Dropping Dimes On The Daily is all about the team looking at the previous night’s performances and mentioning those that did pretty goodly and those that did pretty badly.  Goodly is a word, right?  Anyway, this will be a quick look around the league, so don’t expect a ton of text, just some daily fantasy basketball goodness!!!

The Fig Cap: Drew Gooden.  Multi-Tasker Extraordinaire.

The stars were out in Cleveland last night as the Boston Celtics dropped only their second game of the season to the Cavaliers.  The Celts got a bunch of production from Paul Pierce (16 points, six rebounds, five assists), Kevin Garnett (19 points, five rebound, five assists, three blocks) and Ray Allen (29 points, five threes).  But it was Allen, normally a sharp-shooter from the line, who missed two free throws late in the game to send the game into OT.  That’s when LeBron James took over as he dropped 11 points in the extended period to finish with 38 points, 13 assists, two steals and two blocks.

Drew Gooden had a career-high 24 points with 13 rebounds, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas doubled up for 15 points, 14 rebounds and four blocked shots.  There was reportedly plenty of trash-taking going around, with Devin Brown calling it a “street game.”  You would think that Pierce, Garnett and Allen would be used to losing games by this point in their career, but what do I know?

Jason Kidd went for yet another triple-double, dropping 12 points, 15 rebounds and 12 assists, though in a loss to Memphis.  His teammate Vince Carter didn’t do too bad either, logging a game-high 32 points to go with nine boards and seven assists.

Philly got some love from the vets on Tuesday night, with three players going for at least 20 points.  Samuel Dalembert led the way with 22 points to go with his eight rebounds and three blocks.  Andre Iguodala tallied 20 of his own, adding 11 assists.  Kyle Korver returned to go for 20 off of the bench, draining four treys as well.  Andre Miller finally showed up this season as he put up 18 points, eight rebounds and nine assists.  Welcome to 2007, Andre.

Kirk Hinrich was absolutely awful yet again - going for four points on 2-of-7 shooting.  What the hell happened to this guy?  The Bulls won the game regardless, led by Luol Deng (22 and nine) and Ben Gordon (21 points, three treys).  Joakim Noah quietly had a good game with five points, seven boards, two steals and a block.  This is saying a lot as nothing is ever “quiet” with this kid.

Pacers point guard Jamaal Tinsley kept rolling with his solid play, tallying 15 points, 11 dimes and four steals in the win over Denver.  Mike Dunleavy led the way with 30 points on 12-19 shooting, and All-Court start Shawne Williams got a surprise start and finished with 21 points, 11 rebounds, two threes and a block.

Allen Iverson (26 points, eight assists), Marcus Camby (12 boards, five blocks) and Carmelo Anthony (25 points, seven boards) had their normally solid nights, but it was Anthony Carter that put up 17 points, eight rebounds, six assists and five steals in 33 minutes of play.  Do I think he keeps it up?  No, but it was good to know that he was still in the league.

Lakers guard Kobe Bryant rounds off the night with a win over Seattle.  He finished with 35 points, eight boards, and six assists on the night.  He’s currently almost four full points per game behind NBA scoring leader LeBron James, but a few more nights like this and that gap will narrow.

That’s all for today.  Take ‘er easy…