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

Layne Murdoch / Getty Images

My God, it’s great to watch Chris Paul again. The Hornets/Heat game last night might have been my favourite game of the whole season. Dude was the best player on the court for those 48 minutes, and that court had a few pretty amazing players on it.

I’m sure you’re aware the Hornets are 5-0. And it hasn’t been an easy schedule – Milwaukee at home, Denver at home, San Antonio on the road, Houston on the road, and Miami at home. Plenty more impressive than Atlanta going 6-0 against MEM/PHI/WAS/CLE/DET/MIN, right? Or the Lakers beating HOU/PHO/GSW/MEM/SAC/TOR? Yeah. Shoals is right, New Orleans is the biggest story in basketball.

You know who else might be right? Ethan Sherwood Strauss, who picked CP3 to win MVP before the season started. He said, essentially, that CP3 could win because he’s the second best player in the league, he’s going to have an amazing statistical season, and there’s a good chance his team will outperform its modest expectations. The media people who vote on the award will still dislike LeBron and view Dwight Howard as more physically gifted than skilled, KD’s Thunder will underachieve, and Paul will emerge as the guy with the best MVP story. [This is just a stupid summary - pleeeease read the whole thing 'cause Sherwood Strauss is good at writing.]

I loved the post when he wrote it, but still would have picked LeBron James. And now, I think I’d still roll with LeBron, but I’m nervous about the pick. Here’s why: LeBron is the best player in the world, but statistically he might not be THAT much better than Chris Paul. Paul’s started the season putting up impossible-looking numbers, but this isn’t anything new. Last year, before the injury he was producing more than anyone else on the planet. And even though he won’t shoot 50% on threes all season and defense means LeBron will still be the better overall player in my books, there’s a good chance at the end of the season that Paul’s numbers will suggest that the “best player alive” conversation is at least worth having. Couple that with a winning team that no one expected to do anything, and bam. He’ll be MVP, unless the Heat win close to 70.

Everything hinges on the Hornets continuing to win, though, and I’ve got lots of questions that I sort of want to think about and sort of want to push away so I can simply enjoy watching them.

• How can I possibly reconcile my belief that Monty Williams is an excellent young coach absolutely perfect for this team with the fact that he’s playing Marcus Thornton fewer minutes than Willie Green?

• Is Emeka Okafor seriously going to make a leap in his seventh season in the NBA?
• Has Jason Smith’s more-than-solid play been a figment of my imagination?
• Can Trevor Ariza figure out how to score efficiently and become the perfect 3′s and D role player we want him to be?
• Shouldn’t employing D.J. Mbenga and Aaron Gray as your only backup centers disqualify you from winning 50 games?
• Is Chris Paul the best point guard… ever? [And all the other questions Dwyer posed here, really.]

Planning to watch all of the Bucks/Hornets game tonight, with absolutely no idea who to cheer for, so maybe I’ll have more of a handle on New Orleans tomorrow. For now, I’ll just say Chris Paul is brilliant at basketball and you should be obsessively paying attention to his team for the next little while despite its lack of national TV appearances.

Before today’s quotes/tweets feature, a quick programming note: LeBlog James is generally going to run Mon-Fri, but I’ll put something up on the weekends sometimes as well. If I miss a weekday, like I did yesterday, there will pretty much always be a Saturday post to make up for it. ONWARD:

Quoted

“He just absolutely was adamant when we talked about it. He didn’t feel it was correct to be there for a week and get paid for the season.” – Herb Rudoy, Fabricio Oberto’s agent. Oberto suddenly retired on Thursday because of a heart condition. Amazingly, he decided to give ALL of the $854,389 he was set to make this season back to the Blazers. Players who suffer career- or season-ending injuries have no obligation to give back even a penny.

“My phone’s on mute.” – Nate McMillan, asked for a reaction to losing two players in a span of four hours. In addition to the Oberto news, it was announced Thursday that Eliot Williams would have surgery on his dislocated right patella. This will likely mean he’s out for the season.

“SEMIH … YOU … GO!” – Doc Rivers, to Semih Erden, after he missed a defensive rotation. The lovable Turkish rookie apparently is not amazing at English just yet.

“I thought it was a great idea and I think it will really help the team. I won’t have to start the game off and I’m still learning. Coming in off the bench, I can see how aggressive the game is so I can know how aggressive to be and not be. I’ll get the feel of the game a lot better.” – The totally immature, team-killing problem child DeMarcus Cousins, after learning Samuel Dalembert would replace him in the starting lineup. What a jerk. Good thing the Wolves didn’t draft him at #4.

“There’s one thing that I know for sure, and it’s that KG would not offend cancer patients. That makes no sense. It makes no sense on a lot of fronts. Not only is he experiencing it in his own family, but that’s just not something I’ve ever heard — in 30 years — ever say, in trash talking.” – Danny Ainge

“I’d love to see Charlie and KG in the ring. I’d pick Charlie. I’ve seen KG get his ass whupped. … He’s always barking, and when it’s time to get physical, he’s always been a little chihuahua.” – Reggie Evans

“I’m trying to change it now where instead of avoiding the contact and hitting crazy shots, I’m trying to get fouled and go to the free-throw line. It’s kind of weird for me right now getting used to it, but it’s coming along.” – Derrick Rose, making people who care about scoring efficiency extremely happy.

“Against a good defensive team we have trouble a little bit. We don’t have — and this isn’t to put down anybody in our locker room — but we don’t have the great one-on-one players. We don’t have [Dwyane] Wade and [LeBron] James and Paul Pierce and Kobe Bryant.” – Stan Van Gundy, after the loss to the Heat. You better believe this is a challenge to Vince Carter.

“I couldn’t have said this with 100 percent honesty last year: We’re way better than this. We know we are. We’re way, way better than this. It’s heartfelt and upsetting to see where we’re at right now.” – Kevin Love, after the Wolves lost by 42 to Orlando. God, I feel bad for him.

“Obviously, I’ll be Prime Minister one day but I was going to wait until after I finish playing basketball.” – Steve Nash, when asked about this nonsense.

“I just hope I don’t pass the ball to Rondo, and then go set a screen.”- Brian Scalabrine, on his return to Boston as a Bull.

“Scal is the ultimate professional athlete. I have uncanny respect for the guy. He came in here and was a professional every day that he put on the green and white. I respect him more than anything. He’s one of my favorite ex-teammates in my small 15 years [in the NBA].” – Kevin Garnett, on Scalabrine. Wow. And Scal got a hell of a welcome – the crowd gave him a standing ovation and chanted his name when he subbed in, and a tribute video was played for him and Tom Thibodeau on the big screen.

“We have a saying: ‘DTW — Defense Travels Well.’ Your legs and your shots won’t go all the time. Your jump shots may not be there. But if you can lock into your defense — that’s what they’ve done. And that kept us in the game. We weren’t down by 10, 15 points. Our defense kept us close.” – Keith Smart. THE COACH OF THE GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS SAID THIS! Get very excited.

“We are not trying to take so much crazy shots as we did in the last couple of years. We try to more move the ball and get easier shots and get everybody else involved in the offense. So I think that helps, that we don’t take those shots after five or seven seconds on offense, just pulling up.” – Andris Biedrins, who must be unbelievably happy that Don Nelson is no longer the coach of his team.

“This is probably one of the toughest things to do when you leave a year. One of the things about the NBA is out of sight, out of mind. For Denver to give me an opportunity, I want to do well, not only for the opportunity but so they don’t feel they wasted a spot.” – Melvin Ely. I bet you didn’t know he started for the Nuggets last night.

“I’m not here to defend myself. I just want to get on the court and just let my actions, the way that I play (take care of it). That’s all I care about is just getting out on the court and playing at the level that I’m capable of playing at. I don’t really worry what people say about me.” – Baron Davis. Good. I’d love to be wrong about you, Baron. Let’s see it.

“None of your business.” – Gregg Popovich, when asked what drills Richard Jefferson was put through to rejuvenate himself in the summer.

“I don’t even know what you’re talking about. I don’t even have a computer, I barely can answer my cell phone.” – Jerry Sloan, on Twitter.

Tweeted

“I am sorry Indiana. That was not Pacer basketball. What u saw is not acceptable and we r not gonna let this be the norm. We can do better!” – Roy Hibbert, after Indiana lost by 26 in Philly.

“Gotta talk to Leo and figure out how to use Inception.” – Roy Hibbert.

“I would like to apologize 2 the woman who I jumped in2 when I dove for the loose ball out of bounds. I am sorry and I hope I didn’t injure u” – Roy Hibbert, who accidentally kicked a woman in the head last night.

“I’m starting to feel like I did something to the refs in my previous life! I felt like a kid who couldn’t play with his friends!”- Jermaine O’Neal, who is averaging 7.5 fouls per 36 minutes so far this season.

“Big congratulations to JD! He’s worked really hard and is a great teammate. He deserves everything he gets.” – Steve Nash, congratulating former All-OTN Team member Jared Dudley on his contract extension. Who would have thought 3 years ago that the only members of the 2007 draft class to be extended would be Kevin Durant, Al Horford, Joakim Noah, Mike Conley, and Jared Dudley? Very happy for Mr. JMZ.

“Rod Strickland was REAL!!!! I don’t care what nobody say. Top 5 to me, no ASG, no Hype….” – Brandon Jennings, who also studies tapes of Kenny Anderson and watches several NBA games simultaneously.

“I really hope the rockets lets me know something soon…” – Jermaine Taylor, who is the most likely Rocket to be waived in order to facilitate an Erick Dampier signing.

“Beyond frustrated…feels like I’m being lied 2″ – Jermaine Taylor, who might be talking about his situation with Houston or might be talking about something completely different.

Chris Graythen / Getty Images

The NBA season is almost here.

First of all, WOOOOO!

Second, um, hello. I come to you with my predictions for the season, along with reasons I’m excited about each and every team that I’ll be watching on League Pass from this week till mid-April. We know how difficult it is to prognosticate in October and that injuries and trades will change everything, but hey, predictions are fun! Feel free to call me out when some of the things I say look hilariously dumb a month or two from now. Here we go:

Eastern Conference

1. Miami: 66-16 (last season: 47-35)

I might actually be selling them short with 66. They’ve got weaknesses (old and slow bench, subpar centers) but their strengths are so strong that they should win most regular season games fairly easily.

I can’t imagine trying to gameplan for them. We’ve seen that it takes a total team defensive effort to limit LeBron and Wade separately. Now, they’re together, with Bosh?! They’re going to punish teams on the break and get to the line a billion times a game. It’s going to be amazing to watch.

Excited about: Finding out if they care about winning 70+, seeing if Spoelstra gets creative with his offense, and discussing LeBron’s on-court brilliance instead of his off-court madness.

2. Orlando: 60-22 (last season: 59-23)

Don’t forget how good the Magic were last season. They had the league’s best point differential and it wasn’t close. They went 33-8 in the second half of the season. Entering the playoffs, lots of extremely smart people (and I) picked them to win the East. Problem is, they ran into a Boston team playing at its peak.

This year, if Jameer Nelson and Rashard Lewis play the way they should, you still have to consider Orlando title contenders. The Heat look impossible, but you can see the Magic giving them trouble. Miami currently has no one to guard Dwight one-on-one and there are plenty of capable outside shooters here to make them pay for doubling.

There’s room for improvement on last season’s mark because Vince Carter had some truly awful stretches last season while learning the offense and playing hurt. A bounceback season is possible for VC, even though he’s turning 34 in January. His strong pre-season is evidence for this.

Excited about: Dwight Howard proving Ben Q. Rock right for saying what he said here.

3. Boston: 50-32 (last season: 50-32)

This is still a championship contender. No one wants to face them in the playoffs. When you’ve got Kevin Garnett, Rajon Rondo, and Kendrick Perkins, you’ve got an elite defense. Even with Tom Thibodeau gone.

However, as we saw last year, this team isn’t built with the regular season in mind. While it is certainly possible to improve on last season’s mark due to their painfully average second half of 2009-2010, I wouldn’t bet on it. Even with the strengthened bench – watch out, they’re incredibly deep now – the Celtics likely will lose games due to their veterans’ injuries and reduced minutes. Hopefully, though, they won’t lose any due to disinterest this time around.

Excited about: Delonte West redeeming himself, Rondo starting in the All-Star Game.

Gary Dineen / Getty Images

4. Milwaukee: 47-35 (last season: 46-36)

If you’re pessimistic about the Bucks’ chances, I understand. They vastly overachieved relative to expectations last season and Skiles has a track record of flaming out. There are difficult rotation decisions to make here and Keyon Dooling is a downgrade from Luke Ridnour at the backup point guard spot that was so important last year.

I’m going the other way, though. Counting on improvement from Brandon Jennings and hoping for only a small drop-off from Andrew Bogut, I think Milwaukee can sustain despite not being able to sneak up on teams anymore.

Drew Gooden and Corey Maggette address their desperate need for more scoring. Maggette in particular is a perfect fit for the free throw-challenged Bucks, as he is incredible at getting to the line. These two don’t play standout defense, but Skiles has incorporated poor defenders into great defensive systems before. And with the deep bench and versatility on this roster, it should happen again.

