Earl Watson is not normally one for YouTube highlights (or at least ones of his own), but this shot in last night’s game against the Bulls is kind of nasty. To have the composure to gather the ball after Tyrus Thomas knocked it away, and step up and knock it down from half court, shows why he’s been in the League so long.

There were just too many elements conspiring against the Mavs going into last night’s game in Denver. Facing the second part of a road back-to-back in the Mile High altitude is bad enough, but it gets worse considering the previous game was a grueling 48-minute track meet at Golden State. On top of that, Dallas was without Shawn Marion (back) and Erick Dampier (knee). And finally, Carmelo and Chauncey were back after missing time with respective ankle injuries. Stir it all up, and you have Dallas getting almost 40-pieced in what amounted to a scrimmage for the Nuggets … Read More »

Anybody who’s followed the Pacers over the past couple of seasons would understand why T.J. Ford has been Marburied on Jim O’Brien‘s bench lately.

For all of his speed and attack-mode mentality that theoretically should be tailored for O’Brien’s up-tempo system, Ford’s poor decision-making, shot selection and defense was finally too much for the coach to deal with. So for the last 18 games, Ford has been racking up DNP-CD’s while Earl Watson and A.J. Price handled the point guard duties. Read More »

Beast of the Night: Aaron Brooks exploded for 43 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal and 1 turnover, while chipping in 6 threes, shooting 47 percent (14-30) from the field and 75 percent (9-12) from the line. True, he was helped by an insane triple-overtime match, but Brooks has been having himself a nice 2010 so far. It’s still likely that he’ll hit a rough patch in the near future, but it’s clear that the little man won’t be flying under any radars next season. Read More »

Seeing as Rasheed Wallace didn’t even bother combing his hair, you kind of got the impression early on that Boston was taking the Pacers lightly — and that was before the C’s fell behind by double-digits in the first quarter. (Oh wait, ‘Sheed never combs his hair. Scratch that part.) KG was given the night off with a thigh bruise, and even Tommy Heinsohn called in sick rather than risk his pipes against Indiana when there’s a big Christmas Day game against Orlando looming … Overcoming a slow start in which they made Earl Watson look like Tim Hardaway, the Celtics managed a tie going into the fourth, and that’s when Paul Pierce took over. Read More »

Whenever somebody asks me how I became a Georgetown Hoyas fan growing up in Seattle, I give them one of three reasons:

1. When I was a kid, U-Dub barely had a basketball team as far as I knew. 2. I didn’t realize G’town wasn’t an HBCU until I was like 12 years old. 3. Joey Brown.

Who is Joey Brown? He was a 5-10 point guard and four-year starter for the Hoyas in the early-’90s. Imagine Earl Watson without the height and you get the picture. Read More »

Whether you believe Tyreke Evans is a true point guard or not (he’s not), last night was a textbook example of exactly why Sacramento drafted him to play the point.

On his way to dropping 26 points in a win over the Pacers, Tyreke scored the Kings’ first 10 points, and it was obvious the game plan going in was to get Tyreke off early. He used his height to shoot over T.J. Ford and Earl Watson; his strength and handle to easily drive past them; and his length to catch the ball near the rim on cuts and post-ups and get easy buckets. Read More »

Weekend Wonder: Brandon Jennings was all kinds of amazing Saturday, blasting the scoreboard with 55 points, 7 threes, 5 rebounds and 5 assists against the woeful Warriors. He shot 62 percent (21-34) from the field, 75 percent (6-8) from the free throw line and turned the ball over four times. It’s hard to imagine him keeping up this pace for the whole season but for the time being, Jennings is already a top-20 fantasy player. Read More »

In some respects, you have to understand where Allen Iverson is coming from. Going back to Little League and all the way through intramurals or whatever level you reached in your athletic career, we’ve all been taught that the best players start the game. Of course, it’s a little different in the NBA: If a coach really wants his second unit to have more offensive firepower or defensive stability, he might put one of his best five players on the bench, which is why Manu Ginobili and Jason Terry are annually up for Sixth Man of the Year.

That said, there are some backups who — forget what the coach might be trying to do — have no business being backups. And it’s not always because they’re so great, but that the guy starting in front of them shouldn’t be starting. Who should be taking a seat? Read More »

Beast of the Night: Danny Granger shot 50 percent (12-24) from the field and perfect (5-5) from the line on his way to 31 points, 2 threes, 16 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks and 4 turnovers. The double-digit boards were out of the ordinary as Granger seems to be dealing with a sore heel quite nicely. He’s still a DNP risk but his owners have to be enjoying the ride so far. Read More »