2/28: Heat/Knicks, Duke Snider, etc.

Greetings all...

• Gotta lead with Heat/Knicks... that was a wildly entertaining game... 91-86 NYK final after trailing by as many as 15 in the first half... they ended half #1 on a 16-0 run and they ended the game on a similar blitz... The takeaway for me was on the defensive end for New York... holding Miami under 90 points is pretty impressive, but the way that Carmelo and Amare (two notoriously underwhelming defenders) elevated their effort on that end down the stretch was noteworthy... and don't forget the efforts of Bill Walker (+22 on the night) in curbing Lebron, and putting up 10 points and 7 boards in just 25 minutes... for Miami... they got less than stellar production from Wade (5 of 15) on a night they need him to be big when he really doesn't have much opposition defensively... No need for panic for Heat fans based on this one game, but the overarching problems still remain...
• Duke Snider passes away at age 84... the baseball hall-of-famer is one of the more underrated stars of the 50's/60's who never really got his due thanks to playing in NY at the same time as Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle... that'll do it.... but can't ignore a guy with career .295 average, 407 homers, and the most home runs in the decade of the 50's.... RIP...
• Luke Donald wins the Accenture Match Play tournament... remember when this was a big deal type of tournament, golf fans?... Tiger's early exits and the "newness" of the event wearing off has lowered the excitement level significantly... but congrats to Donald on the W...
• College Hoops Check - Louisville with a huge OT victory over Pittsburgh... that's an important win for their seeding, etc., but the storyline was the Louisville male cheerleader who nearly cost the Cardinals the win... must-see lol.... The Big 10 powers hold serve.... Ohio State and Purdue with 20 point victories... Purdue's was far more impressive being on the road against a legit opponent in Michigan State.... and Wisconsin finishes the year undefeated at home... not a huge surprise here... the Kohl Center is death for the opposition...
• NBA Check - The Lakers sneak one out against OKC... Pau led the way with 18 and 11, but the story was the way they shut down the OKC offense down the stretch... 31 2nd-half points for the Thunder, and 2 missed triples at the gun by Harden and Durant... Channing Frye hit his first career game-winner at the gun in an OT win over Indy... Grant Hill led the way with 34 points... my man.... Kevin Love is ridiculous... 37 points, 23 boards against GSW last night in their win... 46 straight double-doubles.... 4 straight wins for Houston.... they rallied from a double-digit deficit to beat NO on the road led by 33 from Kevin Martin... keep an eye out... and The Hawks get a huge road win... 90-83 over Portland despite only 25 minutes from Al Horford thanks to foul trouble... 23 points for Jamal Crawford, and 22 from Joe Johnson led the way, but the real story was the visible difference on the defensive end... the Teague/Hinrich combination looks like they're from another planet compared to watching Bibby and Crawford "ole!" on the perimeter... it's refreshing... Portland is clearly just trying to figure out rotations, etc. with the re-integration of Roy and the addition of Wallace, but that's a loaded team with Camby and Roy there...

What to watch for on Monday...

• Hawks @ Nuggets - SportSouth 9:00 - The hits keep coming on the West coast trip... ATL got into Denver at 4:00 am... translation? Look for a letdown here...
• Celtics @ Jazz - NBA-TV 9:00 - A chance for the new-look Jazz to show what they've got... best of luck..
• #14 Villanova @ #9 Notre Dame - ESPN 7:00 - Really nice Big East matchup here... Villanova is reeling right now though... they need this one
• Kansas State @ #5 Texas - ESPN 9:00 - K-State is hot... Texas is reeling after their implosion in Boulder... but I still like the Longhorns at home...

Enjoy...

2/27: Upsets Galore...

Greetings all... 3 top 5 teams fell on Saturday... let's get to it...