Excited about: EVERYTHING. This was one of my favourite teams to watch last season. Can’t wait to see Jennings and Bogut work the pick and roll (on both ends), thrilled that CDR has a fresh start, and hungry for a Brockman Burger.

4. Chicago: 47-35 (last season: 41-41)

Trading Vinny Del Negro for Tom Thibodeau and acquiring a much-needed low post scorer and pick-and-roll man in Carlos Boozer means the Bulls should be worlds better than last season.

I hesitate to put them in the 50-win category just yet, especially with Boozer out to start the season, but if Thibs can impart some of his defensive wisdom on Derrick Rose then they certainly have a shot at it. Rose can improve on the other side of the ball, too – even if he doesn’t become a three-point threat this season, just getting to the line more would be huge.

Excited about: An improved offense – TT is known as a defensive mastermind, but the Bulls’ problem under VDN was the other side of the floor, where they’ve already shown progress.

6. Atlanta: 46-36 (last season: 53-29)

Atlanta’s bringing back basically the same club that won 53 games last season. But with Larry Drew implementing a motion-based offense and a defense that isn’t built on switching every screen, Hawks games will be different.

To sustain their record, I’d have to bet that the potentially more entertaining offense will be as effective as their isolation-heavy offense. I’d have to bet on Jeff Teague emerging as a viable alternative to Mike Bibby and his atrocious defense. I’d have to bet on Jamal Crawford duplicating his fantastic Sixth Man of the Year campaign last season. I’d have to bet on another essentially injury-free season. Can’t do that.

Excited about: Josh Smith remaining the best player on the team and finally making it to the All-Star Game.

7. Philadelphia: 38-44 (last season: 27-55)

Call me crazy, but I think they have playoff talent. I had them at 40-42 a year ago and still think they were capable of that mark if Eddie Jordan hadn’t lost them.

Jordan was hired to make a good defensive team also a good offensive team. He ended up making a bad offensive team also a bad defensive team. Under Doug Collins, things should be different.

As has been the case for years now, there’s plenty of young defensive weapons here. They should be able to force turnovers and bad shots. And on offense, they have plenty of options. I am sure Collins will draw up a thousand plays and make sure they get efficient looks at the basket.

They still lack wing shooting, but have numerous big men who can help space the floor. For things to go right, the rotations must be balanced and everyone’s going to have to buy in. You can’t count on this happening, but I’ll be optimistic.

Excited about: Jrue Holiday, but maybe not as excited as Doug Collins is.

7. New York: 38-44 (last season: 29-53)

With the additions of Amar’e, Felton, Azubuike, Turiaf, and everyone’s favourite 21 year-old, Anthony Randolph, we’re looking at a possible playoff squad.

I’ve got them in the post-season because I think they’re going to be a quality offensive team. And, if D’Antoni has them practicing defense this season, they’re capable of being not-completely-terrible on that end, too.

Felton isn’t the ideal 7SOL point guard, but he’s solid for the price they paid. And Amar’e, assuming he’s as motivated as he was after the All-Star Break last season, could average over 30. With the fantastic value they got for David Lee, you have to call the off-season a success.

They really need to look at acquiring some rebounding help, though.

Excited about: Amar’e Stoudemire and Anthony Randolph finishing fast breaks.

9. Charlotte: 35-47 (last season: 44-38)

The playoffs aren’t out of the question, with Larry Brown’s track record of squeezing the most out of clubs like this. But the fact is that this team lost its starting center and point guard and haven’t replaced them.

Gerald Wallace and Stephen Jackson had to carry the team offensively last season. They’ll have to do that again, and I’m not confident they’ll have the league’s best defense again.

Excited about: Shaun Livingston having an NBA home.

10. Indiana: 34-48 (last season: 32-50)

Finally, they’ve got a point guard. The Troy Murphy for Darren Collison trade looks like a home run for Indy. But how will it translate in the win column this year?

I see Indy being terrible on the glass, average on D, and decent on offense. Sure, the offense could be better than decent if Collison, Granger, and Hibbert all have great seasons. But will that make ‘em a playoff team? I’m guessing no, even in the East.

An offensive boost would change what it’s like to watch this team, though. In contrast to their very entertaining 2008-2009 run, last year’s Pacers were a chore to watch. As the second-fastest team in the league, they proved that fast-paced basketball isn’t always exciting basketball. Here’s hoping Collison makes things fun again.

Excited about: The new and improved Roy Hibbert.

11. Washington: 30-52 (last season: 26-56)

If you’re like me, you’re a big Gilbert Arenas fan and you’re itching to see him out there again. You want to know if he can be an efficient scorer off the ball. You want to see if he’s healthy and committed enough to play solid defense.

And if you’re like me, you watched more college basketball last season than you had in years simply because of John Wall’s Kentucky team. The kid is electric and we expect big things for good reason. Just know that rookie point guards make lots of mistakes while learning on the job.

Without knowing how Wall/Arenas works out, and with the tantalizing/frustrating talents of Andray Blatche still in the frontcourt, it’s difficult to project where this team lands up. I suspect they’ll be the most inconsistent team in the league. I’ll say they improve this year, but they’ll need to make a roster move or two with defense in mind if they are to make a big jump right away.

Excited about: John Wall’s alley-oops to JaVale McGee.

12. Detroit: 28-54 (last season: 27-55)

No doubt, last year’s team underachieved. It was a deep team that had plenty of offensive firepower, yet it finished 21st in offense. Injuries to almost every key contributor had much to do with it. The team never clicked, roles were never established, and one got the feeling halfway through the season that the team was looking forward to next year.

Now, it’s next year. They’ve got something to prove. But there are flaws on this roster. It lacks a star and quality two-way players. Kuester’s going to have to figure out how to balance the rotation and define roles. Even with Jerebko hurt, there are major logjams at the 2, 3, and 4. The front office must want to see development from the young guys, but can they sit the highly-paid veterans?

The McGrady signing is confusing because of his age and the fact that they have guys who play the same positions. It’s interesting, though, because this team desperately needs a distributor. That’s a role McGrady is capable of fulfilling if he wants to.

Excited about: Will Bynum’s increased range.

13. New Jersey: 27-55 (last season: 12-70)

Last season, the Nets’ power forward minutes went to Yi Jianlian, Kris Humphries, and Josh Boone. This year, they’ll go to Troy Murphy and Derrick Favors. This alone should bump up their win total.

Their offense should improve greatly, as Avery Johnson will make sure they actually run plays. Anthony Morrow, Travis Outlaw, and hopefully a full year of the late-season version of Terrence Williams will help, too.

Avery will preach defense, but I don’t think they have the personnel to be good on that end. This is what’ll keep them out of playoff contention.

Excited about: The beauty that is an Anthony Morrow jumper and a Terrence Williams dunk.

13. Toronto: 27-55 (last season: 40-42)

Duh, the Raptors will be significantly worse this year. They lost their only elite player and their off-season moves don’t give us reason to see their-league worst defense becoming passable. Bargnani’s touch and size make him an extremely tough cover, but teams have fared a lot better against him with Bosh sitting out. Unless they hit an absolute home run with their trade exception, don’t expect much winning this year.

Toronto could be fun to watch, though. Last year’s team was maddening at times due to high expectations and Hedo Turkoglu. Both are gone, now. Any success this group finds will be a surprise. I’m looking forward to watching my hometown team, even if I have no delusions about a playoff berth.

Excited about: The Young Onez dunking on fools.

15. Cleveland: 18-64 (last season: 61-21)

It kills me to make this prediction. Cleveland fans don’t deserve this, but here we are.

What was once an elite defensive team will be much worse without LeBron and Delonte. Anderson Varejao and J.J. Hickson were efficient offensively, but never had to create shots for themselves. Mo Williams and Antawn Jamison can score, but I doubt they’re in Cleveland by the trade deadline.

It’ll be great to see Ramon Sessions get starters’ minutes and you have to hope Byron Scott lets the young guys run. You’ll want to watch the Cavs to see Jamario Moon and J.J. Hickson finishing fast breaks.

Excited about: The healthy Leon Powe.

Western Conference

Lluis Gene / AFP Photo / Getty Images

Just as they did last year, the Lakers have 70-win potential. In fact, there’s no reason they can’t improve. Their bench will be better than it was. Pau could get more touches. Kobe could be more efficient.

The other side of it: these Lakers haven’t consistently played with the discipline required to win 70 games in the regular season. They’ll abandon the triangle, coast through some possessions, and rely on their superior talent to win close games. They’re an absolute joy to watch at their peak, but we don’t know when they’ll play at their peak.

With Bynum’s knee and Kobe’s finger, I’ll say they’ll duplicate their last regular season. I also expect them to return to the finals.

Excited about: Matt Barnes and Ron Artest on the same team!

2. Portland: 53-29 (last season: 50-32)

Portland overachieved last year when you consider the ridiculous assortment of injuries it had to face. With fewer injuries, a young core one year older, and a full season of Marcus Camby, this team should be among the league’s best.

Stat people love this team and it’s clear why. The Blazers are deep at every position, Brandon Roy is a year removed from being “just a step behind Kobe,” Greg Oden is a monster at both ends when he’s healthy, and Nic Batum seems poised to break out. I just hope they’re at full-strength come playoff time.

Excited about: Rose Garden going f’ing crazy in the playoffs.

3. San Antonio: 51-31 (last season: 50-32)

The West will be tough, but don’t expect the Spurs to go away. They won 50 games with disappointing seasons from Tony Parker and Richard Jefferson. Now, with Tiago Splitter giving Timmy some help on the inside, they’ve improved.

Duncan and Ginobili are still producing and I don’t expect that to change. Sure, Tim’s not the dominating defensive presence he once was, but he’s still effective there and a game-changer on the offensive end. They probably won’t get a full season from Manu, but George Hill can capably fill in and The Poo God is still one of the league’s very best two-guards when he’s healthy.

Excited about: DeJuan Blair, 21 years old, starting in the NBA without ACL’s.

Nathaniel S. Butler / Getty Images

4. Oklahoma City: 50-32 (last season: 50-32)

Despite OKC being my favourite team to root for, I’d be surprised if these guys increased their win total from last season.

Even with improvement from almost everyone on the roster, wins will be hard to come by in the West. And last year was a special, special season for the Thunder: In addition to finding that magical chemistry that made NBA freaks fall in love with them, they somehow managed to remain injury-free. They’d be incredibly lucky to duplicate that.

Excited about: More minutes for the lovable Serge Ibaka and the bearded James Harden.

5. Utah: 49-33 (last season: 50-32)

Their 8-0 preseason made me rethink this team a little. I thought they’d start slow again, with Okur out and Jefferson getting himself settled in. Now, though, I’m thinking maybe we won’t have to wait for the new year to let out a collective “holy crap, this team is good!”

With Korver in Chicago and Matthews in Portland, it’s important for the Jazz to get some production from Raja Bell and Gordon Hayward.

Excited about: Paul Millsap being featured in the offense again, Al Jefferson playing on national television, and Raja Bell at full health.

6. Dallas: 46-36 (last season: 55-27)

The Mavs are old and they overachieved last season by winning tons of close games. Nonetheless, they are a good basketball team.

Dirk is a treasure and he’ll continue putting up monster numbers without wasting possessions. I hoped they’d get more for Dampier’s nonguaranteed contract, but Chandler should play well with Jason Kidd. Hopefully he can stay on the floor.

The problem is that they still don’t have an elite wing creator to pair with Dirk… or at least not a proven one. If I’m Rick Carlisle, I’m playing Roddy Beaubois 30+ minutes a game because he’s the only hope Dallas has of making a significant improvement this year. If he can come close to sustaining his awesome per-minute stats from last year, this team could be on the right track. The problem, of course, is keeping Kidd/Terry/Butler/Marion happy with the reduced minutes that would result.

Excited about: Rodrigue Beaubois, just like every other NBA diehard is.

7. Denver: 44-38 (last season: 53-29)

There’s talent in Denver, but things aren’t looking great for 2010-2011. Obviously, the most important storyline here is what happens with Melo. After that, though, you have to wonder how they’ll do up front with the Birdman and Kenyon Martin having knee issues – this team was only average on defense last season.

Ty Lawson should get more minutes and look for his own shot more often. This’ll help. Al Harrington will help, too. But we’re still waiting for J.R. Smith to put it all together and there’s no way to know when that’s going to happen. Assuming Melo sticks around, I’m comfortable saying this is a playoff team, but uncomfortable predicting anything better than that.

Excited about: More gems like this.

7. Houston: 44-38 (last season: 42-40)

You already know Yao’s playing a maximum of 24 minutes each night and he’ll skip some back-to-backs. He’s still going to transform the way this team plays.

They’re going to have to get used to playing two different styles on a regular basis: with Yao, they must make a concerted effort to feed the post in the half-court. Without him, they must push the ball in the style they did last year. It’s going to be up to Aaron Brooks to pick his spots offensively. (Hint: cut down the field goal attempts when the big man is out there.)

The Rockets certainly have the pieces to be a much better offensive team than we saw last year. We don’t know, however, if they can get back to being the defensive force we were used to until Yao’s injury. With Aaron Brooks and Kevin Martin sharing the backcourt, and Yao struggling with mobility, this will be a challenge.

