Rick Bowmer / AP Photo

John’s back hosting this week, yay!

We begin with the depressing, depressing Blazers. Then, Chris Bosh, Michael Beasley, Julian’s “statgasm” segment, All-Star balloting, J.R. Smith & Marcus Thornton sitting at the end of the bench, Wagman’s “basketball bubble” segment, Sham’s point guard question, my “broner” segment, and “predictions on last night’s games.”

Click here to listen to the podcast.

Recommended links:

Woj on the Blazers
Noam Schiller on the Blazers
Art Garcia’s apology to Paul Millsap
Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post on J.R. Smith/Gary Forbes
Kevin Love’s GQ blog

Lance Murdoch / Getty Images

Every Monday, John Bennett previews the games he’s most looking forward to. Looks like he’s going to be a busy man tonight and Friday.

1. Oklahoma City @ Utah, Monday.

Utah is coming off an unbelievable road trip where they beat Miami, Orlando, Atlanta and Charlotte in comeback wins all in the span of 5 days. The Bobcats game may not mean a lot but, after starting 2-3, Sloan has these guys rolling.

Paul Millsap’s monster 46-point game against the Heat was ridiculous. This, especially the trio of late three pointers, will never happen again. Overall, though, the big man is shooting over 60% from the field and has helped ease Al Jefferson into the Jazz frontcourt.

Kevin Durant’s 8 points to close out Portland in a 10-0 run was very impressive. I have a feeling the kid’s finding his groove. That being said, Westbrook has been some fantastic basketball, averaging 23.7 points, 6 rebounds, and 7.8 assists. Oh, and he’s 5th in the NBA in PER. Not too shabby for a “number two option.”
The last time the Thunder played Utah, OKC got destroyed 120-99. Jefferson and Millsap combined for 53 points, 26 rebounds and 7 assists. Ibaka will need to slow down one of these big guys for OKC to win this game.

2. Oklahoma City @ Boston, Friday.

Rajon Rondo. Russell Westbrook. If you aren’t interested then I don’t know what to do.

I’m especially excited to see Serge Ibaka and KG go at it. KG is notorious for intimidating less experienced opponents. Ibaka had the alley-oop of the year on the Spurs yesterday and I cannot imagine him backing down.

Also, I want to see how Durant attacks Boston’s D. I’d like KD to pick it apart and post a point total in the 40s. Remind me how anyone in this league is supposed to guard this 6’10’’ small forward with a 7’4’’ wingspan.

3. New Orleans @ Dallas, Monday.

At 8-0, it’s very simple for the Hornets. Chris Paul is playing amazing basketball. I’d love to say he’s playing “out of his mind,” but this is normal for Chris Paul. He’s just that good.

Dallas is on a 3-game winning streak that started with an 89-87 win over Boston a week ago. The Mavs need to turn this into a statement game. It’s early in the season but they are 3rd in the division and it isn’t going to get easier. I have trouble saying that San Antonio will drop off and, after their hot start, I’m not willing to knock New Orleans down a notch anytime soon.

4. San Antonio @ Utah, Friday.

San Antonio’s lone loss this season came against the Hornets in a game where Tim Duncan shot 2 for 10 from the field. Slow down Timmy D and get the win, right?

Not so fast. Duncan scored just 6 points in last night’s 117-104 takedown of the Thunder. Dare I say that this Spurs team is almost more dangerous than they were when Duncan was averaging 20+ points and 12 rebounds? Those days you knew exactly how they were going to beat you; now you never know who’ll step up. Case in point: Matt Bonner shot 7-7 from downtown last night.

5. Milwaukee @ Philadelphia, Friday.

You may look at this with a puzzled gaze that says, “This is the game you’re looking forward to?”
I’m fine with that because this season has proved something to me. There’s room for a little bit more Jrue Holiday in everyone’s life.

