Breakin' Down The Game

Breakin' Down the Trades, Rumors, Draft and more...

2009-06-25T00:45:00.000-04:00

The "Big" news of the day, I'm sure you've already heard. Even if you go to CNN.com for your news, you'll see the "Big Shaquisition" (aka Shaquille O'Deal, aka the Big Cavtus, aka...well, you get the point).

Shaquille O'Neal and LeBron James are now on the same team, at least for the 2009-2010 season. Will it extend past that? Doubtful, but at least they have a year to make one "Big" run (okay, I promise to stop that). More on the details here, here and here.

Other trades in the last few days....The Wiz sent scrubs and the 5th pick to the Wolves for Randy Foye (sucks) and Mike Miller (can shoot, but is he coming off the bench?)

Not a fan, but I expect this to be just the beginning. They have way too many guards and no big man to count on. Can they get into the playoffs, and even take home court for round one? Yes, with a healthy Arenas, I believe so. But if they're going for a chip, which is what this trade says they're shooting for, then they'll need better than the Haywood, Blatche, Mcgee poo poo platter in the front court (especially after the Cavs picked up Shaq!). Also, if for some reason Ricky Rubio gets dropped to 5th in the draft, this is an awful mistake. Not because I believe Ricky will be successful with that crew in DC, but because that 5th pick would get a ton more trade value, and can easily get a hell of a lot more than Randy Foye (sucks) and Mike Miller. I know Flip Saunders is known as an offense coach, but as Hollinger agrees, this is not nearly enough defense to get deep into the playoffs.

The Spurs made a big splash by getting Richard Jefferson from the Bucks for Bowen, Oberto and Kurt Thomas. The move was financially based for the Bucks, and for the Spurs, a bit of a surprise that they'd take on that contract in this economic climate (same for the Wiz above). Oberto got flipped again, and Bowen made some suggestions that he's considering retirement, but if I had to bet on it, I'd say they'd both be on the Spurs roster come playoff time.

To try and do a Mock Draft at this point would be nonsense. First of all, not even the "experts" around the league have any idea whats going to happen (after #1 of course). It's the most uncertain draft in many years. There are guys projected to go 6th and 20th, 8th and 21st, etc, etc. That's bananas. Tonight should be a lot of fun, between picks and trades, so make sure to tune in.

Other news around the league and NBA blog world:

*Basketbawful, takes us through the 2008-2009 worst moments (hilarious).

*K-Berg says the Wolves are now in the drivers seat for the draft, after securing both the 5th and 6th pick. Hopefully David Kahn (protege of Donnie Walsh) can throw us a bone and get us in the mix for Steph Curry who is clearly a match for D'Antoni (and LeBron!). However, the Wolves need to start thinking about getting some more guards, since at this point, they have 10 forwards and 2 guards on the roster, which clearly is a problem.

*D-Wade is a twitter maniac.

*Speaking of twitter....Shaq wants to play this guy in HORSE for a G (good luck). JA Adande gave us this great press conference mix/video/rap, and most importantly, FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER FOR UPDATES AND MORE!!

*Someone explain to me Danny Ainge's thinking on totally bashing his champion point guard. I'm gonna go ahead and say that's probably not great for trade value nor the relationship for next season. Good luck with all that...

Enjoy the Draft!

NO FOULS, NO THREES!!

2009-06-12T00:30:00.001-04:00

Kobe took too many shots

Rashard didn't take enough shots

Hedo missed some easy shots

Howard blocked 9 shots (!!)

Fish hit the big shots...

Up by 3, with 11 seconds left, it's very simple: No fouls, no threes. That has to be very clear to everyone leaving the huddle after the time out. Stan Van Gundy might have forgot to make that clear, since he assumed everyone on the team would know, but the key thing is, the player defending Fisher should NOT have been Jameer Nelson. He simply is not in NBA-shape yet (and no one would expect him to be). Let's do the math: When Rafer Alston ("Skip") plays and plays confident, they're 1-0 in the finals. When his coach is juggling his minutes and benching him for large periods of time for a player who hasn't played in the NBA for four months, they're 0-3. Hmmm....

I'm not 100% sure, but I'm very confident that Skip has been playing a lot more crunch time basketball recently, and would know to close out on shooters at the 3-point line in that situation. Skip is also taller, with longer arms, and stronger legs (Jameer clearly isn't getting off the ground like he was months ago). The Magic want anything but a foul, or a three in that scenario. The time it takes for Fish to dribble around Jameer, and shoot the layup, is even better in that scenario since it leaves the Magic up 1 and turns into a free-throw battle.

But instead it was a night of choking for the Magic. Howard choked on crucial free throws, Hedo choked on crucial free throws, and the worst of all SVG choked with, again, shuffling his starting PG spot, killing his starting PG's confidence, and taking away the Magic's best shot at another victory (it was Skip who was the necessary contributer in their only win). We haven't even mentioned Anthony Johnson, who might as well not even suit up, hasn't played a minute yet. I know AJ is closing out on that 3, and I know AJ has proved in the past to have some BIG playoff games (see: Indiana/NJ last year's 40-point performance). Jameer should barely be in the rotation at this point, and certainly not relied on to play the entire fourth and OT. (duh) It's not just me, Chris Broussard has another quote from a Magic player saying those decisions are "eye-popping."

Funny enough, last night, the Lakers were more worried about how to handle Kobe Bryant than the Magic. The Magic have their game plan, but the Lakers are still adjusting to Kobe's unique (selfish?) ways. Often, you could see Pau's confusion during the game. "Do I screen for Kobe?" "Do I get in the triangle?" But mostly, it was "Do I get the hell out of the way??" Yup, that's the one. Even Phil Jackson said of Fisher after the game, "[He's] not afraid to go away from Kobe when sometimes Kobe is asking for the ball and he knows better, and I need a guard like him to do that." Basically a guard to tell Kobe we should stop playing one-on-five and start playing like a team again.

Another big story for Game 4 was the flagrant foul that Pietrus put on Gasol in the closing minutes. Ken Berger says a suspension is in order. I totally disagree. First of all, there's nothing wrong with upgrading it to a Flagarant 2, fining him 25K, and calling it a day. If this was a repeated incident with a trouble-maker, then i can understand. Was it a stupid play? Of course, but it's the NBA finals and you don't want the last game of the year (possibly) to end with controversy, and that's what you'd get if you suspend Orlando's "Kobe-stopper" for Game 5.

UPDATE: No suspension for Pietrus. No fine? Yet...

Regardless of how they won, the Lakers won and they're up 3-1 in the series. No team since 1966 has come back down 3-1 in the Finals, and I'd suspect the same result this coming week. Phil's about to get ring #10 (wow), and Kobe #4 and his first Finals MVP.

Oh, and thanks to SLAM for the highlight of the night:

Kobe's Accuser on the Mic??

2009-06-02T14:54:00.001-04:00

Do You Believe In Magic? - Thursday Breakdown

2009-05-14T22:14:00.004-04:00

I'm not really sure. One thing I know is that every time I think of the Magic, I think of Stan Van Gundy being the 'master of panic.' I can't help but feel like his demeanor trickles down and effects the confidence of his players.

Nonetheless, tonight the Magic got the win. It wasn't pretty, but I'm sure they'd rather take off to Boston than stay in Orlando for good.

*What's this? It's May and the Knicks are actually in the news? We're hearing rumors of a Tracy McGrady to New York trade, sending Larry Hughes and Cuttino Mobley's contracts to Houston in the offseason. I'm not exactly sure why the Rockets would do this. Perhaps they just want to ensure a healthy body at the 3 (and they might not resign Artest, and need to replace his D)? The rumors started over with Frank Isola, and then I got a little confirmation from David Thorpe at ESPN on his chat:

Evan (NY): Coach There is a rumor of TMac to Knicks x Hughes, Mobley contract.. I really like it for both teams, your view?

SportsNation David Thorpe: I think it could happen.

*Dirk Nowitzki was engaged to a con artist, she got arrested at his home mid-playoffs, and this isn't supposed to effect his game?!?! Interesting and still developing story.

*Awesome Elias Stat I saw on the Daily Dime. Chauncey Buh Buh Buh Billups is the man: Denver's victory means that Chauncey Billups will be playing in the conference finals for the seventh consecutive year. Since 1970, only four men have played for their conference's championship in each of seven or more straight playoff years, and all of them did so for the Lakers. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Cooper and Magic Johnson had eight-year streaks (1982-1989), and Kurt Rambis had a seven-year run (1982-1988)

*Lotta chattin goin on over on ESPN. Picked this up out of the conversation. We heart LeBron.

Brian (SF, CA): John, can you put Lebron's playoff PER in perspective? It seems he is almost too far ahead of the pack, is there a specific reason his PER is so high?

SportsNation John Hollinger: (3:16 PM ET ) I can't put it in perspective, actually. It's completely off the charts. As for a specific reason, other than "he's awesome," I can't offer one -- he's just been exceptional in every category. I expect his numbers to come back to earth a little in the next two rounds, obviously, but these last eight games have been among the best eight-game stretches you'll ever see.

Some really funny LeBron Kobe commercials!!

Defense Wins Championships; Tuesday Breakdown

2009-05-12T21:33:00.003-04:00

Liked what I saw in today's Daily Dime from Coach Mike Brown. "Sometimes you have to win ugly like this, and it's good to know that you can,...I'm sure Atlanta feels like they didn't play their best. I know offensively we didn't play our best. But the way we defended tonight allowed us to make some mistakes."

Fact of the matter is, even when the shots aren't falling, you can still rely on getting stops.

Over at TrueHoop, they have similar thoughts..."You can go through nearly twenty clips of defensive possessions before witnessing a single blown rotation. Every Cavalier closes out on every shooter, and contests every shot. The Cavs move around the court mindful of every open space, chasing guys off their spots, and walling off anyone with the temerity to drive or cut to the basket. "

In other news...

*One of the big stories so far this week is Mark Cuban yelling at KMart's mom, screaming that her son is a thug, etc. etc. Well, I'm glad my man Ken Berger calls out Cuban for what he is: an idiot. How many times has this guy done something bone-headed and then issue an apology and think everything is OK?

*Practice makes perfect right? Right. Ballerblogger has some great stuff about LeBron's practice habits.

*One of the best GM's in the game, Rocket's Daryl Morey goes one on one with ESPN.

*Pretty awesome summary of Mavs/Nuggets Game 4 from SLAM Online.

BDTG is NOT DEAD!

2009-05-07T23:35:00.001-04:00

What's up people. I'm getting a lot of hate mail and posts about BDTG being dead. As I mentioned in an earlier post...we just didn't quite make the playoffs this year. Next year, without a doubt, we're going to be back and better than ever. But until I quit my day job (not likely anytime soon), I must prioritize and good ole "40 games in 40 nights" has also taken it's toll. If you have something to say, write a post, send it over, and I'll put it right up!

Quick summary of where we're at right now?

Amazing stuff so far this year in the playoffs. We have LeBron and Co completely dominating almost every minute of every game against the Hawks thus far. Hawk fans rejoice; you've gotten to the second round and that'll be that. Maybe next year it'll be the ECF. Speaking of dominating...how bout them Nuggets?! JR Smith is passing the ball better than I've ever seen (or thought possible). The Birdman, Anthony Carter, and JR off the bench has easily made for the best bench in the NBA Playoffs (easssssily!). The Lakers struggled in their first game of Round 2 against the Rockets, but after a crazy Game Two, with blood, sweat and tears (Scola's bullshit flopping counts for tears right?), the Lakers regained control.

Round one brought us a reedunkulous Boston/Chicago series that went to 7 games and about 25 overtimes. The Celtics are now up against a much better Magic team, who could definitely have had something special....and then you have the dumbass play of the year, with Skip to my Lou (Rafer Alston for the NY-challenged) smacking Eddie House across the back of the head, which seemed playful, but is a clear 1-game suspension. No choice; he swung at the head, and made contact: suspended.

The East is done. The Cavs will go to the Finals, and there's even a chance at this point they don't lose a game until they get there. The West, is not so set in stone anymore. Kobe and the Lakeshow were the easy favorites, but you can NOT ignore Denver any longer. They're the most exciting team in basketball, with a Finals MVP running the point, the best bench in the playoffs, a seasoned coach, and this guy Carmelo Anthony who is probably the best pure scorer in the game. Add to that their high altitude home-court advantage, and the Denver crowd being louder than this outfit, and Denver is a clear contender to the Lakers...and that's if the Lakers get past a very difficult Rockets team with not one, but two perimeter defensive specialists in Battier and Artest (one who got chopped in the face by Kobe, and one who got elbowed in the neck by Kobe....NBA, where Kobe is allowed to do whatever he wants happens...).

If i had to pick a Western winner today, I have to pick Denver. My reasoning is simple...how the hell is Aaron Brooks or Derick Fisher going to contain Chauncey "Big Shot" Billups for a series? It all starts at the point (this is why the Suns always suck), and i think a Finals MVP and Championship ring might be the deciding factor (not even Kobe has both).

So that leads us to...."the bet." A few years back, my man Doc J and I put a Benjamin on the line. I have LeBron, he's got Melo. First to get a chip wins. Go Cavs!!

Monday Breakdown

2009-04-06T22:28:00.004-04:00

Okay, okay, okay...let's break it down...

*The 2009 Hall of Famers were announced, and somehow Michael Jordan squeezed into the pack. He's joined by Jerry Sloan, David Robinson and C. Vivian Stringer. Scoop Jackson makes the case that Jordan should have his own induction; it's only fair.

(Forgot John Stockton, thanks Bert).

*News just in, Manu Ginobili is done for the year, playoffs included. Ken Berger says you can stick a fork in the spurs.

*Another argument that defense wins championships. Basketball-Reference breaks down "Go To" guys and their effect on championship success. Interesting stuff.

*From Truehoop; Seven reasons to fear the Orlando Magic, and a look at who the hall of famers of today resemble most in today's NBA. After the whoopin the Magic put on the Cavs a few days ago, I think that's enough to worry about them come playoff time.

via Ball Don't Lie: LeBron does it again...

and The best thing the Wizards have made all season:

via Dime Mag: Von Wafer's Crazy Dunk (good name)

NBA Strike Approaching?

2009-03-23T02:15:00.002-04:00

For the 5 or so readers (joke) who come here often looking for updates, my sincere apologies for not blogging as frequently as I'd like. With March Madness upon us, the NBA takes a backseat to the NCAA, where my bracket has finally fallen below the average in ESPN's 6 million or so entries (although my entire South section is fully intact). We're fortunate this year to have a Cinderella story, with 12 seed Arizona making it to the sweet 16. We also see a future NBA star in the making, in Blake Griffin, as he completely dominates every game he's been in (his last game making 14 of 20 shots, finishing with 33 points and 17 rebounds). Let's just hope the god awful Wizards land the first pick in the draft.

Well, that's about it for my NCAA speak (although I'll finish with once again displaying my hatred for Duke basketball and hoping they lose).

Back to the NBA...

This weekends ESPN Daily Dime brings us a FAQ on the looming NBA lockout. With the salary cap going down, and economic struggles apparent for all NBA owners, a lockout seems inevitable. If David Stern is really going to make his mark on history, he's going to prevent this at all costs. The resolution will probably end with both sides being unhappy, and well, that means he did a good job, right? Fortunately, now more than ever, we're seeing NBA players understand their place in society, and the fact that their making enormous amounts of money while most people struggle. Unfortunately, the head of the players union takes that with a grain of salt, since his job is to get his players the best deal possible, or they walk.

Later in the weekend, David Stern did address the media to talk a bit about the future of the collective bargaining agreement, and how he plans to get it resolved sooner than later.

I'll be back in town on Wednesday. Currently enjoying the weather in sunny San Diego while I am out of town on some business, and also getting to see some family at the same time. Based on my schedule, I doubt I'll be able to blog again until Thursday or so, so I apologize in advance, and thank everyone who stops by for continuing to do so.

Next season, BDTG hopes to make it to the blogging playoffs, and get some more national exposure. But for now, we're very happy with the 6 or 7 times we've been on CBS, and the few times we've been in Newsday and our link/name being spread out throughout the blogosphere, meeting awesome basketball people from around the globe. So like any non-playoff bound team, we wanna keep practicing hard, keep improving, and next year make a big splash. That doesn't mean this season is over, in fact, we have a ton more to write about. The real March Madness is for that 8th spot in the east, and playoff position in the west.

Tuesday Mini-Breakdown

2009-03-10T23:33:00.003-04:00

*MJ doing a moonwalk on the Kwame pick? Super agent David Falk on MJ and more.

*75% of the season is over and Ken Berger sums up what's gone down so far. Add Raptors to the disappointment list, they were pegged as a top 4 team in the East.

*Dwayne Wade is incredible and easily top 3 in the league with Kobe and LeBron.

*Marc Stein, ESPN, reiterating what I said previously regarding Iverson possibly shutting it down and not accepting his role on the bench:

But he'll grudgingly accept it when he gets back. He has little choice.

We repeat: C-O-N-T-R-A-C-T year.

*Not much to like with the Wizards these days, but at least we have this feel good story about owner Abe Pollin, who refuses to quit and has his eyes on the prize.

Meet the Knicks

2009-03-08T22:01:00.011-04:00

Thursday night brought about the annual "Meet the Knicks" Event for season ticket holders. Took a few pics with the Knicks Dancers, went into the locker room, got some autographs, and my favorite, took some shots on the garden floor. Good times. Here's a sample of me and my buddy Joan's night:

Can a Rookie Win the Most Improved Player Award?

2009-03-03T21:01:00.009-05:00

Why not?? If there was any chance of this happening (and I'm going to assume there's no chance of that happening), then Russell Westbrook of the Thunder would be that player. Last night, not only did Westbrook get a triple double, but he beat a playoff bound Dallas team without his two best players (KD and Jeff Green). Check out Westbrook's monthly totals:

November: 12.2 points; 4.1 assists; 3.3 rebounds
December: 15.5 points; 5.1 assists; 5.1 rebounds
January: 16.5 points; 5.5 assists; 4.9 rebounds
February: 20.4 points 5.9 assists; 6.1 rebounds

Tell me, which players who have won the MIP Award have made a bigger improvement statistically than Russell Westbrook from the beginning of the season to now?? PLUS, add to the fact that's he's playing the toughest spot to shine (ask Derrick Rose, who was recently benched for end of games because of his lack of defense and decision making). PLUS, he was never a point guard in his life! He was a shooting guard and they asked him to learn the point position. Need more proof? Check out what ESPN Super Scout David Thorpe has been saying about his progress all season. How bout more? NewsOK made this great point yesterday:

Thunder officials like to point out how Westbrook’s averages of 15.8 points, 5.0 assists and 4.7 rebounds nearly place him among an elite list of players who are averaging at least 15 points, five rebounds and five assists — Miami’s Dwyane Wade, Cleveland’s LeBron James, New Orleans’ Chris Paul, the Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant and Philadelphia’s Andre Iguodala.

So what did Turk do last year that was so special? Last year Hedo increased in points by 6 (check, 8), assists by 1.8 (check, 1.8) and rebounds by 1.77 (check, 2.8!).

Point is, how can anyone argue that Russell Westbrook has not been improving the most from start to finish of this season? MUST we agree with the common understanding of the award and give it to someone who improved in the off-season? I think that's close minded and unfair to Westbrook who has not only improved all year, but might be the perfect definition of how the award should be granted in the future. Yes, we can!!

Monday Breakdown

2009-03-02T18:42:00.008-05:00

*The Knicks' attempt to sell KryptoNate shirts came to a halt, when DC Comics wanted in on it. I guess Nike struck a deal with the comic giant, since the Nike KryptoNates are due to arrive in limited edition at the House of Hoops uptown.

*The new "Seven Seconds or Shaq" philosophy in Phoenix is working out well for Shaquille O'Neal. When he gets asked what's causing this "comeback," his reply? "It's what I do," O'Neal said. "I've been doing it since 1992. If you don't believe it, Google me." (Since, you know, if it's in Google, it's true). But that wasn't all The Big Diarrhea Mouth had to say. Shaq went on to call Chris Bosh the "RuPaul" of big men. That's gotta be top ten best things I've heard him say. I'm on record as saying I think Chris Bosh would be the first NBA player to come out of the closet while he's a player. I'm glad Shaq's with me on that assessment. Thanks to Hayden and Joan for bringing that to my attention.

*Jason Kidd recorded his 10,000th assist this past weekend. Pretty incredible. He joins only 3 (!!) other players, one of which he will probably pass before Kidd retires, and maybe two. Kidd trails John Stockton (15,806), Mark Jackson (10,334) and Magic Johnson (10,141) on the career list.

*Allen Iverson went back to Georgetown to get his back checked out. I wonder if it's the bruised back, or the bruised ego from being sent to the bench. I kind of doubt Ivo would play his cards like that. He's in a contract year, and has been around the league long enough to know he should play out the season and tell reporters that he'll embrace the 6th man position and be the best at it. He knows he's gotta look good for his new contract next year, since you know, he's gotta feed his family and all.

*Drew Gooden and Joe Smith were both bought out of their contracts this weekend, right before the deadline to get waived so they can sign with a team and remain playoff eligible. The Celtics pulled the quick trigger on both Mikki Moore and Stephon Marbury, so their assumed out of the running. Both played previously in Cleveland, so both are ready to roll if they go there, but Joe Smith would seem like more of a "Spurs-Type" of player. However, based on reports out there today, it's looking like Joe is going to Cleveland while Drew is heading over to San Antonio.

*THANK YOU very much Basketbawful. Must see video's of Duke bullsh*t!

*The incredible mis-management of Stephon Marbury, by Real GM.

*Ken Berger breaks down an amazing week ahead, that starts tonight with LeBron v Wade, which for some stupid reason is NOT on NBATV, and instead I'm watching Dallas vs. Oklahoma. Really close to getting League Pass, but with no HD, no thanks.

Okay, Okay...

2009-03-01T21:46:00.002-05:00

We'll get this back on track with a Monday Breakdown.

For now, some basketball bloopers to pass the time:

Trade Deadline Special

2009-02-19T21:39:00.005-05:00

Well if there's one thing that's been reinforced at the trade deadline, it's that the media will most definitely make everyone lose their mind thinking about extreme possibilities that probably won't happen. There was a ton of talk about how the current economic climate, and the salary cap decreasing, would cause teams to do "Pau Gasol" like deals. Meanwhile, the only lopsided salary-decreasing type deal, is the one that never wound up happening (Chandler to OKC).

Nonetheless, some news did occur, and the New York Knicks found themselves in the middle of it. The Knicks made some noise during the trade deadline, by essentially unloaded 4 unserviceable players (Malik Rose; Anthony Roberson; Jerome James; Tim Thomas), and getting two serviceable players in return. Granted, Larry Hughes has a horrific reputation for not only being a Marbury-like cancer, but just for being a bad teammate on the court. You might have even heard of the website dedicated to his amazing shot selection, called: "heylarryhughespleasestoptakingsomanybadshots.com" Yes, that's for real. But Donnie Walsh and Mike D'Antoni clearly deserve the benefit of the doubt and have proven to get the best out of their players. The other guy is a largely known in my circles as THAT RIDUNKULOUS DUDE FROM UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND (!!!) WHO HELPED BRING A NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP INTO TOWN. Again, he's not exactly known for his shooting touch, but he's cool with me, and I'm excited to see pregame warmups with him and Nate throwing oops to each other.

Other deals that went down...

*The Magic got their Jameer Nelson replacement, and its a certified point guard, NYC Streeball Legend, and legit NBA player: Rafer, Skip to my lou, Alston. Great trade for the Magic, who basically gave up only Brian Cook, who went to the Grizzlies. The Rockets wound up with defensive specialist Kyle Lowry, who will be fighting with Aaron Brooks for the starting role sooner than later. For more on that trade, click here.

