LeBron James Annihilates Indiana; The Knicks Lose Again

In our Hit List this past week, we couldn’t wait to see exactly how good Indiana was. They were 3-1 after last week, but had yet to play anyone better than the league’s ultimate scrubs. Finally last night, they checked into South Beach… and were obliterated by the Heat. Miami didn’t even have Dwyane Wade (out nursing his foot) and yet ran away from the Pacers by 35. James literally ran right through Indiana; On one three-point play, he jumped and bumped into Lou Amundson in midair. James came down. Sweet Lou ending on the floor with the photographers. So LeBron took care of the offense. You need defense? Miami was indescribable in the second quarter, allowing just one field goal and forcing 10 turnovers … We’re not sure people really realize how beastly James has been to start the year. His 209 points through seven games are the greatest start of his career, and incredibly, he’s shot at least 55 percent in every game. Last night’s line (33 points, eight rebounds, 13 assists) was only the fourth time he’s put up numbers like that in his career …. The only real drama came when James rolled his ankle on Paul George‘s foot on a fast break. He may not play against Atlanta on Thursday, and Wade is probably sitting out as well … Tyler Hansbrough‘s plus/minus was minus-43. We’re not sure we’ve ever seen that … Chris Paul (20 points, 10 assists) had one of those games where TV just doesn’t do it justice. With some of the Dime crew out in L.A., CP3 had 11 points and six assists in the first quarter alone as Los Angeles rang up 41 points through 12 minutes. From there, it wasn’t even close. It’s scary watching Blake Griffin go for 22 points and nine assists and realize he’s only just scratching the surface, even if he and DeAndre Jordan are catching lob after lob from Paul … Speaking of the Clippers, their game against Chicago last Friday was the most watched game in NBA TV history, which was a small part of the record viewership who turned out for NBA TV’s opening week. What lockout? … Some more of the Dime fam is out in Phoenix for the rest of the week, and checking out the Suns is kind of sad. Someone needs to save Steve Nash (15 points, 12 assists) before it’s too late. These aren’t your older brother’s Suns; They went into the fourth quarter of their 98-89 loss to the Mavs with more turnovers than assists. Jason Terry (18 points) told the media before the game that he always takes these matchups personally because he was the one who replaced Nash in Dallas. Then he went out and hit three straight triples in the second half that ultimately pushed the lead above 20, driving home the point that’s becoming increasingly clear: Phoenix is not a playoff contender … We thought the Knicks loss at home against Toronto was a low point. Last night, they repeated the offense, getting beat at their crib this time by Charlotte 118-110, only considered perhaps the worst team in the league at the start of the season. With the loss, the Knicks are now 16-22 since adding Carmelo Anthony (32 points), and against the ‘Cats, not even running, buzzer-beating threes from Amar’e Stoudemire (25 points, 12 rebounds) could make any difference. Amar’e had his best game of the season, but it doesn’t take anything special to see he’s struggling to find his place offensively. And on the other end? He just got lit up by Boris Diaw (27 points) and Byron Mullens (16 points) … Iman Shumpert (18 points) might’ve returned after missing some time with an injury, but still, how can a rookie coming off an injury be playing harder than everyone else on the team? … Keep reading to hear about more insane highlights from Ricky Rubio …

In one of the craziest back-n-forth games we’ve seen this year, Memphis hit the T’Wolves with a 13-0 run late in the fourth quarter and then held on to win a game without Zach Randolph, 90-86. Rudy Gay had 19 points and Tony Allen finished with 20 while not missing a single shot, but it was Minnesota’s two leading men who were the indiviual stars. Kevin Love is making 27 points and 14 rebounds rather fundamental now, but Ricky Rubio (12 points, 10 assists) is doing things even his staunchest supporters probably didn’t believe possible. He had one backdoor bounce pass in traffic late in the game that 90 percent of NBA players wouldn’t even try … Monta Ellis went beserk (38 points, seven dimes) in San Antonio, and yet couldn’t stop the Old Reliables from dominating the fourth quarter without Manu and winning by six. But apparently getting on the Spurs roster doesn’t automatically make you a smarter ballplayer. Golden State was inbounding under their own basket, with T.J. Ford guarding the in-bounder. Ellis lost Kawhi Leonard in a mass of screens and popped to the corner closest to the inbounder, where T.J. jumped out to guard him … and then literally turned his back walked away from Monta to find his man again. Sean Elliott groaned as this was happening, but luckily Monta missed the three … We hope y’all saw the lob Rudy Fernandez threw Kenneth Faried in Denver’s blowout win last night. It was probably the best dunk of the year … Jrue Holiday went off for 23 points and eight assists as Philly came from 11 back after the first quarter to beat the Hornets, 101-93 … Andrea Bargnani went off for 31 on 16 shots in Toronto’s 15-point win over the Cavs … Without Deron Williams, New Jersey was a sacrificial lamb for Paul Pierce (24 points) and the Celtics … Rip Hamilton had 14 points in his return to Detroit as Chicago improved to 6-1 with an easy 99-83 win over the Pistons … And remember what we said about JaVale McGee breaking out? He’s not quite there yet. Dwight Howard ate the entire Wizards’ frontline last night, going for 28 points and 20 rebounds in the Magic’s easy 18-point win … As it was previously reported, the Warriors officially added Nate Robinson yesterday … And some more of the Dime crew was checking out Temple and Duke. The Owls straight beat up the Dukies. Temple was so outmatched inside (the Plumlees scored 30+ between them), but the Owls out-toughed the Blue Devils. For a good portion of the game, Fran Dunphy spread the floor and let his guards go right at Duke’s guards. Guys like Quinn Cook, Austin Rivers and Seth Curry were given the business by the Philly guards, starting with Ramon Moore. On defense, the Owls were incredible guarding the perimeter. There was nothing they could do about the inside scoring, but they really got after the Duke shooters and kept them under wraps all night. We haven’t seen a team make Duke look this bad in a long time … We’re out like Clemson’s D.