Sunday Morning Dimes

• LeBron James has helped the Cavs win 9 of their last 10 games, propelling their record to 10-3. The Cavaliers hold the second best record in the East, behind Boston’s 12-2 record. ‘Bron leads the league in scoring with 29.5 points a game.
• OKC Thunder have lost 11 in a row and their recent firing of coach Carlesimo only expresses the unavoidable frustration in this rebuilding stage. On the bright side, Durant continues doing his thing (21 ppg.) and Russell Westbrook is having a great rookie season, averaging 12 points and 3 assists per game while playing just under 25 minutes a night.
• Shaquille O’Neal lead an impressive night for the Suns tonight in their win. 19 points and 17 boards is great production coming from the big man. But is it really necessary watching this dude Try and dive into the fans for a loose ball with a 11 point lead and less than three mins left in the game? How in God’s name is 325 pounds of force viciously slamming into a bunch sitting, clueless set of people any more dangerous than Artest fleeing into the stands to snuff one particular Detroit fan? That’s kind of an extreme comparison, but wait ’til Shaq KO’s that two thousand dollar suit-wearing season ticket holder, or some flimsy girl, an 8 year old, a celebrity. I’m going too far, but it’d be fitting for the Suns to have a sturdy, bulky, ring of temperate glass surrounding the court to help prevent any lawsuits or numerous replays on ESPN every two months of a +300 pound, seven-footer failing to realize, “Yo, I’m not fit for this one.” I think GM, Steve Kerr, Terry Porter and the rest of the Suns already get the point that he’s hustling or that he can at least still hustle for the most part. And that whole talk about never ruling out Shaq reuniting with the Lakers is absurd. As much as I love that ‘99-’03 Lakers era, Shaq has 16 years under his belt, bro. Lakers have overcome the bullshit after O’Neal’s departure and are right where they want to be. Two wins away from a Championship last season, Kobe in his prime, Bynum evolving as the team’s center. No more distractions are needed or expected coming from the Lakers in the near future.
• Despite the cringing lack of consistency, the Pistons are officially one of the sexiest teams in the NBA.
• Hornets aren’t flossing as high as I expected them to this season, running with a 7-5 record. CP3 and West are having stellar seasons regardless. In their recent dismantling of the OKC Thunder, West had a game high with 33 points while Paul stuck 29 points, 16 assists and 10 rebounds.
• There was no excuse for missing Vince Carter’s latest homecoming game against the Raptors.
• QRich was just two three-pointers shy of the franchise record tonight. Nevertheless, Richardson nailed 7 three’s in his 34 point night. The Knicks recent garbage dump of Crawford and Randolph has set off all the nerves of speculation for 2010. While both Crawford and Randolph are talented players, they were never fit for the Knicks success, their absence won’t be felt, nah. 
• Speaking of absence felt, the Wiz dropped to 1-10 recently. Come on Gil, I know it hurts, but Christ Almighty. 
• The Lakers are 10-1, the Clippers are 2-11.
• Dallas is starting to get back on track, their four-game-winning streak has them at 6-7. 
• The Spurs sit at a steady 6-6, but humbly expect their star, Manu Ginobili to return sometime next week. 

 

Dated November 23rd, 2008

Philadelphia Sixers (2-3) v. Orlando Magic (2-2)

Caught this one from the start.