• #1 Duke goes down in a heap... Malcolm Delaney went the distance (all 40 minutes), struggling to a 4 for 15 shooting night, but hit the ultimate dagger three late, and the Hokies held on from there... Jeff Allen threw up a monster 18/15 for VT, and Duke got nothing from Seth Curry (15 minutes, 5 fouls, 0 points), a mediocre game from Singler (6-19 FG) and a total lackluster shooting effort from 3-point distance (4 of 20)... huge win for VT, and that pretty much assures them a tourney bid...
• Jimmer Madness... Fredette led BYU to a gigantic road win at San Diego State with 25 and 9... but don't be deceived... BYU is legit... 3 additional guys in double-figures, and they managed to hold a talented SDSU team under 40% field goal shooting... BYU sweeps the season series, but I'm not ready to bail on the Aztecs... that's a very nice squad who just has matchup trouble with BYU... still a top-3 seed in the tourney to me...
• Texas blows a 22-point lead... #5 Texas led by that giant margin the first half in Boulder... and managed to lose it all thanks to Alec Burks and his 33/10 outing... could end up being a huge blow to the Longhorns because it may cost them a #1 seed... but if they win the Big 12 tourney, it shouldn't matter... road games...
• NCAA Boxscore Bits.... Arizona goes down in a heap... a day after anointing them the best of the Pac-10, they get blitzed in Westwood by 22... UCLA is looking good... Syracuse gets a nice road win in DC over Georgetown who looked a little overwhelmed without Chris Wright.. Kentucky holds serve in the SEC... they remain unbeaten at home after an 8-point win over Florida... and break up the Johnnies... St. John's with ANOTHER(!) road win over a top-15 team... Dwight Hardy led the way again with 34 points... big time...

Elsewhere....

• A small combine rant... Okay... I'm not watching the combine on NFL Network... why would I?... I would learn absolutely nothing from the event that I would need in that, I can look at a sheet of paper with 40-times, lifts, etc. if I wanted it... pass...
• NBA Check - Detroit defies all logic and wins a home game... we all know the turmoil story, but fortunately, they ran into a non-cohesive Jazz team, and got 28 from Rodney Stuckey to get a win... Houston puts up 71 first-half points (and 123 total) in beating up on New Jersey... Deron Williams put up a 3-12 shooting night and a -26 +/-.... goodness... a story to watch for the Rockets is Chase Budinger... the kid is taking off now as evidenced by 27 on Saturday... and Boston exploded in the 2nd half to put away the Clips on the road despite Randy Foye going off (32 points) and Blake Griffin's typical 21/11... worth noting that the crunch-time lineup was the big 4 and Baby Davis... elsewhere in the league? ho-hum...

What to watch for on Sunday...

• Lakers @ Thunder - ABC 2:30 - Perkins reportedly may go for OKC and that would be huge for them... otherwise, it's going to be tough for Ibaka/Collison to contain that LAL frontline... Nazr!....
• Knicks @ Heat - ESPN 8:00 - Well this is pretty obvious... the hype machine is rolling here... I think Miami runs them out of the gym though... just a gut feeling
• Hawks @ Blazers - ESPN 10:30 - Very, very intriguing matchup for me... the Blazers are pretty stacked now with Brandon Roy back (even at less than 100%, etc.), and this is game #2 (after practice #1) for both Gerald Wallace and Kirk Hinrich...
• #6 Pittsburgh @ #16 Louisville - CBS 2:00 - I love Pittsburgh... but this is a tough, tough road test in a hostile building...
• #8 Purdue @ Michigan State - ESPN 1:00 - This just SCREAMS to me as an upset alert for Purdue... Izzo will do that...
• Maryland @ #19 UNC - FSN 7:45 - Huge for Maryland... the Heels are in the tourney already, but Maryland could cement with a quality road win here...

2/26: Friday=NBA Galore...

Greetings all... there was virtually nothing else happening on this Friday night... so we're going all NBA... at least until the "what to watch for" segment...

• Orlando throttles OKC.... Dwight Howard was unreal last night... 40 points, 15 rebounds against the violently undersized Thunder... Ibaka fouled out in just 18 minutes (wow), and Nick Collison had nothing for Dwight... it doesn't help when Durant and Westbrook shoot a combined 14 of 41, but this one was on the defense...
• Denver/Portland.... This was the game of the night... a 107-106 OT win for the Blazers.. Portland had 5 guys with 16+ points including Brandon Roy with an efficient 18 in 24 minutes... totally balanced effort and they did it without Gerald Wallace, and without an active center on the roster... for Denver? Pretty encouraging... Gallinari was great (7/14 FG, 15/17 FT, 30 points), Afflalo showed more signs of being a 4th quarter killer with back-to-back Js at the end of regulation (19 points), and they were firmly in this thing with Felton/Lawson shooting 5 of 20...
• The Hawks get right.... there was no resistance for the Hawks front line... Al Horford did whatever he wanted to do all night, shooting 10-14 and putting up 22, 13, and 7 dimes... and even Josh Smith (sigh) played well in stretches... his line looks great (26 and 9), but it was typical ups and downs... I loved how he emerged with aggressiveness going to the rim, but he fell into the jumper zone for stretches... fortunately? He was making them... and then there's Kirk Hinrich... he played only 17 minutes, shooting 3 of 6 for 8 points and 3 dimes... he looked pretty good... seemed to be favoring his calf late, but we'll see what that is... I'm encouraged.... on the GS side... Ellis and Curry shot 9 of 28... they can't win when that happens...
• A 2-guard battle... between Dwyane Wade... and.... Nick Young?... Yes, you read that right... Wade and Miami get the win led by DWade's 41 points on 18 of 27... but Nick Young went off for Washington... 38 points on just 19 shots, dueling him all night... but the difference was clearly that the rest of Washington's roster, er, wasn't up to the challenge.... John Wall played very well (24 and 12 dimes), McGee was good (18 and 17), but outside of that? 33 total points... oh... we haven't even mentioned Lebron James' 25/9/7 line... ho-hum...
• New York loses to... Cleveland!... Cleveland? ew... Good stuff first... Melo/Amare/Billups combined for 84 points... that's outstanding... the rest of the team? 10 of 30 FG, 25 points... yikes... Cleveland got a balanced effort and a W.... no need for panic as an NY fan... but maybe a step back is in order... the depth just isn't there, and they can't guard anyone... but, then again, we knew that...

