Jameer Nelson just can’t catch a break. Last February, the Magic’s starting guard hurt his shoulder, causing him to shut it down for the rest of last season and almost the entire playoffs. Just a few weeks into this 2009-10 season, Nelson tore some cartilage in his left knee against the Bobcats on Monday night. Jameer will have surgery on the knee and is expected to miss the next 4-6 weeks. The question now is: how much will Nelson’s absence hurt the Magic in the short and long run? Read More »

Do we need to add Orlando to the list of teams maybe interested in Allen Iverson?

No need to go that far, but with today’s news that Jameer Nelson will miss the next four to six weeks following surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee, the Magic are suddenly thin at point guard. Jason Williams is expected to fill-in as the starter while Jameer is out. Read More »

Josh Smith is spoiling me rotten. Watching Hawks/Blazers last night and seeing Smith throw down at least two dunks that would normally make me (at least) sit up on the couch and make a “something stinks” face, I found myself not doing anything.

Smith is so good above the rim, he dunks so hard and makes it look so easy, that it’s getting tough to even be that impressed by his dunks anymore unless he’s dunking right on somebody. Read More »

Buy Low: Al Jefferson will miss the next two games to tend to a family illness, but it’ll give him some time to rest, too. He’s shown glimpses of life and his steady uphill path to recovery should reach its peak by the beginning of December.

Andre Miller is starting alongside Steve Blake, but the chances for him taking over as the sole starting point guard are getting better. 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 »

Ever since he entered the league in 2004, Josh Smith has been treating the basketball world with highlight reel dunks on a nightly basis. While he still gets above the rim routinely, J-Smooth has also developed an all-around game. He has become one of the league’s all-around threats averaging 16 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 4.4 apg, 2.6 bpg, 1.6 spg, while shooting 58.9 percent from the field. We caught up with Smith before the Hawks dismantled the Knicks 114-101 last night. Read More »

Don’t let the fact that Chauncey Billups shows little emotion on the court fool you into thinking he’s any less fiery of a competitor than Kobe, Dirk, LeBron, Wade or any other big-time clutch player who punctuates his daggers by making funny faces. You have to be iceberg to have hit as many fourth-quarter threes and last-second free throws as Mr. Big Shot has hit, but you also have to have a fire inside you to show up in the kind of shape he does every year and bring it at the high level he brings it every night … After Chauncey (17 pts, 6 asts, 3 stls) made the go-ahead free throw with 0.6 seconds left in last night’s Nuggets/Bulls game, he missed the second FT on purpose, giving the Bulls only 0.3 to make a game-winner. Read More »

Although Dwight Howard was the one guy on the Magic who didn’t look like he should give his paycheck back after last night’s embarrassing loss to Oklahoma City, that didn’t stop the Thunder announcers from using Dwight for a punchline or two. “Superman has met Lex Luger tonight,” joked commentator Grant Long. His broadcast partner came in for the correction (”Lex Luthor“) but Long had made his point: Orlando looked nothing like a championship contender on Sunday, their second such alarming performance in the last four games. 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 »

Beast of the Night: Dirk Nowitzki was an absolute animal last night, putting up 40 points on 55 percent (12-22) shooting from the field and 94 percent (15-16) from the line, chipping in a three-pointer along with 11 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 5 blocks and no turnovers. He scored 29 of his 40 points in the fourth quarter, playing like Mehmet Okur bad-mouthed David Hasselhoff. You can’t get much better than this in fantasy ball and Diggler is in for a great year. Read More »