• Dwight Howard falls into foul trouble early when he picked up his second personal foul in with less than two minutes into the game.
• Philly’s averaging 19 turnovers per game heading into this contest, their losses are well backed by their careless control over the ball.
• Iguodala’s frustrating start for the season continues, after scoring his only two points in the fourth quarter of last night’s game, he picks up his second foul to sideline him for the the rest of the first quarter.
• Both teams had their sloppy starts, but Orlando collected themselves to a 7-15 lead with 5:43 left in the first quarter.
• Watching Andre Miller go 0-3 in short jumpers and failing to keep up to Jameer Nelson is almost as bad as watching Brand struggling to find the open man when he’s doubled. 
• Rashard Lewis sinks his fifth free throw of the gun to fuel the 7-0 run for the Magic. Lewis has 10.
• Orlando evolves into an unstoppable offensive onslaught. Jameer continues whizzing past Miller, Lewis and Turkoglu are finding their way to the basket and Philadelphia shows no signs of offense. 9-22 Orlando.
• Lou Williams finally checks into the game along with Rush for some offense. Williams should keep up better with Nelson.
• Orlando’s tempo explodes all over Philly, with points off turnovers and three pointers. 16-30 Orlando at the end of the first.
• Second quarter starts, stars are back in for both Philly and Orlando with Iggy and Howard. 
• Despite the 5 straight points from the Sixers, Orlando’s offense remains overpowering for Philadelphia. 
• Brand is paying was a Huge chip on his shoulder after the fat contract signing, and it’s showing. Elton appears to be trying too hard to make a difference to the team but the only difference so far is the Sixers having a post-player doubled.
• Another foul from Dwight Howard, he lags back into the bench. With Brand in, the Sixers’ slim hope of making a push to make this a ball game remains alive. 25-39 Orlando.
• Iguodala is attacking and Rush has sunk both of his two jump shots. Still, Philly’s offense remains hanging by a thread with Brand scorelessly struggling.
• With Howard out, Orlando’s 16-point-lead is cut to six with an 8-0 run by the Sixers. 35-41 Orlando.
• Game continues at a steady pace, Orlando extends their lead to 11 as Andre Miller hit a couple of shots for the Sixers. 43-54 Orlando at half.
• Magic come back into the game beautifully, running their desired plays to develop a 17-point lead. 
• Credit to Stan Van Gundy and the Magic coaching staff, for successfully figuring out the Sixers on both sides of the ball. Most notably on defense. Their doubling of Elton Brand whenever he sees the ball has forced the Sixers to rely on jumpshots they can’t make. 
• Thad Young’s 2/11 shooting forces Cheeks to slide in Kareem Rush for better shots. 
• Orlando Magic’s starting five is completely destroying Philadelphia on both sides of the basketball. 45-66 Orlando.
• Philadelphia continues trying to slide back into the game but Orlando doesn’t allow anything.
• Andre Miller’s jumpshot is the most broken stroke I’ve ever seen. Finally LouWill steps in for him.
• The Magic held a 23 point lead over the Sixers at one point in the third, but Philadelphia somehow cut the lead to 9. Dalembert has done all he could to frustrate Howard and both Young and Iguodala have helped the Sixers make this dull competition a realistic one.
• With Elton Brand out, the Sixers are playing their game from last season, with a more comfortable feel. Thad Young at the 4 spot is proving to be efficient for the Sixers offense. Young leads the bunch with 17 points.
• Nine minutes left in the game, the score is set at 72-80. The Sixers are scoring sparingly throughout the game and are making the most out of the open shots missed by the Magic. 
• Less than a minute left and Orlando leads by 12. The Magic have suffocated Elton Brand to the fullest leaving Philadelphia’s offense with nothing to rely on but bricks, bricks and more bricks. Philadelphia shot 38% from the floor tonight. The Magic appear to be so far ahead Philadelphia after this win. Philadelphia need to do some serious changes to their attack, their spacing is disgusting and it’s shocking they didn’t expect Brand to ever get double-teamed throughout this long season. 
• Both swingmen, Turkoglu and Lewis, tagged 20 points and 8 rebounds for the Magic. Howard scored 14 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocks under limited play.
• Andre Iguodala tried too hard tonight for Philadelphia, 16-11-8 but it’s obvious nothing is clicking for this team offensively. Young continues to lead Philadelphia in the scoring department with 19 tonight. 

 

 

Dated: November 6th, 2008

Wednesday Dimes

Bullets for Wednesday, Oct. 30th, 2008

• Kevin Love’s NBA debut: 18 min., 12 points (5/8), 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks and a steal. Efficiency? check.
• Dalembert lead the league in boards tonight with 17. Chris Bosh scored 27 points behind 4 assists and 11 rebounds, while helping his Raptors win 95-84. Philly’s leading scorer tonight? Lou Williams with 16. So much for Brand’s debut.
• Udonis Haslem, Dwyane Wade, Shawn Marion and rookie, Mario Chalmers all had respectful performances for Miami tonight. Second round pick, Michael Beasley struggled, shooting 4/14 for 9 points. 
• The Knicks swung their uppercut tonight against Miami though, the reckless jacker, Jamal Crawford was on tonight and we all know when he’s on, he’s on. Jamal had 29 points, shooting 9/19. Players such as David Lee, Wilson Chandler, NateRob and Zach Randolph put forth an amazing effort to make D’Antoni a winner in his New York debut.
• Danny Granger is blossoming. 33 points, 5 rebounds. The team isn’t quite there yet, Indy lost 94-100 to Detroit.
• As expected, Phoenix and San Antonio shared a close game tonight. Duncan looked flawless. Parker started off slow, scoring his first points in the second quarter, but both players had 32 points tonight. 
• Shaquille O’Neal went 5-8 from the free-throw line tonight, that hack-a-shaq strategy will never fade. 15 points, 13 boards and 2 blocks for the Big Cactus though. Nashy also proved he hasn’t slipped a step, 13 points and assists.
• Hornets slipped past the Warriors tonight. Without Monta Ellis, both Maggette and Jackson shared most of the scoring, while Biedrins put up 12 points and 14 rebounds.
• CP3’s line- 21 points, 11 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 steals. Oh, and a block. 
• Main concern for Mayo? Shot selection. O.J. shot 5/20 tonight, ouch. Marc Gasol put work tonight though, 12 points, 12 rebounds and 2 blocks.
• Lakers out-rebounded the Clippers 51 to 32. Baron Davis was electric in the first quarter in front of his Grandmama, but the Lakers easily slowed all the Clipper hype down immediately after the first quarter, 117-79.