Excited about: Yao! And probably my favourite bench in the league: Kyle Lowry, Courtney Lee, Chase Budinger, Patrick Patterson, Chuck Hayes, and the suddenly-intriguing Ish Smith.

9. Memphis: 42-40 (last season: 40-42)

Like the Thunder, Memphis was able to avoid major injuries last season. With that luck, an unexpected All-Star campaign from Zach Randolph, and the emergence of Marc Gasol as an All-Star caliber player as well, they exceeded expectations.

Their undefeated preseason is definitely encouraging. Historically, teams that roll through the preseason at least make the playoffs. And with the way this team should dominate the offensive glass and score at the basket, that’s a realistic goal. It’ll be tough in this conference, though.

The Grizzlies brought back their important players and added Tony Allen and Xavier Henry. If Darrell Arthur can give them something and there’s improvement from OJAM and Gasol, they could do some damage. I’m just not convinced that they’ll be playoff-bound with that bench and that defense.

Excited about: Marc Gasol getting more touches. Please, Basketball Gods, make this happen.

Christian Peterson / Getty Images

10. Phoenix: 40-42 (last season: 54-28)

Of course, it’s possible that Phoenix will return to the playoffs. With Steve Nash and plenty of shooters, their offense should be very good. (I say this despite them making less than a quarter of their threes in the preseason.)

The problem is that, without Amar’e, I don’t expect them to be GREAT offensively. And if you’re going to be as bad as I think the Suns will be on defense and on the boards, you need a fantastic offense to make up for it.

Look for Nash/Lopez and Nash/Warrick pick-and-rolls. Look for Turkoglu to be better than he was in Toronto, but nowhere near worthy of that crazy contract. Look for Josh Childress’s awesome mini-fro. But don’t look for a team anywhere near as good as it was last May.

Excited about: Another year of Steve Nash, another year of JMZ.

11. New Orleans: 39-43 (last season: 37-45)

A healthy Chris Paul is worth more than two extra wins in a vacuum, but almost every team in the West improved.

Paul has carried weak supporting casts before and this year he’s actually a part of a very solid starting unit. This team is shallow, though. In fact, the bench is so blah that it makes sense for Marcus Thornton to play the 6th man role despite being clearly superior to Marco Belinelli, horrendous preseason shooting notwithstanding. I dig the Jerryd Bayless acquisition and I like me some Pops, but I think they need more help.

Excited about: Chris Paul reminding people he’s a legit MVP candidate when he’s at full-strength.

12. Golden State: 36-46 (last season: 26-56)

David Lee, Lou Amundson, Dorell Wright, Jeremy Lin, Rodney Carney, Charlie Bell, Dan Gadzuric, and half a season of Ekpe Udoh > Corey Maggette, Anthony Morrow, Anthony Randolph, Kelenna Azubuike, Ronny Turiaf, and C.J. Watson?

Not exactly.

But it’s not as simple as that. These Warriors should be much better than last year. With Don Nelson out of there, this team should play some defense. Reggie Williams won’t have to play power forward. Andris Biedrins will actually get on the floor. Brandan Wright might finally get a chance.

The Steph Curry/David Lee pick-and-roll will be almost impossible to stop. Monta Ellis could go back to scoring efficiently. There are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the W’s right now. I just get the feeling they’re a year away, in this conference.

Excited about: Staying up late to watch these guys put up lots of points, Bay Area fans finally seeing this franchise move in a positive direction.

13. Sacramento: 35-47 (last season: 25-57)

If DeMarcus Cousins is as good as I think he is, Sacramento’s offense just got a lot better. And with a full season of Carl Landry and improvement from their young guys, the Kings should have made some progress on the offensive end anyway.

Samuel Dalembert might be seen as simply an expiring contract, but he should be huge for the Kings on D when he returns from injury. The Kings haven’t had a shot-blocker in ages and desperately needed an anchor last season. Spencer Hawes may be full of potential, but he’s never going to be that guy.

The second-year bump from Evans and Casspi along with the Cousins/Landry/Dalembert/Thompson frontcourt makes it tempting to predict an OKC-like leap in the standings. While I’d LOVE to see it happen, I’m betting against it. Still, there will be progress.

Excited about: DeMarcus Cousins making a couple of GM’s look very, very foolish.

14. Los Angeles Clippers: 31-51 (last season: 29-53)

The Clippers were awful again last season. Baron Davis was better than the year before, but he still launched way too many ill-advised threes. Despite a great season from Chris Kaman, they were 28th in offense. And if you’ve paid for ESPN Insider and read Hollinger’s preview, then you know that they only had the point differential of a 21-win team.

This year, with Blake Griffin, they should be better. But he’s the only reason I’m optimistic. Baron Davis came into camp out of shape and I’m not confident that Vinny Del Negro is the answer here. As with any of Baron’s teams, there’s potential for a huge turnaround because we know he has an incredible amount of talent. I just don’t see how you can trust that he’ll harness it the way we want him to at this point.

Excited about: More highlights like this.

15. Minnesota: 22-60 (last season: 15-67)

I want to give them more than 22 based on talent, but I see them underachieving on offense and being terrible defensively.

Kind of like last year, where they finished 29th in offense despite having Al Jefferson and Kevin Love on the team… and were so bad defensively that Darko Milicic seemed like a revelation to their General Manager.

The difference is, this year, if they underachieve like I think they will, it’ll be even more annoying. This team really has talent. David Kahn made some puzzling off-season decisions, but Wesley Johnson, Martell Webster, Luke Ridnour, Nikola Pekovic, and Anthony Tolliver are rotation players. Minnesota actually has real depth here.

I’d love to see a more-than-7-game improvement, but I’m worried that tons of turnovers, players struggling with the system, and embarrassing interior D will keep them in the West’s basement.

Excited about: Kevin Love finally getting the minutes he deserves.

Larry W. Smith/Getty Images

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

As I’m starting to write this, there are still games on. Generally, that’s not how you do a recap. I just wanted to begin while I still have this big, stupid grin on my face.

This isn’t the first time this season where the action on my television has turned me into, basically, a giddy child. Hell, this isn’t even the most hysterical I’ve been this season (check where I talk about Jennings’s 55 here). But damn, there were some great close games and I don’t know if there’s been a night where there have been so many positive things to talk about. So let’s talk about them, it’ll be fun.

Lakers 100, Mavericks 95

Andrew Bynum: Oh what fun it is to watch a real, honest-to-goodness post-up big man do his thing. Erick Dampier is (seriously) a very good defender, but Bynum ate him up right from the beginning of the game with his quick moves and his soft, soft touch. His line? 22 and 11. 8-11 from the field. You don’t know how happy it makes me to be able to talk about his GAME rather than a trade rumour. I hope he continues to play like this and the rumours cease. Are we remembering that this kid is only 22? Yeah.

Ron Artest: Since his concussion, he has had a few sub-par performances. He might be past all that now, though. 16 points on 5-5 FG, 1-1 3PT, and 5-6 FT. 11 rebounds, too. Can’t ask for more, and I haven’t even mentioned his most important contribution: defense. It’s so great to see it working out well in L.A. – I didn’t see it going down like this, but sometimes there’s nothing sweeter than being proven wrong.

Kobe Bryant: He played 11 minutes in the first half and didn’t do much of anything, with back spasms so obviously slowing him down. The one shot he attempted had about 10% of the lift his J normally has and his mortality startled me. In the second half, though, Kobe looked like a different player. Not his usual self, mind you, but there was some energy and he wanted the ball. And, with his team inbounding the ball with 42.5 seconds left, he received it and hit the biggest bucket of the game, a jumper over Josh Howard. He only scored 10 points on 11 shots in 35 minutes, but I’ll remember that shot. And the fact that he played when so many others wouldn’t have.

Dirk Nowitzki: The only reason Kobe needed to hit that shot was that Dirk had made a huge three-pointer on the previous possession, tying the game up and capping an 8-0 run. He was, typically, brilliant in the 4th Q., where he scored 15 of his 30 points. In that 4th Q., he hit a jumper to become the 34th player in NBA history to pass 20,000 career points. For this, the crowd gave him a terrific standing ovation. It’s a bit mind-bending for me every time I see a player pass a milestone like this – I remember when this guy was a rookie with silly hair and I hadn’t the foggiest idea he would ever be close to becoming an All-Star, let alone the sure-fire HoF’er he is today. Oh, and speaking of hair – he celebrated his achievement with a new look.

Spurs 109, Thunder 108 (OT)

DeJuan Blair: The man of the night, in my books. The first thing I noticed when I turned on this game was that Tim Duncan wasn’t playing. The second thing I noticed was that Blair was making life miserable for OKC. From the opening tip, this rookie was dominant inside and I loved it. He’s always a beast on the glass and he always finds a way to score after grabbing offensive rebounds, but last night he was a big threat on the pick-and-roll as well. Check out this unbelievable line: 28 points (11-17 FG, 6-8 FT), 21 Reb (10 Off), 2 Blk, 2 Stl, 2 TO, 6 PF in 31 minutes. I can’t say enough about this. 31 minutes! Yeah, this game went into overtime, but he didn’t even play big minutes for a regulation game. Yet, 28 and 21. Absolutely insane. Need I remind you that he has no ACL’s? No, you knew that already. Let’s appreciate this guy and enjoy it every time he gives a big Eff You to the teams who passed on him in the draft.

Tony Parker: So I guess this was bullshit, then? Haha, kidding. Jesse Blanchard of 48 Minutes Of Hell was on-point – Parker’s been hampered by plantar fasciitis for the past little while and his production has suffered for it. In this game, though, you would never have known. He, like Blair, came out on fire in the first quarter, where he scored 16 points on 7-9 shooting. He finished the game with 28 points and 8 assists and generally looked like the TP we’ve come to expect, getting where he wants on the floor and finishing way easier than logic would dictate.

Manu Ginobili: 0-10 from the field, 0 points. But he had 7 assists, 4 rebounds, 3 steals, 1 block, and one of the biggest plays of the season:

This breathtaking hero play allowed Richard Jefferson to hit what would turn out to be the game-winning jumper with 9.1 seconds remaining.

Russell Westbrook: Here’s the line: 25 points, 13 assists, 6 rebounds. Awesome, right? Well, the fact he needed 24 shots to score those points makes it a bit less awesome, but that’s okay for this 21-year-old. We know that he’s made significant strides in his all-around game and is continuing to improve with every game. Sure, he missed what would have been a game-winner at the end of OT, but this game doesn’t go to OT if he doesn’t hit that huge jump shot with 3.8 seconds left in regulation. Big game, in a great game.

Rockets 120, Timberwolves 114 (3OT!)

Corey Brewer: He sent this game into overtime with a shot from halfcourt. No analysis necessary.

Wayne Ellington: The rookie who started the season off shooting so, so poorly came up BIG. 7-12 from the floor, 3-4 from downtown. This includes the shot from distance that tied the game at 105, setting up the third and final overtime period.

Shane Battier: His three-pointer in the third overtime to give the Rockets a 6-point lead was a dagger of sorts. I also saw him get a huge block in one of the overtime periods. He actually finished with 5 (!) blocks in this game, a weird accomplishment for a guy who almost never tries to block shots on the man he is guarding. Funny thing is, he has a 6-block game to his name this year too. Check the boxscore and you’ll see he also registered 2 steals and 12 rebounds (7 offensive) in 49:34.

Aaron Brooks: A career-high 43 points in… 59 minutes and 25 seconds of action. What a night. What a looong night for the Wolves, trying to guard him. 14-30 FG, 6-9 3PT, 9-12 FT. Don’t tell me it’s not that impressive per-minute, don’t complain that he “only” got 5 assists. The man scored 43 points in an NBA game. Not easy. [Also, he only had one freaking turnover. One.]

Chuck Hayes: Love, love, love this line: 10 Pts (5-6 FG), 17 Reb (4 Off), 6 Ast, 4 Stl, 2 Blk, 4 TO, 6 PF in exactly 50 minutes. There are not a lot of players in this league capable of putting up this line. I mean, only taking 6 shots in 50 minutes, and making almost all of them? The 17 boards are a career-high, as are the 6 assists. I suppose this shouldn’t be surprising, given that he played 50 minutes, but it’s so very impressive to be able to play that many minutes with the intensity and focus that he possesses. He’s the Rockets’ second-shortest starter, but he’s battling as a center every single night. He’s loving it, too, and I’m loving watching him. Brilliant basketball player.

Al Jefferson: 26 points, 26 rebounds. Fine, 26 shot attempts too. It’s still a beautiful line and he made several key baskets in the overtime periods. It’s well worth noting that his rebounding total is a new franchise record. Setting a franchise record for rebounding on a team that had Kevin Garnett for the majority of his career? That’s gotta feel good.

Pacers 122, Suns 114

Danny Granger: Here’s the guy that was rated so highly in fantasy basketball as the season began: 33 points (11-22 FG, 5-9 3PT, 6-8 FT), 8 Reb (1 Off), 1 Ast, 1 Stl, 3 TO, 4 PF in 40 mins. He led his team back from a 24 point deficit, which is very hard to do in the NBA. You know what’s harder? Doing that in two consecutive games. The Pacers had rallied behind Granger against Toronto just two days prior, when they were down by 23 points. I kind of doubt this has happened before.

