Steve Blake offensive rebounds. Pau-to-Dwight lobs. Kobe Bryant M-V-P chants reverberating through the arena. With the way the Lakers’ 113-106 win in Portland ended, you would’ve thought all was right for L.A. They had finally held off the hot-shooting Blazers, going on a 17-2 run to start the second half and then an 8-0 run in the middle of the fourth before putting the clamps on Portland for the final five minutes. Read More »

Some of us in the Dime offices are super excited about the Sixers’ potential moving forward, and a lot of that stems from their offseason moves. They became more conventional, dropped the small-ball approach, and now have a legitimate post-up option. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be as exciting. As this tape shows, they (which means “mostly Andre Iguodala“) put together some extra saucy highlights last season. Read More »

Five years, two NBA Finals appearances, consistently one of the top teams in the East, All-Star appearances all around, and one championship ring all make up the time Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen spent as part of the Boston Celtics’ Big 3. With KG and Allen becoming free agents, the main question surrounding the Celtics this offseason is: “Have we seen the final Celtics game of the Big 3 era?” Read More »

The Boston Celtics set out to teach the youn 76ers a lesson last night in Game 3 of their playoff series. Mission accomplished.

If Philly had one true bright spot, it was the play of Thad Young, who put up 22 points in 26 minutes and unleashed this monster block on Brandon Bass: Read More »

Oh you say the Truth has bad knees? Last night Paul Pierce showed his body is of no concern, twice smashing down facials on the Sixers. Both came in a brief span at the end of the first quarter, putting Thaddeus Young and Lavoy Allen on posters. These two plays were so savage that they almost make you forget about the rest of Pierce’s night. He had 24, 12 and four, plus three steals. Read More »

As long as Rajon Rondo doesn’t have to shoot with the game on the line, he’s good money. We’ve constantly heard that the Celtics’ point guard is the John Nash – the genius – of the NBA. Maybe he just really is that smart. The dude fouls the Sixers up three, and then watches as Lou Williams botches it by making both instead of missing the second. Then, Doc draws up a spectacular play and Rondo runs into the backcourt all alone for a touchdown. Evan Turner couldn’t catch him for a foul, and that was that. Rondo bamboozled Philly’s whole team; Game 1 to Boston, 92-91. Read More »

In the midst of all their trade rumors, Pau Gasol and the Lakers delivered a W. Even if the Wolves didn’t have Kevin Love, it still took L.A. nearly 48 minutes to secure a 105-102 win on the road. Kobe Bryant had 34 points and down the stretch, he made key free throws to keep the Lakers from folding. In the place of Love, Derrick Williams rumbled to 22 points and 10 rebounds, FINALLY doing what everyone expected him to all year … Read More »

If you’re a fan of Penny Hardaway, it’s impossible not to consider what could have been. Penny was All-NBA First Team twice by the time he was 25. Who knows what heights he could have reached if only his body had held up?

That said, there’s no point to focusing on what didn’t happen at the expense of celebrating what actually did. Penny’s all too brief period atop the basketball world brought him a well-deserved enduring legacy, and his eternally cool Nike signature line and 1 Cent logo continues to resonate with sneakerheads of all ages. Read More »

All things being equal, the NBA’s best sixth men would rather be starting, of course. On other teams, there’s a chance they certainly would be. You don’t have to look much further than Jason Terry. He’s been the second-best player on a championship team and one of the fourth quarter shoulders the Dallas Mavericks have leaned on for the past eight seasons. Is he good enough to start? Of course. Even though his numbers are down this year (13.9 points, 41 percent shooting), Terry’s been hitting big jumpers and spot up threes for the past decade. As a starter, he’d be a nice player. As a bench player, he became a staple of what it means to be a great sixth man. Read More »

Whereas last summer reshaped the NBA and as a byproduct of that, helped usher in the extended lockout, the upcoming abbreviated free agency period won’t include a single franchise player. There are probably no future Hall of Famers available. Hell, there might not even be a single All-Star out there. But what is being given up will be replaced in a frenzy. The signings and player movement will be fast and furious, and without any sure things, there will be plenty of opportunities to criticize GMs who panic and throw ridiculous contracts at simply average players. Read More »