” If it doesn’t ultimately cost Del Negro his job, it at least has the hot seat burning a hole in his drawers. (And remember, this is the same organization that fired Scott Skiles on Christmas Eve a couple years back. Don’t think Del Negro can use the holidays as a stay of execution.) … Here’s the scene: Coming off an impressive win over the Hawks, the Bulls were up THIRTY-FIVE on Sacramento, at home, midway through the third quarter. The announcers were running out of ways to call it an ass-whoopin’. Read More »
After watching Kobe Bryant slap 42 points on the Bulls and hand them a tough loss in a hard-fought game, I figured Chicago fans could use a pick-me-up. Here is some of Mike’s best work against the Lakers: Game Two of the ‘91 Finals, when he put up 33 points and 13 assists and unleashed “The Move.”
So much attention was paid to New York’s recruiting pitch to LeBron James at MSG last month — like bringing in the newly-crowned champion Yankees to sit courtside and chat up The King — that it mostly buried the fact that Miami probably outdid NYC one week later when LeBron visited their gym. The Heat brought in Penny Hardaway (LBJ’s favorite player growing up), plus Jordan and Pippen (the Bulls were his favorite team), and gave ‘Bron a first-hand reminder of what it would be like to play with Dwyane Wade.
The whole thing was a microcosm of how the free-agent summer of 2010 has been covered: Read More »
Sir Charles is at it again. Always the entertainer Charles Barkley was in rare form last night. At one point he instructed the makeup artist to cover his face in white makeup mocking Sammy Sosa and went on to say that Kenny Smith was crazy for thinking Tina Fey was hotter than Sarah Palin. For today’s Reebok Still Talkin’ Quote of the Day we focus on a comment he made about another NBA great Scottie Pippen. Read More »
