Chris Graythen / Getty Images

We’re back. Here’s an outline of the episode:

• The Hornets being sold to the NBA
• Statgasm – Julian at his ranting best, wanting to launch Linas Kleiza into space
• James giving some love to Patty Mills and Pooh Jeter
• Wednesday’s Knicks/Raptors game – Bargnani/Amar’e/Felton
• BLAKE GRIFFIN!
• Andre Miller’s cheapshot
• Wednesday’s Heat/Jazz game – we’re feeling better about Miami’s offense
• Wednesday’s Clippers/Lakers game – we enjoy the Clippers
• Derek Fisher, Ron Artest, and Snoop Dogg
• Wednesday’s Suns/Grizz game – holy crap, Rudy Gay
• Predictions on last night’s games – we obviously know nothing about anything.

Click here to listen to the podcast.

Relevant links after the jump.

Falling in love with the Clippers, all over again – Kelly Dwyer

Being Ron Artest – Rick Reilly

Issac Baldizon/Getty Images

Hey heyyy, it’s the first BfB of 2010. I’m a bit pissed at myself for letting so many days go by without an update here, but at least I’ve been really active on Twitter, right? Right? Hope that’s okay. Anyway, 4 games on the schedule last night. There’s stuff to talk about.

The All-OTN Team

Serge Ibaka: 6 Pts (2-7 FG, 2-2 FT), 8 Reb (3 Off), 2 Blk, 1 Stl, 1 TO, 2 PF in 22 mins.

With the light Monday schedule, it’s not odd that we only had one All-OTN guy going. Ibaka had a good all-around outing, though, and he was on the floor for the final stretch of this 98-85 win over the Bulls despite his missed shots. Speaking of missed shots, one of them made me think. He missed a sort of difficult turnaround jumper and my initial reaction was, “Argh, why?!” Then, I thought about it for a second. It wasn’t the best shot, but it wasn’t far off. It’s actually pretty cool that he’s trying things and he has the freedom to make some mistakes. Some coaches would yank a 20-year-old rookie for that kind of thing, but that isn’t what happened here with Scotty Brooks at the helm. There are two reasons for this. First, Brooks knows that Ibaka’s effort in other areas will make up for a few missed shots. Second, Brooks knows that it would be detrimental to mess with this kid’s confidence. He’s not the kind of guy who’s going to be selfish and play the hero, so you trust him and give him a bit of leeway on the court. With respect to Serge’s offensive game, this will pay off sooner and in a bigger way than many people realize.

Oh, before I move on I want to share a note I made when he was matched up with Tyrus Thomas the first time he checked in: “him vs. Thomas = fun.” Pretty simple, but damn true. Love watching these athletic bundles of energy and potential go at it. Near the end of the third quarter, I made another note: “SERGE BLOCKS TYRUS’S DUNK.” Then, I checked on Twitter and saw J.E. Skeets had just said the following: “Tyrus Thomas vs. Serge Ibaka. That was fun.” Yup.

Rookie Watch

Eric Maynor: 6 Pts (2-4 FG, 2-2 3PT), 3 Reb, 2 Ast, 1 Stl, 1 Blk, 2 TO, 2 PF in 19 mins.

Okay, I’m good with him now. No, I’m not over the fact that Shaun Livingston is out of the league. I still don’t like thinking about it and I reallyfuckingwant some team to sign him soon. But I am not letting this get in the way of enjoying Eric Maynor anymore. It wasn’t his fault to begin with. He’s a fantastic back-up point guard and I love that Scotty Brooks (you can tell I’m a fan of his, right?) plays him WITH Westbrook, too. In fact, the two plays that stand out involved them hooking up – first, Maynor had a nice steal and made a beautiful outlet pass to Westbrook for a bucket. Later, he blocked Kirk Hinrich’s shot and, again, found Russ with an outlet pass. Here’s the second play:

Both of Maynor’s buckets were straightaway three-pointers. I know it’s a small sample size, but he’s shooting 62.5% from beyond the arc since joining the Thunder. His shots last night looked PURE – nothing but net.

James Harden: 13 Pts (5-11 FG, 3-5 3PT), 1 Reb, 4 Ast, 1 Stl, 2 TO, 5 PF in 26 mins.

