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Only two games tonight, and of course one was the lovely snoozefest the NBA calls Spurs/Pistons.  It was actually a good game, but I was happy enough watching the last two minutes, as I’m sure most people would be.  The Celtics/Jazz game was pretty good too, pretty close throughout.  Let me say, the Jazz look good.  They stayed composed and when they get healthy, they’ll be scary.  If I’m the Lakers or Spurs, I’m hoping they climb the standings.

Thursday’s best: Not a whole lot of impressive lines.  Could have gone with Timmy Duncan’s 18 points and 18 boards, but it was on some pretty shotty shooting (7-19).  Instead, we’ll give it to Allen Iverson, who went for 31 points, 3 boards, 7 dimes, a steal, and a block on 13-28 shooting.  Not too shabby on an otherwise unimpressive night around the league.

Thursday’s worst:  Gotta be Rip Hamilton.  He got 34 minutes off the bench in which he scored 4 points on 2-10 shooting.  Combined with Rodney Stuckey’s 2 points (although he did have 8 assists), a bad night from Rip did the Pistons in.

Keep an eye on:  Kevin Garnett’s injury and Gabe Pruitt. KG went down just before halftime with a “sprained knee.”  At the time of writing this, it’s pretty cloudy just how bad it is, but if he misses any time on this road trip, the Cavs could find themselves on top in the East.  With Tony Allen’s injury, Pruitt will get some extra burn.  He wasn’t extremely effective Thursday, but keep an eye out.

What to watch for tomorrow: Toronto at New York could be pretty exciting and high scoring.  The new-look Bulls take on a good Nuggets team in Chicago, so we’ll see if they’re really any good with Brad Miller and John Salmons.  And on national TV, the Hornets visit the Lakers.  Should be a doozy.


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Thursday actually turned out to be a real good basketball day.  In the three games, a last second Shawn Marion dunk pushed the Heat past the Bulls, the Celts had to outscore the Mavericks by 13 to win in the 4th, and the Warriors just about threw away a game that should have been locked up halfway through the 4th.  Let me say this.  Jamal Crawford’s shot selection is awful.  Oh, and Monta Ellis can ball.  Dude is legit.

Thursday’s best: Easy one here.  Rajon Rondo baby.  His line: 19 points, 15 rebounds, 14 assists, and a steal on 9-14 shooting.  That’s right kiddies, his second career trip-doub.  Good enough for me.  At the same time, I’m inclined to drive down to US Airways Center first thing Friday morning and slap Robert Sarver upside his greedy little face.

Thursday’s worst: Luol Deng.  Who can figure this guy out?  He’s really struggling overall this year, with some really good streaks and some really awful streaks.  Stuff like this makes me really believe that the Bulls are cursed.  This is the guy John Paxson refused to trade for KOBE BRYANT.  His line? A studly 6 points, 3 boards, 1 dime.  Nice, dude.  Nice.

Keep an eye on: Golden State.  Something tells me they’ve got a trade up their sleeve.  And a good deal can really let them make some noise.  I know, they’re 12 games out of the playoffs.  But if Phoenix blows things up, they’re sitting in 9th.  It’s not too crazy to imagine, and they look like they might be heating up.

What to watch for tomorrow: The Rookie Challenge!  What an awful game this usually is (besides the two LeBron James/Dwyane Wade/Carmelo Anthony years).  But hey, it’s a basketball game with no defense.  Sort of like watching the Knicks play themselves in scrimmage.  Except there’s a little bit of talent in the rookie/sophomore game.

I’ll still bringing you this column all weekend, taking a look into the All-Star festivities.  Aren’t you just lucky.


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Well, look at that.  A few upsets.  WE HAVE PARITY IN THE LEAGUE!  Toronto beat San Antonio, Utah beat the Lakers.  Denver also beat Orlando at home, and was up pretty big at one point.  And that battle of up-and-coming teams we alluded to yesterday?  The better team in the current won quite easily.  But let’s jump into some lines.

Wednesday’s best: Mo Williams: 44 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds, 4 steals, and 600 three-pointers made.  Ok, only 7.  Yeah, he must have heard some people STILL complaining about his All-Star credentials and decided he’d go nuts.  I saw this game, and he was making some incredible shots.  And this folks, is why the Cleveland Cavaliers will win the Larry O’Brien Trophy.  Did I just say that?  In February?  Yep.  You heard it here first.

Honorable mention to Ramon Sessions and his 17 dimes.  Wow.

Wednesday’s worst: Mike Bibby and his whopping 5 points and 4 dimes on top of 3 turnovers.  Somehow the Hawks still topple the Pistons.  Things are bad in Detroit.