And then there's this...

• The Pistons are a mess.... Head Coach John Kuester has just enjoyed a mutiny from his veteran players... ok, enjoyed is probably the wrong words... Tracy McGrady and company didn't show up for their morning shootaround as a player "protest" against Kuester... and then Kuester promptly got ejected early in their 110-94 loss to Philly... what followed that? McGrady and company LAUGHING about the ejection... on the bench... like school children... and none of the 6 players who formed the walk-out on practice saw the court on Friday night... I'm 100% sure that this will result in Kuester being fired, but there's no justification for the behavior of these vets...

What to watch for... and here's a hint... there's no NBA to be seen in Atlanta...

• #7 BYU @ #4 San Diego State - CBS 2:00 - Mountain West game of the year... SDSU dropped their only loss in the original game in Provo, but they are playing this one at home, and Kawhi Leonard and co. should be ready to go.... I really like SDSU here... and I read a comparison to the Derrick Rose-led Memphis team that was a #1 seed... consider this, however? I believe the Mountain West this year is significantly better than C-USA has been... so why not the #1 seed buzz?
• #1 Duke @ Virginia Tech - ESPN 9:00 - Best team in the country goes on the road... VT really needs this one for their sparse tourney resume... but I just don't see it... it'll be competitive though...
• #10 Arizona @ UCLA - FSN 4:00 - Very nice Pac-10 game here... UCLA is a 20-win club, and while Arizona dropped a game on Thursday, they are still the class of the Pac-10 along with Washington...
• #20 Syracuse @ #11 Georgetown - CBS 12:00 - Gotta love the noon tip-off... especially when it's a good matchup.... something to watch is how G-Town responds to the loss of one of their leaders in G Chris Wright...
• #13 Florida @ #22 Kentucky - CBS 4:00 - The best 2 teams in the SEC IMO taking the court... Kentucky has more talent and plays at home... Florida has vets everywhere led by Chandler Parsons...
• #25 St. John's @ #14 Villanova - ESPN 2:00 - The Johnnies appear in the coaches poll... they have big win after big win, and they get another shot at one on the road here in Philly...

Enjoy the action, folks...

2/25: Trade Deadline Wrap!

Greetings all... Let's get to the nitty gritty and wrap-up the trade deadline stuff we haven't gotten to yet.... for previous thoughts (i.e. Deron Williams/Carmelo Anthony/etc.) scroll down the page...