*One of the biggest stories of the day was the trade that didn't happen, The Big Cactus, Shaq, going to Cleveland to join LeBron James on his quest for a chip. I'm still not sure this is BS or not, considering I just don't' believe the trade deadline hype from the media. I assume they had to make up some stories for this day not to be a total bust....right?

For more on that story, and also a nice ESPN breakdown of the entire day as it unfolded, click here.

*In other news, All-Star Danny Granger is going to be out for a while, after hearing a "pop" in his foot. With both Granger and Mike Dunleavy out, you should make sure Marquis Daniels isn't on the waiver wire.

*The big winner in the fantasy world was owners of Aaron Brooks and Spencer Hawes, who are both in line for starters minutes and have produced good stats when given that opportunity in the past. The big loser was DJ Augustin, who will have to stay stuck on the bench, with the Bobcats staying with Raymond Felton, at least until the end of the season when he becomes a restricted free agent.

Did I miss anything? Drop your thoughts below. In the meantime, Chris Wilcox to NYC!!

Wednesday Breakdown

2009-02-18T19:45:00.003-05:00

Trades are a brewing...

*Wally Scissorback is on the bench tonight, instead of starting for the Cavs. You know what that means. Wonder where his coveted expiring contract could be going. To the Suns, with JJ Hickson and a draft pick for Amare you say?? This would be nicccce.

*Drew Gooden and [Super-Flopper] Andres Nocioni are going over to Sacramento for Mike Miller and John Salmons. There has to be a follow up trade for the Bulls, right? They just traded a forward for another guard (!). So Tyrus Thomas, Larry Hughes and his expiring contract, and a draft pick for Amare you think?? Maybe, maybe...

*Tracy McGrady; serious drama queen. Sad story in Houston, where T-Mac declared on his personal website that he'll be undergoing the dreaded Micro-Fracture surgery and is out for the season. Not even his coach was briefed ahead of time. Makes no sense, and just shows T-Mac is a media whore. That's not the right way to make that announcement...you do it with your team, weirdo.

*Saw it first over at BergerSphere; Chris Mihm from the Lakers is going to the Gizz for a conditional 2nd round pick in the 2013 draft. [Zzzz]

*Brian Windhorst in Cleveland caught up with LeBron about the (not nearly soon enough) dunk contest in 2011:

James is still hedging a little on his proclamation that he wants to compete in the Slam Dunk Contest next year, but he didn't say it in the heat of the moment. He feels the contest has "gotten out of control" and he plans to recruit some of his fellow superstars to take it back.

"It's got to be cleaned up, they have to go back to maybe the '80s with [Michael Jordan] and Dominique [Wilkins]," James said. "You can't have so many chances at dunking the basketball. The whole anticipation of a dunk contest is one or two tries and that's it. If not you get (a score of) 30 or 35. Guys are getting 10 opportunities to do the same dunk, by the time they complete it, it is like ... 'OK, we've seen it.'"

Over the last several years, rules have been changed to allow numerous chances plus props and other trickery that have taken the emphasis off execution. That, James said, was what he's been avoiding all these years.

"Right now I am going to be in it; I won't be the only big-name guy, I'll make sure I get a few guys," James said. "I'm making my game plan."

All-Star Weekend Re-cap

2009-02-16T21:16:00.003-05:00

This All-Star Weekend had one very major theme, and it wasn't Kobe and Shaq (although they were a close second). It was Bill Russell's 75th birthday, and while he suffered the loss of his wife recently, he was given an extraordinary birthday present by David Stern and the NBA. From now on, all future Finals MVPs will be given the Bill Russell Finals MVP Award. During a time-out, Mr. Russell was also given a big green cake during the all-star game, rolled over by the Celtic's Big Three, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett.

Phoenix also was the starting point for a new contest, which will soon rival the other Saturday events, and that was a good ol' friendly game of HORSE, only instead of using those letters, the NBA was given help by their little green friend: GEICO. All-Star Joe Johnson, Super Sophomore Kevin Durant and future both of those things, rookie OJ Mayo were the contestants. The game started off slow, and it seemed as though it would continue that way since all three players were a little nervous and not hitting tough shots. It looked over for Kevin Durant, who fell behind fast and couldn't find his stroke. Soon after, it was Durant with the comeback win, who was hitting 50 footers, and non-stop three pointers to seal the deal. Very impressive outing from the future super-star and congrats on winning the NBA's first HORSE, er, GEICO competition.

The 3-point contest had some new faces, all matching up against the winner of the previous two year's contest, Jason Kapono. Kapono was the heavy favorite in this one, but couldn't quite get his stroke going in the fashion it was last year. Perhaps that's because he's hasn't gotten his FG% back up to where it was in his last year with Miami, where he went over 50% from downtown. Speaking of Miami, it was Daequon Cook who stole the show and won the coveted award. The only other observation I had, was the fact that i never knew how ugly Rashard Lewis' form was. It's a two-handed, high release, ugly mess. I guess he's doing something right, considering he's one of the league leaders in 3-pointers made, as well as the only competitor who was also playing in Sunday's All-Star Game.

The Dunk contest....was all Dwight Howard and Nate Robinson. In fact, there was collusion and cheating involved! I'm sure JR Smith and Rudy Fernandez had no idea that you could do things like...bring out a 12-foot hoop, and a phone booth..?! Those two guys had no chance, even though i saw Rudy Fernandez dunk it from a bounce pass on the backside of the hoop that looked like he had NOOOO chance of making. I still can't believe he pulled that off...too bad it took about 15 attempts and drained the energy from the arena. But in the final round, it was Superman, Dwight Howard, who finally met his KryptoNate. After leaving the court, Nate Robinson returned in all green. Green shoes, green Knicks jersey, even a green basketball. Supposedly Nike had Nate's back and custom made KryptoNate shoes, specifically for beating Dwight Howard in the Slam Dunk contest. It worked, specifically with the help of Superman himself, who allowed Nate to dunk over him, in similar fashion to when Nate cleared Spud Webb two years ago. The big news of the Dunk contest didn't even include any of the contestants. The big news was LeBron James announcing on the sideline's that he's throwin his hat in for the 2011 Slam Dunk contest, in front of 100,000 people in Dallas next year. I choose not to get excited about that until its official, which probably won't happen for another 11 months.

We haven't even talked about the All-Star game yet, which unfortunately wound up not living up to the expectations of the rest of the events. Of course, there was the Shaq introduction, which was unbelievably spectacular. Video on that below. The game was dominated by the West most of the time, and in the interior. The East had one big man, literally, ONE big man in Dwight Howard. After him, was Kevin Garnett, who in his 37th or so all-star game wasn't going to play big minutes, and then Rashard Lewis....who clearly can't guard any of the West's bigs. As TrueHoop broke it down for us...Points in the Paint? West 96, East 58. Glass? West 51, East 38. Shaquille O'Neal: 17 points, 8-9 FGs in 11 minutes. While only playing 11 minutes, Shaq was still able to get another All-Star MVP, sharing it with Kobe, who didn't look all that happy to share another success with Shaq when he deserved it all to himself. However the story was too good to pass up on, and the award went to both Kobe and Shaq.

As for trade chatter, not much going on. The Suns have fired their coach Terry Porter, and replaced him with Alvin Gentry, the only survivor from Phoenix's 7 seconds of less era. My thoughts on this are that the Suns are trying to scare other teams into them keeping Amare and therefore raising his trade value. There are a few offers on the table, including the Cav's offer of an expiring contract (Wally), a young power forward with a lot of potential (JJ Hickson), and a future draft pick (or Varejao). It's a decent deal, but the Suns want more, and specifically from the Bulls who saw John Paxson also resign this weekend. Hopefully those two front office changes don't mean those two teams stand pat at the trading deadline, especially for the Bulls who really need and deserve a big splash after passing up on all of those low-post players they've needed for so long.

Only a few more days of non-stop refreshing the NBA news sites...we'll try to keep this updated as much as possible to follow the trades and rumors that come along with the excitement of the trade deadline. Until we get something to report....enjoy this video. Hopefully it won't get taken down too fast by the NBA.

Shaq's All-Star Spectacular

Thursday Breakdown

2009-02-12T21:48:00.005-05:00

*That's it for me and Bill Simmons. No mas. Every year Simmons puts out an article ranking the trade value of NBA Players. This is what he had to say about David Lee:

Yeah, he's a lousy defender ... but should we really pick nits when he's on the books for $1.76 million this season and $2.68 million next?

However, David Lee is a restricted free agent this summer. For him to say this, means he's either assuming David Lee won't get ONE reasonable offer, or (again) he just doesn't have a clue what he's writing about. I'm not sure which one it is, but both are extremely unintelligent. The Sports Guy has officially lost his mojo.

*Elgin Baylor filed suit against the LA Clippers for discrimination. While I don't know the whole story and I'm sure no one ever will, have to love this quote from the Clippers owner:

"It's hard to believe that he would now make these ridiculous claims after the organization stood by him during 22 years and only three playoff appearances. It would be hard to find any sports team that has demonstrated greater loyalty to its general manager."

*Not much as far as trade chatter...but Ken Berger has the latest on Amare.

Tuesday Breakdown

2009-02-10T19:22:00.004-05:00

*Either BDTG reader Dave's hatred for Bill Simmons is rubbing off on me, or 'The Sports Guy' is just really stretching to find good material. In an article about how he doesn't hate Kobe Bryant, he goes on saying that unlike Kobe, LeBron dominated his game at the Garden. Mr. Simmons obviously did not watch the game. See yesterday's post for details on this. I lose faith in Simmons material more everyday, since his stupid banter is more teeny gossip and Lost than sports discussion.

*The trade talks are heating up, but today's most exciting news comes in the form of a multi-player swap featuring the Bobcats' Raymond Felton and the Pacers' Jamal Tinsley. Since the Cats' are even considering getting rid of Raymond Felton, make sure DJ Augustin is not available in your fantasy leagues.

*A true sign of real consistency and commitment...Coach E Muss talks about Loyola Marymount and their horrific losing streak, yet, they never stop competing. Exact opposite of last year's Knicks team, which I still haven't been able to erase from my memory. I've said it a hundred times, great to see the Knicks competing on a nightly basis, and great to see the city get into Knickerbocker basketball.

*The Bulls, actually, I'm going with John Paxson here, has passed on opportunities to use all of this "assets" to land a big name player. This is what happens when you don't take any risks. Low risk, low return. They passed up on KG, Gasol, and I think Bulls fans would go crazy if they pass up on Amare at this point. Years later, he's left with depreciated assets, and just looks like an ass who waited too long to pull the trigger.

*Staying with SLAM, Mike D'Antoni admits they made a big mistake not fouling with 4 seconds to go and a foul to give. He also is not happy with comments made by Jeff Van Gundy relating to David Lee's motivation. Dude has 37 double doubles, second to Dwight Howard (by 1). That's not a lazy player...so watch yo mouf JVG!

*Adding HORSE to All-Star weekend has been a dream of many people for years. Finally, it's happening, with the help and marketing genius of GEICO. You guessed it...its no longer HORSE, but players will have to spell GEICO instead. The 3-player contest includes Kevin Durant, OJ Mayo, and Joe Johnson.

*What happened to T-Mac? This is awful....and if he doesn't step his G up, people will be calling him T-Wack sooner than later.

*Lil' Penny is back! Also from Nicekicks, your 2009 All-Star kicks.

*Finally the Cavs whining is paying off. Mo Williams got the nod over David Lee for the injured Chris Bosh in the All-Star Game. Considering David Lee plays a similar position, it would have been nice to see him there, but after all the talk from the Cavs about feeling disrespected, I don't think even David Stern had the balls to deny them of a second All-Star, after the C's and Magic had 3 each.

Monday Breakdown

2009-02-09T20:14:00.003-05:00

First a short and sweet recap of what the Knicks called, "Dream Week." Started with Kobe going off for 61 points. Then LeBron came into town to try and top Kobe, getting a 50 point triple double, which was last done by Kareem back in 1975. There was some talk about taking away the triple double, and they eventually did because of one rebound that wasn't really LeBron's, but if they're going to take away one, then they should have given this one back. The week ended with the championship Celtics coming into the Garden, after playing a tough overtime game against the Lakers the night before (and losing).

So what'd you miss? A lot...

Kobe didn't just score 61, the most EVER at Madison Square Garden. He totally dominated the game. There's been much argument of who's game was better, Kobe or LeBron, and after seeing both in person there's no question to me. LeBron had a stupid hot hand in the first quarter, draining every shot, finishing with 20 points, but that was it for his hot hand. Like the Celtics game (Until the 4th quarter), the Knicks were in the Cleveland game the whole time, even taking the lead in the 4th. This was not the case with Kobe, who repeatedly came off the bench to nail big shots and take the air out of the arena (well, except for those pesky Laker fans). So I'm taking Kobe's game, because the Knicks had NO chance, and it was all by Kobe's hand (Gasol also scored 31, but was vastly overshadowed by Kobe's 61...yes...61!!). For the Celtics game, all you really need to see is this dunk.

Since this is all old news, i don't want to go to much more into it. The only other thing I'll say about the Knicks and their tough week is that they went into Portland and were in position to win the game. I have NO clue what they were thinking with 4 seconds left and a foul to give, not to take it. Greg Oden even said after the game that they drew up two plays, since they 'knew' the Knicks would take the first foul. So the element of surprise was a good idea, but as soon as Brandon Roy put the ball to the ground, he needs to get fouled. I can understand not fouling right away, since they don't want Roy faking the shot and going to the line, but when that ball hit the ground, no excuses, Jared Jeffries must foul and leave 2 seconds on the clock for the Blazers to force a quick shot.

Very, very, tough break (no pun intended) for Minnesota and Al Jefferson. Last night with 20 seconds left on the clock, Al heard a pop, and it was a torn MCL that will require surgery and end his season. Damn shame since Al was playing his best ball before he went down (does that sound familiar? Bynum? Dunleavy? G.Wallace?).

But the biggest news of the day, and probably will be the focal point until the Febuary 19th trade deadline, are the trade rumors, most notably around Amare Stoudemire, who has been a little too excited to change zip codes. It's ironic that the GM's of the NBA (which Simmons frequently calls the No Balls Association for their lack of risky moves), have always been looked at as being bearish in the trade market. Not Steve Kerr, that's for sure. Kerr is looking to make another big splash and get some good pieces in return for Amare. It's too bad the people in Phoenix would riot if he was to trade Steve Nash, because his ridiculous lack of defensive ability is really what is holding this team down. The Suns are currently ranked 25th in the league in Defensive Efficiency, and I'm willing to bet it's not Amare (although he does have a lot of trouble paying attention on the pick n rolls, most notably when David Lee destroyed them in New York).

So what do you think the Suns can get in return for Amare? I've heard a lot of enticing possibilities. David Lee and Marbury's expiring contract for Amare and Barbosa? Jason Maxiel and Rasheed Wallace's expiring contract for Amare? How bout a Chris Bosh for Amare swap?

Any other trade ideas? Drop em below...

Oh, What a night...

2009-02-02T23:16:00.003-05:00

The jumbotron at the Garden said this week is "Dream Week," with the Knicks facing the Lakers, Cavs, and Celtics all in 5 days. I wouldn't quite call it that....maybe Hell Week? Anyway, history was made tonight at the Garden, where Kobe Bryant went off for 61 (!) points. The most ever scored at Madison Square Garden (and made it looks sweasy, so easy). Kobe went 19-31 from the field, and 20-20 from the line. The Knicks tried to hang with the Lakers, but Kobe and Co were just too much.

*Injury bug is back. Bynum got the word that he's out 8-12 weeks. Chris Paul didn't look good limping off the court, and Jameer Nelson is out for quite some time (and definitely the All-Star Game) with a separated shoulder injury. Tough break for the newbee All-Star.

All-Star Reserves

2009-01-29T22:03:00.006-05:00

If you've been watching TNT or NBA TV, you've basically been seeing Kenny Smith and Eric Snow, vs. Gary Payton and Chris Webber. The debate? What makes for an All-Star. Does the second best player on a top team get the nod, over the best player on a lottery team?

After the results came in, it looks like the East Coaches and the West Coaches are having a similar debate. The East Coaches picked Danny Granger and Chris Bosh, both on struggling teams, while the West stayed away from players like Marcus Camby and Al Jefferson and doubled up on New Orleans with a surprising pick, Teaneck's own David West

So what's the verdict? Who got snubbed? Who shouldn't be in Phoenix come All-Star Weekend?

I'll start the conversation with this...

Rashard Lewis has no place on the East All-Star team. He is a below average defender, rebounder, passer and post-up player. He's a little too one-dimensional for my taste. I really liked the Devin Harris and Danny Granger picks.

2009 Reserves

EAST
Paul Pierce	Boston	F
Chris Bosh	Toronto	F/C
Joe Johnson	Atlanta	G
Danny Granger	Indiana	F
Devin Harris	New Jersey	G
Rashard Lewis	Orlando	F
Jameer Nelson	Orlando	G

WEST
Dirk Nowitzki	Dallas	F
Pau Gasol	L.A. Lakers	C
Tony Parker	San Antonio	G
Brandon Roy	Portland	G
Shaquille O'Neal	Phoenix	C
Chauncey Billups	Denver	G
David West	New Orleans	F

Wednesday Mini-Breakdown

2009-01-28T23:04:00.003-05:00

KNICKS WIN 5 IN A ROW AT HOME, YEAAAAAAA. Solid, solid game tonight. The Knicks didn't play very well, especially in the first quarter, but it didn't seem to matter and they had good control over tonight's game against the Hawks. After taking a strong lead in the 3rd quarter, every time Atlanta made a run, the Knicks would extend the lead back to 7, 8 or so.

Next three home games are Lakers, Cavs and Celtics (Ouch). Hopefully they use KY before giving it to us, and the after affects don't last long.

*TrueHoop, giving us a Lesson on wearing logos. Big Michael fan gives us this, and more:

Just wanted to say I've actually got a Jordan Logo tattooed to my right shoulder. Got it in 2003 to commemorate his exit from the sport. Final exit from the sport. I know it's just a game, but there was always something valorous to me in his relentless determination....

Tuesday Breakdown

2009-01-27T19:26:00.005-05:00

Jordan + Tribe =

*Rafer Alston has a lot to say about last night's Rockets game against the Knicks, in today's Daily Dime.. Tracy McGrady had the hot hand to start the fourth quarter, but wound up wasting away key possessions late in the game to give the victory to the Knicks. Ron Artest went a horrible 1-1o from the 3-point line, trying to create his own shots, and usually not getting the rock from good ball movement.

"They were able to capitalize off our selfishness, and we have to decide whether we're going to play one-on-one, or we're going to pass the ball to each other and play team ball."

*Want to know the best players to have for the remainder of the Fantasy BBall season? Rotoworld.com breaks it down for us, and grades each team.

*Berger makes the case for Danny Granger as an All-Star. I have to agree. According to Yahoo, in the standard 9 categories, Danny Granger is ranked 4th (!!). Only D.Wade, LeBron, and Chris Paul are ahead of him.

The case for Danny Granger as an All-Star reserve. According to Real GM (via Ballerblogger), Granger is the 22nd-ranked player in the NBA measured by the Floor Impact Counter. LeBron James is the only small forward rated higher.

Monday Wake N Break

2009-01-25T23:46:00.003-05:00

*Knicks Coach Mike D'Antoni, on concealed weapons and wanting to shoot Nate Robinson.

*Staying on the Knickerbocker tip, a video of last week's win on 7 Seconds or Mess, breaking down the Sun's poor Defense and David Lee beasting them on the pick and roll repeatedly.

*TrueHoop goes on one one with newly retired Alonzo Mourning.

*Bad news for Michael Redd owners (fantasy and reality). Redd is out for the season with a tore MCL/ACL (not sure what that means, but sounds pretty bad).

*Quote of the Weekend. Shaq, on Dwight Howard:

"He's a good player, but everything he's done I've invented, so I'm not impressed," O'Neal said. "For me to get my eyes wide open about another big man, he'll have to do something that I haven't seen before or something that I haven't invented. Everything that he's done, I've invented it."

*Ball Don't Lie gives us a video of a designed double alley-oop, that worked in a game. Cute, but not very practical and the opposing team was playing zero defense (or boxing out).

"The Rooster" and Thursday's Breakdown

2009-01-22T22:44:00.005-05:00

*Alonzo Mourning retired from basketball today. Easy Hall of Famer, right?

“He was the very best thing that ever happened to this franchise,” said Pat Riley, sitting between Mourning and owner Micky Arison at the news conference. “He will always be respected by Micky and myself for being the taproot of a culture that we’re really proud of. He embodies that.”

Riley’s voice cracked as he finished his thought.

“We love you, Zo,” he said. “You will wear that jersey one more time— when we rip it off your back and hang it from the rafters.”

Well said...

*Everyone's about to know D. Wade has an STD. Ouch...

*Are we loving what Danilo Gallinari, aka Gallo, aka The Rooster, is bringing to the table? His been very impressive with his first few games as a Knick. Good look to my man Hayden for supplying The Rooster highlights:

Tuesday Breakdown

2009-01-20T21:37:00.003-05:00

*The 4th contestant in the 2009 NBA Dunk Contest was decided. Winner is Rudy Fernandez, who is known mostly for this dunk over Dwight Howard. Definitely the worst choice of the three. Did you see Russell Westbrook's dunk over Mario Chalmers of the Heat? Good look to my boy Barksdale on the Joe Alexander, ridiculous videos. I can't imagine Rudy Fernandez doing anything cool at all. In fact, between now and then I'm betting he bows out. He's up against Dwight Howard, Nate Robinson and Rudy Gay. Alrigghhhhtttt Rudy!!!

*From TrueHoop, NBA players on number 44.

*I'm bringing back an old Mark Cuban link, on why he voted for Obama. Great read. A wise man once said, "He's a jackass, but a very smart jackass." Proud to be an American.

"Having an elected black President will do more to energize this country than any economic or social policy ever could. In a single day of voting, our amazing country once again reinvigorated the dream that any child in this country, no matter what circumstances they are born into, can grow up to be anything they want, including President of the United States.

That dream, staying viable, being reinvigorated, will do more for this country than any economic policy or any legislation that could ever be passed....

...As any successful CEO will tell you, leadership, vision and motivation has far more impact on results than any tax cut or increase. While I prefer lower taxes, I can tell you that no entrepreneur or CEO worth a damn in this country gives up or works less because of a change in tax policy. In this country you work harder to achieve your dreams and goals."

Ankle Insurance, by Kobe Bryant

2009-01-18T21:48:00.001-05:00

Thanks to BDTG reader Gerard for this video.

Kobe Sells Ankle Insurance

A History Lesson by GAME OVER

2009-01-16T00:04:00.005-05:00

On January 15, 1891, the 13 Rules of Basketball was first published, thus publicly creating the game that we all play. Dr. James Naismith created the game for his unruly physical education class that was stuck inside in the cold Massachusetts winter. The game originally called for nine men aside and shooting into a peach basket set 10 feet high.

The game has evolved quite a bit over the past 119 years. Unlike America's other two "popular" sports of baseball and football, this game is truly American in origin (Baseball from foundations of Rounders, and Football has beginnings of Rugby). It is arguably the second most played and watched sport in the world, behind soccer.

The game can be played anywhere and by anyone, the only required access is to a ball and a hoop. For those of us that know, an empty garbage can in the schoolyard also makes a good substitute basket. Careers of all kinds have been created and devoted to the game, from players to coaches, architects that design arenas to vendors that sell popcorn, colleges that build cash-cow programs to NCAA office pools, from television contracts that go into the billions of dollars to licensors that sell authentic uniforms to the masses. To the very existence of this web site. It can all be traced back 119 years ago this week. Thankfully Naismith was a physical education teacher and not a dance instructor.

Mark Wald, GAME OVER.