I expect great production from Harden at this point, so there’s not much to analyze here. Plus, I don’t want to say too much because he’s going to be featured in another piece I’m working on. So, for now, just take a look at his post-game interview with NBA TV.

Dante Cunningham: 7 Pts (3-5 FG, 1-2 FT), 3 Reb (2 Off), 3 Stl, 1 TO, 3 PF in 24 mins.
Jeff Pendergraph: 8 Pts (4-4 FG), 7 Reb (3 Off), 1 Blk, 1 TO, 3 PF in 30 mins.

It blows my mind that Cunningham and Pendergraph have to get real minutes now. Still, there’s no sense in complaining about what could or should have been in Portland. We may as well enjoy the young guys and, fortunately, they make that pretty easy. Both of these bigs play hard on every possession – if they mess up, it’s because they get caught doing something that rookies do. That’s fine with me, I’ll take their heart and passion on my team any day. While Pendergraph is characterized by the toughness and physicality of someone much more experienced, Cunningham is characterized by his athleticism and his activity level, as well as his mid-range J. Fun fact: all three of his steals came in one three-minute span near the end of the first half.

I’m not going to put Patty Mills’s stat line here because it’s not pretty, but I have to say I was very happy to see him check in during the 2nd quarter. I always like to see rookies make their debuts and I’m always partial to Australian players because I used to live there. Can’t wait to see him get more minutes, especially if he’s playing alongside my guy Jerryd Bayless.

Impressive

Michael Beasley: 22 Pts (10-21 FG, 1-2 3PT, 1-2 FT), 8 Reb (3 Off), 3 Ast, 2 Blk, 3 TO, 4 PF in 39 mins.

Beas played one of the best halves of basketball I’ve seen from anyone this season, even without his awesome fro. Check it out, I took notes on the first and second quarters:

• Aggressive move on Josh Smith off the dribble, scores.

• Stop on Smith!

• Offensive board over Smith, then hits a jumper. Wow.

• Faces up Josh Smith and hits a J. 3-3.

• Good work on the boards, active.

• Nice move on Horford. Missed a shot, missed a tip, converted. So he’s missed 2 shots, but he actually scored on that possession. 4-6 from the floor.

• Wade finds him for 3 in the corner. 5-7: 11 points in less than 8 minutes.

• Blocks Josh Smith! Then goes to the bench.

• End of 1st Q., 30-14 for Miami.

• Back in to start 2nd. Playing the 3 though. I don’t like that.

• EASY open J against a zone. 6-8. 13 points. Still hasn’t missed aside from those two that he boarded.

• Misses a J over Zaza. 6-9. His team is up by 22 points, though.

• Faces up on the right side agaaaaain, drives and hits a hook. Crazy. 7/10. 15 points. The Heat announcers just called him “virtually unguardable.”

• Awesome drive past Smith on the left, layup. 17 points. 8-11 with a little less than 6 minutes left in the half.

• Nice cut, missed a baseline jumper but they scored on an offensive board anyway. Ha. 8-12.

• Nice shot on the inside off a Chalmers feed. Should have been an and-1, but no call. 9/13. 19 points.

• Fast break. Hacked by Crawford. Made 1st ft, missed 2nd. He looks pissed about missing that 2nd one.

• Nice contest on Josh Smith’s hook. Another stop.

• Goes to the bench… wow, nice half. The Heat are KILLING them. I hate this stupid matchup.

To be clear, he had 20 points on 13 shots, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 block in his first 18 minutes of action. His team had a 17-point lead at the half and he was the biggest reason why. In the second half, for whatever reason, his production didn’t sustain. Not that it really matters that he went 1-8 in the final two frames, as his team still ended up winning by 17 and his buddy D-Wade picked up the slack. I’ll remember that first half though. It’s the reason I still think Miami has themselves a stud at the 4 without looking to Bosh or Boozer. When Michael Beasley is locked in, he can score on anybody and it looks like the easiest thing in the world. The defense is coming along, too.

Quick note – can we just scrap the Atlanta/Miami games? That first-round series last season had to have been the least-entertaining 7-game series in NBA history. This one ended 92-75, but it felt over after one quarter. Blowouts are no fun. Come on, you know you want Toronto to get the 5th seed.