• Boston ships Perkins.... what a crazy deal here... Boston sends Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson to OKC for Jeff Green and Nenad Krstic... so many angles... we'll go Boston first... I honestly don't like it at all for the Cs... I had them as my favorite to win the title as previously constructed, and they've traded what many consider the best post defender on Earth in Kendrick Perkins in exchange for versatile forward Jeff Green... player for player? It's not a bad deal... but when you consider fit? eh.... This leaves Boston with just Shaq and Jermaine at center (yikes), and while Boston desperately needed a backup swingman, they didn't necessarily need someone of Green's stature when he's clearly not taking minutes from Pierce or KG... I'm not sure I can be convinced that Shaq can stay healthy while playing starter minutes, and that's a big question mark now... Overall, I think it takes them down a notch pending any buyout candidates signing there... for OKC? I love it... they weren't going to be able to re-up Green simply because they have to sign Westbrook, AND this gives them the inside banger they've always needed... Perk has some injury issues, but this is pretty great value... Perk/Ibaka/Durant/Harden/Westbrook is pretty darn strong... not sure it vaults them past LA and San Antonio or anything, but they're a more credible threat now IMO...
• Gerald Wallace to Portland... the Blazers acquire the versatile forward from Charlotte for Joel Pryzbilla, Dante Cunningham, Sean Marks (Kiwi!), and 2 first-rounders.... straight salary dump for Charlotte who rid themselves of 2+ years of Wallace's deal, and allow for the rebuild with additional picks... meh... for Portland? It's interesting... from a roster standpoint, this deal helps simply because they didn't trade anything of real value... but with the 2 most valuable assets on Portland right now (Aldridge and Batum) being forwards... adding a highly-paid forward seems semi-redundant? Fortunately for them, Aldridge can play center, and I think with a healthy Camby, that frontline is scary nice... the fit will be key....
• Aaron Brooks to Phoenix.... Interesting move here... last year's MIP is headed from Houston to Phoenix in exchange for Goran Dragic and a #1... on the PHX end, Brooks is an upgrade from Dragic from a basketball standpoint, and could possibly take over for Nash down the road if they re-up him... for Houston, I like this move... it was clear Brooks wasn't going to be retained (he's expiring), and they get another asset with a #1 pick... once Kyle Lowry unseated Brooks in the lineup, the writing was on the wall...
• Memphis throws the white flag... on Hasheem Thabeet at least... overshadowed by a potential OJ Mayo that fell through at the last moment (hahaha), the Grizz shipped Thabeet, Demarre Carroll, and a #1 to Houston for Shane Battier and Ish Smith... similar to the Brooks deal for Houston... Battier was apparently the odd man out going forward in a logjam on the wing, and they had been in the market for another center, and additional assets... even if Thabeet doesn't pan out (and it's almost universal that he won't), that should be a pretty good pick, and it's worth the flier on Thabeet if he hits it big.... on Memphis end, they make the playoff push for this year (something they've made clear is a priority) bringing in a vet in Battier and losing nothing from this year's current rotation... but the white flag on Thabeet this early is a damning indictment of the Grizz front office....

I won't breakdown the minute deals... but I do want to say that I also enjoyed the OKC acquisition of Nazr Mohammed... it's another body that they could use up front, and they rid themselves of Mo Pete... now, to the other action....

• Adam Wainwright out for the year for St. Louis... crushing loss for the Cards... I've been talked into not burying them completely (thanks Dome) but it can't be understated how big of a blow this is for them... paging Jaime Garcia... they're going to need you...
• Tim Tebow isn't the starter in Denver... I know it's February, but this was interesting for me... John Fox already named Kyle Orton the starter for the Broncos... umm..... that seems premature?... Just an FYI for everyone...
• NBA Check - Chris Bosh... What do you say about someone who shoots 1 for 18 in an NBA game? It's the worst FG% in a game (15 attempt min.) in the NBA since 1991... and it's worse when considering that he's the 3rd option on that team... 18 attempts?... yikes... anyway, the Bulls get a 93-89 win over Miami led by 26 from Rose, and 20/10 from Deng... LBJ and Wade were masterful with 63 and 18 between them, but you can't overcome 1 of 18.... and Denver gets a win over Boston... the new-look Nuggets were sparked by a Lawson/Felton/Afflalo lineup in the 4th quarter, and put away the Cs late... they legitimately go 10-deep now, and the depth showed... just interesting to see how the minutes shake out...
• College Hoops - Pitt rolls on... 71-58 over West Virginia and they just continue to operate business-like... beating up on teams they should take care of... USC knocks off Arizona by 8... Derrick Williams was held to 8 points on 3 of 11... Marquette upsets #15 UConn in OT... Kemba had 27 for the Huskies, but they were held under 40% shooting on the night... and the WCC Game of the Year goes to... Gonzaga... the Zags keep their conference title hopes alive with an 89-85 OT win on the road... Sam Dower (Osseo High School shout-out!) led the way with 21 points...

What to watch for on Friday...

• Thunder @ Magic - ESPN 8:00 - I'm not sure if Perkins will be in Orlando, but either way, he likely won't play (sprained MCL)... this is the type of game they need him in (lol), and Dwight could have a field day...
• Hawks @ Warriors - SportSouth 10:30 - Well, this is what they got you for Kirk Hinrich... go out and guard somebody...
• Nuggets @ Blazers - ESPN 10:30 - Lots of Denver in our lives lately, huh?... They looked pretty good against Boston, and this is also a chance to see the new-look Blazers with Gerald Wallace provided he arrives in time...

Baron Davis to Cleveland....