Wednesday Breakdown

2009-01-14T22:43:00.006-05:00

Damn, it must be bad to be a Wiz fan right now. Not saying I don't like how the Knicks are playing, but the Wiz lose to pretty much everyone. Nick Young is on fire (scoring more than 28 in 3 of the last 4 games, with ridiculous efficiency, better than 65% from the field). Tough Juice pitched in with 25, Antawn with 15, Mike James 4-4 from 3-point, and still wasn't enough to get the win. Chris Duhon, already leading the league in minutes played with over 39, played 41 tonight, but it was David Lee who killed it, scoring 30 points while getting 10 boards and 6 assists. Knicks 128, Wash 122.

*How do they do it? Knickerblogger.net and 7 Seconds or Mess show us a great video of their new and improved defense.

*Rick Fox is obviously bored, now blogging for NBA.com. I don't recommend clicking on that link, it's incredibly boring. Just thought it was funny actually. Shouldn't he be on a soap opera or something?

*Mark Cuban is probably the corniest person to be around. I imagine his friends suffering, but they must befriend him since he's worth more than a billion, right? Anyway, he had a big problem with JR Smith during their last meeting with the Nuggets. Oh Mark, you're so witty.

*As predicted (well, we hoped for...), Eddy Curry may file for defamation. Better....he needs shed these allegations...

*Ball Don't Lie goes one-on-one with Tough Juice, Caron Butler.

*Contradictory from yesterday's report, the Nets won't be playing preseason games in Newark. Apparently, the MetroNetsuals are facing an identity crisis.

*Russel Westbrook is emerging as a candidate for the Rookie of the Year Award. David Thorpe has a great take on his improvement and his abnormal ability to rebound for a guard:

Westbrook is rapidly improving, and we can project him to be capable of running a terrific team one day. He also has the potential to be an All-Star. He has a long way to go as a shooter, but give credit to head coach Scott Brooks for letting Westbrook do what he does best on offense: Rebound. Westbrook reminds me of a young Dwyane Wade, relentless on the glass with his effort, long arms, great timing and big hops. He's a rebounding difference-maker, something point guards usually aren't. Teams already tweak their game plan when preparing to face him, and he just turned 20 years old.

Westbrook is basically tied with power forward Nick Collison for the team lead in offensive rebounds per game. The Thunder may sit last in the NBA standings, but they rank 11th in offensive rebound rate.

Tuesday Breakdown

2009-01-13T23:42:00.006-05:00

The biggest news of the day...Eddy Curry is being sued by his former Butler. I'm not quite sure yet if this story is unbelievable or not. I always said, just when the Knicks couldn't go any lower, they always find a way. Pretty sure this would be considered lower.

The accusations include [Rated R]:

repeatedly approached chauffeur David Kuchinsky "in the nude," saying, "Look at me, Dave, look" and, "Come and touch it, Dave."

Curry hurled slurs at him, including "f- - - ing Jew," "cracker," "white slave," "white devil" and "grandmaster of the KKK."

My question is...why hasn't Eddy Curry filed for defamation? When someone says these things about you in the public, don't you do that immediately? Until that happens, I'm going to assume it's true. I don't see why not...

*From today's ESPN Daily Dime...

"Don't you get the feeling like we've seen this movie before? We're like a writer with writer's block. We can get the first couple of chapters written fairly efficiently and fairly well, but getting to the ending -- we just can't seem to write the correct ending."

-- Wizards interim coach Ed Tapscott, whose team typed and then deleted a fourth-quarter lead for the 12th time this season.

The Wiz are 7-30. Nuff said...

*What's going on with the Nets move to Brooklyn? I specifically purchased tickets for the Nets, in preparation for the move and their inevitable sell-outs....and now they might go to Newark instead?? More about this on BergerSphere, where I've been fortunate enough to get a new nick name, "The Breakin One." Yea, I can definitely roll with that...

*10 years ago today, Michael Jordan announced his retirement from the NBA (this was the second of three total...so far). JA Adande shares his thoughts...

People used to ask Jordan, in all seriousness, whether he could fly. He was compared to God. When Jordan retired that day in 1999, someone went as far as to ask whether he would use his spare time to help solve the world's problems.

*Out with the old, in with the new? Not quite yet. This will mark the first time I've read an article in GQ magazine. The guys from GQ wanted to go head to head with LeBron James, and he welcomed the challenge.

Agent [Less Than] Zero, Monday Breakdown

2009-01-12T22:18:00.009-05:00

After a recent loss, Gilbert Arenas was interviewed about his progress and if he'll see the court this season. He replies,

"I don't know. I mean, seven wins? Would you?" said the three-time All-Star, who last July signed a six-year, $111 million contract to remain in the District.

Yes Gilbert, I would play if I could. You just signed a contract for $111 Million. You play because the fans, the organization, your teammates and coaches all invested into you. I thought I was pissed about this...Breakin' reader and long-time Wiz fan James chimed in;

Simply saying that I'm mad would understate how I feel right now. No matter what happens, I will never root for him again and I hope he never plays again. Hopefully there is a way to void his contract! A disgrace to professional basketball, and he has sabotaged my team for years.

On to the Breakdown...

*The Cavs are now the best team in basketball (just don't' tell the Lakers, who post a slightly better record). King James and his Cavs reign supreme in both the NBA.com and ESPN.com power rankings. To top it off, the numbers agree, and they're also the top spot in Hollinger's rankings.

*The Painted Area asks if LeBron James is better than Larry Bird. "Statistically, there is no question that LeBron is better at 24....[however]...It's nearly impossible to argue that LeBron is better, period, at this point simply b/c he has neither the 3 championships nor the 3 MVPs on his resume."

*In response to Steve Nash's free throw skills...my boy Dave wants to see him take on this 81-year-old who sank 2,750 (!) free throws in a row.

*There is trade chatter in the air...and it should only get louder with the Febuary 19th deadline approaching. The latest talk is that a deal is close to being finished, sending Mike Conley Jr to Milwaukee for Ramon Sessions and Joe Alexander. I think this is a horrible move, considering Mike Conley has had his chances and yet to prove himself as a solid NBA point guard. Meanwhile, Ramon Sessions is an assist machine who only gets better as he gets more playing time. Add to that the fact that it is way too early to give up on the 8th pick of the draft. Look at Toronto, they're still trying to make it work with their #1 bust, Andrea Bargnani.

*Ken Berger reports on the recent Thunder/Bobcats/Dallas talks, and why they're on hold...for now...

Wednesday Breakdown

2009-01-07T23:10:00.003-05:00

*Thanks to BDTG reader Willie for a story on the Vanilla Grandmilla.

*Ken Berger reports, Larry Bird is an...Eminem fan?

*One of my favorite writers, Scoop Jackson, telling us the LeBron to NYC talk is over.

*Lil Wayne on First Take! Oh man, who woulda thought Lil Wayne and Skip Bayless would battle it out.

via BDL, Kings Rookie Prank

via SLAM, Paul Rogan NBA Rap

via TrueHoop, Steve Nash will beat you
in a Free Throw Shooting Contest

Monday Breakdown

2009-01-05T19:13:00.007-05:00

Lotta good links today. We're starting off the New Year strong, got a nice shout out again on CBS Sports. For any/all of those new readers....we'll keep it interesting, so keep coming back for more. But while you're here...might as well break it down with me! Drop me a line below.

*I'm a little late on this, but did Charles Barkley really say THAT to the cops...?? (Rated R for explicit talk of a BJ, not named Armstrong.)

*My man Brandon from Ballerblogger.com is now writing daily for Real GM. Check out his first Scoop Du Jour, giving us links from around the L.

*Pretty dope basketball blog, Obsessionism, seen first at TrueHoop. Their latest post, an unbelievable graphical breakdown of a team's clutch stats, and coming up with interesting conclusions and revealing data about coaches, players, and more.

*The New York Times had another take on the Mike D'Antoni's effect to the team and their stats. Much like all stats in a D'Antoni system, the inflation of numbers/stats doesn't tell the whole story. Fact is, the Knicks still need to be more efficient. Thanks to my man Mo for the tip.

*Staying on the topic, I am SO thankful of Hardwood Paroxysm. A must-read article, that actually makes sense (!), comparing The Joker, to Mike D'Antoni's system, 7SOL. Brilliant, and definitely one of the funniest pic's I've ever seen.

*A Dime Q&A with my favorite new fantasy player, G Dub. Thanks Dave!

*NBA.com Power Rankings. ESPN.com Power Rankings. Also, ESPN's writers predict whats in store for 09.

*Coach Muss compares the two leading ROY candidates and what makes Derrick Rose and OJ Mayo both very special.

*Kobe, or no Kobe? Pay off the house, pay off the car, and then kick that cow to the curb, my man. Stupid ass wanted him to take the box with one grand....don't get me started....

Monday Wake N Break

2009-01-04T22:09:00.006-05:00

Great win last night for the Knicks! There's been a ton of bad blood between these teams for a while, especially Q and Paul Pierce, so it's good to get that win at home. With about 3 minutes left, I turned to my buddy Brett and said the Knicks probably won't score again (thinking Boston D was going to lock down). Meanwhile, it was Boston who went cold, and Knicks won by 12, 100-88. Felt great to be wrong! That should give us enough momentum to take down the Thunder on their turf, but after that....the Knicks are at Dallas, then Houston, then New Orleans before they come home and face a hot(ter) Wizards team, beating LeBron and the Cavs. As for Boston, they've lost 4 of their last 6, and we can officially count them out for winning 70 games and agree they're not in a class of their own.

I just started reading Phil Jackson's book, Sacred Hoops. There's a ton of material that I could share here, but I'll try to keep it to mostly to the fun stuff for the masses...

The Associated Press reported that, in a survey of African-American Children, Jordan had tied with God as the person they most admired after their parents. A radio station in Chicago asked listeners if Jordan should be named king of the world, and 41 percent of the respondents said yes. - Phil Jackson in Sacred Hoops on Michael's return to basketball in 1995.

RetroDunk: Jordan breaks backboard

Tuesday Breakdown

2008-12-30T20:09:00.004-05:00

To all the loyal readers, sorry for the lack of posts. We'll try to pick it back up to normal after the New Year.

A few links while I'm here:

The Jordan 2009's are coming out. Pretty sweet...

Awesome read on Chris Paul and his nastiness.

Steve Nash is the most over rated player...EVER! Bill Simmons joins me in my frustration, and states the case that Nothing has altered the NBA more than Mike D'Antoni. Unfortunately, it's because Steve Nash is the biggest joke of a back-to-back MVP and the most over rated player, EVER! (Did I mention that?)

In case you forgot, the Consecutive MVP Club looks like this: Kareem, Bird, Magic, Moses, Jordan, Russell, Duncan, Wilt … and Nash. Gulp.

That is ridiculous. Check out Nash's numbers this year compared to his last season in Dallas:

Nash, 2003-04: 78 games, 14.5 PPG, 8.8 APG, 47% FG, 41% 3FG, 92% FT.
Nash, 2008-09: 24 games, 15.5 PPG, 8.5 APG, 48% FG, 42% 3FG, 94% FT.

Nuff said...

Speaking of Mike D'Antoni, Ken Berger breaks down Mike D's very under-rated defense.

Friday Breakdown

2008-12-26T08:00:00.001-05:00

Sundays have not been kind to teams in Detroit...

Always good to see people with big ego's self-depreciate a bit. Amare Stoudamire has a favor to ask...

I'm officially sick of the "NBA. Where Amazing Happens" commercials. Finally, something new.

Chris Paul, "I don't have any tattoos. My mom and dad would kill me."

For LeBron's 24th Birthday, 24-Hours of LeBron on NBAtv.

DeShawn Stevenson is a D-Bag.

Experience is a tough teacher, it gives the test first and the lesson afterwards. Also from E-Muss, establishing a culture of work. Great reads.

So I guess it was true...? Bonzi really is playing in China, and posted 48 points, 11 boards and 7 steals in his debut. He must love them yellow chicks...why the hell else would he be in China playing for 40K?

Imagine the Wizards were so bad, they stop taking basketball seriously and do a reality show. Well...you don't have to imagine it....Thanks for bringing this to my attention Jim. I can NOT believe this years Wiz are worse than last years Knicks.

New York rocks, Boston sucks....

One more thing on the Celtics. I'm from New York, and if the Knicks had just set a record for the best start in NBA history and longest winning streak in franchise history, there would be a solid six pages of hysterical coverage in the New York papers. The Boston Herald offered two -- game story, column, notebook, just like any other game. The Celtics are the best team in basketball ... and the Yankees signed Teixeira! - Ken Berger, CBS Sports.

Monday Wake n Break

2008-12-21T23:08:00.004-05:00

*Rotoworld, Breakin down the Fantasy Week Ahead.

*A wise man learns from the mistakes of others (Boozer)...That's what LeBron James did this weekend when he said publicly that the Cavs are moving in the right direction, and its possible he signs a contract extension this offseason, contrary to recent thoughts that he'd move to New York. Ken Berger catches up with Wade and Bosh about the topic.

*Chris Paul watches so much ball, he can see the future.

*Marc Stein gives out his trimester awards in ESPN's Weekend Dime. Also in the Dime is a Q&A with Al Harrington.

*A Free Darko, Sunday rant.

*It's possible this season, we see NBA records broken for best and worst teams. ESPN officially starts the 72-game watch, and also keeps an eye on the Thunder and their horrible start.

*SLAM goes one-on-one with Charlie Villinueva. Come on Charlie V...how could you be a New Yorker and a Reggie Miller fan??

*Upside and Motor gives us the NBA Archetype Hierarchy. Great read from last week.

Can Charles Barkley Dodge A Shoe Like Dubya?

Thursday Breakdown

2008-12-18T22:11:00.000-05:00

David Thorpe's new Rookie report is out, on ESPN.com, and guess who's finally made it to the top? OJ Mayo! I've been on record all year saying the minutes and green light make well for a Rookie of the Year candidate, and with Derrick Rose's recent struggles (mostly on defense), OJ's taken the lead.

Shaq, sounding like Big, BIG, Baby, crying about not getting enough touches. I'm surprised he's still singing that tune, considering he's got Amare, Nash and J Rich on his team. Sharing is caring big fella.

LeBron + Ice Cube = This TV Show

Yesterday, Ball Don't Lie interviewed The Jet. Today, we get Ernie, the brains behind the TNT Emmy-Award winning studio show.

STAT's got a blog! So how long before he publicly demands a trade on it?

Be careful Raptor fans....don't boo your superstar, soon-to-be, free agent.

HoopsWorld says Flip Saunders has an open invite to be the next coach in Philly. Makes sense, they could really use some more offensive options.

Speaking of...EB is out for a month, from a dislocated shoulder he suffered last night. Another blow to the Sixers, although this might be a good thing considering they played a lot better last year without Brand.

Lil Wayne's blogging again. Don't do it Weezy...don't pick Kobe over MJ.

It's nice to see some players with enough confidence and balls to allow their teammates to yell at them. With all the success CP3 and the Hornets have had, their ego's still haven't inflated to the point of not taking criticism.

Knickerblogger breakin' down the Knicks roster spots.

Wednesday Breakdown

2008-12-18T00:23:00.005-05:00

LeBron + The Batman = These Kicks

Chris Paul, making history, getting a steal in his 106th straight game.

Kenny "The [Real] Jet" Smith interview on Ball Don't Lie.

A must-see Bucks game? On December 20th, the Bucks will attempt to break 6 different Guinness World Records.

You really have to read this post from ex-NBA player Gabe Muoneke on HoopsHype. Now playing in China, he was jumped by the locker room, in front of his family, by the entire opposing team. Must-read, great story and hilarious stuff.

Congrats to Terry Porter, getting his number retired in Portland.

Kevin McHale is not a fan of bloggers. Feeling's mutual.

Dime asks, Who are the Top NBA Villians? Bruce Bowen is my pick...dirty bastid. Some missing names....Kendrick Perkins, Amare Stoudamire...anyone else?

Shane Battier, answering questions from fans.

From the Knicks Blog, we're reminded that Trevor Ariza was Isiah Thomas' first-ever draft pick as Knicks president, getting him in the second round at pick #43! Compare that to Danilo Gallinari, at #6, and....FI-RE DON-NIE! No no no, I joke.

Tuesday Breakdown

2008-12-16T22:53:00.000-05:00

Mo Cheeks says its his fault, the under achievement in Philly. Lotta job openings out there. Smooth move Mo.

ESPN has their new, crazy technology, super fancy, mock 2009 draft.

Ken Berger, CBS Sports, with a great breakdown of a recent Sports Business Journal, most influential people in sports article. Also from BergerSphere, thanks for the shout-out to yesterday's Breakdown!

Ball Don't Lie interview with OJ Mayo.

The Knicks Fix, saying the trade for Bell/Diaw was a trade for D'Antoni in the long run. I find this VERY hard to believe, considering I can't think of one good reason why Larry Brown would ever want to coach Eddy Curry again. This looks like someone's silly idea, went public, and i haven't found any backing yet.

SLAM, reporting that Pacer's Coach, Jim O'Brien, thought his team would suck this year. Well, I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure it's good to have a leader with some confidence in his team...? Coach D'Antoni said last week, the players are only as good as the coach thinks they are. Deep thought.

Monday Breakdown

2008-12-15T19:43:00.000-05:00

Power Rankings, both NBA.com and ESPN.com. Anything surprise you? Leave it below.

TrueHoop tells us to get ready for NBA teams in Europe.

SLAM tells us why Mo Cheeks was fired, and what they should do now.

Frank Isola, saying Nash is going to be in NY with LeBron, Bosh and [maybe] Wade??

There was a day when Eddy Curry was the "Next Shaq." Oh man, yea, not close. See what Shaq has to say about that now.

The Knicks Fix, on Harrington's playoff hopes, the Mobley trade exception, and more.

K-Mart, Video interview on his wack wack wack tattoo on his neck (the Lips).

Pau Gasol and Mike Miller romantically engaged?? What a shot...Thanks to BDL for the best laugh I had all day.

Tell me this isn't true....Bonzi Wells signed for 40K to play in China???? No way, right?

Who's the worst player in the NBA? Dime asks and answers...Who do YOU think it is?? Jared Jeffries, Malik Rose, Anthony Roberson and x-Knick Mardy Collins should all be on this list. Isiah Thomas...the gift that never stops giving.

Friday Breakdown

2008-12-12T19:34:00.002-05:00

Awesome new Knicks blog I saw today, called Seven Seconds or Mess. Check it out.

Come Monday, Mike D'Antoni will be back in Phoenix, coaching against his former team. Peter Vescey caught up with Coach D, and D'Antoni didn't hold anything back.

Okay, a little too much fondling the Celtics over at ESPN.com. First, going gaga over Rajon Rondo. Then kudos to Paul Pierce and his mean, lean body. Top it off with discussing Kevin Garnett's mouth. Yup, true story.

Pistons players and management, talking about their wack start.

Breakin down the Cavs Offense a little more, via X's and O's of Basketball.

HoopsHype exclusive video interview with Kevin Love.

InsideHoops has Juwan Howard joining the Cats. Meanwhile, SLAM says Raymond Felton is next to get traded.

Thursday Breakdown

2008-12-11T20:29:00.001-05:00

D Wade, a one-man offense says Basketball-Reference.com

Melo last night? 33 points in the third quarter??? That's unbelievable, tying The Iceman, George Gervin's record from 1978 for points in a quarter. Must see highlights of how it went down.

Hardwood Paroxysm has some very funny pics of Michael Redd, and then a rant on Yi Jianlian getting votes for the All-Star Game. That'd be a shame and obviously not well-deserved.

Cuttino Mobley is officially retired. Did you ever notice how much his looks like Chazz Palminteri ????? Awesome.

Charles Barkley, interviewed by Ball Don't Lie, puts on the Commissioner's cap.

Did anyone think that 20+ games into the season, the Knicks and Nets would have better records than the Raptors and Sixers? No way. Eric Mussleman breaks down both Chris Duhon and Devin Harris' efficiency so far this season.

Wednesday Breakdown

2008-12-10T22:17:00.001-05:00

Breakin' News! Jason Richardson is now joining Amare, Nash, and Shaq in Phoenix (!!). Ken Berger at CBS Sports breaks down the trade. The Suns gave up defensive specialist Raja Bell, and Boris "I got a big contract then fat and slow" Diaw. Interesting move for Steve Kerr, considering he wanted to focus on defense, and J Rich is definitely more O than D.

More about LeBron and Bosh already deciding to rendezvous at the Garden in 2010.

Awesome video of Darko Milicic ripping off his jersey Superman style two nights ago.

NBA; Where the Cavs Only Need 3 Quarters happens. Awesome read from Ballerblogger.com, about the Cavs recent domination.

Another, much less exciting trade. The Wizards trade for Javaris Crittenton and Mike James, both I'd assume will get some run right away. See if they can spark the struggling Wiz, and fill in while Gilbert Arenas recovers. Antonio Daniels went to New Orleans, where I'd also assume he will get backup point guard duties, since there is no one right now, and CP3 could use the help.

Concerning article for Minnesota fans. Players from the Wolves talking about Kevin McHale's lack of coaching ability, on the X's and O's side.

Dime asks us...If you can pick one player, for one defensive stop, who's your man? I think I'm going Kevin Garnett on this one...you?

Tuesday Breakdown

2008-12-09T19:38:00.004-05:00

Breakin' Down The Game got some good pub today over at CBS Sports. Check out Ken Berger's blog, linking his readers to last night's Breakdown.

TrueHoop reminds us of a great [for the fans, horrible for Darko] rant last year. O man, so good:
He's already something of an internet legend for an absolutely insane x-rated 2007 tirade against international referees.

Every time a coach gets fired, Jerry Sloan manages to come into the conversation. Well deserved. Jerry's coached more games than Red Auerbach did with the Celtics (!). 222 coaches have been replaced since he started (!). JA Adande, ESPN, with a tribute to Coach Sloan. Founding member of FreeDarko.com, Bethlehem Shoals, shares his thoughts on Sloan.

My MAIN man, Ahmad Rashad, interviewed at Ball Don't Lie, talkin MJ and more. Yea, you wanna check that out.

SLAM, Appreciating LeBron James' new defensive skills. If Bosh, Wade and LeBron did make a pact in China, it was probably that they're all going to challenge each other on getting defensive recognition. Wade is averaging just about two blocks and two steals per game. Sick.

REDUNKULOUS!!! DWAYNE WADE LAST NIGHT ON OKAFOR

Tuesday Breakdown

2008-12-09T19:38:00.003-05:00

Breakin' Down The Game got some good pub today over at CBS Sports! Check out BergerSphere linking CBS readers to last night's Breakdown.

TrueHoop reminds us of a great [for the fans] Darko Milicic rant last year. O man, so good:
"He's already something of an internet legend for an absolutely insane x-rated 2007 tirade against international referees."

Every time a coach gets fired, Jerry Sloan manages to come into the conversation. Well deserved. Jerry's coached more games than Red Auerbach did with the Celtics (!). 222 coaches have been replaced since he started (!). JA Adande, ESPN, with a tribute to Coach Sloan. Founding member of FreeDarko.com, Bethlehem Shoals, shares his thoughts on Sloan.

My MAIN man, Ahmad Rashad, interviewed at Ball Don't Lie, talkin MJ and more. Yea, you wanna check that out.

SLAM, Appreciating LeBron James' new defensive skills. If Bosh, Wade and LeBron did make a pact in China, it was probably that they're all going to challenge each other on getting defensive recognition. Wade is averaging just about two blocks and two steals per game. Sick.

REDUNKULOUS!!!
D Wade on Okafor Last Night

Monday Breakdown

2008-12-08T20:10:00.003-05:00

"Jesus Christ himself could come out here and coach us, but if we don't go out there and play hard and play together, it won't mean nothing." - Al Jefferson, via Ball Don't Lie

Randy Wittman lost his job today, and being replaced by his boss, Kevin McHale. Apparently Kevin McHale needed a job, since he lost his at the same time, as GM. I imagine the only reason it went down like that, is because when he fails again, they won't make the comparison to Isiah Thomas nonstop. However, i think it's safe to say there's no way those comparisons won't be made, with the horrendous job both GMs did for their franchises. Good luck!

