No matter how old and inconsistent he gets, apparently Peja Stojakovic will always be able to light up the Suns. In what could have been one of those rock-bottom moments for the Hornets — national TV, no Chris Paul, interim coach, hosting a red-hot opponent who could conceivably drop 130 points on ‘em and get them booed out of their own gym — N.O. showed some heart and pulled off an upset win behind Peja’s 25 points, 13 boards and seven threes. It wasn’t the first time Peja has taken down the Suns on a big stage: Read More »
You know what you’re going to get when the Cavs and Wizards play on national TV: Plenty of talk about LeBron’s “rivalry” with DeShawn Stevenson, LeBron’s rivalry with the Wizards, Mike Miller wearing LeBron’s shoes, maybe Washington’s injury problems … And then there was the story line for last night’s game that nobody wanted to talk about: The gossip-page reports saying Shaq got caught messing around with Gilbert Arenas‘ girl. Anyone think there’s a slight chance that’s really why Shaq sat out? Say what you want about being a professional and focusing on the game, but that’s grounds for any grown man to get punched in the face at any random moment. Read More »
As this edition of Smack is being written, ESPN’s 24-hour marathon of college hoops is underway. Writing about basketball in the middle of the night while live basketball is showing on TV with no end in sight for hours? This is the life … Are the Hawks really this good? When we ranked Atlanta 5th yesterday on Dime’s weekly NBA Hit List — maybe the highest we’d ever had them ranked, at least in the last 2-3 years — the response was surprisingly strong that Joe Johnson and Josh Smith and crew should have been in the top three, maybe even holding the No. 1 spot. True, the Hawks had won four straight going into Monday’s schedule, but they’ve always been one of those Zab Judah/Asafa Powell-type teams: Read More »
Think about LeBron James and Dwyane Wade on the same squad, forming what could possibly the most talented duo in NBA. Better yet, imagine them playing for the Knicks together or the soon-to-be Brooklyn Nets. It would be a marketing jackpot. Picture them running the break together, taking turns throwing lobs to each other. It’s good to dream, but does it make any sense? Read More »
Yesterday I said that the Orlando/Cleveland showdown would give us plenty of trash talk for today’s Reebok Still Talkin Quote of the Day. Well Shaq chose not to speak to media after the game (eliminating any Dwight Howard references) and the rest of the Cavaliers didn’t offer much. However Shaq’s main man, the Master of Panic, Stan Van Gundy didn’t hold back and took a shot at his starting point guard Jameer Nelson and a subtle shot at three other NBA starting point guards. Read More »
This will not be your typical NBA recap, it is simply my random observations and thoughts on the game. These observations were made in real time watching the game, if you have random observations, comments or questions during any NBA game tweet it to @dimemag and I will choose the best to include in my random observations. Read More »
During the ‘09 conference finals, Shaq showed up at one of Orlando’s home games against the Cavs, to the chagrin of a lot of people associated with the Magic. Last night Shaq was back in the building; this time wearing a Cavs uniform. Throw in the tension leftover from when Diesel was talking greasy about Dwight Howard and Stan Van Gundy last year, and you know the fans had a lot of venom toward Big Witness Protection. He played into it, too, doing stuff like leaving his hand in the air extra-long after a free throw. And the crowd was even more pissed when Cleveland walked out with a win … Read More »
In honor of our country’s wonderful military veterans on this Veterans Day, today we’ll take a look at some NBA veterans, in no particular order, who have managed to remain relevant to fantasy basketball after all these years. For the purposes of this post, “veterans” will be defined as those players who have played at least 12 seasons entering this one. Read More »
For the Reebok Still Talkin’ Quote of the Day series the trash talk as been somewhat uninspired. With the exception of Ron Artest and Shaq, most NBA players have been holding their tongue during interviews. The Paul-Rondo saga had the makings to be great, but both players refused to air their grievances in public. Maybe it is because it’s early in the season and a lot can happen or maybe the players are afraid David Stern will (Stephen) Jack part of their paycheck. Even our go to guy, Rasheed Wallace, have been suspiciously politically correct. Well, when the players aren’t giving us ammo we have to turn to their representation. For today’s quote of the day will turn to Stephen Jackson’s agent Mark Stevens. Read More »