This is karmic payback for me posting my blog at 2:00 am like it would be good til the morning during NBA trade deadline week and going to bed... so BD gets his own post...

Cleveland Gets: Baron Davis and LAC's 2011 #1 pick (lottery-bound)
LA Clips Get: Mo Williams and Jamario Moon

Umm... what?...

On Cleveland's side... it looks sketchy at the jump... Baron is still owed $28 million over 2 years after the end of this year... add in the fact that he's 1) always injured, and 2) a notorious front-runner who seemed rejuvenated playing with Blake Griffin, but is a pretty likely bet to revert to cruise control in hapless Cleveland.... but look deeper... this trade has less to do with BD than you think... Cleveland is in "acquire assets" mode... and they are getting a guaranteed lottery pick out of the deal.... If it's only money to Dan Gilbert, then so be it... but the pricetag is too high for me when considering how bad this draft could be....

For the Clips? It's a clear money thing... Moon expires after this season, and Mo Williams makes significantly less (with just under $9 million player options the next 2 seasons)... they have a young PG they like in Eric Bledsoe, and a marketing ploy (cough, Blake Griffin) to try to attract free agents... so I see the logic... but someone will have to actually GO to the Clippers in free agency before this deal makes full sense... Mo Williams is a nice player... that's what he is... he's having the worst shooting season of his career (under 39%) but now that he's not being asked to be the chief scorer, that may help him...

Overall, it's a typical deadline move from this era... almost entirely cap/$ driven, and two bad teams swapping contracts that won't affect the outcome of anything in 2011... done and done...

2/24: The Trade Winds Blow....

Greetings all... let's open things up with the 2 biggest stories of the day in my world... both involving NBA trades...

• Deron Williams to New Jersey.... The Nets acquire the elite PG by sending Derrick Favors, Devin Harris, their 2011 #1 pick, and Golden State's 2012 #1 to Utah for Williams... tons of ramifications here... first of all, Deron Williams is a top-3 PG in the L, and he's a game-changing player... that's big in itself... secondly, the Nets had been in pursuit of Carmelo Anthony with a similar package for MONTHS, and, this just in, Deron Williams is a better basketball player than Carmelo Anthony... that may not be common knowledge for the casual fan, but it's the truth whether the hype surrounding this move will compare or not... for Utah, I can see both sides... on the one hand, there was writing on the wall that Williams would leave when he hit free agency after 2012, so they decided to flip him for good value... that being said, this screams panic to me... they could've easily held out until the summer and weighed additional offers, but apparently, they are in love with Derrick Favors (a questionable fit with their current best 2 players being bigs in Millsap and Jefferson) and he's the key... I think Devin Harris is a pretty nice player, but if the picks don't end up being elite ones, this deal will look worse... On a brighter note for the Jazz, the Nets pick should be a top-10 one and there's still significant talent on that roster... Overall, a steal of NJ and you have to be happy as a Nets fan...
• Kirk Hinrich to Atlanta.... a very rare occurrence on Wednesday night... the Atlanta Spirit Group and Rick Sund combined to make what I believe is a positive deal... Kirk Hinrich and Hilton Armstrong are on their way to ATL in exchange for Mike Bibby, Mo Evans, Jordan Crawford, and ATL's 2011 #1 pick... Hinrich is the best player in this trade... he can do everything Mike Bibby can do, except he's arguably better in every area (and markedly better in some areas)... Hinrich is a good defender, a career 38% 3-point shooter, and a better ball-handler/creator than Bibby is... the upgrade is clear... as far as the pricetag, it's a little dicey... the Hawks take on an additional year of salary in Hinrich, give up on their 2010 #1 pick in Jordan Crawford, and ship an additional #1 in the deal... the Mo Evans departure hurts depth a bit, but Damien Wilkins has been as good as Evans this year, and this will force Larry Drew to stop playing Evans and Wilkins together at times... there's no question that Horford-Smith-Williams-Joe-Hinrich-Jamal-Zaza-Wilkins-Jamal-Teague is a better 10-man rotation than the one operating previously with Bibby and Evans... but what does it actually mean?.... That part is debatable... Over a 25-game stretch, Hinrich is an upgrade, but probably not a game-changer, and while he'll definitely help the effort to potentially compete with Orlando in a playoff series, he's not pushing ATL past any of the East's elite... but the downside just isn't there for me... especially with Hinrich being easily moveable if necessary next year as an expiring... I love the deal...

Elsewhere....

