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“It’s become like a forum. We’re just a couple of guys talking about ball. And people join in on the conversation.” – Tas Melas, in a profile in The Globe and Mail from April 18, 2008.

Finally, I’ve recovered. #TBJ500 took a hell of a lot out of me. I was so ruined on Saturday that I didn’t edit the already-out-of-date podcast we recorded on Thursday, didn’t read the new SLAM in one sitting, and didn’t manage to stay awake for the 2nd half of the Clippers/Cavs game. FAIL, right? Yeah, massive fail.

The party? Anything but. I’ve never had a night quite like it. Definitely wasn’t in the proper state of mind to reflect on it as it was going on, but thinking about it now – wow. As I drunkenly tweeted, I got to speak to some serious all-stars at this thing. People who I have an endless amount of respect for. People whose work I’ve consumed daily for a while but only recently tried to engage with. And they were all more than cool to me. Sure, they’re not celebrities in their day-to-day lives, but at event like this… I mean, this is a party where I ended up chatting with a girl about the brilliance of the FreeDarko book. Skeets and Tas in must have felt like Daryl Morey at “Dorkapalooza” and it means a lot that they’d give me a minute or two of conversation.

And there’s that word again, conversation. That’s the point of all this. I can talk about ball forever and it’s been that way for as long as I can remember. Seems ridiculous that I’ve tweeted almost 3,000 times since the season started, but I guess that’s me. This blog is essentially an excuse to immerse myself in pro ball to an extent that 99% of the population can’t relate to and a way to connect with the 1% that can. I’m pretty much always watching or discussing basketball these days and it’s amazing – feels like I’m freaking 10 years old again. But before I get all sappy, back to the show:

It was, predictably for anyone who watches the podcast, absolutely hilarious. Dwyer has described Skeets as a “brilliant entertainer” and you know this applies to Melas equally. I was pleasantly surprised to see Matt and J.D. provide big laughs – if you were a newbie, you wouldn’t have guessed that these two worked almost exclusively behind the scenes. I don’t want to ruin any of the content before the guys put it online, so I’ll just say that Matt killed me with an impression and there was cause for me to be singing (horribly) from my seat.

The most impressive part of the show, besides of course the simple and amazing fact that these guys have reached the 500-episode milestone, is the fact that they did this on top of recording an episode each of the previous four mornings. I have no idea how they pulled it off and left me feeling like they overdelivered on the big night. Didn’t ask how much sleep they got last week but I imagine it’s a frighteningly small amount. I just hope the payoff – packing a bar full of enthusiastic fans and seeing them laugh their asses off – was worth it for them.

So before I go on and talk about Sunday’s games, I want to thank TBJ. Thanks for the unbelievable amount of time you guys have put in for years, thanks for the consistent quality of your work, and thanks for throwing pretty much the only kind of party that would make me feel okay about leaving my house on a 13-game night. ‘Twas fantastic, even if I bought entirely too many drinks… and even if I wussed out on going up on stage and doing trivia as my friends yelled at me to do so… and even if I embarrassed myself a bit in front of my biggest NBA writing hero by acting about as cool as I did when I met Hakeem Olajuwon. It was a night I won’t forget (ironic, since the last couple of hours are veryvery fuzzy) and it’s something I’ll tell people about when you have your own TV show and The BJ Army has grown exponentially.

Raptors 110, Mavericks 88

• I was there and it was easily the most impressive win of the season for the Raptors. The energy was there against this very good, if tired, Dallas team. LOVE the effort Toronto is putting in on the defensive end – they will never be the most talented defensive club, but they’re making up for it by playing smarter basketball. To put it kindly, this wasn’t happening earlier in the season. (96.7 points per 100 possessions for Dallas in this one.)

• All-OTN Team member Amir Johnson stood out and the crowd, as usual, appreciated his effort. There’s not a big man in the league who runs the floor harder. I want to avoid repeating myself about his hustle, so I’ll keep this short. There were crazier plays in this game, but none brought a bigger smile to my face than his dunk on the break or his coast-to-coast and-1. Oh, and he finished with 10 points and 8 rebounds (along with an assist, a steal, a block, and, ugh, 5 fouls) in less than 23 minutes.