Dahntay Jones: After receiving a DNP-CD against Toronto, Jones played 25 minutes in this one and scored 11 points on 6 FGA’s, with 9 rebounds, 3 assists, and a block as well. I hated seeing him in the doghouse and hope that he will stay away from there from here on out.

Mike Dunleavy Jr.:30 points for Lil Dun and it’s the first time he’s done that as a Pacer. The last time he scored 30 was the final game of the 2007-2008 season. Dunleavy only needed 26 minutes and 14 field goal attempts to get that impressive total, which means he had a game that can only be described as “supereffingefficient.”

Steve Nash: He can’t be happy, with his team giving up such a huge lead. No one on the Suns seemed happy about letting Milwaukee come back against them the night before, and now to do the same thing but not even pull out the win? Awful. Still, I’ve gotta show him some respect. He managed his 20/9 in just 27 minutes because he had to get seven stitches to fix his busted lip after taking a first-quarter elbow from Earl Watson. Apparently, a tooth went through his upper lip. Tough guy.

Hawks 94, Wizards 82

Jamal Crawford: 14 of his 22 points came in the 4th quarter. This is his 2nd 14-point 4th Q. in less than a week. Antawn Jamison had made it a 66-64 game early in the period, but Crawford is making a habit out of taking over at the end of games and making sure his team comes away with a W. Perhaps we need a nickname for him that reflects this, but for the love of God don’t let it be “Big Shot Jamal.”

Antawn Jamison: It came in a losing effort, but it was impressive. 25/19/3 on the night. 17 of those points came in the 2nd half, as part of a push to come back from their 12-point halftime deficit. I hate that he’s stuck in Washington right now, but I love that he’s continuing to play hard and produce like the more-than-solid player and true professional that we know he is.

Celtics 111, Nets 87:

Ugh. I don’t want to look at numbers for this one. Check these videos out, though. One is Tony Allen almost hitting his head on the backboard whilst slamming home an alley-oop; one is Bill Walker being Bill Walker.

Knicks 93, Sixers 92

David Lee: You would have understood if he had skipped this game, as his grandfather passed away on Tuesday. Instead, he played and played well: 24/9/2 in a winning effort.

Sam Dalembert: You would have understood if he has skipped the game, as several of his relatives and friends in Haiti have yet to contact him since the horrific earthquake on Tuesday. Instead, he played and played well: 12/21/1 with a block and a steal.

Heat 115, Warriors 102

Dwyane Wade: He may not be averaging the MVP-level numbers he did last season, but he got ‘em this time. 35/7/9 on 10-15 shooting, with 3 steals as well. Oh, and he shot 15-15 from the line. So as to appear human, he turned the ball over 7 times as well.

Jermaine O’Neal: Also just took 15 field goal attempts and he scored 25 points. His +26 was the highest of anyone in the game and I’d be tempted to call it a “vintage” JO performance if he had just blocked a shot. In watching the final quarter, he looked great and looked like he was having fun.

Corey Maggette: He followed up his 32 points on 14 shots vs. Cleveland with 25 points on 11 shots here. This man has some obvious holes in his game, but he can definitely score and get to the line with the best of ‘em. 11-11 from the charity stripe tonight. He’s far from my favourite player to watch and you can hate him if you want, but know that this kind of efficiency is rare.

Anthony Morrow: I love watching this man shoot and I love seeing that he scored 24 points on 14 shots. I just love that he TOOK 14 shots – in his previous 3 games combined, he had just 13 attempts. 30 minutes tonight for Morrow and it should be that way every damn game. Come on, Nellie, realize what you have here. 4-5 from downtown.

Hornets 108, Clippers 94

Chris Paul: 15 points, 15 assists, 4 steals, +27. That’s what Chris Paul does. But most importantly, his team got a W. Happy to see that, even though I’m really, really feeling for the Clippers given yesterday’s AWFUL news about Blake Griffin.

Peja Stojakovic: 20 points on 8-14 shooting, 4-6 from downtown. He led the AP recap and I can’t think of the last recap I wrote where this was the case. Peja can be absolutely deadly when he spots up behind the arc and defenders are seduced into watching Chris Paul rather than getting out there on the three-point threat.

Nuggets 115, Magic 97

Carmelo Anthony: 27/7/5, shooting 8-15 FG, 2-5 3PT, and 9-9 from the line. It’s his second game back from injury and he did the things he didn’t do in the first game: rebound and get to the line. His team was down by three at halftime, but he scored 9 of his points in the crucial 3rd Q. where the Nugs outscored the Magic by 16.

Matt Barnes: He’s been starting lately for Orlando and he had a season-high in points in this game, finishing with 28. 9 boards, 3 steals, and a block show that he was doing his normal all-around thing during the 37 minutes he played. Unfortunate that his great performance couldn’t have come in a closer game.

Blazers 120, Bucks 108

Rudy Fernandez: He’s the only one I can feel happy for in this looks-much-closer-than-it-was game. The Blazers had a 33 point lead in the second half and the Bucks needed a 37-23 4th Q. to make the final look respectable. This was Rudy’s first game since Dec. 1 and I suppose there was a little rust – he went 1-5 in his 15 minutes, missing all four of his three-pint attempts. When he entered the game, the fantastic Portland fans gave him a standing ovation. Wish I had seen it live.

Fun With Stats

The Lakers won the 3,000th game in franchise history. They’re the first team to reach that mark.

Kobe Bryant needs 60 points to reach the 25,000-point plateau. If he wasn’t so far from 100%, I might make a crazy prediction that he’ll reach it next game.

Charlie Bell came into the game against Portland with 399 career three-pointers made. He hit 2 in the game. Over 400 threes? Not bad for a guy who a lot of people thought wouldn’t make it in the NBA. Not bad at all. MSU! MSU!

Quoted

“Yeah, I’m not retarded.” – Dirk Nowitzki, when asked if he knew the standing ovation was for him scoring 20,000 points.

“Crazy shit did happen.” – Gregg Popovich, on how the Spurs won.

I don’t even know if (Tim) Duncan could have done this tonight.” – Scott Brooks, on DaJuan Blair.

“He was 0-for-10 and he made the biggest play of the game. He basically won the game for them.” – Scott Brooks, on Manu Ginobili’s save.

“That’s one of those NBA games where you don’t want to see a winner. It’s two great teams battling.” – Jeff Green, on OKC/SAS.

“It was a great game. Thank you, thank you, thank you to the basketball gods for allowing us to win.” – Gregg Popovich, on OKC/SAS.

Tweeted:

@SI_ChrisBallard: Every time Serge Ibaka scores for Thunder – like now, after putback – the OKC PA plays the Chewbacca roar. Corny, but it does crack me up

@stackmack: J. Flynn and overtimes go together like cookies and milk. 3OT here we come!

@jeskeets: We might have to retire “Whoa Boy” after tonight’s ridiculous fantasy lines …

@bruce_arthur: This whole night in the NBA has been a #leaguepassalert

@Thirty2zero: I scored 43 in my new shoes. We won. And in 20 minutes it’s my birthday. I love this game!

@dmorey: Incredible effort by the guys on a back to back. Solid D. AB/Scola offense and Chuck/Shane defense were huge. Happy Birthday @thirty2zero .

Layne Murdoch/Getty Images

I’m eschewing the normal BfB format at least for one day. It might just be the spazzy band I went to see last night, but I’m feeling a bit ADD and want to ditch the normal structure and just give some thoughts about the games I watched on Saturday and Sunday.

First up, did you see that Milwaukee/Portland classic on Saturday? Yes, I’m calling it a classic. I know this one might slip by a lot of people, but it shouldn’t. This was a hard-fought double-overtime game that featured several huge clutch plays by the two best Brandons in the world and, really, you should see it. If you missed it and you’ve got League Pass Broadband or a less official means of watching previously played games, get on that. Neither of the awesome Brandons actually led their team in scoring, as big men LaMarcus Aldridge and Andrew Bogut stepped up in that area on Saturday night. Both had very memorable moments that I almost feel like I shouldn’t ruin for you here, even though this is kinda supposed to be a recap. Hm. Here’s what I’ll do: if you want a full recap of this fantastic 108-101 Milwaukee win, just head on over to Bucksketball. I couldn’t possibly do a better job telling the story. One thing to add before I move on: Luc Richard Mbah a Moute is amazing. He played the best defense I’ve ever seen on Brandon Roy. Sure, Roy got his 23 points, but he needed 24 shots to get them and not a single one of them was easy when LRMAM was on him. What’s so incredible to me about Luc Richard is his versatility. I’ve seen him matched up with Brandon Roy, LeBron James, and Dirk Nowitzki this year, and each time he seems like the perfect guy to guard the superstar. What a defender.

As happy as I was to see the Bucks beat the Blazers, I was distraught to see the Wizards fall to the Pacers that same night. If you haven’t heard, it was a bit of a wild finish. Okay, that’s an understatement. It was one of the most surreal finishes I’ve ever seen. With 22 seconds left in the 4th quarter, Earl Boykins hit a seemingly-impossible shot at the end of the shot clock over T.J. Ford to put his team up 4. On the next possession, Tyler Hansbrough was fouled with 13 seconds left. Psycho T hit the first FT, missed the second intentionally, and Mike Dunleavy was fouled on the rebound. Lil Dun made both free throws to make it a one point game, and the Pacers fouled Gilbert Arenas with 6.6 seconds left on the next possession. When Gilbert stepped to the line, I wanted him to make those free throws as much as I’ve ever wanted anything in a basketball game. He had his first triple double in five and a half years and now had the opportunity to make up for that crucial 0-2 appearance at the foul line down the stretch of the Boston game 2 nights earlier. When he missed the first one this time and I saw that look of confusion/uncertainty on his face, my heart sunk. Then he missed the second. Ugh. At least it looked like his team would still win… but then T.J. Ford raced down the court and put up a crazy lay-up that ended up going out of bounds as the buzzer sounded. Relief, I thought. But no. The referees went to the replay and concluded that the ball had gone out of bounds off the Wizards and there was still half a second left in the game. Alright, fine.
“Just don’t fuck this up, Washington,” I thought. But fuck it up they did, as a foul was called on Brendan Haywood on the inbounds pass. This was a very, very questionable call – it seemed they were calling a foul on Mike Dunleavy’s shot attempt, which, to me, would have been impossible to get up in that amount of time. Lil Dun stepped to the line and calmly netted both free throws, again, and the Wizards’ JaVale McGee very confusingly stayed out on the perimeter on their final play, where he was supposed to slash to the basket and try to get an alley-oop tip-in with 0.1 seconds left. McGee received a pass behind the three-point line and chucked up a shot that had no chance of a) going in or b) counting. So it ended, 114-113 for Indiana. Blah. On TV, they kept showing Gilbert’s confused/sad face and it was killing me. It’s so strange to see him shaken. Before the injuries, Gil was one of the most upbeat, confident guys in the game and you just knew he would make clutch free throws like that. Now, there’s clearly something off and it’s not just physical. I really, really hope he gets his mojo back quickly. This was simply an awful way to lose a game. For more, read the recap at Truth About It and, if you want to get a bit depressed, watch the video at the bottom.

I should quickly touch on the other crazy finishes on Saturday. Unfortunately, with all the basketball happening on Saturday, I missed both of these ones. First, the overtime Charlotte/Dallas game. This proved a couple of things that we should already know – you really want Dirk Nowitzki on your team at the end of games and the Dallas Mavericks are a very, very good team. Dirk scored 18 of his 36 points in the 4th Q. and OT, including the game-winning jumper (surprise, surprise). Dallas won this game 98-97 even though it probably shouldn’t have, which is what good teams do. Dirk started off 1-for-10 and 7-22 as his team trailed for almost the whole second half, but they managed to put a run together and come out on top. Stephen Jackson said, “We competed and did everything we’re supposed to do to win this game,” and he might be right, but it wasn’t enough. Moving on, that Denver/Phoenix game seemed like a great one. I’m a bit pissed that I missed it, but I was watching the Laker game I haven’t got to yet whilst recording the Bucks/Blazer thriller. Carmelo Anthony had another great night in a winning effort, scoring 32 points and adding 8 rebounds. On the other side, Steve Nash contributed 28 points and 7 assists, but it wasn’t enough… Or was it? See, you could easily argue that he deserved a couple more points than that. With less than 30 seconds left, Nash drove to the basket with Nene covering him and missed a layup. The Suns were down 2 at the time and forced to foul when Denver recovered the rebound. Thing is, Nash could barely get off the ground on his shot because of the contact from Nene. There was not a hard foul on the play, but there was a quite obvious foul that prevented Nash from doing what he wanted to do, and the refs swallowed their whistles. The Nuggets ended up winning 105-99. It’s unfortunate, but these things happen. I’d be incredibly frustrated if I was a Suns fan, but it’s hard to blame the loss on that alone. Phoenix raced out to an early lead but it was their tired legs in the second half of a back-to-back in the Mile High City lost them this game, even if the refs didn’t do them any favours.