• Adam Wainwright may in line for Tommy John Surgery... just a brutal potential outcome for the Cardinals and their ace... but it's not confirmed yet, and MRI's are ongoing... I'll go ahead and bury STL for 2011 if this is true, even if it's too early to do so...
• NBA Box Score Check - Sacto knocks off Orlando... in Orlando?... 111-105 win led by Jermaine Taylor's 21... Orlando dropped this one despite Dwight's 31/17 as well... random... San Antonio gets some clutch buckets from Tony Parker and beats OKC 109-105... Durant with 30 for the Thunder... Toronto ruins Joakim Noah's return for Chicago by beating up on the Bulls... 24 for DeRozan and 17 dimes for Calderon... on a bright note for the Bulls, Noah returned with 16 rebounds... Melo debuted for the Knicks in a home win... 27 and 10, and he seemed to be pretty comfortable knocking down 2 clutch buckets late... and the undermanned Hawks drop one in Phoenix by 8... only 8 guys for Atlanta, and they allowed 13 triples from Phoenix... finally, Brandon Roy returns from his double knee surgery for Portland in their home loss to the Lakers... Roy played only 14 minutes, but his return is obviously huge for that franchise... Kobe Bryant led the way for LAL with 37 points on 15 of 31 shooting to outlast Lamarcus Aldridge (29/14) and company...
• College Hoops - Marshon Brooks probably isn't a name you know... but the Providence swingman set the Big East record with 52 points (on 20 of 28 shooting, no less) in a loss to Notre Dame... the Irish got 32 from Ben Hansborough in the win... but Brooks is clearly the story... Duke gets a non-conference win over #24 Temple led by Kyle Singler's 28... they continue to impress even in the absence of Kyrie Irving... Cincinnati with a big-time road win at Georgetown 58-46... the Bearcats have a pretty impressive resume at this point with already 9 conference wins... and Michigan gets upended by a buzzer-beating bankshot triple by Wisconsin to lose by 1 in their potentially crucial game for at-large status... such a brutal loss...
• More trades from the NBA... Carl Landry to the Hornets in exchange for G Marcus Thornton and cash... I like this move alot for NO... Thornton is a bit of a tweener and I think they're at their best with Jarrett Jack in that slot... also, it gives them another front-court guy to help out David West... for Sacto, they get a little value for an expiring deal in Landry, but I'm not sure what Thornton's role is on a team with Tyreke... and Troy Murphy reportedly headed to Golden State... well... sort of... the Nets acquire Dan Gadzuric and Brendan Wright from GS in exchange for Murphy's contract, but Murphy is a prime buyout candidate and I expect to see all the contenders lining up to sign the double-double machine...
• Tiger Woods drops his 1st round match at the WGC Match Play... there aren't really any "upsets" in pro golf match play, but it's certainly a bit disconcerting for Tiger fans that he'd come out and drop his opening match... FWIW...

What to watch for on Thursday....

• Heat @ Bulls - TNT 8:00 - Great matchup.... Noah is back for CHI and I don't see alot of teams that can match up better defensively with the Heat than the Bulls... two of the East's elite...
• Celtics @ Nuggets - TNT 10:30 - It'll be interesting if nothing else... Boston is obviously loaded, but Denver is the real story here with how that rotation shakes out post-trade...
• West Virginia @ #6 Pittsburgh - ESPN 9:00 - Big East battle... I love watching Pitt play... what a grinding team... so many vets and they defend like crazy...
• #10 Arizona @ USC - FSS 10:30 - Arizona is the class of the Pac-10... and if you're up late enough... Derrick Williams is a must-see...
• Marquette @ #15 UConn - ESPN2 7:00 - Lots of turmoil in Storrs right now... Calhoun is on a hot seat, and won't be coaching in this one either due to family tragedy...

2/23: The NBA Returns, etc....

Greetings all...

