Beast of the Night: Nene put up a monster line with 20 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals, 4 blocks and 2 turnovers while shooting 62 percent (8-13) from the floor and 80 percent (4-5) from the line. It was his finest game of the season so far and his owners have to be hoping that he stays healthy. Read More »

After tossing and turning all afternoon from writing a pro-Jazz piece yesterday, I was comforted last night by a real good Michigan State/Gonzaga game (watch out for freshman Kelly Olynyk – kid’s no joke) and a Nuggets win over the Raptors 130-112 in Denver.

The game got me predicting and dreaming about a number of things. Namely, like how Carmelo Anthony will be All-NBA first team and how Chris Bosh really does get lost up in Canada. Read More »

It took about 47 and a half minutes for Don Nelson to really miss Stephen Jackson. In the Warriors’ first game since trading Capt. Jack to the Bobcats, they were actually hanging with the Cavs on the road last night. On a critical possession with under a minute to go and Cleveland ahead by four, LeBron of course had the rock, a situation where S-Jack would normally have been guarding him. This time, however, Nellie had to enlist Vlad Radmanovic for the job. (Well, he didn’t have to; Anthony Randolph might have been a better choice.) To the surprise of no one, LeBron scored easily, sticking a pull-up jumper for the dagger … Read More »

Ranking the NBA from worst to first…

30. New Jersey Nets (0-10) — During the lopsided part of the Pacquiao/Cotto fight, Jim Lampley enthusiastically said Cotto “almost landed a big left.” And he meant it in a good way. That’s how it’s been for the Nets; last week they almost beat Philly and Miami, so far the highlights of their season.

29. Minnesota Timberwolves (1-10) — The rest of November has them facing Houston, Denver and Phoenix at home, and the Blazers, Nuggets and Clippers on the road. It could be a long couple of weeks. Read More »

While he has only been a Golden State Warrior a few months, there have probably been plenty of moments (with more to come) where rookie Stephen Curry wishes he was still living in the happy and stable surroundings of Davidson College. Now stuck in the drama-filled circus that is going in Golden State right now, Curry has already had to deal with disgruntled teammates, an erratic coach and inconsistent playing time. He went from starting the first six games to seeing just 2:30 minutes of action in Friday night’s game against the Knicks - the team Curry originally wanted to draft him. Ninety minutes before tip-off, I was able to ask Steph a few questions as he walked off the court after finishing his pregame shooting routine. Read More »

Don’t let the fact that Chauncey Billups shows little emotion on the court fool you into thinking he’s any less fiery of a competitor than Kobe, Dirk, LeBron, Wade or any other big-time clutch player who punctuates his daggers by making funny faces. You have to be iceberg to have hit as many fourth-quarter threes and last-second free throws as Mr. Big Shot has hit, but you also have to have a fire inside you to show up in the kind of shape he does every year and bring it at the high level he brings it every night … After Chauncey (17 pts, 6 asts, 3 stls) made the go-ahead free throw with 0.6 seconds left in last night’s Nuggets/Bulls game, he missed the second FT on purpose, giving the Bulls only 0.3 to make a game-winner. Read More »

It’s too easy to start rolling out predictions and watch lists two weeks into the season. Unlike football, where two weeks means you’ve only played two games, two weeks of the NBA translates to almost 10 games, a good enough sample for most to gauge how a guy is going to play for the next 7-8 months. That’s why Steve Nash, Carmelo and Kobe are already running an MVP race, Brandon Jennings is running away with R.O.Y., and Ron Artest and LeBron are vying for Defensive Player of the Year.

So if he isn’t already on the ballot, here’s my early vote for Luol Deng as the NBA’s Most Improved Player. Read More »

If you’re purely interested in the best interest of Allen Iverson, you’re glad the Grizzlies had one of their business-as-usual losses against the Clippers last night. Having gone 0-3 since A.I. joined the lineup earlier in the week, for Memphis to win after Iverson had left the team for undisclosed personal reasons — even if it was against the Clips — would have brought up all the same criticisms of Iverson you saw in Detroit and at various points throughout his runs in Philly and Denver. Mainly, that A.I.’s team is better without him, and that certain young stars (i.e. O.J. Mayo in this case) are better off when he’s not in the picture … Instead, the Grizzlies did what they typically do with or without Iverson, putting up a lot of points while giving up even more. Read More »

Seven matchups to watch on Friday’s 13-game schedule…

Detroit @ Orlando: The Demons vs. Dwight Howard How else do you explain Howard consistently looking his worst against the Pistons no matter who’s on the roster or the coaching staff? Earlier this week, old nemesis Ben Wallace led a new unit of goons that limited Dwight to eight points and five boards, and fouled him out in just 17 minutes. How much money would Superman pay Krypto-Nate Robinson this summer not to sign with the Pistons if it looked like things were headed that way? Read More »

Ask anybody who knows anything about basketball which player they’d choose to build a team around long-term, and most likely they’ll choose LeBron. (Others would probably say Dwight Howard, and other renegades might throw out names like Chris Paul and Derrick Rose.) But if you need a clear example why a lot of those same people who’d build around LeBron for the future would take a handful of guys over him when it comes to a one-time clutch situation in the present, look no further than last night’s Cavs/Bulls game … Read More »