ESPN is placing odds on which coach is next to go. More importantly, which coach is going to come back? I think Eddie Jordan has to get scooped up sooner than later. Maybe OKC takes him? I wonder if he'd take that job, or would wait for a more lucrative one.

Ballerblogger.com with, yet another, Kobe vs. MJ comparison. Good article, with some great links. Love MJ...

Q&A with Kenyon Martin at Dime Mag, weighing in on Pac vs. BIG debate. Come on KMart...you're better than that. BIG all the way.

Another Q&A, this time with Chris Webber at Ball Don't Lie, talking business, his new off the court teammate Gary Payton, and more.

Josh Smith Video Interview from HoopsHype, claiming the Hawks are at the top of the east, with Boston, Cleveland and Orlando. I'll give him Orlando, because I don't think they're that good, but not a shot comparing the Hawks to Boston and Cleveland. Hope they prove me wrong...

So...Baron Davis is a getting paid 250K to endorse a weight-loss drink, and it required him to gain weight in the offseason. Come on, that can't be real, right? I'd imagine the new Collective Bargaining Agreement might have to take this into consideration, and not allow athletes to do ridiculous stuff like this. As for the Clippers, I'd be pretty ticked off that we just gave Baron $62.5 Million, and he went out and gained weight for an additional quarter of one million? Wow...no bueno Diddy. Slam Online has the story.

Live From The Garden: Knicks -v- Pistons

2008-12-07T16:13:00.008-05:00

Knicks 104, Pistons 92

Wakey wakey, eggs and breaky. Early one this Sunday, with the Pistons suffering the classic curse of the NY-Noon game. It's hard for the players to resist partying the Saturday night before in the Big Apple. It showed with Allen Iverson and Pistons starting very slow, going down 10-0 before being forced to call a timeout and regroup. More of the same after the timeout, with a very poor showing from Allen Iverson who looked a bit slow and unlike himself. Coach Michael Curry sat Iverson a good chunk in the first quarter, putting in Rodney Stuckey to get the Pistons running some offensive plays, instead of Iverson's ineffectiveness. The first quarter ends, and the Knicks have a commanding lead, 29-12.

In the second quarter, the Pistons were able to get a lot of points, scoring 31 overall. However, there was no D on the Pistons end either, and the Knicks got 36 points, led mostly by timely buckets from Quentin Richardson, and Chris Duhon pushing the Pick n Roll with David Lee on almost every possession. David Lee only finished with 12 points, but his 19 rebounds and overall impact on both ends of the floor was outstanding. The Knicks wound up getting the lead to almost 30 points at one point. Towards the end of the first half, the Pistons went on a mini-run, looking to gain momentum at the break. Knicks fans are used to runs like these, which usually led to a horrible second half, repeating none of the success from the first two quarters. Would there be more of that tonight?

At the break, it was 65-43 Knicks. Looking at the box score, there was something very interesting that popped out. The Knicks were 20-40 from the field, while the Pistons were almost identical at 19-41...yet there was a 22 point lead! Breakin' it down further, you'll see the Knicks success came from the line (were they got 21 shot attempts to the Piston's 9), and from 3-point-land, where they hit 8 of 14. Add to that the great ball control of the Knicks (2 turnovers), and the Pistons looking sloppy (8 turnovers), and there's your lead.

In a game where the Knicks almost dominated from beginning to end, it was Jared Jeffries who was horrid and kept letting the Pistons get back in it. His decisions on offense, including fading, long jump shots (he's never hit one in his life), and repeated offenses charges, were really horrendous and his number should have gotten pulled much earlier. Jeffries was the only one on the team to log a negative +/- for the Knicks. Tempers flared a bit in the 3rd, with Richard Hamilton and Rasheed Wallace both getting techs, but this time that didn't exactly ignite Sheed, and the Pistons were still down 18 at the start of the fourth.

Pretty bad game for the Pistons backcourt, with Iverson shooting 33% from the field, and Rip getting his second technical in the 4th quarter, resulting in his ejection just when the Pistons looked like they could make a run. I thought Michael Curry was supposed to have control over those tempers? Jared Jeffries continued his run of horrible ball in the fourth quarter. Combine that with the refs making even on their ejection of Rip, by giving the Pistons tons of calls in the fourth. Detroit managed to get the lead down to 5 (!), which I'm sure made half the (totally packed) arena think twice about calling this a win.

Tayshaun Prince really piled it on in the fourth quarter, and it seemed like almost every shot he hit was with the left hand, about 3 inches from the hoop (and one big dunk the same way). They probably should have went to that earlier in the game, since it was basically unstoppable. Tayshaun finished with 23 points, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 steals on 11-19 shooting (!). But it wasn't enough for the Pistons, who gave up a huge 3-pointer from Al Harrington with 1:20 left, extending the lead to 9 points, sealing the win.

It was games like this, last year, that were the worst. A huge lead in the first half, leading to a complacent team, horrible second half and eventual loss. But tonight was different, and Coach Mike D'Antoni didn't let the team lose their energy and passion, and they pulled it out in the end in front of a packed Garden crowd. Great game for the Knicks, bouncing back from two tough losses, and they again showed that on any given night, they can compete on the basketball court.

Thursday Wake n Break

2008-12-04T00:20:00.004-05:00

*Rajon Rondo was the man tonight in Boston, leading the Celtics to a victory fo the Pacers. Rajon picked apart the defense all game, finishing with a VERY impressive triple double: 16 points, 17 assists, 13 rebounds (add 3 steals to that). WOW. The Celtics also took advantage of Indiana's small lineup, by out rebounding them 54 to 31, and shooting 19 more free throw attempts. Had to figure this was going to happen, with the Pacers just coming off of beating the LA Lakers, and were victorious in their last game against the Celtics. The juices were flowing tonight for the C's. Celtics 114, Pacers 96

*Speaking of the Lakers, Kobe and Co went into Philly tonight, to face the struggling Sixers. Lakers were just ridiculous. Huge dunks all night, not missing anything, shooting 58% from the field (!). Then with 2 minutes left...Kobe Kobe Kobe. Disgusting stuff. First a pair of free throws, then a spinning layup, then a 3-pointer, all within 1 minute. That was just mean. I've said it before and i'll say it again, if the Sixers don't get some outside shooters soon, they won't be int he playoffs. Moves need to be made. Lakers 114, Sixers 102

*Last week LeBron James came to the garden, and of course all the talk was about 2010. Not the same in Cleveland, where they stick mostly the basketball (and LeBron gushing). However, the outcome was the same; total Cavs domination from the get go. The Cavs lead after the first half 61-35. The Knicks are starting to lose steam, from playing so many minutes and so few players, made even worse by Quentin Richardson getting tossed with logging only 16 minutes. They'll need another guard soon (Cuttino Mobley??) if they want to compete. Lets get this guy on the court already. Cavs 118, Knicks 82

*The Suns were without Steve Nash and Shaquille O'Neal, so it was smooth sailing for the Hornets at home, winning few bumps in the road. Lot of Chris Paul and Peja Stojakovic. CP3 finished with his usual 24 points, 15 assists and 3 steals and later said, “When he’s shooting like that, we’re almost unstoppable,” referring to Peja. Although I'd take out the 'almost,' because between Tyson Chandler alley-oops , David West spot up jumpers on the pick and roll, and of course CP3's disgusting offensive repertoire, there's no way you're going to win if Peja is training them like he did tonight. Hornets 104, Suns 91

*All Dwayne Wade in Utah tonight. I can't believe how good he is. You should probably go see the highlights for this. In fact, here ya go. D.Wade finished with 23 points, 5 boards and 5 assists, but most impressive is the 4 steals and 2 blocks. It's become every game at this point, with Wade averaging close to 2.5 steals and 2 blocks. The Jazz are really struggling without a healthy Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer out of the lineup with injury. Paul Millsap tried his best to cover for him, scoring 20 points and getting 13 boards, but too much D. Wade all game. Heat 93, Jazz 89

*The Wizards improved their loss column to 13, while the Blazers won their 6th straight. Antwan Jamison on Brandon Roy (sums up the whole game): “It wasn’t going well for him in the first half. He didn’t force it— continued to plug away. And the last four or five minutes of the game, who had the ball in their hands? Who made plays? Who won the game? It was him.” Gotta love the props from your peers/competition. Blazers 98, Wizards 92

*Another horrible sooting night from Ron Artest, going 5-15, and 33% for the season. It didn't stop the Rockets from getting a win at home against the Clippers. Zach Randolph continued his strong play with the Clips (on the offensive end), going for 23 points and 11 boards, but Baron Davis launching brick after brick (5-15 from the field) didn't help their production. Even without Tracy McGrady, the Rockets still got enough scoring from Rafer Alston, and Yao Ming (especially at the free throw line, going 12-13). Alston flirted with a trouble double in this game, finishing with 21 points, 8 boards and 7 dimes. Rockets 103, Clippers 96

*JJ Redick got the start tonight in Orlando, which means their backcourt troubles are really, REALLY, bad. In JJ's 30 minutes of play, he was able to get only 5 points, while his backcourt teammate Anthony Johnson only scored 2. But I guess that doesn't matter, since te Magic's all-star players Rashard Lewis, Dwight Howard, and Hedo Turkoglu were in the house. Dwight got his usual 23 points, 17 boards and 6 blocks (!), with Rashard and Hedo chipping in for 23 and 22 respectively. Kevin Love, total monster on the offensive boards, finishing with 8 for the game, but helping the Wolves get a big advantage on the field goal attempts 87-65. But their horrid shooting, they actually finished with one less field goal made overall (37-36). Magic 100, Wolves 89

*Josh Smith's return tonight for the Hawks, and they face the Grizzlies in the ATL. All 5 Hawks starters got into double figures, and had fantastic efficiency from the floor (56%, and that includes Mo Evans going 0-7!). Hakim Warrick was big off the bench for the Grizz, getting 20 points on 8-12 shooting, but they've been spoiled by OJ Mayo's scoring spree, and is low total of 11 points wasn't enough to get the job done. Joe Johnson led the Hawks with 26 points on 10-15 shooting. Hawks 105, Grizzlies 95

*In their previous game, the Thunder won for the first time since....i have no idea. So can they make it two in a row against Charlotte? Yea, right. Russell Westbrook is totally locked in as their starting point guard, logging 36+ minutes for the night. Too bad he didn't make enough out of it, going 2-9 from the field, with 10 points and 5 turnovers. That's a rookie starting point guard for ya. Larry Brown sticking to, basically, a 6.5 man rotation, and it worked well in this one with all of the Bobcats playing together well for the second time in two games. In OKC, it doesn't sound great, with Kevin Durant saying, “Tonight was better than most losses because we did some things well.” Damn, I'd hate to be in THAT boat. Bobcats 103, Thunder 97

Wednesday mini-Breakdown

2008-12-03T18:08:00.000-05:00

Not much going on today....I think everyone's getting ready for a big 10-game night tonight...but here's a few interested stories/links:

Breakin' News: The Raptors fire coach Sam Mitchell. Eddie Jordan's looking for a job. Avery coming back? Do any of the big names available even want to be in Toronto (in the winter?). Who do you think might be the replacement???

Ken Berger, CBS Sports, on two of the league's hottest rookies, Greg Oden and Derrick Rose.

Up close and personal with Zach Randolph, video interview.

Tuesday Breakdown

2008-12-02T17:59:00.000-05:00

Have to run, but a few links for tonight's breakdown...

How Allen Iverson got his crossover.

More in depth look at the Triangle Offense

The actual conversation between Donnie Walsh and Stephon Marbury...!!

Thanks to Ballerblogger.com for findings these two gems: First a SLAM interview with Derrick Rose, and then a Charlie Rose interview with Magic Johnson discussing all things basketball and business.

Chatting hoops with well-known coach Mike Moreau at HoopsWorld.com

Lunch Break: Reader Rant

2008-12-02T14:30:00.002-05:00

Breakin Down The Game reader, Willie, sends us his thoughts on the Marbury situation:

Just when you thought the knicks would be competitive in 2008/2009 with a new coach, a new gm, and a new " attitude" they go and pull an "isiah" (new slang word for a total cluster f-ck). They trade their 2 best players in lieu of a 2 year wait for Lebron or Bosh or Amare, or Wade. Key Words , "In lieu". The nba is about winning, and any player that is a free agent will look to go to win a ring before their careers are up.
ie. garnett, and allen last year. What's the lure here, for those superstars, a knick uniform, a starting spot on the NY knicks, a home called Madison square garden, all garbage if you cant get a ring. you need to surround yourself with winners, a supporting player staff and a great management team, none of which i see here in NY.
Now I have to sit through a "marbury" fiasco on top of all this? Dam, I want my money back, (season ticket holder). This is not what I bargained for. Take this marbury incident as the latest fiasco: sit him, sit him sit, berate ,berate, berate him, now go and ask him to play for you because you have no one else? Great , just great planning on walsh's and dantoni's behalf. you alienate the team against the guy when he refuses to play, you completely emasculate the guy ,and then you let him poison the locker room. What else can you do to screw this up?
I know, bring back isiah, at least we can expect this craziness from him, but not from these 2 hand-picked NBA "geniuses".
Dam, I'm frustrated, and embarrassed to be a knick fan today. I can only hope that in my life time i get to see this storied franchise come back to its glory past, a la, the 69 and 72 teams..
sincerely,
Willie

Tuesday Wake n Break

2008-12-02T07:47:00.000-05:00

*Everything clicked for Charlotte tonight against Minnesota. Raymond Felton was distributing the ball well, finishing with 14 assists. Jason Richardson is back and healthy, going for 19 in the first half, finishing with 25 on some high percentage shooting (including 3-4 from downtown). On the Wolves side, Mike Miller had a big first half, but didn't get much of an offensive flow in the second half. Same with Al Jefferson, who had 6 blocks for the night, but only 8 points on 3-11 shooting. Emeka Okafor had a big night for the Bobcats, with 24 points, 10 boards and 5 blocks, making sure to impress the part-owner and basketball god sitting on the sidelines. I'm sure Michael was happy with their performance, but you can't be impressed until they do it against someone a little tougher than lowly Minnesota. Bobcats 100, Wolves 90

*You know it's going to be a tough night for Orlando, with Hedo Turkoglu running the point. The Magic need backcourt help quick, with all of the guys on their depth chart hurt, and to be honest, they suck when they're there anyway. The Jameer Nelson experiment has to end, he's not good enough to take the Magic to the promised land. In this game, Sam Cassell managed to play zero minutes, but still get two technicals and the resulting ejection. The Celtics started pulling away from the Magic in the third quarter, led by Paul Pierce who finished with 24 points, 17 of which were in the fourth. While he only finished with 11 points, Eddie House had the two biggest shots of the game, the first with 8:30 left bringing the lead to 16, and then again with 6:40, extended the lead to 17. From there it was just garbage time, since the C's defense wasn't going to let the Magic come back. With Hedo and Courtney Lee running the point in Orlando, they didn't have a chance, but hung in there the first half. Celtics 107, Magic 88

*It was Jamal Crawford's debut last night at home for the Warriors, and he really lit it up in the first half, going for 19, after some great moves inside and outside. Steven Jackson had an off shooting night, going 2-11, but really helped out especially in the fourth quarter with some great passes to Andres Biedrens in the lane, and finishing with 11 assists overall (but only 8 points). Jamal didn't stop with the hot hand, finishing with 40 points overall, on 11-22 shooting, 4 three pointers, 14-16 from the free throw line with only 1 turnover and 7 assists (wow). Jamal logged 50 minutes in this game, since it went into overtime following an offensive rebound and putback by Udonis Haslem in the final seconds. All that Jamal wasn't enough to stop Dwayne Wade, who finished 37 points and 13 dimes, continuing his MVP type season. The Warriors had a few mini collapses, the worst throwing away the inbounds pass at the end of overtime to Michael Beasley who got to the line to take the lead and eventually the win. Jamal had one more shot to be the hero, but it trickled out and the Warriors lost their 7th straight. Heat 130, Warriors 129

Monday Breakdown

2008-12-01T18:21:00.005-05:00

* Week 5 of the Power Rankings, from both NBA.com and ESPN.com. The Nets are on everyone's radar at this point, playing fantastic with Devin Harris leading the show. Portland, Orlando and Denver are all moving up the rankings. It's funny to see both of these powerhouse sports websites still disagreeing on who's #1.

*Stephon Marbury has been banished from the Knicks, reports ESPN.com's Chris Sheridan. Ken Berger at CBSSports says, It's officially ridiculous.

*There was a time when MJ considered NY too, says Ballerblogger.com

*Derrick Rose breakin Andre Miller's ankles....ouch, via Ball Don't Lie. Staying with BDL, an exclusive interview with one of the best, hottest, young players in the NBA, Danny Granger.

*Haven't quite figured out what they're trying to say in this video at Dime Mag. Basically another MJ vs Kobe video, but lets get serious, no way Kobe can reach Michael status now that he has TWO quality big men, right??? I don't care how many rings he gets at this point, it's not worthy to compare.

*Real GM reports that one of our favorite bloggers, X-Coach Eric Mussleman, wants back into the NBA.

*Amare Stoudamire is a lil jealous of D-Wade, LeBron and co, reports SLAM. Also from SLAM, Michael Beasley is okay with the sixth man role for the time being.

*The Mavs have quit on the Princeton offense, reports InsideHoops.com. Why do i feel like Dirk Nowitzki is always whining, complaining and sounding like a wuss? I just can't help feeling that way about him...sorry.

Thanksgiving Weekend Breakdown

2008-11-28T12:39:00.004-05:00

Some links to get you past the Thanksgiving weekend....it's a long one, so feel free to come back to finish up.

In no particular order:

*Although premature, you still have to weigh your loss if you're Cleveland. If LeBron James is leaving town, you HAVE to get something in return....So what will that be? TrueHoop's Henry Abbott and ESPN's David Thorpe make a few possible trade scenario's for the king.

*Thanks to Hayden for bringing this to my attention...A very unique coaching tactic this past week, in the college ranks. They decided to double team Stephen Curry, even without the ball, not letting him touch it the whole game, going 4 on 3 against the rest of the squad. Well, that didn't work at all.

*Ken Berger at CBSSports.com, on LeBron's NYC visit, and a possible upcoming strike in the NBA.

*HoopsHype exclusive video interviews with OJ Mayo, and TJ Ford.

*Former NBA Coach Eric Mussleman; Comebacks Begin With Positive Energy. A great read, that really applies to everything in life. Stay positive, and good things happen. Also from Coach Mussleman, explaining that talent alone won't achieve greatness. If you're not as talented, you can still outwork your opponents.

*Two great LeBron commercials. The first from The Howeva Files; Lebron with this stupid hot chick, hilarious stuff. Second, from Ball Don't Lie, a more serious commercial from Nike.

*Some awful NBA stuff from the kings in that territory, Basketbawful. Ron Artest video blogging, and rapping? Just horrible...

*And, the number 1 pick of the 2009 NBA draft will be....Ricky Rubio of Spain?? If you didn't see this guy in the Olympics, you should really check him out. Just abnormally good and mature for his age, and should project very well in the NBA (if he can learn to play some defense and bulk up a bit).

*Saw this on Ballerblogger.com; Allen Iverson skipped Practice and is now out of the starting lineup and fined. Practice?? We talkin bout practice...

*SLAM gives us 50 things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving

*Anytime Worldwide Wes is in the conversation, I'll be sure to post it. If you don't know who Worldwide Wes is, you're not 'in the know,' and need to get on top of it. Well, Uncle Wes is saying the Knicks are the favorites in the running for his buddy LBJ.

*Steven A Smith talkin Amare Stoudamire, his future free agency, and the Phoenix Suns.

*Finish off with some frequent updates on the Stephon Marbury situation in New York. It's getting old already, and Ken Berger from CBSSports says it should come to a conclusion soon.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Live From The Garden: Knicks -v- LeBr....er, Cavs

2008-11-25T22:36:00.002-05:00

I thought it'd be a high scoring game tonight for the Cavs, since D'Antoni's offense features a ton of possessions, the Knicks were having 3 new players join the team, and LeBron wanted to show off in NYC. I also thought LeBron would lead the way, scoring 50 or more. I was right about the first, and for one of the best offenses in the league (#1 actually, on Monday) they hit their highest total of the season. LeBron was held to only 30 minutes, and when I say held, I mean he was held back from going out and doing more damage to the Knicks.

One of the highlights of the night was during the national anthem when I heard a few fans change the ending, from "Home, of the, brave;" It was, "Home of LeBron, James." Brilliant, really. Loved it. When they announced LeBron, half the place got up. If only it wasn't such a boring game...

So the first quarter starts and it was the Cavs jumping out to the early lead, led by James' 11 points. The tension was rising fast, as the calls were a little one-sided for the hyped up Cavs. Pretty easy proof of this with a horrible non-call on a LeBron James block. Should have been a goal-tend. Nate Robinson tried to get a little flashy and pull the New York fans back to the Knicks side with a bigggg dunk attempt over James, but the ball slipped and he couldn't finish. The first quarter ended with a hefty lead, but nothing close to whats to come. 34-21 Cavs after one.

Cavs started the second quarter with LeBron on the bench and took a big lead immediately, making it 42-22 with more than 10 minutes left in the quarter. The Knicks were slowing working in Al Harrington and Tim Thomas, while the third newbie Cuttino Mobley was still undergoing physicals and didn't dress. Harrington had a couple of nice plays (5), but finished with a lot more bad ones (11). Tim Thomas looked horrible on some plays, but finished with 16 points, hitting 4 from downtown and a couple of late 3's that...whatever, it was over. Late in the second, Nate Robinson took a nasty fall, and left the game with a strained groin. Groin injuries are no bueno. Losing Nate for any amount of time would be a huge blow for the Knicks, since he's been their most consistent player this year.

It got worse and worse, with the lead going up to 34 points. It was 95-66 after 3, and we didn't get to see LeBron for the rest of the night. He finished with a sweasy (so-easy) 26 points. The crowd wasn't into the game at all, and with good reason, it was over so quickly. On top of that, LeBron never went off, except for one dunk, but it was too little too late. The crowd wanted something to go bananas about, but it just got too boring, and then LeBron didn't even see any PT in the fourth.

As usual, it was a star studded night at the Garden, featuring Jay-Z and Beyonce, Spike Lee of course, some Jets getting a huge applause, and then Plaxico Burress and crew came on the big screen, with Plax pointing to his ring finger, and flashing two fingers up, implying that he's about to get a second ring. Cant' wait for the media to get a hold of that one, and start accusing Plaxico of predicting back to back championships. That's just one more thing LeBron gets to look forward to when he moves here in 2010!

The night didn't exactly go as planned, but it was fun nonetheless. Seeing LeBron in person is always exciting, and the Cavs have quickly turned into one of the most dominate teams int he league, probably only being topped by the Lakers and Celtics and not even by much.

CAVS 119, KNICKS 101

Lunch Break Special: Knicks -v- Cavs Preview

2008-11-25T10:39:00.005-05:00

Tonight marks the first time when LeBron James comes to Madison Square Garden, with the Knicks actually having enough cap space to sign him in 2010. As of right now, it's not just LeBron, but thanks to Jalen Rose of ESPN, rumors are spreading that also Chris Bosh might come to New York in the same offseason. This is a dream beginning to come true for Knicks fans, who never thought that we would get away from the mess Isiah Thomas made.

The last 4 games LeBron played at the Garden, he averaged almost 37 points per game, the last one, going for 50 points (after telling Spike Lee in the front row that he'd do so). This marks the third year in a row where LeBron gets special NYC kicks made for the occasion. Last year he wore the Yankees-themed LeBron V's, with the Le-Bron Ja-mes chant written on the tongue (that I strongly urge New Yorkers to chant with me tonight).