• The deadline is approaching... the NBA trade deadline that is... it's a fantastic time of year for NBA diehards, and with the advent of Twitter, there are legit real-time updates from hundreds (literally) of credible writers/journalists that are working around the clock all week to track this stuff down.... For the purposes of this blog, I'll only be hitting the "done deals" just because it takes too long to run retractions... but hit me up on twitter @browismyhero for real-time takes on blanket rumors...
• NBA Check - The Lakers found the pill that cures all ills... the Atlanta Hawks on the road after a long layoff... 104-80 and it wasn't that close... Kobe attempted only 11 shots (20 points), Gasol and Bynum did whatever they wanted, and Derek Fisher hit the first 3 jumpers of the game to set the tone... another listless effort from everyone but Al Horford (who shot 6-9 and was the only defensive resistance) but even he was held back by the Larry Drew foul treatment... Denver wins with 9 guys... 120-107 over Memphis led by a very nice night from Ty Lawson (21 pts, 7 dimes, 5 boards, 6 steals)... I'm not opposed to thinking they could still make the playoffs simply due to the issues of teams competing with them... Blake Griffin had 28 points, 11 rebounds, and 8 assists in his Oklahoma homecoming last night... and the Clips lost by 23... dwell on that...
• College Hoops - Ohio State got their swagger back a bit... 89-70 over Illinois led by David Lighty (one of my favorite college hoops players... why are they always OSU guys? sigh) with 21 points... Tennessee with a huge win for their tourney resume with a 9 point victory at Vandy... that's a historically tough place to play... and Louisville blitzkriegs Rutgers 55-37... yes, 37.... the Scarlet Knight offense was pretty inept, but that's still a very good road win when you can dominate a decent team like that...
• Jim Calhoun suspended 3 Big East games in 2011-12... typical recruiting scandal here, but for some reason, nothing ever seems to stick to Calhoun... at any rate, 3 games seems like a weird number, and the penalty isn't assessed for about 10 more months, but it's something...

What to watch for...

• Thunder @ Spurs - ESPN 7:00 - Great game here... back-to-back for OKC and headed on the road, so I like the Spurs in the game... but a really nice matchup of old vs. new
• Hawks @ Suns - SportSouth 9:00 - Road back-to-back = trouble.... I'll stick with that... and of course, there's no one on the Hawks roster that can stay in front of Nash...
• Clippers @ Hornets - ESPN 9:30 - Blake... CP3... Possible trades for both teams pre-game...
• #24 Temple @ #1 Duke - ESPN2 7:00 - Randomly awesome non-conference game... Temple is the class of a pretty good Atlantic 10 and well, Duke is #1 in the country even without Kyrie Irving...
• #12 Wisconsin @ Michigan - 6:30 Big Ten Network - Pretty much a must-win for the Wolverines at-large hopes... and Wisconsin is a very different team away from the Kohl Center...

Enjoy...

2/22: The Long National Nightmare Ends....

Greetings all... obviously the big news of the morning is the Carmelo trade... let's break it down using the widely reported details...

New York receives: Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Corey Brewer (from MIN), Shelden Williams, Renaldo Balkman, and Anthony Carter

Denver Receives: Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari (aka Dan the Italian), Timofey Mozgov, NY's 2014 #1 pick, two 2nd-rounders, and $3 million

Minnesota receives: Anthony Randolph and Eddy Curry's corpse....

So what does it all mean?

• New York's Side - Obviously they gut their roster a bit here... but the chance to acquire someone of Melo's (perceived) stature is one they choose to take here... Melo has always been a bit overrated as an entity to me, but that's what happens when you can score 30 on any given night... he's a pretty solid rebounder, but he's a below-average defender, unequivocal ball-stopper, and the tandem of he and Amare at the forward spots is a questionable match IMO... In addition to Melo, they land Billups, who can still play a bit, but there are definite style question marks in that offense, and he's overpaid at this point... the underreported part of the deal is Corey Brewer... he's not a special player, but he's a legit rotation guy, and that helps to offset the loss of the entire perimeter nucleus... but then again, Brewer is being mentioned as a potential candidate to be flipped.... they have about 6 NBA guys that I trust (Turiaf/Amare/Melo/Fields/Billups/Brewer), and it'll be interesting to see what they do going forward....
• Denver's Side - They had to deal him... I firmly believe that... and they got a decent haul in return... Chandler has proven to be productive, Felton is an upgrade over Billups at this moment (sorry Chauncey), and Gallinari can fill the stretch position that Melo had been in... but the BIG result here? They save upwards of $20 million... that can't be understated... additionally, this is a team primed to potentially make an additional trade... they still have a point guard logjam with Felton and Lawson, Gallinari is reportedly already on the block, and this year is kind of a wash now...
• Minnesota's End - Basically it amounts to Brewer for Randolph and Curry's expiring... and that's a decent value for a guy they had pretty much bailed on in Brewer... Randolph's got high upside, and Curry comes off the books after this year anyway...

It's going to be a very interesting couple of days until the deadline... elsewhere....