One more game to talk about on Saturday (I’m not doing all of them): Jazz vs. Lakers. I’m just going to focus on two wing players: Kobe Bryant and Wesley Matthews. Wait, Wesley Matthews? Really? Yes. This undrafted rookie was absolutely huge. I believe he had 15 points in the first half and he finished with 19 and 6 assists in 37 minutes. Him starting for Jerry Sloan is one of the best under-the-radar stories in the NBA. I want a full feature on this guy because I don’t know enough about him. I do know he has some game, though. He can knock down open shots, slash to the basket, and defend better than almost any other rookie. I’m loving what’s happening in Utah with this kid. Anyway, next, Kobe. Looking at the boxscore without knowing the context, you’d think I’m crazy for singling him out. 16 points on 24 shots, going 1-9 from the line? Ouch. I can’t remember the last time Kobe had a line that bad. But that’s not the story. The story is that Kobe played 37 minutes in this game despite his broken index finger and his stomach bug. That stomach bug meant he had to get IV fluids pre-game and at half-time. But he still played as hard as he possibly could because he’s Kobe Bryant. It was an odd thing to see, Kobe so… mortal. All he had was not enough this time. There were tons of missed jumpers and he was moving in slow motion, but he wanted to play and he believed he could help his team win. It wasn’t to be, as the Jazz won 102-94, but that’s alright. The Lakers aren’t hurting in the win department right now, at 18-4. It was just inspiring (and, at the very end, admittedly a bit sad) to see him out there when maybe no one else in the league would have been. Again, there is only one Kobe.

Okay, finally, Sunday! This day started out swimmingly for me as a Raptors fan. I had thought of getting tickets to see the Raps/Rockets matinee, as I love the way Houston plays and Toronto always seems to find a way to beat them at home, but I was scared off by the Raptors’ recent performances. This club has struggled mightily against good teams and, in my eyes, the Rockets are a good team. If Toronto was going to win, everyone on the team would have to bring the same energy they always get from All-OTN Team member Amir Johnson. Yesterday, that happened. The Rockets fell 101-88 and it was fantastic. The Raptors out-worked Houston, the team that out-works everyone. Hedo Turkoglu (23 pts, 6 reb, 5 ast) had his best game of the year and Jarrett Jack (17 pts, 8 reb, 8 ast) stepped up big-time in Jose Calderon’s absence. Sonny Weems was given minutes that had previously gone to Antoine Wright and Marco Belinelli and he made the most of them. 11 points and 4 rebounds in 30 minutes sounds okay, but what’s great is how he brought energy and defense and contributed where he could on offense. Wright is a solid defender, but his offensive decision-making has been very lacking this year. Belinelli is a great shooter, but he lacks the athleticism that makes Weems such a threat in the open court and such a nuisance for offensive players. I’m not saying Sonny has earned himself a permanent 6th man role based on one performance, but it was very encouraging. This, from a guy who played 55 minutes all of last season. On the Rockets’ end, I should mention the horrible day for Trevor Ariza and the great one for Carl Landry. Ariza lost his cool after starting the game 0-9 from the field. With his team down big, he swung his elbow at DeMar DeRozan after he coughed up the ball. It wasn’t close to connecting, and one has to wonder if he was actually *trying* to connect, but it was scary. He was tossed from the game immediately. Good news, there seems to be no bad blood between these two L.A. guys after the incident. Onto Landry: 25 points on 10-13 shooting, with 7 rebounds (6 offensive). And, again, I’m not surprised. If you’ve been following along since the season began, you’ll know how high I am on this guy. It was great to hear the Raptors’ announcers fawning over him last night; he deserved it. No Toronto player could deal with him down low. If his team had properly moved the ball and connected on more open shots, his effort could have been part of a winning effort, but today wasn’t Houston’s day. Thankfully.

Atlanta beat New Jersey by 27 yesterday and it went exactly how you might expect. New Jersey started off pretty well, keeping it close for the entire first quarter. Then, Atlanta separated itself. New Jersey has some talent at the top of its roster, but it’s really hard to stay close with teams when they go to their bench. I want to say New Jersey should have more wins right now, but look at who’s playing the minutes. Trenton Hassell and Josh Boone started last night and combined for 40 minutes. Rafer Alston shot 0-8 in his 23 minutes and yesterday was far form his first awful-shooting game this year. Bobby Simmons saw 21 minutes of action, Eduardo Najera 13, and Sean Williams 7. Terrence Williams ended up with some nice numbers, though, getting 18 points and 7 rebounds in Chris Douglas-Roberts’s absence. Atlanta is just too talented for New Jersey and that’s the way it’s going to be most nights. Brook Lopez and Devin Harris are great, but Courtney Lee should not be a third option (as much as I dig his game). Atlanta has no such depth problems. With Marvin Williams out, Mo Evans stepped into the starting lineup and kept up the hot shooting that we saw in the Toronto game. He shot 4-4 from downtown and finished with 22 points on 13 shots. Not bad at all. The strange part of this game was that the Nets actually didn’t shoot too porly – even with Alston going 0-8, they finished the game 44-87 from the field. That doesn’t matter when you can’t stop anybody or grab a rebound, though – Atlanta went 49-99 from the floor in this 130-107 victory.

Next up, Memphis vs. Miami. I saw the first half of this game and, just like the Atlanta/New Jersey game, didn’t really need to watch the second half. I might go back and watch the third quarter, though, as Rudy Gay put on a show. After an impressive first half where he scored 20 points, he exploded for 15 more in the third quarter that saw Memphis outscore Miami 31-18 to give them a 26-point lead before the beginning of the fourth. The final score? 118-90. Jeez. From what I saw in the first half, the Grizzlies made the Heat look old and slow. They pushed the ball at every opportunity and converted most of the time. Rudy Gay had an amazing reverse dunk on the break and, for the first time in my life, I saw Zach Randolph throw an alley-oop pass. It still boggles my mind how this team is playing. This is the last team I expected to come together as a team and play exciting ball. It’s great to watch, even though I’d have preferred Miami gave them more of a fight on this particular evening. Dwyane Wade did as much as he could in the half of action that I saw, matching Gay’s 20 points in the first half. He only scored 5 in the remainder of the game, though, finishing with 25 to Gay’s 41. He really needs his teammates to step up, though. When your second-leading scorer is Dorell Wright with 16, you’re not winning the game.

You remember what I said about the Bucks/Blazers game? Yeah, if you can watch the Thunder/Cavs game from last night I highly suggest you do that too. The Cavs’ dominant fourth quarter soured all of it a bit for me, but it’s still more than worth your time. You can see Kevin Durant looking like a true megastar in the first half, All-OTN Team member Serge Ibaka putting in a perfect 4-4 performance and making me proud by moving his feet so well on D, and… well… You can see the LeBron James Show. You can analyze this game from many angles, but no matter how you look at it LeBron won this one for his team. After eating a kid’s french fry in the second quarter, he had numerous consecutive highlight plays, including a vicious reverse dunk on the break, a deep three-pointer, and a chasedown block on Thabo Sefolosha. Still, the Thunder had the lead, which they kept for most of the third. With a minute and a half left in that 3rd Q., James scored 7 straight points and he added another three-pointer before the quarter was done. It’s amazing now looking at the boxscore and seeing that he went 5-8 from downtown because these threes weren’t regular threes. The majority were pull-ups from a few feet behind the line. This is an impressive shot to begin with, but, when LeBron hits it, it must make you feel helpless. He’s impossible to stop when going to the basket, so you have to give up the outside shots. Now, when he’s willingly launching them and they are dropping in perfectly? You’re screwed. I can’t fault Thabo or the Thunder for how they defended James last night; LBJ was just too good. As I said, though, the 4th was a bit of a bummer. Oklahoma City tried to match James’s heroics from downtown and didn’t have the same results – they went 1-8 from downtown in the quarter. Their other attempts were mostly 2-point jumpers. Rough. Still, they had a chance to win. They were down only 4 with just a little over 4 minutes left in the game when Mo Williams broke their hearts. Just as it seemed the Thunder had gotten an important stop, Mo drained a three from past halfcourt as the shot clock expired. The only word for this is deflating. The crowd was silenced and the Thunder saw the writing on the wall, losing their energy and failing to score for the next 3 and a half minutes. Watching the ball drop through the net and seeing the reactions from the young players on the Thunder killed me. Oh well. Still a nice effort in a great game, and these guys will have plenty of opportunities to get their revenge. Final score: 102-89, Cavs. But it felt much closer.

In the last game of the week, San Antonio went to the Staples Center to match up with the Clippers and came away with a convincing 115-90 win. Like the other blowouts, I only caught the first half. The Spurs had balanced scoring, with 21 from Duncan and 17 apiece from Manu and RJ. Rookie DeJuan Blair chipped in with 14 and 9 in just 17 minutes, as well. The Spurs dominated in the first Q., but the Clips ended the second on a run and cut the lead to 10 before San Antonio ran away with it in the 2nd half. Gotta say, the Spurs impressed me in the first half. I can’t say they had their Eff You moment, but I was encouraged with what I saw, even though it came against some kinda crappy Clipper defense. They spread the floor like the Spurs of old, they got contributions from everyone, and Manu looked kind of like the old Manu. Slower, I’ll give you that, but still deadly. We might have to get used to the fact that Ginobili will never be as explosive as he used to be, but he’s still got his smarts. He’s got his jump shot. He’s got his crazy ability to see angles other people don’t. There is still room for improvement here, but if he just plays like he did last night the Spurs are in pretty good shape. As for the Clippers, um, you have to hand it to Baron Davis for suiting up and coming off the bench despite a stomach ailment, but they didn’t play winning basketball on either end. I should also mention that Ricky Davis played 21 minutes. That was a bit weird.

We’ll finish this off with a few highlights:

An additional lucky break for Indiana against Washington:

My man Pops Mensah-Bonsu pleasing the home crowd with a nasty block:

Rudy Gay’s amazing reverse:

Mo’s dagger:

Christian Petersen/Getty Images

A later, but longer BfB today. It was a busy night in the NBA last night and a busy morning/afternoon for me as I watched the games I recorded. To be clear, I saw most of Raptors/Hawks, most of Thunder/Grizzlies, all of Sixers/Rockets, all of Suns/Magic, all of Lakers/Wolves, and the last quarter and a half of Blazers/Cavs. For the other five games, I’m working with box scores and recaps. You can expect similar posts every Saturday, although I’ll try to get them up earlier than this. Anyway, let’s get to it – I’ve got John Wall and Ricky Rubio games to watch before NBA games tip at 7:00 PM EST.

The All-OTN Team

Shannon Brown: 7 Pts (3-9 FG, 1-4 3PT), 2 Reb (1 Off), 0 TO, 0 PF in 17 mins.

A rough shooting night for Shannon in this 104-92 victory, but he did have this amazing play:

I appreciate Kobe’s pass just as much as Shannon’s thunderous finish. How many shooting guards in the league throw that lob with their off-hand? Hell, forget shooting guards, is there another player at any position who does that? Maybe Nash, maybe. (Sidenote: I can’t get enough of left-handed passes from right-handed players. Saw a ton of them last night, with Kobe, Nash, and Johnny Flynn in action. Makes me smile every time.)

Jared Dudley: 19 Pts (6-13 FG, 4-8 3PT, 3-4 FT), 5 Reb (3 Off), 2 Stl, 0 TO, 3 PF in 33 mins.

Heyyyy! Check that out, an undeniably impressive stat-line from an All-OTN Team guy. I’ve been waiting for this. Those 19 points matched the career-high he set near the end of his rookie season and he got them very efficiently. What’s not in the stat sheet: he played excellent defense on Vince Carter in the 2nd quarter (who, I must say, helped Jared out a bit by playing the least aggressive ball I’ve seen from him in years, before leaving the game with a sore right knee) and he was on the floor in crunch time, making plays and taking big shots in this 106-103 victory. A few more things before we move on:

“He’s just beating ‘em up right now with his effort and energy” – Jeff Van Gundy, in the 2nd quarter, after Dudley grabbed one of his three offensive boards.

JMZ Part 1:

JMZ Part 2:

Amir Johnson: 7 Pts (2-4 FG, 3-4 FT), 4 Reb (3 Off), 1 Blk, 1 Stl, 1 TO, 3 PF in 22 mins.

A blah stat-line in a blah game. As always, I enjoyed Amir’s effort, but it wasn’t nearly enough against this excellent Hawks team, as my Raptors fell 111-89. Normally, his hustle and athleticism stands out, but when up against Josh Smith, Al Horford, and Zaza Pachulia, he isn’t as noticeable.

Serge Ibaka: 0 Pts (0-0 FG, 0-0 FT), 1 Reb, 1 Blk, 1 Stl, 1 PF in 9 mins.

No points on no shots in this 102-94 victory, but there’s a lot to say here. As is always the case, because the man is just full of activity when he’s on the court. I saw him flub a couple of defensive assignments that led to Marc Gasol baskets, but I also saw him do some impressive things, like successfully getting a stop on Rudy Gay on the perimeter. With this Thunder team, he is mainly out there for defensive purposes and, on that end, he is really working. When he does mess up, it’s because he is channelling his energy in the wrong way. Sometimes he over-helps and sometimes he is too aggressive, but he’s never lazy. Once he relaxes out there, he is going to be a consistently great defender. The potential just oozes from him. Still, I’ll admit that it wasn’t his best game.