Keep an eye on: The Phoenix Suns.  They lost to the Cavs tonight in their last game before their break, and probably their last game with this roster.  Keep an eye on things because here’s something scary: Steve Nash sat out.  It was various aches and pains, and whatever else.  Yeah, yeah.  What worries me is that he didn’t sit on the bench.  Apparently he was in the locker room.  Implosion pending…

What to watch for tomorrow: I wonder if anyone will actually try tomorrow.  What a tough day to be a coach, when half your team is double-checking its tee times or RSVPing for parties in Phoenix.  Good thing there’s only three games, but two are semi-interesting.  The Celtics stop in Dallas on their way to the All-Star Game, and Portland takes on Golden State.  That second game would be fun to watch, but somehow it’s not the TNT game.  Oh well.


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Happy belated new year! Yours truly is way overdue for a post. Drive safely if you leave in a snowy region today.

I took a peak at the standings in the paper today. The season has just passed the one-third mark and there are some intriguing playoff scenarios. Obviously a lot of ball still needs to be played, but check out the match-ups if the playoffs started today. Like last year, on paper the match-ups in the West sizzle, while the East still looks top-heavy.

Click to continue reading Current Playoff Scenarios


Dropping Dimes is trying out a new feature. Fantasy 30 intends to rank all of the NBA teams in terms of fantasy power. A list like this tends to lead to a lot of disagreement and discussion, but the hope is that these rankings will be fluid and updated as the year goes on. Thanks to Ron Chow for the assist. In addition to publishing updates on the Fantasy 30, once in a while we hope to produce sister articles that focus on a specific team and its roster.

#1: Los Angeles Lakers: Kobe Bryant ranks as a top four fantasy player this year. The Lakers employ two fantasy-worthy starters for center in Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. Lamar Odom has played well coming off the bench. Jordan Farmar has sleeper point guard potential, and the team also employs three-point threats like Derek Fisher and Vlad Radmanovic. All of this adds up to the Lakers being top dog early in the year.

Click to continue reading Fantasy 30, Version 1


Paul Pierce 24 shot clock
In Dirk Nowitzki and Baron Davis, this team has a pair of versatile fantasy studs. So it is time to draft the “best player available,” right? But are you not always trying to draft the best player available? I suppose that double-talk came from the notion of not drafting due to positional needs or off-the-court issues.

This man continues to ride high on a championship wave. A little over a year ago, he wanted to be traded. Now people mention him as being hall of fame material. That’s the “Truth.”

Round 3, Pick 7: Paul Pierce, SG/SF, Boston Celtics

Click to continue reading Dropping Dimes Mock Draft: Round 3, Pick 7 - Paul Pierce


Kevin Garnett
We have made some changes to the way we run our mock draft this year. First of all, we decided to put the focus on head-to-head league play. Secondly, although we continue to take turns making picks behind the scenes, we do not necessarily post articles on players that we picked. This way, we hope to at least have five new picks for review every week leading up to the start of the season.

Having said that, I paid extra attention to this slot in the order. This is where I will be drafting in my main league come October. Someone else made the pick, but this is someone I will have to seriously consider when I am on the clock.

Click to continue reading Dropping Dimes Mock Draft: Round 1, Pick 5 - Kevin Garnett


Corey Maggette While Bill Plaschke pours his heart out to Elton Brand in L.A. and Golden State fans are still hoping they’re just in a bad dream, the rest of the NBA is looking at the rest of the free agent pool - with one of the bigger names out there being a former Clipper in Corey Maggette

Magg’s fantasy value has always been in his scoring efforts as well as his contributions in terms of efficiency.  One of the better free throw shooters in the league, Maggette typically finds a way to get to the rack or cash in from the stripe if hindered.  Never much of a rebounder or defender..or three-point shooter for that matter… some have been a bit touchy with drafting someone that could only help in select categories.

But this value may be on the rise (or the fall) depending on where Maggette lands…

Click to continue reading About Corey Maggette


KG vs. TDGiven a choice, would you choose to have the career of Kevin Garnett or that of Tim Duncan? TD is hailed as one of the best players ever, maybe top ten all-time. He has four rings and is usually a shoo-in for first team All-NBA. KG has the better street cred, but has not had as much team success as Duncan over the span of their careers. KG and his Celtics took Game 1 of this year’s Finals, and the countdown is on until Game 2 tips off. While we wait, we can ponder these two giants in the game going up against each other this week in our hypothetical tourney.

Click to continue reading Dropping Dimes Two on Two Tourney: Round 2, Games 1 and 2


Yao Ming stuffs Gerald WallaceProps to Sarge for his piece that landed on Yahoo sports. If you are into baseball, check it out. I asked Sarge for his secret to success once. He said it helps to be really, really, really good looking. We all can’t be Zoolanders like Sarge, but we can keep things rolling on in our two-on-two tourney.

Yao Ming continues to sit out of this year’s playoffs. His Houston Rockets showed some guts by winning Game 3 in Utah, but they now head home down 3-1. Regardless of the the goings on in the real world, his name has been called to step onto the court for our tourney, where we assume he is at full health and in peak condition. Who gets to partner up with Yao? Check it out.

Click to continue reading Dropping Dimes Two-on-Two Tourney: Round 1, Games 5 and 6


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