More news from around the web on this game:

*Shaun Powell from Newsday is doing the same, and urging New Yorkers to give LeBron the warmest welcome imaginable.

*Frank Isola on LeBron's kicks, which you can get a sneak peak of, here at Nicekicks.com.

*There's a chance that Cuttino Mobley and Tim Thomas don't suit up tonight (and even worse, that Zach Randolph gets shipped back to New York to put a temporary pause on our Coup de' James. Ken Berger, formally of Newsday, now at CBSsports has the story.

*Special thanks to my homey Hayden for bringing this Peter Vescey article to my attention. This is a great summary, breaking down the money situations for both Cleveland and New York, and how it relates to King James.

NY Media Urging Fans to Show LeBron The Love

Tuesday Wake n Break

2008-11-25T08:20:00.005-05:00

*Orlando took an early lead over the Bucks with 10 points after the first quarter, expanding that on a big 4-point-play from JJ Redick (this guy is still in the league?). Some big 3-pointers from Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu, gave the Magic a 58-47 lead at the half, despite foul trouble from Dwight Howard, who had to leave the first half with 7 minutes remaining and already accumulating 3 fouls. Both the Magic and the Bucks had possible injuries, with Jameer Nelson and Andrew Bogut leaving in the second half, and not returning. More on those injuries should develop throughout the day. Richard Jefferson led the Bucks with 25 points, but more importantly with some big plays and buckets at the end, bringing the lead down to 3. But it wasn’t enough and usually isn’t when you’re going up against Dwight Howard getting 24 points, 13 rebounds and 6 blocks (!). Superman Duex really acted Shaq in this one, going a horrible 10-20 from the free throw line. I thought Dwight would get up to around 65-70% FT shooting, but thus far his Superman Duex nickname is looking pretty dead on. Magic 108, Bucks 101

*The game of the night was in Miami, with Dwayne Wade and Michael Beasley hosting the Rockets for a superstar showdown. Lot of action from Beasley in the first half, getting up 13 shots, hitting 6, but was held to only one more FG for the rest of the game, and only 14 points. Also in the first half 8 guys from Houston were able to get on the board, showing great ball movement and shooting over 50% total. Yao Ming finished the game with 28 points, 12 boards, 4 assists, shooting 10-11 from the line, but with zero blocks or steals. A 7-footer playing 35 minutes should really get at least one block or steal. D. Wade’s awful shooting night (7 for 23) didn’t help Miami, and Houston cruised to a victory. Rockets 107, Heat 98

*Another awful shooting night from the Sixers, shooting under 40% for the night. The Sixers lost to the Bobcats last night, which is totally unacceptable based on the preseason talk of them competing for a championship. It was decently close after the first half, with Yahoo having the score at 41-39 and ESPN having the score at 41-41 (interesting..). The real men of the night were DJ Augustin and Raymond Felton who are no doubt fighting to kept heir starting spots when Jason Richardson comes back from injury (also interesting…). Both guards went 8-11 from the field, finishing with 25 (DJ) and 23 (Raymond). Bobcats 93, Sixers 84

*It started off close in Utah, with the Jazz and Bulls each at 26 after the first quarter. It was all Derrick Rose for most of the first half, tearing the Jazz apart with 7 for 10 shooting, 4 assists, and 0 turnovers. Quite impressive for a young guard to have such a good ball-control in the first half, against the tough-guy Jazz, on their own court. Joakim Noah got the start today, presumably to go out after Mehmet Okur at the 3-point line (since Carlos Boozer joined Deron Williams on the bench with a quad injury). Well, that didn’t work very well, with Memet going for 16 in the first half, finishing with 26 overall. Drew Gooden had a matching 16 at the half, but only getting 2 points afterwards. The Jazz’ ball movement really outshined Derrick Rose and Co, going 30-18 overall in assists. Ridiculous ending to this game, with the lead changing back and forth, and coming down to one shot at the end… a Derrick Rose juke to get open and clang off the rim with only 2 seconds remaining. Wait for it....But Larry Hughes got the offensive rebound, got up in the air, and drained a long two-pointer to win the game at the buzzer. Larry Hughes! Congrats; You get 2 more minutes per game for your winning shot, then a trade after Hinrich comes back. Yay! Bulls 101, Jazz 100

*The San Antonio Spurs visited the Memphis grizzlies last night, looking like a matchup between old and young, this generation vs the future. San Antonio had good control over this game, despite leading at halftime by only 5. Roger Mason was bringing the rain from downtown, hitting 5 three pointers, finishing with 18 points total. OJ Mayo was shooting well, again playing 43 minutes (!), shooting the rock 21 times, hitting 10 of those. OJ finished with 26 points, hitting all 5 of his free throws. The rest of the team didn’t have a good shooting night, with the team finishing at 39%, led by Rudy Gay’s awful night, going 6 for 19. Tonight was Manu Ginobili’s debut for the season, and Coach Pop brought him off the bench, where he might or might not continue to do so when Tony Parker comes back. Manu came in and produced right away, scoring 11 points in 12 minutes (!). I actually considered at some point that the Spurs might not make the playoffs this year, but with Manu back earlier than expected, looking this good (3-4 from the field and 5-6 from the line), they not only look like a playoff team, but with a healthy Tony Parker should be a contender for a championship. For Memphis, it was nice to see young star OJ Mayo after the game, discussing the loss with maturity and addressing Tim Duncan as “Mr. Duncan” showing great respect for his elders and the game. Spurs 94, Grizz 81

Monday Breakdown

2008-11-24T18:44:00.003-05:00

*ESPN.com and NBA.com Power Rankings. Why do I get the feeling that the Celtics and Lakers will remain at the top two spots for the rest of the season?

*This guy's a Knick hater. Loves the moves. We're getting LeBron. These next two years don't matter. End of story.

*This awesome Flash Animation of D'Antoni's system. Pretty simple, it's either the pick n roll, or a backdoor cut. Just do it in 7 seconds or less, try hard, play (some) D, and have fun.

*I...am...super psyched (!) for tomorrow's Knicks game against the Cavs. I'm urging all the Knick fans to join me in a Le-Bron Ja-mes (clap, clap, clapclapclap) chant. If the whole place starts doing it, then I'm pretty confident that could give us at least a .0001% better chance of landing LeBron, and that means it's worth it! Chris Sheridan at ESPN gives us a little preview of tomorrow night, where King James steps into his future Castle. Sweeeeeet.

*Eddie Jordan lost his team, and then his job. Can't blame Eddie for this; he's one of the best coaches in the league without a doubt. I've been saying it repeatedly, that the Gilbert Arenas signing and then the third surgery, killed the mood of this team. When you give someone $111 Million, you get excited, the city gets excited and everything gets on a little bit of a high. But what goes up, most come down, and this hit the ground in D.C. hard. Saw it coming, especially after two fourth quarter meltdowns, and then a ridiculous loss against the Knicks summer league team (with only 7 players). Eddie will get another job sooner,than later, perhaps even take PJ Carlismo's ex-job in Oklahoma City.

*Gotta love the leadership in Cleveland. It starts from the top, and when I say the top, I mean it really starts with the Spurs. Both Danny Ferry and Mike Brown have roots in San Antonio, and the tradition and mentality they brought with them translated into instant success in Cleveland (well, LeBron James helps too). Mike Brown created a 4-player committee for his team, replacing the more traditional captain or co-captains. I think it's brilliant and it really helps get key information to the coach from the players, and visa versa.

Live From The Garden: Knicks -v- Wizards

2008-11-22T22:34:00.002-05:00

I won't be too hard on the Wizards fans, especially since my buddy Marcus came from DC to come to the game, but facts are facts...the Wiz basically just lost to the Knicks summer league team. Since the physicals for the trades are tomorrow, the Knicks were without their new teammates, but they still were able to pull out a victory against the lifeless Wizards.

The Knicks started the game with Chris Duhon and Nate Robinson in the backcourt, David Lee at center, with Wilson Chandler and Quentin Richardson at the wings. All 4 starters were forced to play more than 40 minutes each, as there was only 2 available players off the bench, in Grandpa Malik Rose and youngin Anthony Roberson, who wasn't very helpful, going 0-5 from downtown and 2-10 overall.

New York jumped out to an early lead, led mostly by Nate's speed and Duhon's ball control. From the beginning of the game, till the end, it was Antwan Jamison who was tearing apart the Knicks offense and scoring repeatedly in the paint. We'll get into that in more detail later. Quentin Richardson exploded early in the game, finishing with 18 points in the first quarter (!), giving the Knicks a 35-29 lead after one. We didn't see much of Andray Blatche in the first half, hopefully because he was benched for his awful play last night against Yao Ming in the final seconds of the game. It was Dominique Maguire who got extra minutes in the first half, really making the most out of them. The Wizards D really stepped up against Q, allowing him only 2 in the second quarter after exploding in the first. That kept the Wiz in the game, and went into the half only trailing by two, 60-58.

The third quarter started with Chris Duhon and Nate Robinson using speed and hitting big shots, extended the Knicks lead. Caron Butler wasn't impressive most of the game, lookign hesitant with the ball. Caron finished with 23 points, but wasn't very impressive from the floor, shooting 8 for 18. Something's wrong with Caron because he can dominate games like this with ease when his mind is right. It seemed as though every time Antwan Jamison got the ball, they were getting either points in the paint, or good ball movement out of the double team.

This is where we didn't understand what the Wizards were doing. The last two games the Wizards have played, it's fair to say they've given up towards the end, practically handing wins to opposing teams. Tonight it was more of the same, and for reasons we could not come close to figuring out, Antwan Jamison wasn't getting any touches down the stretch, still finishing with 29 points and 13 boards.

Between Quentin Richardson's best night of the season (maybe the last two seasons, finishing with 34 points (!), 7 from deep, and 12 rebounds), and the Wizards reluctance to get more touches to Antwan in the final quarter, the Wizards fell to a very embarrassing 1-9 against a Knicks team with only 7 players. It looks great for Knicks fans, who can see that D'Antoni's system and style of coaching is keeping the Knicks competitive almost every night.

KNICKS 122, WIZARDS 117

Weekend Breakdown

2008-11-22T09:09:00.004-05:00

*It was an exciting day in New York, and that usually generates excitement throughout the league. ESPN's Weekend Dime has some speculation that the Knicks are not just putting themselves in position to sign ONE major free agent, but possible two or three (see Steven A Smith video below as well). The Weekend Dime also has an interview with Robert Horry, more on Antonio McDyess and a claim that someone owes Paul Pierce six bucks!

*Sticking with the Knicks for a second...I love the moves, but I very much disagree with D'Antoni asking Steph if he wants to play last night, and then, telling the media it's Steph's fault because he said no. D'Antoni said he 30-35 minutes for Steph last night, but no one asked the right questions, which are: Will it just be one and done? Was that just a one-game bone being thrown? I don't think I would play if I was Steph, that's for sure, would you??

*HoopsHype on the rebirth of Shaq, discussing with long-time Phil Jackson confidant Tex Winter. Most people counted Pheonix out this year because of Shaq declining, but he's been able to bring out sum of that reserve superman-ness, and so far, very good.

*Well-known, long-time coach PJ Carlisimo got the boot today from the Head Coaching position of the Oklahoma City Thunder. What the heck was he supposed to do with this team?? Their best player, Kevin Durant, is still a 10-year-old at heart.

A few videos well worth watching:

*The most exciting game of the season went down in Toronto, where Vince Carter went nutso, again, in the place he's hated most. Must see TV

Steven A Smith on the Knicks

Rasheed Wallace, via Ball Don't Lie, on his Teammates nicknames

BREAKIN' NEWS: FIRST JAMAL, NOW ZACH??

2008-11-21T09:26:00.013-05:00

6pm, Final Update:

The Knicks just traded away their two best players and scorers, and I couldn't be any more excited.

It looks like the second deal will also go down today, clearing 27 Million off the books on the 2010 cap, paving the way to pick up one of the super free agents in 2010. While this team is surely not going to impress anyone in New York for probably two years, this gives us the best chance for a championship, since we weren't going to get one this year or next.

For more on the deal: TNT's David Aldridge. LA Times. Daily News.

Funny enough, my original Trade Machine post was the one that actually went down!

Have a great weekend, and, of course: LE-BRON JA-MES, CLAP, CLAP, CLAPCLAPCLAP

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

5:15pm Update:

We have confirmation on the second trade, via LA Times. Cuttino doesn't sound happy about the trade, but that didn't stop me from picking him up on my Fantasy team right away!! There's a hole at the 2 and Cuttino, it's waiting for you!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

4:30pm Update:

Frank Isola, whom I'm sure you've seen on NBAtv and writes for the Daily news, reports that the Z-Bo for Cuttino Mobley and Tim Thomas trade is done (!!).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2pm Update:

It's a done deal. Crawford and Al Harrington are switching teams, a one for one trade. Here's how it looks in the Trade Machine. Here's ESPN's take on it.

However! There are Rumors that this is just the beginning of the trading for Donnie Walsh and the NY Knicks. We'll keep updating, so stay tuned!

I spoke with Ken Berger at Newsday, and he said it's a sad day for Jamal, who also had a blog at Newsday.com. He really enjoyed NY, his fans, and the challenges that came along with playing here. Jamal, we still love you man! Business is business.

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11am Update:

This is what the trade looks like so far in ESPN Trade Machine

What do you think??

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

10:30am Update:

Now there's talk of a three-way deal!

Newsday's Alan Hahn: The Knicks, Warriors and Clippers are talking about a three-way deal that would involve Jamal Crawford, Zach Randolph and Mardy Collins being sent in a cap-space clearing move that would bring in Tim Thomas, Cuttino Mobley and Al Harrington.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WOW!

Thanks to Marcus for getting the early scoop on this.

The Knicks traded Jamal Crawford to the Warriors for Al Harrington. This gives the Knicks 10 Million less on the cap for the super free agent war of 2010.

I suppose the next move will be to use David Lee as trade bait to get rid of another 17 Million, Zach Randolph. Stick to the plan! We have LeBron, Amare, D.Wade, Dirk, and Bosh all free agents in 2010. Gotta score one of those....

Check out more from Alan Hahn at Newsday, or and leave comments here on what you think! The NY Post has Harrington coming for Malik Rose, but I don't think Donnie Nelson can do anything with Grandpa Malik.

WHAT DO YOU THINK??

Friday Wake n Break

2008-11-21T08:13:00.002-05:00

*Two of the eastern contenders went up against each other last night, in the Celtics and Pistons. Pistons are coming off of back to back wins against two super hot teams (Lakers and Cavs). It was even after the first at 21, but the second quarter was a different story, led by a few Eddie House bombs, taking a halftime lead of 49-40. It was more of the same after the half, and Boston was up by 20 at the start of the 4^th quarter. It’s become apparent that Allen Iverson and Rasheed Wallace have to play good games for the Pistons to beat the elite, and tonight they both got out played by their counterparts, Rajon Rondo and Kevin Garnett. Rondo especially, who finished with 18 points, 8 assists, 3 steals and only 2 turnovers. A win in this fashion against the Pistons is not something they’re used to. Rip Hamilton agrees, “Any time you lose to a team two times by over 20 points, that’s absolutely bananas because we don’t play like that.” Celtics 98, Pistons 80

*Shaq vs. Kobe, rematch number…nevermind. It’s more like Shaq vs Bynum at this point, considering Shaq and Kobe have nothing but love for each other (so it seems). The Lakers pulled a real Black Mamba move in the first three quarters, by slowing killing the Suns and going up 13 by the 4^th,never trailing again. With the Lakers in a comfortable lead, and their outstanding bench play, they were able to limit Kobe’s minutes to 32, in a game where usually he plays around 40. The Lakers are rolling, and they’re so good you don’t know what kind of stats you’re going to get from the stars each night. Like tonight when Pau Gasol only got 4 points, but 9 assists (!). The real daggers throughout the night were Vlad Radmanovic’s 5-5 from downtown, always coming at the right moments to keep the Suns thinking they never had a chance. Shaq, how’s Kobe’s ass taste? Lakeshow 105, Suns 92

Thursday Breakdown

2008-11-20T18:47:00.004-05:00

*The Playoff Odds on ESPN are out. If you need an explanation of how they work, click here. In a nutshell, its some fancy shmancy formulas to tell us who's going to the playoffs. In the East, it looks dead on, except i think Indiana will drop out. You can say the same for the West side, where I think it will stay the same, although San Antonio will replace Portland.

*There's been a lot of talk in the offseason about a "Train like a Pro" camp at the IMG Training Academy. 82games gives us the full story.

*Dime Magazine asks us, who's the ten fastest players in the NBA? I think Dwayne Wade and Devin Harris should be on this list. He is The Flash, right? Who do you think is the fastest in the NBA? I think I'm gonna go with AI, still!

*SLAM, breaks down the Cavs new offense. Le-Bron, Ja-mes, clap, clap, clap clap clap.

*Larry Hughes wants out of Chicago says the Chicago Tribune. Or he wants more minutes. This could be a good opportunity to get rid of the Zach Randolph contract. The Bulls clearly need an inside scoring presence, and with Drew Gooden's decent Defense, maybe he can pick up the slack for Z-Bo.

*Two really awesome articles on Magic Johnson. First, from ESPN, and then an exclusive interview over at FanHouse.

Thursday Wake n Break

2008-11-20T08:03:00.002-05:00

*The Hawks started off hot, winning their first 6 games, but fell extra hard when they lost their next 4. Finally a win, against a Wizards team totally drowning in sorrow since their $111 Million investment went back in for surgery. Josh Smith is still out, and also Al Horford missed this game with a sprained ankle. So it was Marvin Williams who stepped it up tonight, with 21 points, none more important than a 3 pointer to take the lead with 26 seconds left. It wasn’t so much the Hawks taking this one (although a Joe Johnson 3 off an inbounds play really hurt the Wiz), but the Wiz breaking down at the end and giving the game away. Both Nick Young and Juan Dixon took very bad shots with time left on the shot clock and down by 2. As much as I don’t like DeShawn Stevenson, he did have the hot hand, hitting a ridiculous long 2-pointer falling backward. Caron Butler had a great night, scoring 32 points on 12 for 21 shooting (including four 3-pointers), but it wasn’t enough and Atlanta gets the win. Hawks 91, Wizards 87

*Spurs went real deep into the bench, with everyone on the roster scoring except Kurt Thomas. That doesn’t mean they shot well, finishing at 38% from the field for the game. JR Smith another very slow night, but the starters really held it down. Denver’s defensive improvement since Chauncey Billups arrived has been nothing short of outstanding. With the wins, and impressive defense, we’re starting to forget they gave away former Defensive Player of the Year, Marcus Camby. The Nuggets are now 5-1 with Chauncey on the team, and it looks like they’re getting better (especially on the defensive end) every game. Nuggets 91, Spurs 81

*Dwayne Wade is an absolute monster. 40 points, 11 assists, 5 blocks (!) tonight for Flash, with poster-like dunks. But it wasn’t enough to get the win, as Jose Calderon was back from his brief time on the injured list. The key to the win for the Raptors was the wing players, in Andrea Bargnani and Anthony Parker. Between the two of them, they went 8 for 9….from downtown (!), finishing with 25 and 19 respectively. Chris Bosh and Jermaine O’Neal also had big nights, with Bosh getting 15 points, 11 rebounds, and O’Neal besting him in both, with 16 points and 17 boards (!). Raptors 101, Heat 94

*The Cavs win streak ended at 8, and the Pistons won their second big game against another hot team (the first being the Lakers undefeated spoiler). LeBron James and Co had good control over the game in the first half, and then the Sixers really pulled ahead with a few big shots from Rasheed Wallace late in the fourth, outscoring the Cavs 30-29 in the final quarter. Allen Iverson led the Pistons with 23 points, 4 dimes and 4 steals and after a slow start, the AI-led Pistons are now 4-3. Pistons 96, Cavs 89

*Portland is really good, or maybe Chicago is really bad? Maybe both. This game was a textbook clinic. Portland dominated on both sides of the court, dictating the tempo on offense, and imposing their will on the defensive end of the court. At the end of the first half the score was 62-37 (!). I was hoping that at some point the Bulls would waive the white flag, or maybe one of the refs calls the fight. The lead in the 4th quarter went up to 41 points. The Bulls should be ashamed of their lack of effort, and this was awfully similar to some of the games we saw from the Knicks last year. Greg Oden played his first home game in the Rose Garden was warmly received, rewarding fans with not only a win but 11 and 10 in only 17 minutes. Blazers 116, Bulls 74

*Wait, the Kings beat the Hornets without their best scorer, and with Chris Paul getting 20 points, 15 dimes, and 4 steals? The Hornets had more rebounds, more blocks, more steals, same assists, and less turnovers, but still didn't win the game. The hot shooting of the Kings, let by John Salmons 29 points, got them their 5^th win of the season, surprisingly matching the Hornets win total. This was supposedly to be an easy win for the Hornets, and this was a big surprise. Good win for the Kings, who really needed to make some noise before head coach Reggie Theus get the blame for this horribly put-together team. Kings 105, Hornets 96

*Same story with Randy Whitman, who will eventually take the blame for the Wolves putting together this ball club. Their backcourt is too small, their front court is too small, but when hot, they can shoot the lights out of the building like Mike Miller and Co. did tonight. Miller almost got a triple double with 10 points, 10 boards and 6 assists. Al Jefferson added 28 points and 8 boards, with Craig Smith stepping it up and adding 21 of his own. The Wolves haven’t won a game in 3 weeks, but with the Sixers coming into town, it was a good chance to get a win against a team still struggling to find an identity on the court. The Sixers just aren’t moving the ball well, and didn’t get into the passing lanes enough, letting Minnesota out-assist them 29 to 19. Elton Brand continues struggling from the floor, shooting 9 for 21, giving him his lowest FG% of his career at 43%, when his career average is over 50%. Wolves 102, Sixers 96

*It was looking good for the Thunder in the first half, but the second half, the Clippers came out and dominated, with Chris Kaman leading the way with 25 points, 14 boards, 6 assists (!) and 4 blocks (!). Cuttino Mobley was also on fire in the second half, hitting big shots to extend the lead, and getting a whopping 7 steals (!). This second half team was what Mike Dunleavy knew he could get out of his players eventually. If the Clippers can play like this night in and night out, they definitely should be contending for that 8 spot going into the playoffs. The Clips beat the Thunder 59-36 in the second half, giving OKC their 11^th loss of the season (with only 1 win). Clippers 108, Thunder 88

*Dallas had control of their game the entire time, never giving up the lead after the first quarter. For Houston, Yao Ming sat the game out for precautionary reasons, after feeling slight pain in his surgically repaired foot. The big story/player of the night was definitely Jason Terry, going 13 for 21 from the floor, finishing with 31 points, with two points coming late in the fourth quarter, putting the final nail in the coffin. Much to most people’s surprise, T-Mac did make it to the game, after telling reporters a day earlier that he’s going to have to shut it down for a while. That was a pretty quick recovery. The Mavs improved their record to 5-7, but still haven’t been able to capture a win at home in front of their fans. Mavs 96, Rockets 86

*Utah continues to be a consistent and quiet winner. Has there been a more consistent competitive team over the past 15 to 20 years? No way. Richard Jefferson led the Bucks with 25 points, but CJ Miles matched that, and led his team to another win without Deron Williams. Congrats to former No 1 draft pick Andrew Bogut for pulling down 20 boards. If this guy could stay out of foul trouble who knows what his game could look like. But the defense of the Jazz really stepped it up, beating the Bucks on blocks 10-1 (!), 9 blocks coming off the bench by Andre Kirilenko and Paul Millsap. The smothering defense only allowed 18 points in the closing quarter. Carlos Boozer added 20 points and 11 boards, giving the Jazz their 8^th win of the season, improving to 8-4. Jazz 105, Bucks 94

Wednesday Breakdown

2008-11-19T19:00:00.004-05:00

*Ballerblogger compiles all the links about the LeBron free agency talk. I think it's clear at this point that LeBron is going to leave Cleveland. He says he wants to go wherever he can win the most chips, but he has plenty of time left in his career after 2010. If i was a betting man, i'd bet he would leave Cleveland in a sign and trade, making sure Cleveland gets something in return so the entire city doesn't hate him (will be very interesting).