Rookie Watch

Tyler Hansbrough: 21 Pts (8-18 FG, 0-1 3PT, 5-6 FT), 7 Reb (4 Off), 1 Ast, 3 Stl, 0 TO, 3 PF in 24 mins.

I didn’t see the game, but by all accounts Psycho T (or Buckaroo Banzai) was huge. I have to wonder just how he managed to get 18 shots up in 21 minutes, but remain impressed. Methinks some of those offensive boards must have come off of his own misses. Anyway, he killed the Nets last night with his jumper and, more specifically, killed their run in the third quarter by hitting back-to-back midrange jumpers when New Jersey was trying to make a game of it. Fantastic effort and a career-high in scoring for this rookie, in a much-needed 107-91 win for the Pacers. Here are a couple of quotes from people who actually saw this:

“He was playing as well as anybody on the team. His intensity on the court was something we needed.” – Jim O’Brien

“Hansbrough held up well defensively with three steals while guarding everyone from Brook Lopez to Chris Douglas-Roberts.” – Tom Lewis of Indy Cornrows

Chase Budinger: 15 Pts (6-8 FG, 2-4 3PT, 1-1 FT), 2 Reb, 1 Ast, 1 Blk, 0 TO, 2 PF in 18 mins.

I am so very impressed with this kid. With DeMar DeRozan getting more aggressive and thus making a few more mistakes, and with Omri Casspi’s continued inexplicable free-throw woes, Chase Budinger stands alone as the rookie who plays least like a rookie. He’s got a gorgeous jump shot, good defensive instincts, fantastic passing ability for a wing, and has a knack for using screens correctly and drawing contact. He was pretty much perfect in this game and, along with Carl Landry and Kyle Lowry, was a part of the Houston bench unit that turned this game around. When he checked in with a couple of minutes left in the first quarter, his team was down 17. By the end of the quarter, the deficit was only 10. In the end, the Rockets won 96-91. He did pick up a couple of blocking fouls on quick Sixer players, but, honestly who cares? Great, great night for Chase.

Jeff Teague: 11 Pts (5-6 FG, 1-1 FT), 3 Reb, 7 Ast, 3 Stl, 1 Blk, 1 TO, 2 PF in 20 mins.

Another rookie doing damage off the bench. Serious damage, I mean – the Hawks’ main bench guys (this rook plus Mo Evans, Jamal Crawford, and Zaza Pachulia) rocked the Raptors last night, outscoring them 45-34. I was not pleased. Anyway, you can’t expect 11 points on just 6 shots from Teague every night, but you have to appreciate last night’s work if you’re a Hawks fan. That scoring, plus 7 assists in just 20 minutes of action? Brilliant, even if it came against soft Toronto defense. What might go unnoticed in all of this is that Teague is a far superior perimeter defender to Mike Bibby and Crawford. I like his offensive game, but if he sees increased minutes as the season goes on, I think it’ll be a result of his D.

Jonny Flynn: 10 Pts (3-8 FG, 0-1 3PT, 4-6 FT), 2 Reb, 4 Ast, 3 Stl, 4 TO, 1 PF in 25 mins.

I must say I was expecting much better numbers from Flynn last night. Quick point guards tend to have great nights against the Lakers. It didn’t happen this time, though – Flynn did make the Lakers look silly a few times with his ball-handling, penetration, and passing, but for the most part he deferred to his teammates rather than acting as the primary playmaker. A solid, if unspectacular game for the Syracuse product, with a couple of very frustrating turnovers unfortunately sticking out. This 104-92 loss was Jonny’s first time against the Lakers, though, and I anticipate that he’ll put up bigger numbers the next time they meet.

Fun With Stats

A lot of individual performances stand out when looking at the boxscores from last night, so let’s check ‘em out.

J.J. Barea: 12 Pts (4-8 FG, 3-5 3PT, 1-2 FT), 4 Reb (1 Off), 10 Ast, 2 Stl, 1 TO, 4 PF in 34 mins.

Wow, check out those three-pointers and those assists and that lone turnover. Phenomenal work for the lovable little guard in his second straight start, a 106-93 victory against the Heat. Let me say this: Dallas’s 2-guard rotation is ridiculous. Quinton Ross started for a while, Jason Terry is a fake bench player who gets starters’ minutes, Josh Howard is now back from injury and likely will take over that 2-spot eventually, and my favourite Maverick, Rodrigue Beaubois, is currently glued to the bench because of Barea’s strong play. It’s quite a logjam, but that’s a very good problem for coach Rick Carlisle to have.

Udonis Haslem: 22 Pts (9-10 FG, 4-6 FT), 10 Reb (1 Off), 0 TO, 3 PF in 35 mins.

Unfortunate that this came in a losing effort, but wow. Haslem made the first 8 shots he took. That’s nice, especially when you consider how much the team NEEDED him to shoot like that – Miami started this game 0 for 10 from the floor. A simply fantastic game, but his Heat stood no chance because everyone not named Udonis Haslem combined to shoot 24-72 from the floor against Dallas. Ugly.

Zach Randolph: 19 Pts (8-21 FG, 0-1 3PT, 3-5 FT), 20 Reb (11 Off), 1 Ast, 2 TO, 1 PF in 40 mins.

19 and 20? 11 offensive boards?! This doesn’t look like a real stat line, but it is. Randolph had a 12-point/13-rebound double-double in the third quarter alone, where his Grizzlies outscored the Thunder 28-10. They couldn’t sustain it in the fourth, though, and they fell 102-94.

John Salmons: 11 Pts (4-16 FG, 1-7 3PT, 2-2 FT), 7 Reb, 3 Ast, 3 Stl, 3 TO, 2 PF in 44 mins.

Salmons is continuing to rely on his jumper, even when it isn’t falling. Kevin Arnovitz said that John told him he would make more of an effort to get to the basket and draw fouls, but he only managed to do that once last night. I want Salmons to turn his season around; seeing these 1-7 shooting nights from beyond the arc is getting very, very old.

Andre Miller: 20 Pts (8-13 FG, 2-3 3PT, 2-2 FT), 6 Reb (1 Off), 3 Ast, 1 Stl, 2 TO, 3 PF in 32 mins.

Bam! Great night for Miller off the bench. I’ve been saying all along that Portland is overthinking this whole backcourt situation and they just need to put the ball in Andre’s trusty hands. Brandon Roy is dangerous as a primary ballhandler, but he’s a shooting guard and he’s also fantastic off the ball. Steve Blake is a backup who can play next to Miller when they need to spread the floor. Andre Miller can score and he can create easy baskets for his teammates like no one the Blazers have had in years. He really should be the starter, but if he’s getting 32 minutes of playing time, it doesn’t really matter. I was rooting for him more than anyone down the stretch of this one, but the Blazers eventually fell to Cleveland, 104-99.

Anderson Varejao: 22 Pts (10-17 FG, 2-3 FT), 10 Reb (4 Off), 1 Ast, 1 Blk, 2 Stl, 1 TO, 2 PF in 36 mins.

I was pretty critical of the Cavs when they gave him his big contract extension in the summer, but I’ve got my mouth shut now. I should really put him in the “impressive” section because he impressed the hell out of me last night, but let’s stick with the numbers. Those points were unexpected and they were enormous for his team in the second half of this kinda-close game. You expect the great on-ball and help defense from him, and you expect the rebounding, but if he’s converting around the basket at that rate it makes the Cavs a way more dangerous team.

Chris Duhon: 22 Pts (7-11 FG, 6-8 3PT, 2-2 FT), 2 Reb, 9 Ast, 1 Stl, 0 TO, 4 PF in 34 mins.

Ugh. Who is this guy? This isn’t the guy I dropped from my fantasy team. That guy was shooting something like 3% from the floor earlier on this year. I was shocked when I saw that efficiency, those threes, those assist. And… no turnovers?! Unbelievable. I didn’t catch any of New York’s 113-96 victory over the Hornets, but it sure looks like Duhon played a perfect game. Apparently it was 96-95 for New Orleans with under five minutes left in the game when he sank back-to-back threes and Al Harrington followed with a pair of his own. What a crazy way to end a game.

Manu Ginobili: 22 Pts (7-12 FG, 4-5 3PT, 4-4 FT), 4 Reb (1 Off), 2 Ast, 2 Stl, 1 Blk, 3 TO, 3 PF in 26 mins.

I remember these stat lines. You see 22 and 4, with some steals and blocks and think “hey, Manu had a decent game.” Then, you notice he only played 26 minutes. The Poo God came up big in this 104-85 blowout against Charlotte. I should add that this was kind of a weird game – the Spurs were up 65-43 only minutes into the 2nd half (thanks to Ginobili’s 20 first half points), but the Bobcats ended up winning the third quarter 29-13. Down by 1 entering the fourth, Charlotte would get no closer, as the Spurs turned it back on and cruised to their 10th victory in 11 tries against the ‘Cats.

Mickael Pietrus: 23 Pts (8-15 FG, 4-8 3PT, 3-3 FT), 8 Reb (2 Off), 1 Stl, 1 Blk, 2 TO, 2 PF in 32 mins.

Pietrus made up for Vince Carter’s absence in the third quarter by scoring 15 points in that period alone. Phoenix continually lost him behind the arc and he made them pay. If Orlando had ended up pulling out a victory, Suns fans would be having nightmares of this guy shooting three-pointers. This was the second game this season he’s scored more than 20 points and I hope he reaches that total many more times before the season’s end. Love those 8 rebounds, too.

Dwight Howard: 10 Pts (1-1 FG, 8-17 FT), 18 Reb (5 Off), 2 Ast, 2 Stl, 5 TO, 3 PF in 41 mins.

Can you remember the last time you saw Dwight Howard only attempt one field goal? Me neither. I’m telling you, this was a weird game. Whenever he caught the ball under the basket, Phoenix hacked him. And it worked out alright this time – Howard shot below 50% from the line for the first time since November 22 in Toronto. The rebounding is impressive, but if you’re a Magic fan you want less turnovers, more field goal attempts, and at least one block from your superstar.

Impressive

Carl Landry: 20 Pts (4-9 FG, 12-14 FT), 7 Reb (3 Off), 2 Ast, 2 Blk, 3 TO, 2 PF in 33 mins.

Is it possible to say a gritty big man “makes it look easy?” Normally, when you hear someone say that about a player, it’s about a wing guy or a point guard who has just made some beautiful spin move or gliding lay-up or something, not a tough 4-man who has scored in the post. But, seriously, Carl Landry makes it look easy. “It” being scoring inside and drawing fouls. You watch him and you wonder why every power forward can’t get those shots off and draw that contact. Well, I’ll tell you why. Landry is a natural around the basket. He has great footwork, perfect timing, and a very soft touch. He knows how to score against bigger and smaller defenders and he knows how to get to the line. When he gets to the line, he converts them, and that’s how he ends up scoring 20 points on just 9 shots. Coach Rick Adelman made a conscious effort to feed him the ball down the stretch, as nobody Philadelphia threw out there could deal with him. I’ve been pumping up this guy for a long time so it makes me happy to see him develop into Houston’s go-to-guy. He was easily the best big man on the floor in this one, and Elton Brand actually had himself a pretty damn good game.

Allen Iverson: 20 Pts (7-18 FG, 6-9 FT), 5 Reb, 3 Ast, 1 TO, 2 PF in 35 mins.

The numbers are pretty good, especially considering the whole “34-year-old who has barely played in months” thing. But what impressed me more is what doesn’t show up there. He’s doing good things, but he’s also NOT doing the things that some people were worried about. He’s not dominating the ball, he’s not taking a lot of contested shots, and he’s not embarrassing himself on D. I’ll admit it’s a bit weird that he’s not always the fastest guy on the court now (this night, it was Aaron Brooks) and he did make me scream when he fouled the fastest man on the court when he was shooting a 3-pointer, but I liked what I saw. I like it even more when I consider the fact that he should be twice as comfortable and in rhythm in just a couple more weeks.

Jamal Crawford: 15 Pts (6-12 FG, 1-3 3PT, 2-2 FT), 3 Reb (2 Off), 3 Ast, 1 Stl, 4 TO, 1 PF in 29 mins.

Obviously, I’m not impressed with the assist-to-turnover ratio here, but I am in general impressed with Crawford. He was going to get some numbers last night, as he could get his shot off and get in the key whenever he wanted against Toronto’s defense (God, I hate mentioning this), but what I like is just how well he’s fit in with that team. He’s playing 8 fewer minutes than he did last season and he seems 100% happy with it. This is the first time in his career he’s played for a good team and he has embraced his 6th-man role. There have been more than a handful of nights this season where his team has needed him to step up and pour in a ton of points, but, with all the other options available, he doesn’t need to do it all the time. So, he’s become a willing passer and has run the offense for significant stretches. For a guy who was born to score, this is something to respect.