Toronto v. Philadelphia Dimes

All bullets are influenced by the second half of this exhibition.

• 12 boards in the first half solely from Dalembert is great. 8 of them being offensive rebounds is impressive, where was Bosh and O’Neal while he was doing this?
• Iggyhop’s shooting wooes continue, 4/12 shooting with 3 minutes left in the third.
• The Raptors are working beautifully as expected. Suffocating defense and Calderon is generating open looks easily. Their lead once broke to 14 after Calderon hit an open three in the final moments of the third quarter. 
• Through three quarters, Brand’s 12 points and 10 rebounds is acceptable. With the amount of space Jermaine O’Neal is giving him, he’s expected to continue knocking down those shots around the paint.
• The tempo erupts in the beginning of the fourth, with the Sixers on a 7-0 run. This high-tempo could backfire easily against Philadelphia, with the snipers Toronto possess in Kapono, Calderon and Parker.
• Calderon picks up his fifth foul with 8 minutes left in the fourth. If that doesn’t hurt the Raptors, his awkward fall on his forearm and shooting hand is attracting medical attention from the bench.
• Less than five minutes left in this game, Toronto leads 86-75. Philadelphia obviously still needs more time to mesh their roster together. 
• Excluding some of his sloppy offensive and defensive plays, Jermaine O’Neal is playing like he’s been a Raptor for awhile. His 15 points and 8 boards so far aren’t too shabby for his season debut, alongside Bosh’s 27 points and 11 boards.
• Kapono buries the dagger three with a little over 2 minutes left in the game to spoil Philadelphia’s home opener. 
• Jose Calderon shined as toronto’s undisputed leader. Sure, Bosh is their default go-to-guy but Calderon ran this team’s engine from start to finish. Calderon finished with 13 points and 7 assists.
• Elton Brand’s final line: 14 points (5/14), 13 rebounds, 4 turnovers. Nothing insane, but got dirty down low at times to absorb rebounds.
• Williams puts up 16 points in 23 minutes of play, but made 2 out of the 7 three-pointer he took.
• Toronto expressed their colorful ways of attacking for the season. Relying tough on their dangerous perimeter shooting while having more toughness around Bosh with Jermaine O’Neal. Calderon is set to have a career high season this year also.
• Philadelphia unveiled shades of their explosive athleticism and praised fastbreak offense. But their poor perimeter defense killed them in the second half. Their 17 turnovers compared to Toronto’s 9 also draws concern. Andre Miller can’t be blamed, he had zero turnovers and five dimes. 

Cleveland v. Boston Dimes

 

Missed the whole first half thanks to my job, this is all I could catch. 

• Leon Powe’s slam on Delonte West was just plain assaulting, you could see it on Delonte face seconds after he got the facial.
• Kinda upsetting to see Garnett come up short on his shots and not having his usual impact for Boston. No biggie though, 81 games are still ahead.
• As expected, this game came down to wire with LeBron swallowing the attention as he tries to prevent the Cavs from going 0-1.
• Boston prevails behind Pierce. Paul tallied 27 points under 10/19 shooting. Great night all around for Pierce, from the early emotional ring ceremony to the final buzzer. 
• MoWill’s final numbers read, 12 points, 2 assists and 3 boards. Nothing spectacular from the dude that normally averaged 17 points and 6 assists in his last two seasons. It’ll take time to warm up and put up his usual numbers alongside LeBron.
• Ray Allen was also quiet tonight for the C’s, 8 points with 2/9 shooting. Ray Ray absorbed a full 40 minutes of playing time tonight, more than anyone else.
• Tony Allen had a decent game. He could’ve easily fit the role of that one player on your team you just wanna punch for forcing J’s.