Russell Westbrook: 29 Pts (13-24 FG, 0-1 3PT, 3-5 FT), 7 Reb (3 Off), 6 Ast, 2 Stl, 4 TO, 2 PF in 45 mins.

Hope you caught him duelling with Derrick Rose early on, it was fun to watch. I know Rose had the edge last year, but with his relative stagnation and Russ’s D, I’d take Westbrook today. Not that it matters, and not that that means anything in the big picture. We should just be happy we get to see these guys (along with the wealth of other talented young PG’s balling right now) grow and do battle for the next decade-plus. Anyway, Russ’s 29/7/6 trumped Rose’s 19/7/3 and his team got the W. This is just another in a streak of great games from the former UCLA standout – let me direct you to a couple of tweets from ShamSports, referring to games played before last night’s contest:

Oh yeah, here’s another tweet you should pay attention to. I know it’s not exactly from an impartial source, but he’s got a point:

Oh, and Durant? 25 points on 14 shots, plus 8 boards. Impressive? Sure. That’s just what he does, though. He’s that good.

Devin Brown: 30 Pts (11-20 FG, 5-8 3PT, 3-5 FT), 4 Reb (1 Off), 1 Ast, 2 TO, 3 PF in 37 mins.

I still don’t believe my eyes. Devin Brown, on my impressive list? Ugh. I never thought I’d see the day and I’m not totally comfortable with it. He and Bobby Brown form a tandem that would make it impossible for me to root for this Hornets team if it did not feature the best point guard on the planet, Chris Paul. The difference is that Bobby is out of the rotation and Devin is, I guess, not that bad an NBA player. If I’m being fair. I don’t really want to be, ‘cause he bugs me, but there it is. He’s a decent rotation player. Not a starter, mind you, although he really did look like one in last night’s 91-87 victory in Salt Lake City. I mean, 5-8 from downtown? REALLY? I didn’t see all of this game but it seemed he nailed a jumper every time I flipped there. I’ll have you know that one of his threes came on a bank shot that made me laugh for a good minute. Ridiculous.

Chris Paul: 12 Pts (5-15 FG, 0-4 3PT, 2-2 FT), 6 Reb (3 Off), 9 Ast, 3 Stl, 2 TO, 4 PF in 39 mins.

I just said he’s the best point guard on the planet. He is. The man he was facing, Deron Williams, is up there as well. And, in all fairness, Deron played a better game by the numbers. 12 points on 15 shots doesn’t compare to D-Will’s 17 on 11. Plus, D-Will had 11 assists to CP3’s 9. But, hey, as much of a stat geek as I am, I’m telling you to throw all that out the window for a minute and appreciate what Chris Paul did at the end of this game. On a crucial play, he made an UNBELIEVABLE steal on a D-Will pass, then came down the other way and let the shot clock tick down before driving to the hole and laying it in. This was the defining moment of the game and the Jazz had no chance afterward. I’m not telling you to ignore Paul’s poor shot selection prior to this, but I’d like you to focus on how he came through at the end. That was huge. Actually, just watch the damn video:

Eric Gordon: 19 Pts (6-10 FG, 4-6 3PT, 3-4 FT), 2 Reb, 2 Ast, 4 TO, 4 PF in 27 mins.

What’s interesting about Gordon’s line is that pretty much all his damage came in the third quarter. The Clippers came out of halftime tied with Portland, but Gordon’s 16-point explosion propelled them to a 4-point lead going into the final frame Down the stretch, most of the scoring damage was done by Baron Davis and Rasual Butler, but you have to credit Gordon for shifting the momentum his team’s way.

Two things ALWAYS impress me about Gordon’s game. First, his jump shot. It’s absolutely beautiful. It’s easily one of my five favourite jump shots in the league right now. When the ball leaves his fingers, you expect it to go in every time. Or at least I do. The second thing is that he is aggressive and gets to the line. His 4 free throws last night fell short of his average (5.3), but that’s a solid number for a guy who attempted 10 field goals. You never expect pure shooters to be able to slash, draw contact, and finish, but this is a different type of player. He’s both a deadly shooter and an athlete. Plus, he can be a solid defender. The Clippers better not find a way screw this one up.

