Beast of the Night: Elton Brand finally emerged and put up 19 points, 11 boards, 2 assists, 3 steals, 6 blocks and just 1 turnover while shooting 47 percent (8-17) from the field and 75 percent (3-4) from the line. This was vintage Brand and owners who have remained patient or bought low on him have to be giggling with joy right now. He’s not out of the woods just yet, but things look are looking way up for Brand and his owners today. Read More »

You know what you’re going to get when the Cavs and Wizards play on national TV: Plenty of talk about LeBron’s “rivalry” with DeShawn Stevenson, LeBron’s rivalry with the Wizards, Mike Miller wearing LeBron’s shoes, maybe Washington’s injury problems … And then there was the story line for last night’s game that nobody wanted to talk about: The gossip-page reports saying Shaq got caught messing around with Gilbert Arenas‘ girl. Anyone think there’s a slight chance that’s really why Shaq sat out? Say what you want about being a professional and focusing on the game, but that’s grounds for any grown man to get punched in the face at any random moment. Read More »

Buy Low: Al Jefferson will miss the next two games to tend to a family illness, but it’ll give him some time to rest, too. He’s shown glimpses of life and his steady uphill path to recovery should reach its peak by the beginning of December.

Andre Miller is starting alongside Steve Blake, but the chances for him taking over as the sole starting point guard are getting better. Read More »

Is it possible the West is actually stronger than we all thought? No surprise that the Lakers, Nuggets, Spurs and Blazers have been solid, but not a lot of people expected Houston, Dallas and Phoenix to play so well coming out of the gate … The Suns are arguably the best team in the entire League right now, with Steve Nash putting himself in the mix for a third MVP and doing that thing where he makes fringe NBA players look like All-Stars. Last night Nash added to the resume, putting up 21 points and 20 assists in a come-from-behind win at Philly … Read More »

Beast of the Night: Chris Paul edges out Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade and David Lee with his 39 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals, along with 61 percent (14-23) shooting from the floor and perfect (8-8) shooting from the line. He also hit 3 treys in an overtime victory over Dallas. CP3 got off to a relatively slow start this season but has really turned it on for the past three games. He’s playing with some extra ferocity nowadays and that’s a great thing for his fantasy owners. Read More »

Allen Iverson made last night’s Grizzlies/Kings game worth checking out from the beginning, but Kevin Martin made it worth staying until the end. What was originally billed as A.I.’s big debut turned into K-Mart’s showcase, it may have been the best game of the season so far, and it was a hell of a timely ad for NBA League Pass as the free preview week wraps up … Checking in to a nice ovation from the Sacramento crowd, Iverson looked like he was just testing out his hamstring in his initial rotation, a scoreless five-minute stretch of the first quarter. Read More »

Weekend Wonder: Chris Bosh is furiously putting up drool-worthy lines so far this season, including two gems on Friday (37 points, 1 three, 12 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 1 turnover) and Sunday (35 points, 2 threes, 16 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 3 turnovers). He shot 51 percent (23-45) from the field and 70 percent (23-33) from the line in those two games, while also hitting all three of his three-point attempts. If he continues to hit threes, Bosh could be vaulting himself into a higher tier of fantasy stardom. Read More »

Breaking down the first-week performances of the serious 2010 title contenders, Spurs announcer Sean Elliott messed up his words and said the Lakers took an “old-fashioned butt cooking” from the Mavs on Friday night. As it turns out, that was the best way to describe what the Spurs were about to do to the Kings on Saturday … Despite Sacramento starting probably the worst frontcourt in the League (Jason Thompson, Sean May, Desmond Mason), it was one of those nights where Tim Duncan didn’t have to do much and could let the smaller guys go to work. Read More »

With the emergence of Danilo Gallinari, it looks like the New York Knicks’ highest paid player, Larry Hughes, will be odd man out in coach Mike D’Antoni’s rotation. Situation sound familiar? Last year, the team’s highest paid player and the former face of the franchise, Stephon Marbury, was basically blackballed by D’Antoni at this exact point in the preseason. While Steph bit his tongue at first, it wasn’t long until things started to spiral out of control and the Knicks’ season started to play out like an episode of the Hills. Read More »

Light schedule of only four NBA preseason games on a day where the biggest (rumored) news was that the replacement refs probably won’t make it to the regular season due to the League being close to an agreement with the union guys. We hit on this a little bit yesterday, but it’s funny how so many media and fans are bashing the replacements as if they’ve been so much worse than the regulars. We even heard one TV talking head praise the return of the “real” refs, because the ones they’ve had in the preseason are obviously fake refs. How long will it take for NBA players to start complaining about every call again and for the rest of us to remember we thought the “real” refs stunk at their jobs, too? About 24 minutes into the first game? … Read More »