*NBA players fart too (Via Ball Don't Lie). That's what I call a bench warmer (too easy).

*Julius Hodge, X-NBA player, X-Gun Shot victim, blogging at HoopsHype on the NBA and on a mission to get a championship (albeit in Australia).

*Dime Mag giving us a list of the best Finals MVP performances. Second one down takes the cake, of course. Sheesh, what a line from Michael.

*Staying with Dime, McNabb playing hoops for Cuse!

*TrueHoop breakin down the 'many faces of Derrick Rose.'

Wednesday Wake n Break

2008-11-19T10:29:00.002-05:00

Apologies to my followers for not posting a Wednesday Wake n Break. I was at an event, honoring Bill Tingling for his work on the Words of Bonds project. As Managing Director of Words of Bonds, it was my duty and honor to attend the event and see Bill get the TASC 2008 Excellence Award

Please check out www.wordsofbonds.com

Tuesday Breakdown

2008-11-18T23:08:00.003-05:00

Better late than never...some quick hits:

*Lil Weezy, breakin' it deezy at ESPN Magazine.

*Dime Mag, with the latest on the Nets move to Brooklyn (or lack of move).

*ProBasketballNews.com, via TrueHoop on Sam Cassell and his unusually large and consistently loud mouth.

*Real GM, bundling Chris Mullin and Monta Ellis into one package.

*Pete Newell passed way. Honestly, no clue who he was, but he was certainly loved because everyone and their grandmothers are writing about how important Pete was to the game, and to each individual. Forum Blue and Gold collected the info for us.

*Last but not least, Ball Don't Lie giving us...

5 Year Old Girl Basketball Star - Basketball Training

Tuesday Wake n Break

2008-11-18T07:34:00.002-05:00

*It was a tight first half in Oklahoma City, where the Rockets and Thunder tied the score 19 times. The Rockets took a small lead into the half, 56-50, led by Luis Scola with 15 and Yao Ming filling up the box score with 8 points, 5 boards, 2 assists and 2 early blocks. Major blow #1 for the rockets came in the second quarter when T-Mac seemed to maybe re-injure his surgically repaired knee. The second half was more of the same. For the Thunder, Russell Westbrook is really playing well, and stealing some of Earl Watson’s minutes/responsibility. Watson played only 25 minutes, going 1-8, finishing with as many turnovers as points; 3 (ouch). Major blow #2 came as the game was winding down, when Ron Artest turned his ankle while driving to the hoop. Hopefully both T-Mac and Ron Ron recover quickly. Wins often speed up the process. Rockets 100, Thunder 89

*Amare Stoudamire had 15 points in the first half, and Phoenix led early on in Utah. The second half, the Jazz really stepped it up, and it was the rebounding and bench play that won it for them. The Jazz out-rebounded the Suns 47-26. Add to that the fact that the Jazz bench outscored the Suns bench 59-16 (!), and that’ll give you a win. Total team effort by the Jazz who had 6 players in double digits (4 of which came of the bench). Phoenix was a little slow coming off of the big win against Detroit, but that isn’t the worst excuse of the night. The worst excuse of the night goes to Steve Nash who says, “They’re a good running team at home and we’re not really a running team at the moment.” Yea, ok. Jazz 109, Suns 97

*Wasn’t a pretty game in Clipperdom last night, but that’s how the Spurs like it. If you limit the possessions, it really gives the advantage to San Antonio, since their defense and system is more mature than what the Clippers have right now (or maybe ever). The Spurs had an 11 point lead in the fourth, that was slowly being chipped at and then got tied on a big Cuttino Mobley 3-pointer. Tim Duncan had the big numbers, going for 20 points, 15 boards, and holding down the D with 6 blocks (!). But the real man of the night was Roger Mason Jr, getting 21, but no points more important that a 3-pointer to take the lead and win the game, only giving Baron Davis enough time to throw up a brick at the buzzer. Spurs 86, Clips 83

Monday Breakdown

2008-11-17T19:17:00.004-05:00

*As usual, the Mondaily Power Rankings, both NBA.com and ESPN.com. NBA.com has Cleveland as #1, much to the distaste of LA and Bostonites. NBA.com rankings generally fluctuate a lot more, and that holds true this week as well. At ESPN.com, it's the bottom of the rankings that are a little surprising, with the Bucks making it to 17th in the league (no idea why), and the Nets moving up to 19th, after 3 brilliant Devin Harris 30 pointers in a row. An interesting note on OJ Mayo, Mayo's 210 points in his first 10 NBA games can be beat by only two active players: Shaq (238) and AI (224).

*Forum Blue and Gold, telling Phil Jackson, it's time to change the mix.

*The circus is in town, so the Bulls are on the road. Blog-a-Bull's got some issues going into the tough road trip, especially the play of the bigs.

*InsideHoops with an exclusive Richard Jefferson interview. Not really sure why they made that move, considering the already have a pretty good wing man in Michael Redd, and clearly some front court issues. He was confused too, and wasn't too excited about leaving. Now, RJ's saying he was just homesick.

*Exclusive interviews with Randy Foye and Randy Wittman on HoopsHype. Props to them for asking the tough questions! Randy's been battling for more minutes, but he definitely says the right thing when talking about Wittman being in the hot seat.

*That Devin Harris for JKidd trade is looking pretty good for the Nets right now. Granted, they're still a free agent signing in 2010 to compete, but Harris is playing out of his mind right now. Three, 30 point games in a row...? Low turnovers, great %'s (especially free throws), moving the ball around, and court leadership. Dime Magazine says the Mavs would be better if they had Harris.

*Staying with Dime. I couldn't help myself but post this. (Not safe the for more traditional working environments). Huge Bobcats fan here.

Breakin' Down the Fantasy Week

2008-11-16T17:27:00.003-05:00

No 2-gamers or 5-gamers this week. Most teams have 3 games this week. The teams that have 4 are: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, LA, LA, Milkuakee, OKC, Portland, Sactown, Toronto, Utah and Washington.

Notes from around the league:

*Jason Richardson had a minor procedure that should keep him out this week.

*Michael Redd, Al Harrington, Shawn Marion (who did play yesterday), and Deron Williams are all considered Day-2-Day, so start at your own risk.

*Anderson Varejao has been getting a lot of minutes, but with Z and Big Ben both playing well, all three are sharing the Fantasy love.

*In Detroit, Tashawn Prince is playing a lot of the point-forward and that has increased his assist totals, and also averaging one 3-pointer a game.

*Because of the injuries to Manu and Tony Parker, George Hill and Roger Mason are both playing a lot of minutes.

*With Mike Dunleavy still out, the production has come from Marquis Daniels. He's very inconsistent, so it's a roll of the dice.

*Mo Evans and Marvin Williams are both getting increased minutes with Josh Smith out. Both are performing well and valuable in deep leagues.

*Rafer Alson was in danger of losing his job before the suspension. Now Aaron Brooks is starting 2 games, and has been playing well all season. Position battle to keep your eye on.

*In OKC, Russell Westbrook is playing a very mature game for his age. I suspect they'll give him a lot of run and let him learn, being the prospective point guard for that team in the future. That means good stats for the most part, but low FG% and high TO.

*No one really stepped up to take the center spot in Washington, so JaVale McGee's recent play has definitely earned him some run. Has been very good with FG% and Blocks, for his obvious gravity-defying abilities.

*Robin Lopez has taking the starting spot from Josh Boone while Boone is injured. After one spectacular game, he had a less than mediocre one.

Weekend Breakdown

2008-11-15T13:36:00.004-05:00

A few links to get you by for the weekend:

*The people of Philadelphia just aren't feeling this team, reports SLAM online. They needed to get off to a hot start, and win the town over with the Elton Brand signing, but it didn't happen. They're looking to do okay, but Philadelphia was expecting more. After all, the focus for the fans went to Elton Brand, who isn't exactly up there with Allen Iverson on the excitement chart. Andre Iguodala was getting there, but he's been bashful this season, trying to fit in around Brand.

*InsideHoops.com breaks down the poor shooting of Allen Iverson. Last night was an exception, where he shot the ball abnormally well, and it lead to a victory of the undefeated Lakers. But this doesn't happen often on Iverson teams. What usually happens is Iverson is the center of the offense, and he forces the defense to get out of position, by using his speed to create chaos. That's how an "Iverson team" functions on offesnse, and either he doesn't understand Detroit doesn't' work like that, or Detroit is slowly adapting to play with Allen. It looks like a mix of both right now, with AI able to finish some plays, and also AI running frantic confusing the defense.

*HoopsHype.com nominates Jerry Sloan for President in 2012.

*Ballerblogger.com blaming the Southwest Division for the Western Conference's fall from superiority. This is why you don't' change the seeding format when all of a sudden one conference is much better than the other. It will eventually balance out, since that makes some really good players want to play in a weaker conference, or Eastern teams making trades for stronger guys since the competition is weaker than normal.

*An article by Andrew Katz of Dime, detailing the sob sessions of Chauncey Billups and Rip Hamilton when they found out of the trade. I dunno, I just don't agree with NBA players letting everyone know about crying with another guy. I'm not saying don't do it, but damn, keep that close to the chest. Ya wussies.

*Another 'Garbage Time All-Stars' Comic Strip for Ball Don't Lie. This time with a clever comparison of Glibert Arenas and Josh Childress. Stillllll don't' think a big name player wouldn't enjoy more money, an easier schedule, and being the superstar of European basketball??

*TrueHoop writes about an interview with Shaquille O'Neal where he says with conviction that Phil Jackson was the mastermind between the Kobe/Shaq feuds that led to 3 championships. Makes sense I guess. Why didn't Phil, with his zen-like, peace making ways, put Kobe and Shaq in the same room and work it out? Not one time? Interesting...

*Last but certainly not least, a few super high quality links all from ex-NBA Coach Eric Musselman's blog. Making sure players know their roles. Holding every player to the same standard. Keys to offensive officiency, and using the Utah Jazz as the example.

Live From The Garden: Knicks -v- Thunder

2008-11-15T00:38:00.003-05:00

Pretty empty walking into the Garden tonight. The New York fans can't be fooled, or teased that easily. We'll need some wins against some good teams, before getting our hopes up. So far, it's just been B-List teams we've beaten, and decent teams we've lost to. Sixers had some serious troubles, the Spurs were without TP and Manu, and Milwaukee just isn't that great of a team. So don't blame us for being pessimistic, we're just not convinced yet.

It was interesting and new to see the word "Thunder" on the scoreboard, as opposed boring and old PJ Carlesimo on the sidlines for Oklahoma City. The game started off frantic, the Knicks running up the court, and just draining shots. With 4 minutes left in the first quarter, the Knicks were already at 25 points. Zach Randolph got two quick fouls, both stupid fouls he shoud have avoided (illegal screens). That didn't stop the Knicks from finishing the first quarter with 37 points (wow), to the Thunder's 20.

The second quarter was more of the same, and the Knicks finished the first half leading by 24 points, 68-44. Nate Robinson was a huge lift off the bench, which seams to be the standard in New York, and had 13 points, 3 boards and 2 assists.

The last time I saw the Knicks with a big lead at the half, they stopped playing part of the third and fourth, and barely won in the end (Opening day against the Heat). That kind of momentum led to butt whoopings by the Sixers and Bucks. Unfortunately, much of the same happened tonight. The Knicks didn't keep the pressure on, got complacent, and let the Thunder back into the game, allowing 33 (!) points in the third quarter, and 29 in the fourth. The #4 pick in the 2008 draft, Rookie Russell Westbrook, was super impressive tonight, finishing with 19 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists, on 50% FG and 6-7 Free Throw. He's got some good size, court vision, and can finish at the basket, so that should translate into a solid NBA point guard. The Thunder got the lead down to 7, but Jamal Crawford went one-on-one a few times in the row, sealing the deal.
Knicks 116, Thunder 106

Friday Wake n Break

2008-11-14T08:18:00.003-05:00

*The new-look Nuggets went to Cleveland to face King James in his court. It was a high scoring first half, with a few thunderous dunks, mostly by LeBron, and one by Nene. Early in the second, the Cavs got some productive minutes from JJ Hickson. They were feeding him in the post, and it looks like this kid might have some game. At the end of the half it was Chauncey with the big stats, going 7/8 for from the field for 18, and for the Cavs, Mo Williams, his buddy in ‘real life’, with 16. The Cavs built a ton of momentum going in the fourth quarter, with a Boobie Gibson 3 pointer, and a long LeBron jumpshot in the final second of play. The Cavs bench held it down, and LeBron was able to get a long rest for the start of the fourth, only coming into the game with 4:30 remaining, and obviously a ton of energy. It didn’t matter much though, because the Nuggets just went cold in the fourth, concluding with Kenyon Martin acting like an idiot, throwing elbows around, and getting tossed. Cavs 110, Nuggets 99

*Dallas started the game strong, taking a 19-point lead. The Chicago crowd grew frustrated fast, and started boo’ing heavily. However, apparently that was all the gas Dallas had in the tank, because they didn’t do much after that. Larry Hughes made his presence felt immediately, with a key 3-pointer and steal, that started a 10-0 run, extended a lead for the Bulls. Ben Gordon’s shot was on tonight, and when his shot is on, they’re tough to beat. Benny G scored 35 pointes overall, going 12-21 from the field and 8-9 from the charity stripe. This is the fourth loss in a row for the Mavs, and that is sure to stir up some commotion in Cubanland. It already began, after the game: "It's disappointing. We desperately need a win. "I'm just surprised at our lack of fight. I don't know how else to put it."- Maverick’s Coach, Rick Carlisle Bulls 98, Mavs 91

*It wasn’t a pretty game in Golden State, with both teams combining for 33 turnovers, but it was a fun one. The first half ended with Biedrens already in a double double (he’s had one in every game thus far), and the Warriors had a 7 point lead at the half. Sheed and Ivo look like they’re having a good time together, especially when watching the interview with John Thompson on Inside the NBA, but it’s not translating into success on the court. The third quarter came around, and the Pistons started off from behind. But that’s when AI turned it up and gave Detroit a lead. Golden State didn’t stay down long, and took back lead after Rasheed Wallace tipped in a basket into his own bucket, and missed two crucial free throws. As usual, Rasheed lost his cool, but as usual, Rasheed took that energy and put it into two shots from deep, and a dunk to seal the deal. The win doesn’t change the fact that the Pistons don’t look good on the court, a majority of the time. The Pistons are used to slowing the game down a bit, and running sets on offense, but with AI, he causes chaos with the rock (which usually leads to good things). If and when they get on the same page, this team will be scary. But I’d put my money on ‘the when’ being too late to compete for a chip. Pistons 107, Warriors 102

Thursday Breakdown

2008-11-13T19:04:00.005-05:00

*Looks like we have a favorite to be the next Lakers coach after Action Phil Jackson's had enough. It couldn't be a better choice, either. LA Times caught up with Byron Scott and he can't help but want that job. The guy has winner written all over him. The teams he took to the Finals in New Jersey definitely over-achieved. The Hornets are up and running immediately, contending for a title. His players love him, the Princeton offense is risk-free, he focuses on defense and never gets flustered. This guy is good, and he's going to be a coach in this league for a very long time.

*Greg Oden, on his blog about playing his first full game. So far his blog is very similar to his game on the court. Not impressive, and boring. This guy is a prime prospect for "we'll be talking about upside" the rest of his career. I honestly hope that doesn't happen, since he seems like a high-character player, but it's looking that way early on.

*Donnie Walsh is not getting enough heat about this Gallinari pick. Sixth pick in the draft, and we got a guy, who New York Post reports, might be done for the season. We passed up on guys like sharp-shooter Eric Gordon, D.J. Augustine (who Michael Jordan signed to his clothing company and clearly is going to replace Felton in the starting lineup) and two, I repeat, two 7-Footers with great hands who block shots, in the Lopez brothers. Donnie, yous got some splainin to do.

*Gilbert Arenas couldn't come up with something better than this for his Obama tattoo? Weak dude. I swear, to me it looks like, "In Between We Change." No?? Even if it's the other way. Change. We believe in? Thanks Yoda.

*Some really inspirational stuff from Jamal Crawford on his blog about the tough times, and how sweet it is to have some fun, win some games. You can tell he was super excited to get back to the blog to share that with his fans. Also talks about "Coach D," and a Stephon Marbury story of old.

*Saw this on TrueHoop, comparing the Ego's of Michael Jordan and PE Obama. Sheesh; guy has some rocks.

"Obama, who is not without an ego, regarded himself as just as gifted as his top strategists in the art and practice of politics. Patrick Gaspard, the campaign's political director, said that when, in early 2007, he interviewed for a job with Obama and Plouffe, Obama said that he liked being surrounded by people who expressed strong opinions, but he also said, 'I think that I'm a better speechwriter than my speechwriters. I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. And I'll tell you right now that I'm gonna think I'm a better political director than my political director.' After Obama's first debate with McCain, on September 26th, Gaspard sent him an e-mail. 'You are more clutch than Michael Jordan,' he wrote. Obama replied, 'Just give me the ball.'"

*Also from TrueHoop, the following video for my fellow Knickerbocker fans:

Charlie Rose - A Conversation with Mike D'Antoni

Are you SURE it's a contest?

2008-11-13T13:33:00.004-05:00

Brought to you by the Kung Fu Balla, D.A.

con·test n. 1. A struggle for superiority or victory between rivals

If there is one thing I don't understand about the NBA, it's how all the diva NBA players in their heads think they are the best dunkers in the NBA, but for some reason they won't have a show-down in the NBA slam dunk contest.

The contest used to be exactly what it states, a contest, the goal of which was to be the called the best dunker in the NBA. Dominique Wilkins participated in 5 of them, Shawn Kemp did 4 of them, and Jordan did 3 of them.

The three best dunkers in the NBA today, Vince Carter, Kobe Bryant, and Lebron James have competed in a total of 2 contests. Who knows their reasons; injury risk, wanting to give younger guys a chance, too scared of losing. Regardless, they need to overcome these reasons while they are all still in their prime and put on a show for NBA fans.

Today, the contest is pointless; the participants don't act like they care. How could they care with Kobe sitting on the sidelines at the NBA all star game? The contestants all know that Kobe could take a ball, while wearing his suit and holding his video camera, and do 360 windmill dunk that would instantly proclaim him slam dunk champion.

Kobe, Vince, Lebron--grow up and get over your fear of looking stupid on national TV. Put on the contest that will go down in history. Do it now, because in a few years your dunks won't be as good, and you'll just be a retired player on the sidelines talking about how you thought you were the best dunker of your era.

Here's a few oldie but goodies for your enjoyment:

Thursday Wake n Break

2008-11-13T07:33:00.003-05:00

Thanks to Smuve J for helping out with this morning's Wake n Break!

*The 76ers ended their 3-game slide tonight behind the leadership of Elton Brand. He scored a season-high 25 with 8 boards and 3 blocks. From the beginning of the game the 6ers set a tone, scoring 26 and allowing only 13 in the first quarter. The Raptors came back in the second with 32, but by the 4th this game was pretty much over. The Andre bros. both scored 18. Chris Bosh was exceptional with 30 and 12, while Jermaine O'Neal added 19 and 11. Jose Calderon injured his hamstring, and was a non-factor. Hope to see more games frmo Brand like this one. Philadelphia 106, Toronto 96

*The Hawks finally got L #1. Their first L this year, came at the hands of their final L last year. Again, it was another dramatic loss, with Paul Pierce nailing a long 2 at the buzzer. The big-3 in Boston had fairly solid games, while Pierce had 34, obviously his most importtant bucket at the end, sending the Hawks home with the Boston crowd going nuts. Al Horford couldn't replicate his last night's performance against KG and co, but the Hawks received major contributions off the bench from Maurice Evans and Flip Murray, scoring 13 and 14 points respectively. Both teams now have 1 loss and each time they play, we're sure to get an exciting matchup. Boston 103, Atlanta 102

*Vince Carter stopped crying long enough to score a game-high 28. This was all to no avail, though is was a superb individual performance. A great team always beats a great individual. The Pacers had 6 players in double-figures, with TJ Ford really taking advantage of Devin Harris in street clothes, going for 18 points, 9 assists, 8 rebounds and 3 steals. Inidiana got their 3rd win in a row, handing the Nets their 5th loss. Indiana 98, New Jersey 87

*The Lakers remain the only undefeated team in the league. The rest of the NBA should be extremely worried. The Lakers made it to the Finals last season, and now Bynum is healthy and Odom is coming off the bench! This is a much better team than last years, and they obviously are hungry. It's not like they were playing the Thunder. This is the Hornets, and a team who many call a contender for the Finals. Yes, the Lakers never trailed at any point. The Hornets only scored 30 points in the first half, only to step it up big time in teh fourth (32 points) but by then it was too late. The Lakers balanced their attacked, 5 players scored in double-digits with Kobe and D-Fish leading the way with 20 each. CP3 put his team on his back again, scoring 30, dishing 13 and pulling down 7. Lakers win in extremely convincing fashion, leading by as much as 23. LA Lakers 93, New Orleans 86

*Miami and Portland are two young teams with a lot of talent. Brandon Roy is a very talented player, but he isn't D-Wade. Youth often means inexperience, and the Heat showed that with a season-high 17 turnovers. Wade continues his prolific scoring streak putting up 36, many of his points coming as the team needed them in the 4th. Only problem is that the Blazers were a little better, with Rudy Fernandez coming off the bench and scoring 25. Rudy hit a beautiful spin move jump shot to spread the lead, only to be followed by a D.Wade dunk like i've never seen from him. This was very LeBron-like, dunking it on 3 Blazer players (!). However, when they got to the other side of the court, Steve Blake nailed a 3 to finsih it up. Oh, and there was a Greg Oden sighting, and he didn't get hurt, but he also wasn't very productive pulling down 2 boards and getting his first 3 points in the league. Portland 104, Miami 96

*This is going to be an extremely difficult season for the Spurs. Manu and Parker are out, and there is nobody who can score the basketball. The Spurs started out well, scoring 43 and allowing 31 in the first half. But the tale of the tape is always what happens down the stretch. They only scored 35 in the second half while the Bucks picked up the pace, scoring 51. Timmy and Michael Finley did all they could, scoring 24 and 19 respectively, but you are not going to beat many teams scoring only 18, 16 and 19 in each quarter as a team. Richard Jefferson lead the Bucks with 19. Milwaukee 82, Spurs 78

*With the games that Bosh and Brand had, you wouldnt' think someone else would trump them in such a ridiculous fashion. Dwight Howard got his first triple-double of is career tonight, but not the way you are thinking. Howard had 30 points, 19 rebounds and 10 blocks (!!!). Can someone please call animal control and tell the that a monster is on the loose? Howard's monster night didn't stop the Magic from sharing the ball, with every starter scoring in double-figures. Jeff Green led the Thunder with 25. They went down, didn't have a chance since their best player was in street clothes, nursing a sore left ankle. Magic 109, Thunder 92

*Let's congratulate the Wizards, they finally got their first win of the season against a very stubborn Jazz team. Caron and Twan were two major reasons the Wiz pulled this one out, but the contributions of rookie JaVale McGee could not be overlooked. He scored 13 while pulling down 11 and blocking 3. McGee also made it extremely difficult for Carlos Boozer to do anything. This was a close one throughout, but Juan Dixon and Twan hit big 3's late in the game to seal it for the Wiz. Washington 95, Utah 87

*The Knicks accomplished a feat last night that they have never done in the history of the franchise, make 19 3's. This lead to the team scoring 132, with Chandler and Crawford combining for 52. The Knicks shot 59% from the field, and 56% from 3-point land (!!). Add to that the fact that they went 100% from the free throw line, and tis might be the best shooting game I've seen in a decade. Nasty Nate went 8 for 8, and 5 for 5 from the stripe. Wilson Chandler was under the weather, but still managed to go 11 for 12 and put up 27. It would have been even better if the game was in the Garden, the TRUE Knick fans deserved to see this in person. The Grizz got good games from Gay Rudy, Miracle Whip and the other Gasol, but no one could stop that scoring spree. New York 132, Memphis 103

*When the Clippers put it all together, they will be a really good team. Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be anytime soon. Beno Udrih exploded tonight, finally getting into the swing of things after missing training camp, and finally earning some of that contract he signed. He had 30 points, and only 1 turnover, and no Kevin Martin to help with the scoring. Al Thornton had 20 for the Clips, and BD had some good stats, but went 4-15 from the field, making it tough for the Clips to stay in the game. Is all okay in Clipland? Reports of B. Diddy and Big Dunleavy not being on the same page are floating around. Good ol' Hollywood drama. Sacramento 103, LA Clippers 98

*I wonder how long Terry Porter (or Steve Kerr) is going to last in Phoenix. They're not doing too poorly, but a coach needs to utilize the strengths of their team. This is not a defensive team. A team with Steve Nash will never be a defensive team. Unfortunately for the Suns, they played one of the better defensive teams in the league in the Rockets. They were in control for the whole game, led by T-Mac with 27. Congrats to Shaq, who passes Steve Havlicek on the all-time scoring list. There was a mini-brawl at the end of the 3rd quarter, almost got very ugly. Matt Barnes put a forearm shiver into Rafer Alston while he was setting a pick, leading to a T-Mac 3. Alston did not appreciate that and the madness ensued. Both Barnes and Alston were ejected from the game. The Suns wish that everyone on the Rockets could get thrown out, then maybe they could have had a chance. Rockets 94, Suns 82

Wednesday Breakdown

2008-11-12T21:13:00.003-05:00

*Basketball Prospectus digs deep into Ron Artest. Breakin' down his offense, defense, and more.

