The NBA’s Stars Give The League What They Want; Derrick Rose Is Running Things

They say superstars get you wins in the playoffs. On the first day of the second season, after watching Derrick Rose, Dirk Nowitzki, Dwight Howard and LeBron James, we agree. Sometimes basketball comes down to who’s playing better together, who has better chemistry, who’s moving the ball and making the extra pass and who’s playing more defense. And then other times, it just comes down to the beast. Whichever team has the bigger beast will win. In Chicago, Rose was so good, he had people conjuring up images of another former Bull who always seemed to close out l in the playoffs … The guy is just thirsty for attention, huh? We feel like he’s completely taken over Smack during the past month. Rose said postgame that he will do anything for a win. No matter what it is, if it’s going to help Chicago win, he’s down. Last night in the Bulls’ amazing come-from-behind 104-99 “W” in the opener of their series with Indiana, Rose was the story again as he made the most free throws in a playoff game in nearly a decade and scored 39 points. He also got the assist on the biggest shot of the night, a wing three from Kyle Korver, to cap a 16-1 game-ending run by Chicago. Korver actually has more threes this year in the fourth quarter and overtime than anyone in the League. In the second half, it was all about will. Rose wanted it more than anyone else. Down eight in the third quarter, Rose was putting his team on his back as color commentator Dan Shulman just asked “How does he do that? How does he even see a space and get himself through when it doesn’t look like that space is even there?” … This is one of the best end-to-end sequences we’ve seen in a long time … Give Danny Granger some credit. Dude publicly asked for the Bulls and was backing it up. He scored 16 in the second half alone (24 for the game) and nearly won it by himself. Tyler Hansbrough (22 points) wasn’t bad either. He caught a Kurt Thomas elbow to the head in the third and had to be helped off the court and back to the locker room (nearly collasped in the hallway because he was out of it). When he came back with five to go in the fourth, he hit a jumper and a three-point play, yet all that did was give Rose a bit more of a challenge … Keep reading to see how Dirk Nowitzki defined himself and whether or not Dwight Howard can beat Atlanta by himself …

Some of the Dime crew was in Miami as the Heat barely survived a rabid Philadelphia comeback to beat the Sixers in Game 1 of their series, 97-89, behind LeBron James (21 points, 14 rebounds) and Chris Bosh (25 points,12 rebounds). James and Dwyane Wade came out way too relaxed. Sure, they wanted to get their teammates involved. But in the playoffs, you better set a tone, and yesterday afternoon, it was Philly that came with the first strike, jumping out to a 14-point lead. Elton Brand (17 points) was cooking early. But then, as quickly as they fell behind, the Heat stormed back to take over the game in the second quarter. Brand barely touched the ball, and Philly’s offense, so deadly in the first quarter, fell asleep … For Philly, they will need more from Andre Iguodala (four points) offensively … Heat fans will forever have a bad name as long as they do stuff like this: in the third quarter, Joel Anthony heard “MVP” chants while he was shooting a free throw … It was white hot in Miami; everyone in the building was in white, and yet there was a guy running around in a banana suit … A lot was made about the success Atlanta had against the Magic during the regular season, and it always seemed to come back to Jason Collins‘ defense on Dwight Howard. Well, we can forget that. The Hawks and Joe Johnson (25 points) beat Orlando by 10, but Howard (46 points, 19 rebounds) was a man amongst boys in the first half, setting a Magic record with 31 points in the first 24 minutes. Still, the Hawks got anything they wanted offensively, and led by seven. In the second half, there was more of the same. Howard grew more frustrated as the game went on, no one else in white and blue stepped up enough to really make it interesting, and Atlanta had themselves a surprising, and relatively easy 1-0 series lead … Did they really give J.J. Redick a standing ovation when he checked in? … Late in the fourth quarter after they had squandered a double-digit lead, Mavs coach Rick Carlisle told his team that this moment would define them. Dirk Nowitzki (28 points) responded, leading Dallas on a huge charge as he dropped in runners, fallaways and free throws for 18 fourth-quarter points in the Mavs Game 1 win over Portland, 89-81. Dallas had gone 11 minutes without a field goal to fall behind by six with five minutes to go. Still, it was back and forth late before Dallas sealed it on a Jason Kidd (24 points, six threes) three to go up by seven with 25 seconds left … Portland has to be kicking themselves. They should’ve won this game. LaMarcus Aldridge missed just eight shots on his way to 27 points, but the Blazers forgot about him down the stretch … What do you think was the best dunk of the year? … This weekend, some of the Dime crew was in South Beach to test drive the Nike LeBron 8 PS, James’ new playoff sneaker. Light, but not too light that the support feels nonexistent, we were very impressed … We’re out like Jason Collins checking Dwight …

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