Arguably the most controversial man in the NBA, has returned to our Reebok Still Talkin’ Quote of the Day. Last night was the much anticipated return of Ron Artest to the Toyota Center. Leading up to the game Trevor Ariza and Artest both shared their displeasure with free agency (Ariza described it as cut throat, Artest said the Rockets cost him more than $20,000) but deep down we all hoped the fireworks would happen on the court. Artest and Ariza didn’t disappoint each earning technical fouls 2:49 into the game. According to Ariza, Artest was reaching for his neck but Artest had his own interpretation of what happened. Read More »
Erick Dampier was almost the headline photo for today’s Smack. Seriously. In the late stages of the fourth quarter of Mavs/Hornets, Damp (16 pts, 14 rebs, 3 blks) was the most clutch player in the building, getting a putback off a Dirk Nowitzki miss to break a tie, catching an alley-oop from Jason Kidd on the next possession, then scoring on another tip-in with 16 seconds left. That should’ve been the dagger, but Dallas killed themselves at the free-throw line in the final seconds: Jason Terry missed one after Chris Paul got T’d up for arguing a push-off call (CP had pushed off on J.J. Barea like 3-4 times in the fourth, but didn’t get called for it until what looked like N.O.’s last-chance possession), then Barea missed two freebies to keep the Hornets alive. Read More »
Five matchups to watch on Wednesday’s 10-game schedule…
Detroit at Toronto: Pistons’ frontcourt vs. Chris Bosh
Previously known as three of the Seven Dwarfs’ cousins, Ben Wallace (Buffy), Chris Wilcox (Lazy) and Kwame Brown (Fumbly) earned their money Tuesday by taking Dwight Howard completely out of Detroit’s upset win over Orlando. Read More »
The worst part about preseason polls is that voters adopt a loyalty to those pre-determined spots even after the season shows us some of those picks were just wrong. College football gets it the worst, but the same often applies for the NBA; the only saving grace is that, at the end of the day, voter opinion doesn’t matter because the NBA has a playoff.
That said, we ignored making a preseason NBA Hit List power ranking, so as not to influence this first week’s edition. Counting down from worst to first… Read More »
For a franchise that supposedly doesn’t have any money, the Grizzlies went all-out for their home opener. After introducing the Pistons to the theme from Beverly Hills Cop (cute), the Jumbotron showed a dramatic over-the-top video where Allen Iverson and Rudy Gay talked about “Grizz Nation” and defending homecourt. Then the DJ put on a Michael Myers/Halloween-inspired track, and the Jabbawockeez appeared at midcourt to dance. THEN they brought out Three Six Mafia, wearing Memphis jerseys and performing “Stay Fly” to bleed into the player intros, complete with smoke machines and everything else. Read More »
Last year we debuted the “Highs and Lows” system — previewing the NBA season by predicting the respective ceiling and basement for each team. Same theme, different season…
For today’s Reebok Still Talkin’ Quote of the Day we turn to arguably the most controversial player in the NBA, Ron Artest. Everyone knows Artest is never afraid to speak his mind and makes an impact on his team on and off the court. What no one can agree on is what his impact will be with the Lakers. Read More »
With the season still a week away, two of Houston’s hottest stars found time this past weekend to get down. Rockin’ only the freshest gear, Trevor Ariza and Aaron Brooks were in the house along with hip-hop legend Bun B as House of Hoops opened not one, but two new locations in H-Town. Crazy considering so many cities would love to have one.Read More »
Of course the games don’t count in the standings, and not everybody is going all-out although they’re still getting paid (it’s like Tim Thomas‘ fantasy land), but one of the biggest misconceptions about the NBA preseason is the idea that you can’t learn anything from these exhibitions. If a guy can’t hit a shot in the preseason (e.g. Peja Stojakovic right now), it’s not like he’s going to automatically become more accurate when the games count. And if he’s busting the defense’s ass and making it look easy in the preseason (e.g. Kobe every year), it’s not like he’s going to suddenly turn into a scrub when it matters. Look at the Orlando Magic: Read More »
With LeBron James not quite over his might-be-swine-might-be-regular flu bug, can you really blame the Spurs for putting some of their guys out of harm’s way last night? Manu Ginobili (the most fragile of the Big Three), Richard Jefferson (the expensive new acquisition) and Gregg Popovich (the mastermind) all took the night off from Spurs/Cavs, but San Antonio got the W anyway. Tony Parker put up 22 points and seven assists, and Tim Duncan had 13 points and nine boards in the first half before sitting out the second. LeBron finished with 22 points and six boards, including a half-court alley oop dunk, but said he’s “down probably 20 percent” as far as health … Read More »