*The long-awaited Power Rankings, by John Hollinger, who I guess is some sort of Math genius on the side. Inventor of the PER rating. While most power rankings are a matter of opinion, John takes any and all opinion out, leaving it up to the numbers. A few things jump out, one especially, that the Knicks are ranked 25th and there are 9 teams, with worse records (!), ranked ahead of them. You can say, well, that's why the stats don't mean anything. Or you can say, well, that's why those close wins and no defense don't mean much in the long run.

*A bunch of fantastic finds on True Hoop, including some funny math, where Kill + Mode = Cheese (?) and Baron Davis, Chris Bosh...doing skits. Okayyy. Little too much time on your hands fellas. Well, for CB, I guess keep doing what your doing, cause it's working. Total beast this year. MVP material and stats. Too bad he's north of the border, or he could have a chance of winning it.

*The fact that LeBron James jumped from (almost) the free throw line last night, made it look so easy, and no one is talking about it, is beyond me. Ball Don't Lie has the super slow motion for ya.

*Staying with Ball Don't Lie, an exclusive Interview with Brandon Roy.

*Last but not least, HOW THE HELL DID STEPHON MARBURY MAKE IT TO THE ALL-STAR BALLOT?? This leads me to ask, did anyone proofread this? I mean, come on. No one read it after some computer auto-generated it and said, "Maybe Steph shouldn't be on here?"

What do you guys think? Any other weird inclusions, or even better, who got snubbed from the ballot??

Wednesday Wake n Break

2008-11-12T08:08:00.001-05:00

*The Knicks tried to make it 3 in a row, going 5-2 overall, but couldn’t pull it out against the Spurs in San Antonio. It wasn’t a pretty game, with both teams struggling to create offense in the first half, the score was 41-38. Jamal Crawford picked things up, going 6-8 from downtown, and David Lee finally saw some light in D’Antoni’s offense getting 15 points. Crawford’s scoring spree, and D.Lee’s flurry late in the game, still wasn’t enough to stop a Spurs team struggling to find an identity after losing Tony Parker to injury. Roger Mason was having difficulty leading the offense, and had to force himself to shoot the ball instead of running off the ball to catch and shoot. However, the elder statesmen, Bruce Bowen and Mike Finley stepped it up in the fourth and hit some key buckets. The big story was the Spurs defense in the fourth, not allowing the Knicks to score until 5:02 into the quarter. Spurs 92, Knicks 80

*Denver is undefeated since they picked up Chauncey (3-0). You can see they are distributing the ball more efficiently, by looking at how spread out the scoring was, with five guys in double figures (and one assist to Nene that shook the stadium). None of the five to score 10 or more was JR Smith. What happened to this guy? He was supposed to explode in the absence of Iverson, but for the third game, a very poor outing. Tonight he had his worst game, getting 3 points on 7 shots. Charlotte is finally getting some production from the third pick of the 2006 draft, A-Mo (formally known as Adam Morrison). His 16 points, and Jason Richardson’s 27, wasn’t enough to get a win in Charlotte against the up and coming Nuggets. Nuggets 88, Bobcats 80

*The Atlanta Hawks are 6-0! Only two undefeated teams left, the Hawks and Lakers. Is that a finals prediction for anyone?? The Hawks did it again tonight, this time without leading shot blocker, and defensive animal Josh Smith. But that was okay, since Al Horford, who many say should have won the Rookie of the Year award last year, stepped it up big time with 27 points, 17 boards, and 6 blocks! Joe Johnson wasn’t feeling it tonight, going 4 for 16, but Mike Bibby and Mo Evans took care of it, hitting 14 of 27 shots, netting 49 between the two of them. Now that Drew Gooden is out, the Bulls front court is once again a total mess. I’m still mad that John Paxson didn’t sell high on some of the assets he had, when he had a chance for KG or maybe even Kobe. Hawks 113, Bulls 108

*In 3 of the last 4 games, LeBron James has scored 41 points (!). LeBron hit another 3 pointer, and hit 8 of 10 foul shots, shutting up the critics who said those flaws in his game are hindering his superstar success. This was also Mo Williams first time playing his old team, and he enjoyed the win even more so because of it. At the interview after the game, LeBron says, “It doesn’t matter. It’s just one of those nights, again, whenever I get the ball, wherever I get the ball, it’s gonna go in. When I’m in the zone like that; no matter where I catch it.” Damn, that’s gangster. Cavs 99, Bucks 93

*The featured game on NBAtv tonight was Lakers vs. Mavericks in Dallas, where Kobe has been known to go off for crazy amounts of points. Only now, you can see Kobe is reserving himself, making sure he defers to his teammates and gets them involved throughout the game. It seemed as though the Mavs had good control over this game, but when the fourth quarter came, it turned into Lakers domination and they went +10 for the fourth. JKidd done did it again, with Triple-Double #101 (wow). But as usual, in a big game, it was Dirk disappearing again, finishing with 14 points on 5 for 17 shooting. Gerald Green looked great tonight, but was in and out of the game due to a bloody lip, and some foul trouble. If he stayed in, and continued playing like he did in the first, the outcome could have been different. He played some great D on Kobe, and hit a few shots that looked promising for this traveling NBA player. Lakers 106, Mavs 90

*I’m definitely worried about the Sixers. They had a huge game from Andre Miller, EB got 6 blocks, but once again the Sixers fell short, and by a lot. Elton Brand still hasn’t gotten into offensive rhythm, and I don’t see it happening until they get some shooters around him. It might not have mattered anyway, since the Jazz were playing great without Deron Williams, and now they have him back. He didn’t do much scoring-wise, but helped the team with 9 assists in limited (31) minutes. Kirilenko and Milsap came up big off the bench, each getting 16 points on great %’s (14-20), and outscoring the Sixers bench 38-12 (!). Jazz 93, Sixers 80

*It didn’t take long for AI to get back into true warrior form. He showed why pound-for-pound he is still the best player in the league (maybe best ever), scoring 30 with 9 dimes and 7 boards. Sacramento was without their leading scorer Kevin Martin, but still took the early lead, scoring 31 in the first quarter against Detroit’s 18. But in typical Detroit fashion, they stepped it up in the fourth quarter and outscored the Kings 25 to 15. T-Prince had a active game adding 27 and 11. Rip struggle most of the game, shooting 4-16, but finished with 17 and 4. Sacramento had a overall good game from every player, Spencer Hawes led the team in scoring off the bench with 19 and 6, and Jason Thomspon another strong rookie outing, getting 15 and 9 as a starter. Detroit improves to 5-2 getting their first win with AI, but they’ll have to beat a team better than the Kings without their best player, in order to stop the early criticism. Pistons 100, Kings 92

*This was a Don Nelson type of game, high-scoring with very little regard for defense. But sometimes your best defense is a good offense! Al Jefferson showed some defensive pride last night, getting 4 blocks to add to his 25 points and 12 boards. Someone invited Ronny Turiaf to the block party, and he got 3 of his own. This game came down to the last minutes, with the Warriors coming from behind to make things interesting. With 7 minutes left in the game the Wolves had a 10 point lead, but that wasn’t enough. The Warriors came back and tied the game 106-106 with .22 seconds left in the game to take the Wolves to overtime. The extra period belonged to Stephen Jackson, scoring 6 of his 30 points in OT, while the Wolves couldn’t get at bucket until 1:05 left in the game. The Warriors win while the Wolves continue their slide and make it 6 losses in a row after their promising opening day win. The Wolves are having some serious lineup issues, not sure who should be starting or sitting, and tonight only made it more complex with the bench outscoring their starters to 61-49 (!). Warriors 113, T-Wolves 110

Tuesday Breakdown

2008-11-11T19:11:00.003-05:00

*I still don't know if this pic is real or not. Is it the angle? Or...is it photoshopped? Is photoshop a verb? Let me know what you think. If it's real, holy crap. That's insane.

*Hardwood Paroxysm, comparing OJ Mayo to the Sun God, Ra. I thought he'd win Rookie of the Year, not exactly Sun God status, but that's cool with me. OJ had 33 points last night, one game after going for 31 points. Last night he got 19 in just the fourth quarter. I don't think Derrick Rose is going to get 19 points in a single quarter ever in his career. 19 points in a quarter shows very impressive offensive ability. Flip side is...he could just wind up being the next Ben Gordon.

*Ball Don't Lie has a nice comparison of Kevin Pritchard (GM for the Blazers) and Otis Smith (GM for the Magic). Basically, because K-Pritch didn't do a bonehead move like give Rashard Lewis $122 Million (!), he's in better shape. Check out ow much of a crutch that is towards their salary cap, at HoopsHype.com. For what? So far this year, they're getting 16 points and 7 boards. That is NOT max money at all. Even Dwight Howard is getting $4 Mil less per year.

*Things are on the up in Denver. Pickaxe and Roll is loving the attitude and perseverance of his team. "The point is there are athletes in every sport who look for a reason to take the easy way out. They may not walk away, but they find an excuse to simply collect their paycheck even though they are not giving it their all every time they step on the court." Through the Camby trade, missing the playoffs, etc, they are still giving it their all, and got a early Xmas present in Chauncey Billups for their effort.

*Lot of talk about where Antonio McDyess is going sign. The odds are in favor that he re-signs with Detroit, as he originally said he'd play no where else. But Dyess wants some Ice, and he might go to whoever could get him a ring. San Antonio could use some help. Boston loves the veteran add-ons. Cleveland probably just doesn't want him signing elsewhere, and there's more. Dyess is way past his prime but is a good teammate, good basketball IQ, and could be a glue guy on a championship team.

Monday Wake n Break

2008-11-11T08:05:00.003-05:00

*It was TJ Ford, with a career stat line tonight in Indiana, getting the victory over the Thunder. TJ had 24 points on 10 of 19 shots, including both 3’s he attempted, and 2 for 2 from the line. Add to that 10 Assists, 7 Rebounds, 2 Steals and a Block, while only finishing with two turnovers. He carried the team, also making some key buckets at the end to seal the deal.

*Jermaine O'Neal, the other end fo the TJ Ford trade, faced off against the Celtics tonight in Toronto. While the Raptors looked like the better team most of the game, the Celtics turned it up a notch, and stole the win. JO had 23 points, 11 boards, and 5 dimes in this losing effort, but it was nice to see JO putting up numbers of old. KG really shut down Chris Bosh, holding him to 9 points on 3-8 shooting. Talk about good D, beating good O. Paul Pierce had a quiet 36 points, mostly unloading in the second half (27), to give Boston a 7-1 record, holding down first place in the Atlantic Division.

*Wait a second. 29 points and 19 rebounds from Dwight Howard, and 35 points from Hedo Turkoglu, isn’t enough for a win against the Blazers, minus Greg Oden? Not when you get a total team effort like we got tonight out of the Blazers in Orlando. They did all the little things that make for a win. Steve Blake went 10-11 from the free throw line. Rudy Fernandez came off the bench with four 3-pointers, two in the fourth quarter. LaMarcus Aldridge chipping in with 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Roy topping it off with a 27 point performance.

*New Jersey was playing great, even without Devin Harris in the lineup, for almost the entire game against the Heat. Then the 4^th quarter came around, and it was D. Wade time. Miami was down 10 mid-way through the 4^th, but Wade’s outburst of 19 4^th quarter points got them the win (on 6-7 shooting including three from deep). Despite a career night from Yi Jianlian (27 points, 10 boards), the Nets couldn’t stop wade who was in rare form, nailing four from downtown overall.

He scored eight straight points in a 79-second span, starting with a 3-pointer that banked in off the glass and left him shaking his head in disbelief. A pair of free throws and another 3-pointer—this one swished— later, and the Heat were at 85-84 with 3:09 remaining. - TIM REYNOLDS, AP Sports Writer

*In Phoenix , the Suns took on the Grizzlies, fresh off of a super hot Mayo performance on Sunday night (31 points). Through the first quarter, it was 19-19. The second, it was 25-25. Mayo done did it again, scoring a game high 33 points this time, 19 of which came in the fourth quarter (!), adding to his consideration for Rookie of the Year. He almost nailed a 3 to tie the game with a few seconds left, but his hot hand went cold. The Suns can thank Barbosa for the win tonight, as he got 27 points off the bench, on 10-13 shooting, on a night when Shaq (foul trouble all game) and Nash (3-11 Sooting) weren’t at their best.

Monday Breakdown

2008-11-10T18:41:00.003-05:00

*As usual, the weekly, 'Mondaily,' Power Rankings. Both at NBA.com and ESPN.com. First and second place are easy, with the Lakers and Celtics holding those spots down. You can argue which one should be first (as NBA/ESPN can't agree either), but it doesn't matter. They're both sick. Lakers are 1st in defensive efficiency, and 2nd in offensive efficiency (wow). Celtics just got off an impressive road win in Houston, and another spoiling AI's debut in Detroit. The big surprise on the rankings, is who NBA.com has at #3. Check it out.

*Amare is really, really good. The Rising Suns, breaks it down.

*Ken Berger from Newsday, on Jerry Sloan. "Think about that. One thousand wins in 20 years with the Jazz. There have been 219 coaching changes in the NBA since Sloan was hired Dec. 9, 1988 - 12 of them, or 5.5 percent, here at the Garden"

*Forum Blue and Gold, with a great breakdown of the Laker's Shot selection.

*A lot of good stuff in ESPN's weekend dime. Talk of where LeBron will land in 2010. Lil interview action with Paul Pierce. Reviewing the trades of recent. "I, for one, consider this to be the most epic run of trades, in a two-year span, that we've ever seen." It's been pretty unbelievable. Quick review...going back to Dec 12th when AI was traded to the Nuggets...KG and Ray Allen get traded to the Celtics over the summer of 07. The following February, we see Pau, Shaq and JKidd move around. Then capping the 2 years (and maybe we're not done yet!), back to AI packing his bags for Detroit. The excitement won't stop at the trade level, this summer we'll see players like Carlos Boozer sign with different teams. The following summer? Don't get me started. Just let me get LeBron in a Knicks jersey, D.Wade in a Nets jersey, and I'll settle for Dirk, Amare, and Chris Bosh all rockin' outfits of your choosing.

*The last time I saw Dirk make a kid cry, it was my buddy Bert during the '06 Finals...

Step Your G Up! - Volume I

2008-11-09T23:49:00.002-05:00

Every once in a while you get an NBA player, who is in the right place at the right time. But what do they do, when they get there? Do they capitalize on the opportunity? Or do they blow it off, figuring that time will come again? So here at Breakin’ Down The Game, we’ve decided some players just need to be told, to “Step Your G Up!”

Andray Blatche, Step Your G Up!

Written By Smuve J

Let me preface this by saying that I have been a lifelong Bullets/Wizards fan for my entire life! I thought long and hard about who I wanted to call out, especially since this is the first installment of, “Step Your G Up!” There’s no one I’d rather call out right now than Andray Blatche.

Before we talk about our subject, let’s recap on the Wizards thus far. I love Gilbert Arenas, but the guy is a thief, and I mean that with all due respect (zing). He just signed a $111 million dollar contract in the off-season, but decided right before the season to have knee surgery (AGAIN). Thanks again Gil for giving that $15 million discount on the signing. The Wizards have their Big 3, but for the past couple of seasons only get two of the three on the court at the same time. Caron Butler and Antwan Jamison can't carry the load by themselves, but do an admirable job attempting. The Wizards had two starting centers, and both are down for the count. This is where Blatche comes in. He is averaging 7 points and 4 rebounds per game this season in about 20 minutes per game. He is a vital defensive and offensive presence, but has yet to mature his game fully to the level of a true professional. Blatche has shown at times that he can be an exciting and talented player capable of some extremely special things. More often then not though he is inconsistent and lacks determination, not to mention focus. Andray, be a professional! You’re going to get almost $3 Million this season, to play a game, and you’re still not giving it your all. You’re in a contract year, and the two players in front of you on the depth chart both went down. Andray, STEP YOUR G UP! At one point in your life, you did play this game for free. Now, it’s your 4th season, you should not be outplayed by rookies such as Derrick Rose, O.J. Mayo and Michael Beasley. This team is going to be without Arenas for quite some time, and the Wizards are going to need your help to be successful this season. We obviously can not count on Arenas to do much except for selling various products and being eccentric. Blatche's role on the team is truly determined by his own play. Eddie Jordan must put the 5 best players on the court and while Blatche is starting five material, right now I’d rather have this chick out there instead of him.

Breakin' Down the Fantasy Week

2008-11-09T10:19:00.003-05:00

Two-games: Clippers, Wizards

Three-game teams: Bobcats, Bulls, Cavaliers, Warriors, Rockets, Lakers, Grizzlies, Timberwolves, Hornets, Raptors

Four-game teams: Hawks, Celtics, Mavericks, Nuggets, Pistons, Pacers, Heat, Bucks, Nets, Knicks, Thunder, Magic, 76ers, Suns, Trail Blazers, Spurs, Kings, Jazz

The above pilfered from Rotoworld.com.

This past week, we saw a lot of injuries that sidelined players, adding to the many that started the season hurt. But on Friday, the injury bug flew around, and a few more key players will be inactive for a while. This week, we'll turn our focus to Injuries, and some Waiver Wire players that might or might not be good pickups as replacements.

Injuries:

The two biggest fantasy names to go down were Tony Parker and Josh Smith. Tony was averaging a ridiculous 33 points per game for a team who desperately needed high scoring numbers from the point guard spot while Manu is out. Roger Mason was filling in nicely for Manu, ranking 21 before this week in Yahoo standings, but now with Tony gone, he is a must pick-up if not already taken.

With Josh Smith, no one on that team can replace what he was doing. But if you have Al Horford, you should see a boost in stats, and hopefully blocks. Sheldon Williams might get some PT, but I wouldn't count on him for fantasy stats.

Big news out of Chicago on Sunday, Kirk Hinrich will have surgery on his thumb and expected to miss up to 3 months. Just cut him if you own him. You should be able to get him back, or someone better by that time, unless you're in a 12-15 team league with active players in the 175-200 range. Ben Gordon shouldn't be on anyone's waiver wire, but if he is, stop reading, grab him, then come back.

After Devin Harris' 38 points explosion, he sat out the next game (basically making it 2 game at 19 points each, making it only 1 assist per game!). If you own him, check out the local news late night tonight before setting your weekly lineup.

Corey Maggette, Michael Redd, Drew Gooden all missed a game (Maggette, 2) and are considered Day 2 Day. Watch their status closely tonight, before finalizing your lineup.

Watch List:

Roger Mason, mentioned above, is a must grab at this point. Currently he's ranked 17th in Yahoo Fantasy, and with Tony out a few weeks, they have no one to score but him and Timmy.

Dahntay Jones got the starting spot that Iverson left behind, but won't get more minutes than JR Smith. With the time he's gotten so far, he's made the most of it, making the decision for George Karl to switch things up a little tougher. Both guys should have value, with JR having a bit more.

Brandon Wright is the new starting PF in Golden State, replacing Al Harrington and his trade demand (as well as Day 2 Day back issues). With the style they run, and the minutes which were promised, B.Wright is looking like a great grab for the remainder of the season, and definitely in keeper leagues. Staying on the same team, Kelenna Azubuike is doing a great Monta Ellis impression, so keep an eye on him.

With Peja back, James Posey's numbers will go back to normal, but those are still great for steals and threes, especially the latter.

Delonte West is slowly doing great in every category, ranking 27 overall in Yahoo Fantasy. Not sure how he's doing it with Boobie Gibson, Sasha, Wally, and Mo Williams all getting some minutes, but he is, so keep an eye on him. I don't expect it to last, but I didn't expect it to ever come either.

Marc Gasol might be picked up already after his 26 points, 17 boards, 3 blocks performance, but after that he cooled off tremendously. He's still the starting Center, and should be the rest of the season, but owners or renters will be nervous about it.

Other guys that belong on the watch list are Wilson Chandler who's about to get the starting job in NY (but his FG% is going to hurt), Mickael Pietrus, who is bringing a ton of much-needed energy to the Magic, Ramon Sessions who is about to steal the starting point guard spot in Milwaukee, and Randy Foye who probably got dropped in every fantasy league, but was asked to be 'the guy' in Minnesota, so should get solid minutes to prove himself.

Good luck, and we'll break it down again next week.

Did I miss anything??? Leave it below.

Friday Breakdown

2008-11-08T13:22:00.005-05:00

*Up and coming Rookie Kevin Love has a blog on NBA.com. He talks a lot about facing Tim Duncan, and how respectful is he is towards Timmy's game.

He hit a 15-footer off the glass and I was running up the court and said 'Man, what can I do about that?' Well young fella, you can't do much about that, to be honest with you. He's as good as advertised.

K-Love is destined to start for this team, and i suspect they'll make the change sometime soon. Against the Spurs, he started both the second quarter, and second half.

*A side by side comparison of LB and D'Antoni, in regards to their time in NYC. It's amazing how both coaches are effective in their owns ways. NBA.com with David Lee:

Coach [Brown] is very, very hard on rookies, at times overwhelmingly difficult on rookies, mentally and physically," said Knicks forward David Lee, who played for Brown as a rookie. "But in the end, you come out afterwards, see where he was going with it, and say, 'Man, that guy taught me a lot.'

*Terry Porter kept his promise that the Suns pace would change and we would see less offensive out of his team.

