…erm, not really. My schedule is going to remain the same as it was last year. I’m going to watch basketball at night, read about basketball during the day, and write about basketball in between.

The format’s going to be new, though. The majority of my writing will live in this space: LeBlog James. This is where I’ll recap what I’ve watched, make observations, drop stats, recommend links, share gems from my Twitter feed, etc. It’s also where I’ll post a feature every day. It’s not exactly going to be a recap column and it’s not exactly going to be a “James rants about the NBA” column. It’s a blog. By me, James. LeBlog James. It’ll generally be posted in the afternoon.

The podcast will keep going as its been for the past few weeks – recorded Thursday before the doubleheader, posted Friday. It’ll continue to sound a billion times better than it did last year, as we’re using the studio at the College of Sports Media.

John Bennett, who’s hosting the podcast now, is going to be on board as a writer, too. Julian Guy-McCarvill will have a weekly column that’ll no doubt be full of statistics and hate. Eric Wagman will be writing and podcasting at least until he leaves Canada to become a spy – I hope someone pisses him off early this season as much as Turkoglu did last year.

Aaaaanyway, let’s get to last night’s fun. It was a great, great second night in the NBA. Even better than the first, I’d say. As awesome as it was to see the huge nationally televised games and the Blazers’ 4th-quarter explosion against Phoenix on Tuesday, there’s nothing like some extreme League Pass ADD on a Wednesday featuring 13 games that are all worth checking out. Can’t tell you how much I missed the simultaneous good finishes and #leaguepassalerts.

Here’s a long list of things I loved about Wednesday, starting with this picture:

• Prokhorov is obviously hilarious. That was a fun finish in Newark, too. 13-3 run in the final 1:40 and Anthony Morrow (sweetest shot in the league) nailed a late three that made me yell. Other happy news from that game: Derrick Favors was GOOD… And, TBJ! Hells yes. So pumped for the TV debut this evening.

• Favors wasn’t the only rookie to start strong after a disappointing preseason: Evan Turner had 16/7/4 against the Heat. He crossed over Dwyane Wade nicely, too. And Wade? 30/7/4. Nice bounceback.

• Reggie Evans was a beast. He had my favourite line of the night: 33 mins, 0 pts (0-2 fg), 16 reb (4 off), 2 stl, 1 blk, 5 fouls. He also had a great quote: “I ain’t no diva. I don’t have no blond hair, red hair. I’m Reggie Evans.” He annoyed the crap out of Amar’e, until STAT realized at the end of the game that he should be able to score whenever he wants. And he did, so the Knicks won.

• I had the Raptors feed, but wish I’d heard Clyde Frazier’s call when Jarrett Jack stepped out of bounds: “That’s inexplicable. Actually, it’s despicable”.

• Cleveland WON! Great, great, GREAT for their fans. I kept feeling like Boston was going to pull it out at the end, but the Cavs held on. Insane energy in that building. Must have been tough for the C’s to go from their raucous supporters in the first game to this hostile crowd in the second.

• Big Baby looked improved for the second night in a row. He’s definitely slimmed down, and he’s hitting turnaroud J’s.
• Derrick Rose had numerous incredible finishes around the basket. His layups are often as impressive as his dunks.
• Joakim Noah’s crazy line: 18/19/2/2/2. And from the same game, KD and Russ dominated the fourth quarter for the win. KD finished with 30; Westbrook had 28/10/6 and this huge dunk.
• Serge Ibaka played 32 minutes to Nenad Krstic’s 16.
• The first dunk of Wes Johnson’s career was quite something.

• Carl Landry put up some numbers: 22/11, including 7 offensive boards – awesome because his offensive rebounding rate has been declining since his rookie year.

• Jennings’ 10 assists to 1 turnover. Bogut getting 15/15 in his return, and still taking the blame for the loss. Chris Paul looking brilliant as ever: 17/16/4, with 1 turnover.
• Roy Hibbert made Noam Schiller’s MIP pick look like a great call. 28/9/3 blocks against Tim Duncan. Also, Josh McRoberts getting everyone all excited on Twitter. He made his first 5 shots, including a three and this alley-oop.

• Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitzki reminding us that some things don’t change: Timmay had 23 on 10-12 shooting, with 12 boards against Indy. Dirkus Circus had 28 on 11-13 shooting, with 13 assists against Charlotte. Almost forgot Jason Kidd, too: 18 assists and 1 turnover.
• T.J. Ford played well in an NBA game!

• Arron Afflalo had led the Nugs with 12 first half points to break the game open against Utah. And SHELDEN WILLIAMS had 16 rebounds.
• And what I liked most of all: Clippers/Blazers and Rockets/Warriors at the end of the night. One on my computer, one on my TV. Really excited for the west coast games this year. Blake Griffin was breathtaking and needed the ball more in the end. Hubie Brown was FAWNING over him. The Blazers had a dominant fourth quarter again, going on a 15-0 run while shutting the Clips down with a zone. Nice to see Camby still so active and good defensively, even though he’ll be turning 37 in March. Nice to see Batum make me look smart for saying he’s going to have a huge season. Enjoyed Brandon Roy’s TWO buzzer-beaters in the first half.

• All the wacky stats that come with a 132-128 game. Steph Curry: 25/11. D-Lee: 17/15/6. Scola: 36/16. Kevin Martin: 28 points on 14 shots, 17-17 from the foul line. Chuck Hayes: a career high 16 points, with 8 rebounds and 6 assists. And Monta deserves his own bullet point:

• 46 points. 18-24 FG. 9-12 FT. 1 turnover in the win. Incredible, incredible night. Efficient Monta is someone we should all love. And how efficient was he? 78.6% True Shooting. I’d have stayed up all night making a highlight video if I didn’t have to be at school right now. I’ll get that done later if no one else beats me to it. LOVED the slooooooooow mo replays on the Warriors broadcast, too

And quickly, ‘cause the first week of the season is the time for optimism and appreciating that basketball is back, a few things I didn’t love at all:

• Amir Johnson played just 12:34 and picked up 4 fouls.
• Bill Walker and Roger Mason shot  a combined 0-9.
• Marcus Thornton playing only 11:14, which was less than Willie f’ing Green.
• Derrick Rose’s inefficiency: Even though he looks improved, his production has the same problems: he needed 31 shots to put up his 28 points. He missed all four of his three point attempts. And he only got to the line 4 times, compared to Russell Westbrook’s 13.
• Kevin Love played only 23 minutes and sat the entire fourth quater. Kurt Rambis said it was because Anthony Tolliver was playing well, not because Love was doing anything wrong. I like Tolliver, but ugh. Not this again.

That’s it for me today. TNT doubleheader tonight! Ernie, Kenny, and Chuck in the studio! John Wall! Podcast will be up tomorrow. LeBlog James will properly get started, features and all, next week.

Buy one.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Raptors 110, Mavericks 88

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nuggets 119, Jazz 112

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

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

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

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

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

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

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