Andre Miller: 22 Pts (9-20 FG, 0-2 3PT, 4-7 FT), 3 Reb (2 Off), 16 Ast, 3 Stl, 2 TO, 1 PF in 40 mins.

I came to a strange realization a couple of weeks ago while watching the Blazers play: I kind of play like Andre Miller. In fact, of all the people in the league, I think I play the MOST like Andre Miller. I never planned this. When I started playing ball, I wanted to be Magic Johnson (and, hell, I still do). Later on, like everyone else on the planet, I obsessed over MJ. I imitated Tim Hardaway’s killer crossover. Then AI, Kobe, Nash, and VC came along. You know how it goes. But now I’m 23 and I’ve got no hops, no speed, and the growth spurt the doctors assured me was coming when I hit my teens just never came. I don’t play nearly as often as I should and I don’t work on my handle every day like I did when I was a kid. So, when I do play, I play like an old man. Head fakes, shot fakes, tricky passes, in-between shots. I play with my back to the basket sometimes, even against taller guys. All I’ve really got is a feel for the game, especially if my long-range shot isn’t on. This makes me kind of like Andre Miller and it makes me appreciate his game more than I used to.

Last night, everything was working for him, as you can see with the numbers. He was throwing outlet passes, running the fast break perfectly, getting his teammates layups and open 3-pointers. It was exactly what the Blazers brought him in to do and I loved it. At halftime, he was 3-11 from the floor (including a made field goal off an extremely lucky bounce where he tried to take Baron Davis to the post) but he was completely in control of the game, as evidenced by his 10 assists. In the second half, his shots started to fall and he kept finding teammates as well. This was great, great work from Dre. It’s a shame it came in a 105-95 loss, though. I hate to say it, but the one thing he wasn’t able to do was get Brandon Roy going. The Blazers’ franchise guy went 3-12 from the floor, with no free throw attempts.

Juwan Howard:16 Pts (8-11 FG,), 4 Reb, 1 Stl, 2 TO, 5 PF in 36 mins.

Juwan Howard is an intelligent vet who moves the ball quickly, plays good positional defense, and hits open jump-… wait, what? No way. Juwan Howard?! You’ve got to be kidding.

Uh-huh. Check the Twitter reaction, starting with my incredibly creative and witty commentary.

@outsidethenba: JUWAN HOWARD HOLY FUCK
@talkhoops: Juwan Howard just dunked on Kaman! WOW. What’s up, 1997?
@bustabucket: My head just exploded. Was that Juwan Howard!?
@jeskeets: Juwan Howard just crushed Chris Kaman!
@NBAnoise: Chris Kaman, meet your daddy, Juwan Howard. Posters go on sale tomorrow.
@sportsguy33: I’m at clips-blazers + Juwan Howard just posterized Marcus Camby. Crowd is still reeling. That dunk was from 2 decades ago.
@ripcityproject: I just lost my voice, the power went out, my christmas tree caught fire and the fridge opened to reveal a demon dog…thanks Juwan.
@jeskeets: #DikemebeMutomboAndOrGregOdenNBAHumor RT @wastro: Juwan Howard just got his first Sportscenter highlight since World War II. #Blazers
@docfunk: Chris Kaman just got his “Helping The Elderly” scout badge. #JuwanHoward #Seriously

To watch

I’m not going to fill up this section because I’ve included some videos throughout. Really wanted to share this Brandon Jennings clip, though. Two reasons for this: it’s cool seeing this fantastic rookie talking about his pre-game routine and some of the food his mom made for him while he was in Italy. Second, it’s hilarious that he’s talking about healthy eating in a segment sponsored by freaking Taco Bell.

To Read

Matt Moore of Hardwood Paroxysm discusses the brilliance of John Wall and makes a bold claim about him.

Tom Haberstroh from Hoopdata looks at the NBA in Polychromatic Form for the third time. (So effing cool, but then… I’m a geek.)

Jon Robinson of ESPN discusses the return of NBA Jam (!!!) and some amazing NBA Jam-related stories.

Holly MacKenzie is the best.