Before the season started, Doug Collins said that Holiday would become one of the top 5 point guards in the NBA by season’s end. I think he’s somewhere 4 through 9 on my must-watch list.

The battle between Jrue and Jennings screams, “FUN.” Throw in Elton Brand’s fadeaway jumper, Andrew Bogut’s overall awesomeness, and a hopefully healthy Andre Iguodala and you can see that I haven’t lost my mind.

Alex Gallard / AP Photo

Some week to inexcusably slack on my daily blog, right? Holy crap.

You’ve no doubt watched/read about all of this already by now, but let’s have a quick look at what happened over the past week:

The Jazz came back from double-digit deficits in four straight road games, after coming back to beat the Clippers in double-OT at home. Two of those wins were against the Heat and Magic on a back-to-back. Against Miami, Paul Millsap went Reggie Miller at the end of the fourth and ended up with 46 points. I’m still not sure that all of this really occurred. I’ve no idea how good Utah actually is. And I don’t think we’ll learn much from tonight’s game against the tired Thunder… but I do know they’ve been successful against teams with singular names recently.

The Pacers scored 54 freaking points in a quarter. They made twenty straight shots, before Josh McRoberts missed a three-pointer on their last possession. Mike Dunleavy scored 24 points in that quarter.

Yes, I realize that I linked back to a post on this site. I’m allowed; I didn’t write it. I couldn’t have written it.

Michael Beasley hit a ton of J’s against the Kings. He hit J after J after smooth J and ended up with 42 points. Two days later, against the Knicks, he did the same thing without getting to the line as often. He ended up with 35 points. Nick Flynt had to apologize to him.

In that Knicks/Wolves game, Kevin Love had a double-Reggie. He scored 31 points and grabbed 31 rebounds. As I’m sure you’re aware, the last person to reach 30/30 was Moses Malone 28 years ago. That same night, the entire Wizards team only grabbed 30 rebounds against the Bobcats. Love didn’t grab a single rebound in the first seven minutes of play. He outrebounded the Knicks 22-17 by himself in the 2nd half, 15 of those coming in the third quarter. He raised his rebounding average from 12.8 to 14.6 per game. Press row was counting each rebound out loud after #25. None of these sentences look like they can possibly be accurate.

Lost in Beasley’s and Love’s numbers is the fact that the Wolves’ comeback was crazy in its own right. They were down by 21 with nine minutes left in the third. In the last 21 minutes, they outscored New York 55-25. And the game wasn’t even on local TV in Minneapolis.

From a New York perspective, this game was not fun. Take a look at this recap on Bandwagon Knick.

And of course, the week had to end with something absolutely ridiculous. Last night, the Suns hit twenty-two threes against the Lakers. That’s their franchise record, that’s the most the Lakers have ever given up, and that’s one short of the NBA record for threes in a game. Jason Richardson shot 7-10 from deep and is now 31-61 on the season. Obviously, an absurd 30-footer from Hedo Turkoglu was the dagger. Makes perfect sense, this week.

Fun with stats

Joakim Noah is hitting 56% of his ugly jump shots from 16-23 feet.

Josh Smith has 1102 career blocks. He moved past Dikembe Mutombo (1,094) on the Hawks’ all-time blocks list a bit over a week ago. Tree Rollins is #1, with 2,283. Smith led the league in blocks per game before recording only 1 last night. Now, Roy Hibbert (3.0, #TeamHibs) leads the league. And JaVale McGee leads the league in block percentage – he’s blocked an INSANE 10% of his opponents’ 2-point field goal attempts.

Brook Lopez is averaging 5.9 rebounds per game. Chris Bosh is averaging 6.0 rebounds per game. Russell Westbrook is averaging 6.0 rebounds per game.

When the Warriors beat Utah 85-78 on Nov. 5, Utah’s 78 were the fewest GS had given up since beating the Clippers 109-77 in November of 2006. Eight days later, the Warriors lost in Milwaukee 79-72.