Kevin Durant: 32 Pts (10-22 FG, 1-7 3PT, 11-12 FT), 10 Reb (3 Off), 4 Ast, 2 Blk, 2 TO, 2 PF in 41 mins

Speaking of guys who were born to score, wow. It’s hard to describe Durant here. I’ve already used the “he makes it look easy” thing, haven’t I? Bah. Last night, whenever Durant wanted to score, he did. Or he got fouled, where he converted all but one of his free throws. This team wins games because it goes the extra mile on defense, and, when it needs a basket, KD can get one. The thing with Durant, though, is that we’ve seen this scoring ability before. Hell, we saw it at Texas. But we didn’t see those 10 rebounds all that often. Or those 2 blocks, or those 4 assists. He has made a leap this year – where he was once merely one of the league’s foremost assassins, now he is an all-around player who can hurt you in many ways on both ends. His man D has improved, his help D has improved, and his passing has improved. I feel privileged just watching this happen. You should be tuning in, too.

Nick Collison: 8 Pts (4-8 FG), 7 Reb (4 Off), 1 Ast, 1 Blk, 1 Stl, 1 TO, 4 PF in 17 mins.

All heart, this guy. I should hate him for taking minutes from my man Ibaka, but I don’t. He takes charges, he contests shots, he crashes the glass, and he helps his team win. Nothing flashy here, but it works.

Steve Nash: 20 Pts (6-13 FG, 2-4 3PT, 6-7 FT), 7 Reb (1 Off), 18 Ast, 3 TO, 1 PF in 40 mins.

Am I allowed to say that he played better than this? I mean, that’s an incredible line. I’m not sure it does Nash justice, though. He had 18 assists, but that could have easily been 24 or 25 if his teammates had hit a few more open shots. He put on a clinic, as he often does, and Orlando had no answer for him. This was a hell of a victory for the Suns and there was no one more responsible than their point guard.

Amar’e Stoudemire: 28 Pts (12-21 FG, 4-7 FT), 10 Reb (1 Off), 2 Ast, 3 Stl, 3 TO, 4 PF in 41 mins.

This guy was close, though. See that one offensive rebound? It was critical. When Jared Dudley missed a three-pointer, contested by Dwight Howard, Amar’e ripped the rebound away from Orlando and slammed home a dunk with 6.9 seconds left in the game. This ended up being the winning play in this strange, strange game that featured a number of late turnovers and one of the most dumbfounding referee decisions I’ve ever seen on a jump-ball with just seconds left in the game. Anyway, yeah, terrific work from the big man with the goggles.

Kevin Love: 7 Pts (3-14 FG, 1-2 3PT,), 19 Reb (8 Off), 1 Ast, 1 Blk, 1 TO, 2 PF in 33 mins.

It’s as if he was honouring his coach, Kurt Rambis, who received his championship ring last night for his work as an assistant to Phil Jackson last year. Yes, those 8 offensive rebounds and those 11 missed field goals are related, but you still have to appreciate Kevin’s effort. I really dig it when hustle guys are also skill guys, and this is certainly the case with Kevin Love. He is not only an elite rebounder and energy guy, but he is one of the best passing big men in the league and boasts legitimate 3-point range. The Wolves might not win many games, but they’re worth watching to see him and Jefferson down low. Oh, and that Jonny Flynn guy too.

Ramon Sessions: 15 Pts (7-9 FG, 1-2 3PT), 5 Ast, 1 Stl, 4 TO, 4 PF in 22 mins.

You know the story. He should play more. He was remarkable yesterday. One of his two misses was a heave at the end of the third quarter. Yet, still, 22 minutes. Finally, Damien Wilkins was limited to just 9 minutes on the court, but Rambis handed out 22, 25, and 17 minutes to Aleksander Pavlovic, Corey Brewer, and Wayne Ellington respectively. Nothing against those guys, really, but Sessions is far superior. And yes, he can play with Flynn. Kinda. He can play better with Flynn than those guys can, and that’s the point. I’m going to keep tracking his minutes and his production in this space, with the hope that soon I’ll be talking about 20-point, 12 assist, 34 minute efforts from this talented young guard.

Kobe Bryant: 20 Pts (8-18 FG, 1-3 3PT, 3-4 FT), 5 Reb, 5 Ast, 1 Blk, 1 Stl, 4 TO, 2 PF in 24 mins.

The numbers aren’t special for Bryant, but he got them with a fractured index finger on his right hand. He hurt himself in the first quarter, played through it for a bit, got X-rayed, and returned in the second half with a splint on his finger. Since he is the most skilled player on the planet, it didn’t slow him down much. He just used his left hand, because he’s basically ambidextrous. You remember that pass to Shannon Brown? Yeah, the majority of his passes were left-handed. As were his shots around the basket. There is only one Kobe.

Pau Gasol: 17 Pts (8-14 FG, 1-1 FT), 20 Reb (8 Off), 7 Ast, 1 Blk, 1 Stl, 5 TO, 2 PF in 38 mins.

With Kobe limited (sorta), Pau dominated. 17/20/7? Those are Hakeem numbers. And you shouldn’t be surprised. He may act like a second-banana alongside Kobe, but Gasol is a truly elite big man. With him operating at full strength, the Lakers seem unstoppable. I’m really hoping that Orlando gets their D sorted out, the Celtics find a way to stay healthy, and the Spurs and Nuggets get consistent, because I fear that the Lakers will just roll through the competition all year, including the playoffs.

Quoted

“It’s not disheartening, they beat us. You’re going to get beat. Sometimes teams are better than you. They’re better than us. They smoked us once and they beat us again today.” – Chris Bosh

“Is Robin Lopez a twin brother of Brook Lopez or Anderson Varejao?” – Jeff Van Gundy, in the 2nd quarter of the Suns/Magic game.

Tweeted

@stackmack: Hawks bench is 12-for-13 from the floor.

Moments later…

@stackmack: Make that 13-for-14..

@ShamSports: Bulls and Warriors at an 87-87 tie with 31 seconds left. Warriors about 45 points below their season average. Bulls right at theirs.

@HowardBeckNYT: Knicks have won 4 straight — longest winning streak since Jan. 2006 (six straight under Larry Brown)

To Watch

Dunk of the year candidate – Corey Brewer on Derek Fisher:

To Listen

Episode 35 of The Chronicles Of Crotty

Podcast Paroxysm featuring Matt From Blog-A-Bull.

Ned Dishman/Getty Images

Very, very quick recap today, as I don’t really have any time to be doing this but am trying anyway. The Basketball Gods didn’t help me out much last night, as the Celtics/Wizards game was unavailable in Canada, the Pistons/Nuggets game crapped out on me with 6 seconds left in the game, and my recording of Jazz/Magic stopped with about 7 minutes to play. Weird night.

The All-OTN Team

Will Bynum

Bynumite is hurt right now. He already had issues with his right ankle, but when he rolled his left ankle right at the end of the Philly game the other night, it ensured he’d sit a game out for the first time this year. Luckily, Rodney Stuckey stepped up in his absence and Detroit was able to top Denver, 101-99. More on Stuckey in abit.

Shannon Brown

The Lakers weren’t on this week’s Thursday sched, but I really should post his insane alley-oop from Wednesday night, shouldn’t I?

Jared Dudley

He didn’t play yesterday, but he did post this picture and this video.

Fun With Stats

Congrats are in order for Chauncey Billups and Ray Allen, who passed the 13,000 and 20,000-point plateaus last night, respectively. Crazy stuff to think about when you’ve been watching these guys play since they were rookies. I remember when the Raptors acquired Billups mid-way through his rookie season. HATED losing Damon Stoudamire, but at least we were getting another young, promising PG. You know the story after that. (Update: Apparently, Paul Pierce passed 19,000 points last night too. How’d that one get by me at first? Anyway, congrats to him as well.)

Dwight Howard shot 6-7 from the free throw line last night. In his last 4 games, he is shooting 29-39 from the stripe. That’s 74%. Gilbert Arenas shot 1-6 from the line last night, including two crucial misses in crunch time (sad face), and is now shooting 71% on the season.

Orlando’s awesome bench started out the game 12/15 from the field, with much of that damage being done by the sharp-shooting Ryan Anderson. I love watching this guy play – he is absolutely perfect for Stan Van’s system. He essentially only shoots when he’s open for three or he’s right under the basket. And he’s efficient as hell. You CANNOT leave this man open or he will burn you, as Utah found out last night to the tune of 14 first-half points. It seemed like he scored all of those points in about 3 minutes, but I could be wrong there. The Magic raced out to an 18-point lead early, but couldn’t match Utah’s energy in the second half, falling 120-111 at the end of their road trip.

Rajon Rondo eclipsed the 20-point mark for the first time this season last night in Boston’s 104-102 win in Washington. That surprise you like it did me? He’s been one of the best players in fantasy basketball all year, despite only averaging 11.5 points a game. His fantasy owners and Celtics fans have to extremely happy with his work last night. This is the second game in a row where he was the major difference-maker in a Boston win. In addition to the 21 points, he had 11 assists. But, of course, he’s garbage and we only think he’s good because he has quality teammates….

Almost forgot this… The Washington Wizards grabbed 0 rebounds in the 2nd quarter last night. I don’t know if that’s ever been done before in the post-shot clock era. Insane.

Update: Totally forgot to mention Melo. The man scored 40 points in 43 minutes last night, with 16 of ‘em coming in the final frame. Think maybe he should have taken the final shot rather than Billups? Can’t just be me.

Impressive

Rodney Stuckey: 25 Pts (7-14 FG, 0-1 3PT, 11-15 FT), 3 Ast, 2 Stl, 5 TO, 1 PF in 39 mins.

Shame about that assist-to-turnover ratio, but you have to live with it when you’re getting this kind of scoring. His former mentor, Chauncey Billups, had 21 points on 16 shots and only had 2 assists himself. In a game decided by 2 points (and one that ended with a missed shot from Billups), you have to give Stuckey huge credit for coming out on top in the individual matchup. This followed what might have been his most impressive performance as a Piston on Wednesday night, where he scored 27 points and added 8 assists in a victory over Philadelphia. Is Rodney turning the corner? I don’t know. He had a great stretch of games last December, too. With all the injuries the Pistons are dealing with right now, though, they really needed him last night and he came through. Hope he keeps this up.

Ben Wallace: 7 Pts (2-7 FG, 3-6 FT), 16 Reb (6 Off), 3 Ast, 1 Blk, 3 Stl, 3 PF in 35 mins.

Ignore the 2-7 and the fact that he airballed a free throw during this game. Ben Wallace is super fun to watch again. His return to Detroit (and good health?) has rejuvenated his career. Didn’t see this coming at all. I’m loving watching him battle for boards underneath the glass and get steals that he really has no business getting. Even though he still cheats too much on D, he remains a terror on that end and has forced John Kuester to start him and give him 31 minutes a game. He is 35 years old. Fantastic.

Deron Williams: 32 Pts (9-18 FG, 2-5 3PT, 12-15 FT), 8 Reb, 15 Ast, 1 Stl, 1 TO, 3 PF in 42 mins.

You can’t ask for a better line for that from your point guard. He ran the team perfectly, finding teammates for open threes and for layups under the basket. If your point guard is getting to the line like that and only committing one turnover in over 40 minutes, you’re in good shape. Adding those assists and rebounds, too? Phenomenal. Methinks he has a good shot of FINALLY making the All-Star team this year, assuming this McGrady foolishness gets turned around.

Carlos Boozer: 20 Pts (8-16 FG, 4-8 FT), 14 Reb (4 Off), 4 Ast, 1 Blk, 2 Stl, 1 TO, 2 PF in 44 mins.

Ho-hum, another 20 and 10 game for Boozer, who is the only player not named Chris Bosh averaging those numbers this season. He did need a few extra minutes to get his stats tonight, but it’s still impressive. During the broadcast, Doug Collins pointed out what I feel are the two most striking things about Boozer this season – he’s in shape and he’s smiling. It’s great to see him able to battle under the glass against likes of Dwight Howard and it’s great to see him having fun again. I missed this Carlos Boozer last year.

Quoted

“I’m really proud of Stuck and the way that he’s been able to develop into not only a great player but one of the leaders on the team now. I watch his games all the time… it’s like a big brother watching a little brother.” – Chauncey Billups.

Tweeted

@TheRealTWill: Boy I love my new work ethic I owe it to doug overton an sitting out made me a better ball player I believe, an get to work on my left hand

@Truth_About_It: Walked in media room bathroom just b/f the game, Gheorghe Muresan was squatting over a urinal trying 2 pee, turned around & walked back out.

@canishoopus: Revamped Pistons are infinitely more watchable than I expected this offseason and better without their stars. They’re like Rockets East.

@BulletsForever: Obsessive much? Gilbert Arenas said he went to the practice court right after the game to shoot 50 free throws.

@kpelton: Watch Deron Williams play tonight, realize *he’s never been an All-Star*, and try to tell me the NBA is not blessed with talent right now.

To Watch

Ray Ray’s big dunk:

No, this isn’t where he reached 20,000. That took place when he hit a three-pointer. Fitting.

