Jonathan Daniel / Getty Images

1. LA Lakers @ Chicago / Oklahoma City @ New Orleans – Friday

Flip a coin. Both of these games should be great.

When Chicago and LA met earlier this year Derrick Rose went off for 30 points, 8 assists and 5 rebounds. Unfortunately for Chicago, so did Shannon Brown. He scored 21 points off the bench, going 5 for 10 from deep, grabbed 4 rebounds and dropped 3 dimes for good measure.

The New Orleans/OKC meeting last Monday was fantastic. Durant had a tough shooting night with Ariza all over him all night long. Westbrook was phenomenal down the stretch scoring 12 points as part of OKC’s 14-0 4th quarter run. Durant forced David West into 6 straight missed and blocked two of his shots late in the game. If this week’s matchup is half as good as it was last week then you’ll be entertained.

2. OKC @ Chicago – Monday

Westbrook. Rose. AHHHHHHH my ankles hurt just thinking about all the crossovers. Right now, Westbrook is having the better season. He’s shown more improvement and is compensating for Durant’s terrible shooting this year.
Continue Reading

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.
Continue Reading

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.
Continue Reading

Mark J. Terrill / AP

We start with the Clips, move on to the teams dominating the preseason so far (ORL, MEM, UTA), and touch on the expectations for the Thunder and Andrea Bargnani. We go over some interesting preseason stat lines and end with Julian complaining about Shaq being a statue and Ron Artest’s shenanigans.

Runtime is 42:04.

Click here to listen to the podcast.

Recommended links:
Lee Jenkins on the Thunder
Sebastian Pruiti on Andrea Bargnani
Ben Q. Rock on Vince Carter

Fernando Medina/Getty Images

Tuesday night, Julian and I chatted about all things NBA. Or, more accurately, some things NBA. Like the Raptors, Nets, Hawks, Thunder, Warriors, Magic, Bulls, Bucks, and Bobcats. And Joe Johnson, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, Omri Casspi, Kevin Martin, Vince Carter, Courtney Lee, and Vinny Del Negro. And, y’know, a bunch of other stuff. Totally forgot to talk about Darko’s weird, expletive-laden interview, though. Next time.

And next time, Eric Wagman will join us. We were kidding about him hurting himself.

Click here to listen to the podcast.

Larry W. Smith/Getty Images

PURE JOY. Wednesday, January 13, 2010 was a phenomenal night in the NBA. Continue Reading

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. Continue Reading

I took a break from daily recaps last week, but trust me when I tell you I didn’t take a break from watching ball or reading about it. There’s no way I can let a week of action go by without sharing my thoughts, so here’s a mammoth recap. Continue Reading