When the Wolves beat Sacramento on Wednesday, it was their first road victory since a February win against a Heat team that started Carlos Arroyo, Daequan Cook, Quentin Richardson, Michael Beasley, and Jermaine O’Neal.

The Heat are awesome in the third quarter. They average 27.3 points in the third and give up only 19.6.

As you know, the Jazz have won five straight. The last time Al Jefferson won five straight was in December 2006. That Celtics group lost 18 straight later that season.

Rashard Lewis played 25:40 against the Raptors on Saturday and, for the first time in his Magic career, did not attempt a three-pointer. Mickael Pietrus, however, attempted 11 three pointers and made 8 of them. Pietrus didn’t take any two-pointers or free throws. Also, Lewis has been in a MAJOR shooting slump – he’s only shooting 27% from 16-23 feet and 32% from three.

Also shooting poorly – Brandon Roy. His problem is different than Lewis, though. His shooting from distance has actually improved, but at the rim Roy is shooting 52% (down from 63.6% last year), within 10 feet he’s shooting 43% (down from 46% last year), and from 10-15 he’s shooting 33% (down from 47% last year). It’s safe to assume this is because of his stupid freaking knees that I’m not ready to talk about yet.

The 8-0 Hornets have yet to trail by double figures in a game.

Rajon Rondo has had 15+ assists SEVEN TIMES this season. All other NBA players have combined to do it five times.

I don’t want to put any of Darko’s terrible stats here so just click this link.

Shannon Brown is shooting 47% on threes this season, after shooting 33% last season. He’s averaging 3.4 attempts from downtown this season, up from 2.3 last season. Shot looks way, way better, as well.

Matt Bonner shot 7-7 on threes last night. Those seven were a career high and none of them touched the rim. On two point attempts, he was 0-3. You should read this post about it.

The Spurs are 8-1. That’s their best start in franchise history. THEY WILL NOT DIE.

Quoted

“This would have been a tough one if we would have lost it. I might have cried. I’m glad we won… seriously.” – Deron Williams, after playing 54 minutes in Utah’s double-OT win over the Clips back on Nov. 6. I know this quote is old, but it’s good.

“I’m a Monster and everyday is Halloween.” – Michael Beasley, after scoring 35 against the Knicks.

“Coach Sloan motivates us. He makes you want to run through a brick wall for him.” – Al Jefferson, after the Jazz came back to beat Atlanta.

“Even when we had a little trouble to start the season, at least they stayed together and worked themselves out of it. That’s the only way you have a chance. If you get [in] an ice pick fight out in the parking lot, then you have to try to solve that problem.” – Master motivator Jerry Sloan, also after the Jazz came back to beat Atlanta.

“We’re asking him to play a position he’s never played and do things he’s never had to do. He’s never had to guard Zach Randolph, have to guard Pau Gasol… I think we have to give him a little bit of a break, it’s a huge transition for him. He’s doing everything we’ve asked him to do.” – Alvin Gentry, on Hedo Turkoglu. What I wonder is WHY you’re asking him to do things he’s never had to do. He’s not capable of doing them.

“Losing four in a row isn’t fun.” – Jamal Crawford, on snapping a 4-game losing streak.

“I think [the Pistons] are a playoff team in the East. I don’t think there is much doubt about it.” – Paul Westphal, after the Kings lost to Detroit. They could be a playoff team, but I think there’s some doubt about it.

AP Photo / Nick Wass

Recorded on Thursday (my apologies for the late posting), we start off all pissed off with Colin Cowherd’s ignorant comments about John Wall. Then, we get to Andrea Bargnani and the Raptors, Steve Nash and the Suns, the Joakim Noah/KG thing, Paul Millsap’s awesomeness, the public perception of Kevin Durant, and our weekly features.

It’s just Julian, Wagman, and I this time. John was sick. Get better, John.

Click here to listen to the podcast.

Note: Julian dares to say “schadenfreude” out loud at one point. None of us were sure about the pronunciation.