• Jose Calderon had himself a fantastic game on both ends. He said post-game that he’s finally able to move like he wants to and I actually believe him this time. Even when matched up with the speedy J.J. Barea, he moved his feet quickly enough to limit penetration. That’s all I want from him on D – it’s almost impossible to be a true stopper at the 1 in this league, but it’s crucial to be able to stay in front of your man the majority of the time. Coming off the bench and splitting time with Jarrett Jack (who was also effective), he played like the Jose of old on offense as well, remaining in full command of the team and a threat to unleash his fantastic jumper at all times. The line: 15 points, 7 assists, 2 rebounds (both offensive), 2 steals, 1 turnover, 6-12 FG, 1-2 3PT, 2-2 FT.

• Andrea Bargnani continued his strong play, setting the tone with a strong baseline dunk in the first quarter. I love seeing him score from various spots on the floor and I love seeing his improvement on defense. He finished with 22 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 blocks in 34 minutes. Those numbers are all higher than Dirk’s, except for the minutes. Dirk was impressed.

• Chris Bosh’s 23 points and 13 rebounds gave him his 29th double-double of the year. That’s more than anyone else in the league. 11 of his points came in the 2nd quarter, where Toronto took control by outscoring Dallas 34-18. Bosh has been phenomenal this season, but as Tzvi Twersky expressed in his terrific feature in the latest SLAM, he still somehow remains a bit under the radar. As a Raptors fan, I don’t even want to think about losing him.

• The Mavericks were not impressive. It was the worst I’ve seen Dirk this season, the worst I’ve seen Josh Howard EVER shooting-wise, and Erick Dampier played 21 minutes without taking a shot or grabbing an offensive rebound. Shawn Marion had some nice offensive plays when matched up against Hedo Turkoglu, but I’d say it’s always a bad thing when he takes more shots than Dirk does. My favourite Dallas moment was when Roddy Beaubois hit a floater in the beginning of the 4th quarter. All I wanted when I came to the ACC was a Raptors win and some minutes for Beaubois. Success!

Nuggets 119, Jazz 112

• Game of runs: 12-2 for Utah at the end of the 2nd, 10-0 for Denver near the beginning of the 3rd, and 13-2 for Utah before the 4th quarter began.

• As you might expect, Carmelo and Chauncey led the Nuggets as they beat the Jazz for the 3rd time this season. 37 points on 22 shots for Melo and 29 points on 13 shots for Billups. The two combined to shoot 28-31 (!) from the free throw line.

• Don’t know if I can explain how happy I was to see Ty Lawson back on the court, after he had missed 4 games with one of those damn ankle injuries. The 18th pick in the 2009 draft is one of my favourite young PG’s and he’s made GM’s look stupid all year with his strong play. Tonight, he scored 11 points on 7 field goal attempts in 26:36 of playing time. He shared the backcourt with Billups in crunch time and, well, you have to check out George Karl’s post-game quote:

“Ty’s defense is better than any rookie I’ve ever coached. He still makes mistakes, but he’s a very sound defender as is Chauncey, and their ability to find the open man, I’ve said, what, 2,451 times, is the key to our team.”

• Deron Williams played great ball despite his sprained wrist: 23 points (8-18 FG, 1-4 3PT, 6-8 FT), 13 assists, 5 rebounds (2 offensive), 1 steal in 41 minutes. I can’t really be mad about the 5 turnovers.

• I was happy to see Sundiata Gaines enter the game in the 4th quarter, but disappointed to see him only stick around for 2 minutes and almost get himself a trillion.

• The most efficient player on the floor for Utah was Kyle Korver. Check this: 19 points on 7-10 shooting, including 4-5 from downtown in 23:37 of playing time. His +14 led the team, too. Crazy last few games for him. Against Cleveland, he had a chasedown block on LeBron James and hit a critical shot from behind the backboard. Against Milwaukee, he didn’t miss. And then this one. Nice.