The Suns, meanwhile, have slowed things down under coach Terry Porter. They rank 22nd in pace thus far, averaging 88.6 possessions per game. This comes after averaging more than 95 possessions per game in each of D'Antoni's four full seasons in Phoenix

Friday Wake n Break

2008-11-07T07:51:00.003-05:00

*Contenders or pretenders? Thats the question for both the Sixers and the Magic, who battled each other on Thursday night. Both big men, had small games, while Hedo and Rashard Lewis were responsible for most of the scoring for the Magic, netting 20 each. Again we see the Sixer's recipe for disaster. Elton Brand only got up 8 shots, hitting 3 of those, and the team overall went 37% from the field. Thad Young was a bright spot for the Sixers, with 19 points, but it wasn't enough. Jameer Nelson had a nice game, getting 16 points, 9 assists, 3 steals, on 50% fg and 100% ft. There was a monster dunk for the Magic, and funny enough, this time it wasn't Dwight Howard, but Mickael Pietrus flying high.

*The hero of the Blazers-Rockets game in Portland was Yao Ming after hitting clutch free-throws in the end to go up by 1, with only .8 seconds left in OT. Oh, wait, this just in, the .8 was enough for Brandon Roy to launch a 30-footer and take the victory?? Said Roy, "I was so disappointed with myself over that foul I just told Steve [Blake] to give me a chance to make up for it." There was a boost in scoring and emotion when Rudy Fernandez came off the bench for 5 quick points, 2 of which made Brent Barry look like he was in slow motion. T-Mac had 30 for the night, but that didn't make up for another awful night from Yao, going 4-13 from the field. There's been little excitement in Portland since Oden went down (again), but the Blazers reminded their fans tonight why they are one of the most exciting teams in the league.

Thursday Breakdown

2008-11-06T23:23:00.004-05:00

"Mayor of Akron?" he said. "I'm already mayor of Akron. I've been that for about 10 years now." - LeBron James

*Barack O'Baller! Alan Hahn catches up with Chris Duhon to discuss his pick up games with the President Elect.

*A few amazing clips and stories about Josh Childress, his new team, and playing in Greece. Childress wasn't the first to go to Europe to play, but he might have been the best at the time of his signing. What a huge difference in Europe and NBA contracts. He can opt out at the end of this year or at the end of next year. This always leads to the...LeBron or Kobe to Europe talk. It's definitely something that worries me about the future of the league. If these guys can go to Europe, get paid after taxes, opt out whenever they want, then why not? If the salaries start going up to $50 Million or so, like some people are predicting for European teams to steal the NBA's best, then David Stern might have to consider opening up the Salary Cap. Tampa Bay did go past the Sox and Yanks...

*It took too long, but finally Iverson has one thing and one thing only on his mind. Winning a championship. Chris McCosky from the Detroit News caught with AI:

"My whole thing is winning a championship," he said. "I have money. I have all the individual accolades. I've done the All-Star thing. I've been the scoring champ and an MVP. What I haven't had was the chance to feel the feeling of winning a championship. That's the most important thing right now."

*Sounds like Nellie is done with Al Harrington. Potential star Brandon Wright, it's your time to shine.

*Hilarious comic strip of Stephon Marbury and Eddie Curry at Ball Don't Lie. This is a must-see.

*Mark Cuban, taking the words out of my mouth about Obama. I'm not a die hard Cuban guy, but he really hit the nail on the head on this one. While I don't agree with a lot of his policies, and his superstar celebrity status, I sure am proud to be an American.

Smuve J's Thursday Wake n Break

2008-11-06T08:16:00.005-05:00

I wasn't able to do the Wake n Break this morning, so special thanks to Smuve J for steppin it up and gettin this out for ya'll.

-The Pacers put up 38 points in the 1st quarter, but it seems they peaked too early. AMARE IS AN ANIMAL. He went 17 for 21 from the field to score 49 points while pulling down 10 boards and an unlikely 5 steals. Diaw was the second-leading scorer for the Suns with 14. Shaq had a whale of a game with 3 points. TJ Ford and Danny Granger both scored 23 point for the Pacers, but that was not enough in the end. Phoenix 113, Indiana 103

-AI remained on the sidelines, but Tayshawn Prince carried the load with 27 points. This was a tough battle of two undefeated teams, and both sides battled hard until the very end. Both of these teams will be around come playoff time. Rip contributed 23 for the Pistons. Bosh added his usual double-double of 26 and 13, and one of the more underrated point guards in the game Calderon scored 24 while dishing 8 dimes. In a battle for the BEST number 1 picks EVER, Kwame Brown scored 3 points while Bargnani added 12. Detroit remains undefeated at 4-0. Detroit 100, Toronto 93

-Michael Beasley did not have to wait long to show everyone why he was a top pick in this year's draft. This game was not even close, with the Heat leading by 20 plus for a significant amount of time. D-Wade had a very solid game with 29 points, 7 boards, 6 dimes, 5 steals and 3 blocks. Beasley added 17 and 9. Thaddeus Young led the 76ers with 19. Would have been nice if Elton Brand showed up. Miami 106, Philadelphia 83

-There is nothing but love for Larry Brown in NYC, he was thoroughly booed in the Garden last night. But do not fret, the Knicks WON! Let's keep the joy contained, they did beat the Bobcats. But Knick fans should be excited, there was a Zack Randolph sighting in the Garden, and he scored 25 and 13. Nasty Nate scored 24 off the bench, while shooting 5 for 5 from behind the line. All 5 Bobcat starters scored in double figures. Oh, and His Airness was in attendance and received a standing ovation. New York 101, Charlotte 98

Editors Note: My summary for the NY game would have been much shorter. Very simple: Michael was in the house. Does anything else matter?

-Who would have thought the Hawks and Hornets would face and both be undefeated! Well the Hornets yes but the Hawks not so much. The difference in the game was 3-point shooting, with Joe Johnson leading the way with 24 points. The Hawks shot 40% from behind the arc. CP3 had his usual 22 and 11. David West had a respectable game adding 15. Who would have thought the Hawks would be 3-0! Atlanta 87, New Orleans 79

-It is official, King James needs to have his DNA analyzed, because this man was not birthed on this planet. He hurt his ankle on an alley-oop in the first quarter, but stayed in the game and showed no signs of injury. He finished with 41 points and 9 boards. Rookie D-Rose had 20 and 7, while erratic Ben Gordan scored 31 off the bench. Unfortunately this was not enough to overtake the Cavs. Cleveland 107, Chicago 93

-This game went to overtime and was somewhat of a thriller. Caron Butler led the Wiz with 27 and 7, while Twan added 19 and 10. Richard Jefferson had a monster game with 32, which on any other night would have been great but compared to what others have done pales in comparison. Wiz remain winless while the Bucks improve to 3-2. Milwaukee 112, Washington 104

-This was the best game of the night, hands down! First of all, it went to 2 overtimes, and some of the stats will blow your mind. San Antonio scored almost 130 points. Al Jefferson had 30 and 14, and this was not enough for the Wolves to pull it out. The Spurs got the steady and ready Timmy to score 30 and 14. The real story had to be Tony Parker. He had 55 points. Let me repeat, Parker had 55 points, 10 dimes, and 7 boards. If he is not considered one of the best point guards in the league people are simply out of their minds. Spurs win in dramatic come from behind fashion and earn their first victory of the season. San Antonio 129, Minnesota 125

-The Thunder are a young team that is looking to put it all together. Unfortunately they had to face the defending NBA champions. Kevin Durant did his best in 32 mins with 17 points. The Big 3 combined for 55, and easily beat the Thunder. Boston 96, Oklahoma City 83

-The Jazz remain under the radar early in the season, mainly due to the fact that their star point guard Deron Williams is injured. Not to fear, they faced the Oden-less Blazers and had very little difficulty handing the Blazers another defeat. Boozer and Okur combined for 42, while AK-47 and Paul Millsap added 27 points off the bench. Utah 103, Portland 96

-Sacramento earned their first win of the season, on the back of K-Mart with 33. Rookie OJ Mayo scored 28, but did not get even 1 assist. Sacramento 100, Memphis 95

-This game looked like a blow-out early. Denver scored 35 in the first quarter, but the Warriors do know how to battle back. With Stephen Jackson leading the way with 29 and the help of their bench, the Warriors defeated the Nuggets. Melo did his best by scoring 28, but this was simply not enough. With the arrival of Chauncey later this week, this team should improve and be able to beat teams like the Warriors. Golden State 111, Denver 101

-It is early, but are the Lakers on a mission? They look like the best team in the league early in the season with Bynum back in the line-up. Every game seems to be a statement that the team is making. Atoning for their lost in the finals, they defeated the Clippers by 18 last night. Kobe had another solid game, while the Lakers as a whole are moving on all cylinders. The starting line-up is producing, as well as Lamar Odom coming off the bench with the second unit scoring 15. B Davis gave the Clips 17 and 7, while second-year player Al Thornton led the team with 22 and 5 boards. Lakers remain undefeated and the NBA is going to be in trouble. LA Lakers 106, LA Clippers 88

Wednesday Breakdown

2008-11-05T19:18:00.003-05:00

*Sounds like everyone is giving up on Greg Oden. Bill Simmons sadly joins the party, also worried that Greg Oden's body is not fit for the NBA.

*Former Phoenix Sun, Kevin Johnson becomes Mayor of Sacramento. I wonder if he was the most qualified for the job. My gut tells me someone in politics or economics should be mayor.

"Johnson's rallies featured current and former NBA stars Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Barkley and Magic Johnson. His personal wealth and far-flung fundraising ability (Warren Buffett, among others, contributed to the campaign) allowed him to outspend his opponent by nearly 3-to-1 in a race that cost nearly $2 million total."

So, yea. I guess raising a lot of money from celebrity friends and advertising/promoting is really important in elections, sometimes making the less qualified person win. Imagine what he could have done with $150 Million. Just an observation. Hate comments welcome below.

*David Thorpe ranks the Rookies weekly, and today it's not Derrick Rose, or Beasley, or Mayo to take the #1 spot.

*Gotta love the attitude of both Chris Bosh and Paul Milsap. These are the attitudes that make for winners, and usually great contracts. It's this attitude that often leads to championships, and I'm not sure why some GM's even bother on guy with a bad attitude and work ethic. Sometimes, you get a gold mine (see: Artest, Ron). But most of the time, it's doesn't go well (see: Artest, Ron).

*Basketball Prospectus: "In this article, we will take a look at two teams from each conference to see how their changes will impact the product out on the floor."

*Vinny D, how he fell into the job, what he's learned along the way. “We’re just trying to develop the team the best we can. Let’s see what we end up with.”

Wednesday Wake 'n Break

2008-11-05T07:07:00.001-05:00

*The Nets lost again at home, this time, getting blown out by the Suns. The Suns shooters were hot early, making the game easy for the guys in the middle, Amare and Shaq. Raja Bell hit all 6 of his 3-point attempts, and allowed the starters to rest most of the fourth quarter. Good thing, because I know we all wanted to see the Lopez vs Lopez matchup (well, probably only me). Another awful night from Devin Harris, who has yet to live up to his preseason hype, going 2-11 from the field with 3 turnovers, while getting his shot blocked 4 times. For the Nets to have a respectable team on the court, they’ll need Devin Harris to be playing well, since Vince isn’t enough by himself. The fourth quarter was a total mess for New Jersey, getting outscored 22 to 9.

*Instant Reply solves all of our problems! Maybe not, but it was nice to see them go to the cameras for a key play at the end of the fourth quarter. Celtics vs. Rockets, possible Finals matchup? Yao got 3 fouls early, and that seemed to never let him get his stride, going 4-14 overall, and not getting one foul shot attempt. Ron Artest had an even worse night, going 3-16 (hitting 3 of his 10 attempt from deep). Add to that, the 1 for 6, 4 point game from starting point guard Rafer Alston, and it should be an easy win for the Celtics. However, that didn’t happen. The game was close until about 1 minute left, when Kevin Garnett extended the lead to 5, making the rest of the contest a free throw shootout, until the questionable 3-point foul on T-Mac that required an instant reply review. He wound up getting the game within 2 points, with 10 seconds left, but the free throw shooting of Eddie House in the clutch, sealed the deal. The Celtics played well, but with the poor production from the Rocket starters, they should have won by more. To me, this means what I already thought, that the Rockets are for real. No way, in a 7-game series, does Yao, Rafer and Artest have 4 awful games like tonight.

*JKidd almost got a triple double, with 9-8-10, and one pass that is sure to make a top ten list somewhere tonight. Jason Terry got the start, and made the most of it, getting 29 points and 6 assists. Dirk with the big shots to put it away in the fourth quarter, capping a 30 point game. Dallas had good control over this game, on the boards, and in shooting percentage. It’s clear the Spurs need Manu back as soon as possible. Tony Parker got 22 points tonight, but only 3 assists. The San Antonio Spurs are 0-3, their worst start in 35 years! San Antonio, we have a problem. Maybe they should take notes from Joe D and start rebuilding. We know they have one of the best trio’s in the game, but it ends there, and that’s not enough to make a run for a championship, especially against teams like the Lakers, Hornets and Rockets.

NBA Coaches Get a Makeover

2008-11-05T00:26:00.002-05:00

This feature is brought to you by Tylea Simone Richard, whose hands-on experience deep in the sweatshops of Nicaragua, provides valuable insight into this exciting new NBA partnership with Joseph Abboud. You can check out more of Tylea's writing on her blog; Ovarian Mind Tricks

The job of an NBA head coach is a tireless one, undoubtedly full of long nights pouring over play charts and game tapes. These inexhaustible souls are estranged from their families for months on end, while nightmares of key injuries disturb their sleep. They think, breath, eat, and live basketball from start until finish. There is no time to worry about superficial things like personal hygiene. Or is there?

Like any high-powered job, what you wear speaks volumes. For an NBA coach, this is no different. Someone's courtside gear can say: I exude confidence. I command the respect of my players and colleagues. Alternately, sloppy suits or sweater vests (and worse), make a losing coach at a post-game press conference look even more pitiful. He is analyzing where his team's strategy broke down, but his suit is saying: I am just a glorified towel boy. I am not even sure how I got here. As figureheads for multi-billion dollar sports franchises, it is high time that coaches stepped up their wardrobe game. And luckily, the NBA has just unveiled a partnership to do precisely that.

According to the Wall Street Journal, menswear label Joseph Abboud will be providing coaches with a least a dozen free outfits to wear during games. Not only will coaches get some of the finest suits, blazers, slacks, and ties the industry has to offer, much of the apparel will be made-to-measure. In other words, the suits will actually fit instead of the MC Hammer shoulders and go-go-gadget sleeves that many coaches are accustomed to.

As a basketball fan and former made-to-measure suit production coordinator for a NYC-based fashion company, I think this partnership is exciting for a number of reasons:

Joseph Abboud, the former owner and namesake of the label, is one of the few designers considered a "guy's guy" who reportedly loves sports but still has a superior sense of style. The clothing is classic but up-to-date. I don't care how fond you are of Pat Riley in the 80's, the shiny zoot suit look doesn't work for everybody.
The company manufactures all of their clothing in Southern Massachusetts in union factories. As far as I know, this is the last high-quality menswear producer left in the United States. Coaches can rest easy that their suits look good, and aren't made by the millions of people working in sweatshops around the world.
We can finally go back to watching Melo play instead of being distracted by George Karl's sloppy gut.

So keep your eyes peeled for this season's dapper new coaches, courtesy of Joseph Abboud!

-Tylea
Ovarian Mind Tricks

Tuesday Breakdown

2008-11-04T18:52:00.004-05:00

"Looking back at the last two years, I kind of liked Larry Brown," Marbury said with a laugh. "I kind of liked Larry Brown. I'm like, 'Man, I wish this guy was here to drill me now.'" from Andrew Marchand, ESPN

*In the spirit of the day, Rob Peterson on NBA.com elects Chris Paul and Amare for Pres and VP respectively. He got it right on Secretary of Defense (Garnett), although Josh Smith has his side of the court on lock right now, averaging 3.5 steals and blocks per game (granted, only 2 games). For President...?....forget President. We got a King, in LeBron James, and it's not just the marketing, but the leadership on the court and the locker room, on the Cavs and on Team USA. I'm calling this now. When it's all said and done, LeBron James will supplant Jerry West as the NBA logo. Yea, I said it!

*Great stuff from Forum Blue and Gold about the Laker's Strong Side Zone Defense, basically sounding like a mix between Man-2-Man and Zone:

"Simply put, whatever side of the court the opponents have the ball on, the Lakers do two things: 1) They pressure the ball with that players’ defender; 2) They try to float another defender (usually Gasol or Odom at the four) over to the side the ball is on (or strong side). The team essentially plays a sort of zone behind the man pressuring the ball (although it can look like the Lakers are playing a soft man-to-man, it is more a matchup zone)."

He goes on explaining that this was a result of so many players getting foul calls in the lane, not allowing the defense to be as physical as it used to be.

So how do you combat this? Let's bring it back to the King. Night in and out, LeBron faces the strong side zone defense. The main purpose is to stop him from penetrating (which I'm sure you can understand why). Thinking back on watching him play, you must have noticed how many times he's at the corner 3-point line, and has to jump and throw the cross-court pass in the opposite corner, to initiate the offense. So, in order to compete against this defense you have to have good ball movement and good shooters.

*Dime Magazine ponders who's the next big name to be traded.

*Mark Kiszla from the Denver Post, calling out George Karl as the reason why the Nugget's struggle.

Not a game, Not a game, Not a game. We talkin bout Practice!

Tuesday Wake and Break

2008-11-04T08:11:00.003-05:00

*The big game of the night was Cleveland vs. Dallas. The Cavs got off to a strong start, leading 28-16 after the first quarter. After Dallas closed the gap, it became a defensive battle that concluded in the fourth quarter with Dallas not being able to score at all. With a little more than 4 minutes left, Rick Carlisle gave up on the game, sending in the reserves. LeBron shut a lot of people up (including myself), hitting 13 of 15 free throws tonight. He has to keep up the good shooting from the line, so in games like this when he can't find his shot, he can still be effective. With that, and the Cavs suffocating defense like we saw in the first and fourth quarter tonight, the Cavs have a great chance to win every night. Cleveland 100, Dallas 91

*Marc Gasol was the big story in the Memphis vs. Golden State game. He had 27 points, 16 rebounds, and 3 blocks (wow). Gasol led the way for the Grizzlies and the Warriors never had a chance. While Gasol had the numbers, OJ Mayo impressed me most with his calm misdemeanor on the court. He's getting really comfortable out there, and Coach Iavaroni trusts him more with making decisions on the fly. This team is really exciting. Memphis 90, Golden State 79

*Allen Iverson is going to Detroit. Detroit played against X-Coach Larry Brown tonight. Larry Brown used to coach Allen Iverson. What's that make us? Absolutely nothing. Detroit put the smack down on LB and his Bobcats tonight, without Chauncey and without McDyess. All eyes are on Rodney Stuckey, since Joe D's faith in him led to the events earlier today. He didn't have a monster game, but didn't need to in tonights win. Detroit 101, Charlotte 83

*The Sixers won with ease at home tonight against the Kings. Sacramento couldn't stop the Sixers in the first quarter, giving up 35 points to follow that in the second, giving up 33. Much to my surprise, Elton Brand still didn't have a big game, playing 30 minutes and finishing with 4 rebounds, 0 assists, 0 steals, 0 blocks, and 3 turnovers. Watching the Sixers, you get to thinking that they really need some shooters to go with that low post presence. What good is the post man, if he can't kick it out? A bright spot for the Kings, Spencer Hawes had another good game, racking up 3 steals and 2 blocks along with his 15 points and 8 rebounds. It's going to be interesting to see how Brad Millers return affects Hawes' playing time. Philadelphia 125, Sacramento 91

*Derrick Rose played 39 minutes and had 1 assist, with no help draining shots from Luol Deng going 0-8, finishing with 1 point. That's not going to work for the Bulls, they'll need better ball movement from their point and Deng to come up with some baskets. Noah didn't get much run, and the Bulls tried to go small for a majority of the game. That seemed to have back-fired with Dwight Howard eating up all of the small guys, getting 15 boards and 22 points, with 5 blocks. Hinrich and Gordon played well and kept the game close for the Bulls, but the 6 double-digit scorers on the Magic were too much. Orlando 96, Chicago 93

*Baron Davis wasn't expected to play tonight, but with Marcus Camby returning on the home floor, he didn't want to miss the party. Both came off the bench, but played starters minutes until late in the fourth when the game was decided. The Jazz continue to roll without Deron Williams, while getting a huge lift from their bench. AK-47 managed with a double-double, but the real story was Paul Millsap. He scored 24 points, 15 in a row (!) at one point, while pulling down 9 boards. Chris Kaman was the stabilizing force all game for the Clips, with 19 and 10 and clearly loved getting fed the rock from B.Diddy for open looks, but it wasn't enough. Jazz remain undefeated while the Clips remain winless. Jazz 89, Clippers 72

Monday Breakdown

2008-11-03T18:52:00.005-05:00

*The big news of the day was Allen Iverson getting traded to Detroit for Chauncey Billups, Antonio McDyess and Cheikh Samb. Most are saying that McDyess won't dress for Denver, and we could see him back on the Pistons in a few months when he's permitted to re-sign with them. True Blue Pistons has the exclusive interview with Joe D. For a more in-depth look at the trade from a media perspective, Chad Ford and John Hollinger each take sides.

*Ball Don't Lie asks that same ol' question, Kobe or Jordan? They also have a 10-min video argument on the topic that sounds an awful lot like about 80 conversations I've had regarding this same topic. Kobe scored 81; that's insane. It's even better than Wilt scoring 100. Much better actually, considering Kobe was taking mostly jumpshots, whereas Wilt was dunking on people much smaller than him. Kobe is unbelievable. However, we're talking about Michael Jordan. Why do we speak ill of Michael by comparing him to Kobe? MJ: 6 Finals MVP. Kobe: 0. Why do we compare? Michael did it without a point guard and a center. Kobe needs a big to get to the Finals. Why do we compare? The numbers speak for themselves (click here). A more one-sided, clever look at the comparison (click here).

*The Power Rankings: NBA and ESPN. A big loss to the Pacers had the Celtics drop below the never-losing Hornets, who are now 10-0 including the preseason (mostly without Tyson Chandler and now Peja).

Breakin' News: Iverson traded to Detroit for Chauncey and McDyess

2008-11-03T12:41:00.004-05:00

Big news out of Detroit and Denver today, first reported by MLive.com. The Pistons are finalizing a deal that sends Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess to Denver for Allen Iverson.

Is this really "The Answer" they are looking for? I don't think so. So the question comes, How does this help Detroit? Does it help at all (this season)?

For Denver, this is great. Not only do they get a backup PF/C for injury-prone Nene and KMart, but they are finally getting a true point guard to run the show, not to mention, improve their Defense in a very point-guard-loaded Western Conference.

This trade is basically saying that Detroit is selling. Billups had 2 more guaranteed years left on his contract, and McDyess has until after next season. Now, they have $20 Million coming off the books at the end of this year. But who are they clearing cap for?

Chad Ford broke down the list of Free Agents this coming summer. On this list, I can't see anyone that the Pistons would flat out make a run for. Maybe they want to resign Sheed? Doubt it. Re-sign Ivo? Nah. Ron Artest, playing in Detroit? (Laughing out loud). Boozer is likely to Opt out this coming off-season, but Detroit is loaded with young bigs (Amir and Maxiell), so that doesn't seem like a good fit.

Unless Detroit flips Ivo's expiring contract before the trade deadline, I worry they just decided they're also in the running for the 2010 Free Agent Class (Amare, Bosh, Wade and LeBron). The fact that Joe Dumars has young studs, and a resume of doing great things (including 6 straight trips to the Eastern Conference Finals), this could put him ahead of other squads (NY, NJ at the minimum), to steal one of these big names away.

On the Fantasy tip, I expect the big winner will be Denver's JR Smith, who should move to the starting 2 spot ahead of Anthony Carter. With Chauncey getting him more open looks, expect JR Smith to explode, especially in points and 3's. If he's on your Waiver Wire, time to grab him.