Antawn Jamison’s crazy shot:

This had me going nuts. I love Jamison’s floaters. This one made me particularly happy though, because it’s the kind of ridiculous shot I like to take. When I was 12 or so, I did this in some meaningless game and the crowd went crazy. I don’t have a lot of moments like that I my totally-not-illustrious playing career, but I’ve got that.

Rondo’s huge dunk:

This happened right after the Jamison play. Man, I was happy the game ran late and I got to see the ending on the channel that had the Jazz/Magic game. I was freaking out. If it isn’t abundantly clear, I am a pretty big Rondo fan.

To read

…speaking of, here’s a fantastic piece on Rajon Rondo by Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald.

And here’s one from Jeffrey Martin of the Houston Chronicle on Kyle Lowry, who is leading the league in charges taken.

Then, there’s Darnell Mayberry of the Oklahoman giving us a very, very encouraging update on Shaun Livingston.

And… whoa I guess it’s all point guard linkage today. I dig that. Here’s Ben Golliver of BlazersEdge breaking down Jerryd Bayless’s promising play and Holly MacKenzie of The Score appreciating the greatness of Steve Nash.

Noah Graham / Getty Images

I’m not a basketball lifer, I’m aware of this. I’m a white kid from Toronto. I didn’t see my first basketball game (in person or on TV) until 1995. I didn’t really get into basketball until I was 16. Yet here I am, confounded by the sheer idiocy that’s going on in and around the NBA. I can’t know more about basketball, interpersonal skills and basic math than people paid 6 or 7 figures to know these things right? Right? Well, can someone explain the following to me?

Memphis is paying Allen Iverson not to play. What is this, Groundhog Day? Didn’t they see what happened in Detroit? We all knew the deal, AI would not be a backup. Why were they surprised when he didn’t want to be one for the Grizz? And if AI was getting out of what he described as the worst situation in his career, where he claims he was stabbed in the back by former coach Curry, wouldn’t he have tried to get some assurances from the club that he wouldn’t be back in the same boat?

Byron Scott gets fired after a 3-6 start. He is replaced by his GM. Which would be fine, if the poor start wasn’t more related to the GM mismanaging that roster since the Hornets’ playoff run of 2 years ago than poor coaching. Or if they were replacing the coach with a better coach. Or if they weren’t hiring a lead assistant who they already have fired. Or if they tried to find a wing player who could actually play some ball. As Chris Paul read this, a single tear rolled down his cheek. He knows he doesn’t have the teammates. He knows.

The Knicks suspended Eddy Curry because he wasn’t in shape. Now he’s in shape. The problem: he may have lost 70 pounds but he’s still EDDY MOTHER FUCKING CURRY! How in gods name is he going to run with a D’Antoni system?! The dude might not be a walking balloon boy anymore, but he still won’t suddenly turn into Amar’e Staudemire or something. He isn’t a fast break type player. He’s not. Either you form a system around the players, or get players that fit the system. Eddy Curry doesn’t fit either template for the Knicks. Speaking of the Knicks’ template, the whole run and gun score a lot of points only works if you SCORE A LOT OF POINTS! Not when you give up 108 a freaking game and score about 100. Shockingly, these Knicks are actually WORSE on offense than they are on D! This is not how D’Antoni-ball is supposed to work. But it’s okay, the Knicks play at Madison Square Garden. Of course LeBron wants to play there next season. Duh.

Don Nelson still has a job? I don’t even want to talk about the Warriors. I feel sick.

The Nets are so far down right now that they LITERALLY threw away (1:50 here) their first chance to win a game this season. These people play professional basketball. Help! I don’t care that people are injured. If you can’t inbound a ball even CLOSE to a teammate, there are far bigger issues at play than injuries.

The Blazers have some of the best young offensive talent in the league. So it makes perfect sense that they’re playing at the 3rd slowest pace of any team in the NBA. Yet they’re still 19th in scoring. 28th in pace, 19th in scoring. The team has Brandon Roy and LaMarcus freaking Aldridge! DON’T BE AFRAID TO SHOOT THE FUCKING BALL! YOU HAVE ODEN UNDER THE BASKET FOR GOD’S SAKE! They have a hyper-efficient offense so why not actually use it more?! This team is the jackass who buys a Ferrari, only takes it on cruises around the neighbourhood and won’t change out of 2nd gear. I watch basketball to be entertained. I play fantasy basketball to heighten that entertainment. I love defense, rebounding, hustle, and the down and dirty guys (see my Nuggets piece where I wax poetic about the likes of Birdman and Joey Graham). But I also want to see some end to end action! I want to see the best athletes in the world making the most of their talent and abilities. Moreover, I don’t want to see one more fucking boxscore where Roy, Aldridge and Oden have to get their stats from a total of 90-something points and 40-something rebounds! Let them loose a LITTLE bit. Please! I’m begging you. Last year, they were 30th in pace and 1st in efficiency. This year, they’re 28th in pace and a bit lower in the efficiency (8th). Still good, yes, but is it really going to negatively impact the team too much to maybe bump the offense up to 20th in pace? Really? They’re getting 89.4 possessions in 48 minutes. 2 more possessions a game gets them to 19th. That’s it! Will an extra 2 possessions hurt their efficiency THAT much?! Okay, maybe I’m just angry as a fantasy owner of Roy and Aldridge. And Oden. In fact, I’m pretty sure I just sunk any trade value that Aldridge had. Let’s just move on.

Philadelphia has one really good low post player in Marreese Speights, but can’t play him big minutes because they fear the two vets ahead of him would become malcontents if moved to the bench. This team actually has a quality building block in their frontcourt, and Eddie Jordan must know that the kid is going to start eventually. The Sixers won’t be very good this year – common sense says that counting on Sam Dalembert in the first place destined this team for failure. They need to embrace the fuutre. Obviously, I am not a Dalembert fan. I am not a Brand fan, either. I do however enjoy Brand’s play if for nothing else than to laugh at James, who drafted big Elton right after I took Boozer. Sucker. (Ed.: Ugh, I want to make fun of you for not keeping Marc Gasol, but that Brand thing was too upsetting. You’re mean.)

Chicago brought in John Salmons at the deadline last year, presumably to groom a replacement since they’d already decided they weren’t keeping Gordon (I’d rather have the cap space too). The mistake: not recognizing that Salmons wasn’t a great basketball player and cashing out while he had serious value. Now they can’t do anything with him. Not that it really matters. Even if they had the pieces, they’d still find a way to fuck it up. James thinks I should give VDN credit for fixing the defense… but they replaced a defensive pylon at 2 guard with someone who plays, and Rose and Noah got a year better. VDN just happened to be along for the ride. And he’s supposed to get credit for that? Pfff. Last year, I thought Vinny Del Negro was an inexperienced moron in over his head. Now, I just think he’s dumb.

What’s my problem with Vinny? Well, he doesn’t know his personnel. He makes poor decisions. On the potential game-winning buzzer beating shot that Miller made against Denver the other day, Luol Deng actually said “I thought it was a fact you can’t shoot with 0.3. So that’s why I was kind of like, I mean, if it counted then they’ve got to change a lot of things because I thought it was 0.4.” Really. Wouldn’t you think this MIGHT come up during the timeout that preceded the play? What the hell was Vinny talking about in that timeout? It’s not like he was drawing up some top secret super-duper guaranteed-to-work play. The Outside The NBA team was watching that game from our hub of James’s basement (basking in post podcast glow), and while Julian and I disagreed with James’s assertion the basket should count (Ed.: I said it looked very close on the replay, not that it should definitely count), I think we could all agree that Denver’s curious decision to not bother to cover Brad Miller was far more of a factor in Miller getting that good a look than any genius that Del Negro came up with. Not to mention the fact that VDN STILL hasn’t figured out that for Rose to be effective he needs to be on the floor with someone who can great space for him by making shots. One person. Not 3 people standing 20 feet from the basket jacking contested shots while everyone stands still. When the fucking Toronto Raptors can shut you down in an entire half of basketball, you have problems. I don’t want to hear the “they were tired, they were on a back to back” excuse. That’s horseshit. I understand how the travel and lack of preparation can negatively impact a team, but 28 points in a half against what might be one of the worst defensive teams in NBA history? Just move the ball. Spread the floor. For god’s sake, it’s like a team of Jamario Moons over there.

My final rants and raves: Fans and GM’s. It’s between 7 and 9 games into the season. There are any number of key players on any number of teams missing for reasons varying from steroids to ‘personal reasons’. A bunch of teams are integrating new players. Everyone, myself included, needs to take a deep breath and relax a little bit. Just close your eyes and breathe deep. I’ll wait. Everyone ready? Ok, time to continue ranting with some assorted thoughts on this season thus far:

The Cellar Dwellers

Okay. The Toronto Raptors are playing without their supposed best rebounder. We don’t know if Reggie Evans will make a significant difference to the Raps’ lack of success on the offensive and defensive glass, so let’s at least wait till he gets on the floor before we start freaking out. If after a while the Raps still can’t play defense or at least grab the occasional rebound, then clearly there’s a problem.

The Bucks have lost to Philly, beat Detroit, the Bulls, the Wolves, the Knicks and the Nuggets. Not to take anything away from that Nuggets win, but Denver was on the second day of a back to back. Either way, that’s hardly a murderer’s row of teams the Bucks have beaten. Let’s wait a little longer before we start sucking Skiles off again. (Ed.: You bastard. The Bucks are awesome. If you had said something negative about Jennings here, I would have lost it.)

Sacramento is .500 for the first time in YEARS. Fact: James actually tried to convince me to trade him Casspi. Even offering players AND burgers to be named later. Alas, Sacramento can’t keep this pace up forever but at least we can all enjoy it while it lasts.

The Contenders

The Boston Celtics are off to a fantastic start. They are also the oldest team in the NBA. Thankfully, almost every stadium in North America comes equipped with a defibrillator. Let’s just say I’m glad I’m not on the hook for their insurance premium this season.

Orlando has missed one of their best players, Rashard Lewis, for the entire season thus far. And will for a few more games. Vince Carter, Mickael Pietrus, and Ryan Anderson have missed games, too. Tonight, Brandon Bass isn’t even playing. Dwight Howard has kinda learned to shoot free throws and is becoming good as passing out of double teams. I regret not picking them higher in the predictions piece. Just a scary, scary team.

Denver just got J.R “Don’t call me Earl” Smith back into the lineup. The Nuggets have beaten Utah at home and Portland on the road back-to-back. And since then, they have proceeded to beat Memphis, Indy, the Nets and the Bulls. But don’t forget that they have lost to Miami, Atlanta and Milwaukee. As much as it pains me to say: we can’t really read too much into Denver’s hot start. Should they beat the Lakers tonight though, it’s a whole new ballgame.

Phoenix has only played 2 home games so far. The first loss they had was to Orlando, when Steve Nash seemed tired on a back-to-back (the only game he had less than 8 assists). They got spanked by the Lakers, again in a game where Nash looked tired. So it seems like the Suns will go as far as Nash can take them. Here’s hoping that’s a long way, but I’m not going to get my hopes up just yet.

San Antonio just beat up Dallas while playing without Duncan and Parker. Well then. I don’t even have anything to add. That’s where amazing happens, ladies and gentlemen.

The Cavs have started to put it together, and they’ll get it eventually. Despite Mike Brown’s best efforts, the Cavs will be fine. The east is going to be interesting yet.

Summer 2010

Call it a hunch, but somehow I doubt any of the big name free agents this year will even CONSIDER where to go next year without seeing how competitive their current teams are. It’s not like the more times reporters ask said big name soon to be free agents where they are going, the more likely the players are to answer in anything more than jock-speak and cliches. All these reporters are doing is torturing dozens of already tortured fan bases. Cleveland already has the Monday Night Debacle (you’ll see on the 16th) in its future. They also got to see their 2 former best pitchers face off against each other in a World Series game. Do they really need to be subjected to this crap every game day? It’s bad enough these poor people live in Cleveland. Just leave them alone. I’m begging you. LeBron has finally asked for this.

Fantasy

James is currently beating me in the fantasy league that I blogged about. But I’m beating him in the other fantasy league we’re in. When asked for comment, James couldn’t really garble out a reply. All I could make out was that James doesn’t like the head-to-head format. I guess he believes in keeping that kind of stuff for his personal life since I’m fairly sure his voice was being muffled by Ben Gordon’s dick. (Ed.: Ben Gordon?! WTF? I don’t even have him in the pool. If you’re going to make an absolutely tasteless joke, at least use Gilbert or Dwight or something. I’m disappointed in you. This blog post is over.)

Rocky Widner / Getty Images

In our first podcast, Julian, Eric, and I discuss the Iverson/Memphis debacle, Earl Smith III, Stephen Jackson’s agent vs. Nellie, the ridiculousness of the Raptors, the success of the Suns and Nuggets, the failures of the Cavs and Hornets, and Kobe’s newfound appreciation for the post-up game. Oh, and we play a little game.

We recorded this yesterday, before watching the slew of awesome games covered here and here. So, we didn’t get to talk about Brad Miller’s near-buzzer-beater or Travis Outlaw’s vicious dunk on Rudy Gay. We’ve got you covered on Matt Bonner dunk analysis, though.

Click here to listen to the podcast.