…and if you missed the Joakim Noah at-home interview with ESPN from back in October, here ya go:

Luis M. Alvarez / AP Photo

There were seven games on the schedule last night, but the Knicks and Magic didn’t play because Madison Square Garden is not safe. I’ll start with the one game that came down to the wire:

The Wizards beat the Sixers 116-115 in overtime. It wouldn’t have made it to overtime if not for Cartier Martin (representing the D-League) tying the game with a last-second three-pointer that could easily have been an and-one. John Wall could not have been introduced better in the Wizards’ home opener and proceeded to put up a monster line: 29 points (on 16 shots), 13 assists, a franchise record-tying 9 steals, and, gulp, 8 turnovers. Since there are always fun numbers in overtime games, check out some other stats: Lou Williams started 0-8 but finished with 30 points on 16 shots (15-17 FT!), Elton Brand had a super-efficient 21 and 9, and Jrue Holiday had 14 points and 13 assists. I wanted a second overtime, but I was happy that Wizards fans got this win and EXTREMELY happy for Mr. Martin.

The Hawks beat the Cavs 100-88. Great to see Marvin Williams score 22 and get fourth-quarter burn. For Cleveland, J.J. Hickson was awesome. He hit a bunch of mid-range jumpers to start, which opened up his game. He’s coming along quite nicely. Wish I could say the same for Ramon Sessions, who is way better than he’s showing right now. He and the returning Mo Williams combined to shoot 9-31 and dish out only 5 assists. I thought it was over when the Hawks scored 40 points in the first quarter, but Cleveland worked its way back. Byron Scott said he loved the effort.

Portland beat Milwaukee 90-76 in an unsurprisingly slow-paced (87 possessions) game. The Blazers couldn’t hit anything at the outset and the Bucks started off on a roll. It looked like Carlos Delfino was going to do what Luol Deng did to the Blazers a night earlier, but the difference was that Wesley Matthews came in and stopped Delfino like he couldn’t stop Deng. The Bucks’ offense pretty much died near the end of the first, which was when the Blazers’ came to life. 6 turnovers and 0-4 shooting behind the arc was not what I was hoping for from Brandon Jennings after his awesome triple double on Saturday.

There were three blowouts yesterday: Boston 109, Detroit 86; Miami 129, Minnesota 97; and Lakers 124, Grizzlies 97. I won’t discuss these ones, but I will share three great dunks.

Credit to Zach Harper, Ben Golliver, and @jose3030 for the videos in this post.

Before I get to today’s feature, where I’ll quickly take stock of every team in the league after one week of basketball, I want to share a couple of links:

The Wall Street Journal profiled Anthony Morrow, which is awesome because he’s the best damn shooter in the world. There are a bunch of Steve Kerr quotes within.

And I don’t know how this got by me a few days ago, but CelticsBlog interviewed the great Jackie MacMullan. Really great read on her early days in the business, the 80′s in the NBA, Kevin McHale, and a couple of current Celtics.

Week 1 Catch-up

The Hawks are undefeated and they are getting to the line, but they haven’t been tested and it doesn’t look like Jeff Teague is who they hoped he would be.

Rajon Rondo has 67 assists in 4 games and his Celtics are rebounding their way to wins, but Nate Robinson has been bricking everything and they still need to cut down the turnovers.

D.J. Augustin’s been better than expected, Boris Diaw is still playing more than Tyrus Thomas, and Charlotte’s defense is almost the league’s worst after being the league’s best last year.

Derrick Rose is leading the league in usage rate, James Johnson does stuff now, and Keith Bogans has played more minutes for Chicago than Kyle Korver and Ronnie Brewer.

J.J. Hickson looks suited for his bigger role, Antawn Jamison has been all kinds of disappointing, and Ramon Sessions has been about 1/100th as good as I thought he would be in Cleveland.

The Mavericks have been awesome defensively against weak competition and Dirk Nowitzki is too good for Halloween costumes.

Arron Afflalo’s force people to spell his name right and Denver’s playing very good defense, even Al Harrington!

Rodney Stuckey’s getting assists now, the Pistons’ bench is outplaying their starting five, and they’ve looked fairly good in each loss before the C’s game last night.

Andris Biedrins and Brandan Wright get to play now, Monta Ellis is lovable again, and the Warriors really need Stephen Curry’s bum ankle to heal.

The Rockets have lost all three games, two of them close, but Kyle Lowry’s back and Erick Dampier will arrive shortly.

Roy Hibbert’s dominating from the high post and McBob is dunking on everyone in Indiana.

Blake Griffin is everything we hoped he’d be, but his team is still Clippering its way to losses and Baron Davis thinks that, before this season, “getting in shape was never a problem.”

Lamar Odom is shooting 6-8 on threes and 27-38 overall on the season and the Lakers are making me think they could go another month without a loss.

The Grizzlies looked good in half their games, they need Zach Randolph back, and you’re going to have trouble watching Mike Conley play without thinking about his contract.

The Heat are playing incredible defense and they’re going to win tons of games, but we’d like them to start running – the blowout against Minnesota last night was their only fast-paced game.

There are still too many missed jump shots in Milwaukee, but Brandon Jennings had perhaps the best game of his career the other day.

Kevin Love is averaging 15.5 points and 11.3 rebounds and has yet to play over 30 minutes in a game this season.

The Nets look nothing like they did last year and Derrick Favors is not a bust.

Chris Paul has the Hornets undefeated against three playoff teams and Marcus Thornton had 17 points and 7 rebounds in 30 minutes in San Antonio the other night.

Gallo’s been awful, Chandler’s been awesome, and the Knicks are going to need some time to put it together.

The Thunder have not been playing the awesome defense we saw last year, but that should change.

After the Magic lost by 26 in Miami, I can’t wait for the rematch that’s three weeks from today.

Elton Brand’s averaging 16.3 points and 9 rebounds, Evan Turner’s had three 7-rebound games, and the Sixers haven’t won a game yet.

The Suns can’t rebound or stop anybody, but Goran Dragic’s PER is 25.8.

Armon Johnson’s been a pleasant surprise and you have to watch the Blazers play against Oklahoma City tomorrow.

Tyreke-Cousins-Casspi is my favourite young trio and I’d much rather talk about the Kings’ much improved offense than their inconsistent, often-terrible defense.

Hope you’re as excited as I am to see more from Tiago Splitter and Gary Neal for the Spurs against Phoenix tonight.

In Toronto, Andrea Bargnani and Reggie Evans are perfect for one another.

The preseason may have tricked us into forgetting that the Jazz need time to gel, but Paul Millsap deserves your attention right now.

John Wall’s a must-watch, but I wish he had better teammates and wish the “new and improved Yi Jianlian” would put on a Wizards uniform.

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Different uniforms, now. (Ned Dishman/Getty Images)

• The Washington Wizards started a lineup of Randy Foye, Nick Young, Mike Miller, Andray Blatche, and JaVale McGee. Josh Howard came off the bench, wearing #55. Blatche scored 33 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. Washington beat Minnesota, 108-99.

• The Memphis Grizzlies scored 5 points in the last 37 seconds of the 4th quarter to force overtime in Toronto. In OT, Rudy Gay scored 8 of his team’s 12 points because the Raptors kept switching Jose Calderon onto him when they ran the same play over and over. Grizz win, 109-102.

• In that MEM/TOR game, Hedo Turkoglu scored 1 point on 0-5 shooting and added 1 rebound, 2 assists, 3 turnovers, and 3 fouls in over 29 minutes of action. Amir Johnson, in less than 18 minutes of action, scored 10 points on 5-5 shooting and added 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 blocks, and, yes, 3 fouls.

• Against Detroit, Dwight Howard had an insane night – 33 points on 16 shots, 17 rebounds, and 7 (!) blocks. Rip Hamilton turned back the clock for 36 points on 18 shots, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists, but it didn’t matter because Orlando outscored his Pistons by 19 in the 4th quarter and won 116-91.

• Tim Duncan shot 4-23 and only scored 8 points… but he had 26 rebounds (11 offensive), 5 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. And his team beat the Pacers 90-87.

• Chicago beat the Knicks for the second night in a row, 115-109. Derrick Rose scored 27 points on only 19 shots because he  got to the free throw line!

• Dwyane Wade left the MIA/NJ game after 7 minutes because he hurt his calf. Still, his team beat the Nets, 87-84.

• Courtney Lee played 31 minutes against Miami and scored 2 points, shooting 0-9 from the field including 0-5 from downtown. He was -14 in that time. Chris Douglas-Roberts only had one more point than Lee, but played 12 fewer minutes and was +11.

• In New Orleans, Peja Stojakovic scored 24 points on 12 shots. Surely, this had something to do with his new look. Paul Millsap also scored 24, though, on 11-13 shooting, and his Jazz won 98-90.

• The Rockets outscored the Bucks 43-14 in the 3rd quarter and ended up winning 127-99 . Luc Richard Mbah a Moute somehow led Milwaukee in scoring.

• The new-look Mavs beat the Suns 107-97. Jason Kidd had 18 points (on 11 shots), 7 rebounds, 10 assists, and 7 steals. Despite the million trade rumours, Amar’e Stoudemire suited up for Phoenix and had 30 points, 14 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 blocks.

• The Clippers lost their sixth straight and the first game of the Steve Blake era, falling 110-92 to the Hawks. Al Horford posted a career-high 31 points (on 15 shots) and Josh Smith, who should have been an All-Star, posted 20 points (on 12 shots), 9 rebounds, 7 assists, and 4 steals. The Clippers turned the ball over 22 times and shot 10-17 from the free throw line, with Baron Davis sitting out with a sore lower back.

• The Warriors annihilated the Kings, 130-98. C.J. Watson scored 40 points. 40! He did this on 16-23 shooting and added 7 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2 steals. This made Stephen Curry’s 24/6/15 seem less impressive than it should.

• Golden State scored 42 points in the second quarter and held Sacramento to just 16.

• Kevin Martin only played 19 minutes before being pulled because he is GETTING TRADED TO HOUSTON. Holy shit. Yeah. It looks like he’s being sent to the Rockets with Sergio Rodriguez, Hilton Armstrong, and Kenny Thomas. In return, the Kings will get the exceedingly awesome Carl Landry, as well as Tracy McGrady’s big expiring deal, Joey Dorsey, and cash. McGrady and Rodriguez might end up in New York before the 3:00 PM EST deadline, still.

• Quick analysis: The Kings got a fantastic scoring power forward in Landry and now have 16-17 million dollars of cap space in the summer. Not too shabby. And in Martin, the Rockets got the super-efficient backcourt scorer that they’ve coveted. This is exciting for both clubs.

• John Salmons didn’t play for Chicago last night because he’s going to be traded to Milwaukee. It might be for Kurt Thomas and Francisco Elson. It might be for Hakim Warrick and Joe Alexander.

• And finally, Antawn Jamison was, thankfully, traded to Cleveland. The Cavs also received Sebastian Telfair from the Clippers. The Clippers gave away Al Thornton to Washington and took back Drew Gooden, who never actually suited up for the Wiz. Zydrunas Ilgauskas went to Washington along with the Cavs’ 2010 first-round pick, but he will likely be bought out and he will hopefully return to Cleveland.

• On the subject of that Cavs trade, you should really read this piece by John Krolik and this piece by Kelly Dwyer.

• Oh yeah, almost forgot. Another great trade occurred.

I love the trade deadline. Podcast coming when it’s all over.