• College Hoops - Syracuse gets a big road win at Nova 69-64 behind Scoop Jardine's 20 points... they had lost of 6 of 10 prior so this is certainly a nice, steadying win... and Kansas pounds OK State... Marcus Morris led the way with 27 for the Jayhawks who didn't seem to feel the loss of Tyshawn Taylor at all...
• I learned 2 things about the NFL combine yesterday... 1) Cam Newton is going to throw!!!! Okay, I'm kidding... no one cares about that... and if they do... I don't know... and 2) I heard that there are sportsbooks taking wagers on the combine... betting on the combine? That's about as degenerate as it gets, folks.... I'm at a loss...

What to watch for... The NBA is back!

• Hawks @ Lakers - 10:30 NBATV or SportSouth - Nice welcome back gift from the league as the Hawks are at Staples... the Lakers may be an angry squad after how they finished the first half though... and it's the first of 5 road games in 7 nights for Atlanta.... ominous...
• Illinois @ #3 Ohio State - 7:00 ESPN - Illinois has hit the skids recently, but still has talent... Ohio State is still undefeated at home, and should hold serve here...
• Tennessee @ #18 Vanderbilt - 9:00 ESPN - If you like SEC hoops... I don't particularly... but Vandy is pretty solid, and Tennessee has shown themselves capable of beating upper-echelon teams...

Until later...

2/21: Better Late than Never....

Greetings all... I realize it's nearly 1 pm in the East... but I'm still alive... so let's the key points from the weekend briefly...

• NBA All-Star Weekend is in the books... a fairly entertaining ASG itself with the West prevailing 148-143... I'm generally apathetic towards the game, but there was some legit competition late (including a random Lebron soundbyte that included him virtually chewing the East guys out in the huddle)... Kobe was Kobe... winning MVP with a ridiculous 37 points and 14 rebounds... Lebron had the 2nd ever triple-double in ASG history (and the most impressive statline ever), and that was that.... as far as the dunk contest goes... Demar DeRozan was robbed and I stand by that lol.... anyway, my pick, Jevale McGee, got caught with one too few dunks in the arsenal, but was the most impressive to me... Blake was the landslide favorite pre-contest because of the popularity factor and the fact that it was in LA, and both held firm.... the car dunk was a great idea, but not the most impressive dunk of the night by any stretch... but things went as planned with Griffin winning the popularity contest... That's all I got on the weekend since no one cares about the other competitions lol....
• College Hoops - The game of the weekend was Purdue's upset of Ohio State in W. Lafayette on Sunday... "upset" should be termed loosely here as Purdue is 22-5, has 2 legit NBA guys that are seniors, and were playing at home, but Etwaun Moore was crazy with 38 points and 7 triples... Duke claimed the #1 spot in Monday's coaches poll after taking care of business against Georgia Tech... nothing to write home about, but Nolan Smith is somehow still flying under the radar despite being the unquestioned ACC POY right now while averaging 22/5/5.... just a thought... Couple notes from Saturday... Nebraska knocked off Texas by 3 and put the Longhorns out of the fictional #1 spot... tough place to play in Lincoln always, and that's a typical road spot for a young team... St. John's knocked off Pitt for yet ANOTHER crazy good win... they have the best win resume in the country bar none... and Arizona beat Washington in a Pac-10 barnburner on Saturday... These are unquestionably the best 2 teams in that league, and Arizona held serve at home... Derrick Williams may be a top 5 player in America... 26 and 11 for the Soph forward who is averaging 20 and 8....
• Jarrett Jack arrested on suspicion of DUI in Atlanta... well... these are never good... the Hornets guard (and Georgia Tech product) could be some hot water here, and NO isn't in a position to play without him for very long...
• A big time blow to the Kansas hoops team... Junior guard Tyshawn Taylor (their most experienced guard) has been suspended indefinitely for a rules violation... they still have guard depth with Selby back and healthy, but this hurts them...

You may be wondering why we're not talking Melo... I've decided to make this a Melo-free zone until something substantial changes... done and done...

What to watch for on Monday....

• #20 Syracuse @ #14 Villanova - ESPN 7:00 - Typical Big East battle here... very solid guard play on both ends, and 2 legit squads...
• Oklahoma State @ #2 Kansas - ESPN 9:00 - Interesting to see how Kansas deals without Taylor, but this is a game they should win comfortably at home...

Slow night in sports with the NBA on hiatus until tomorrow... stay tuned...

2/17: Miggy Cabrera, Cavs/Lakers, etc.

Kind of a busy day... let's get it going...

• Miguel Cabrera was arrested late Wednesday night on a DUI charge in Florida.... the Tigers slugger (and one of the top 10 players in baseball) has a checkered past with alcohol mostly centered on a domestic dispute last year, and has since claimed to be past alcohol issues... this is a giant blow for him and the Tigers even if he avoids legal matters altogether simply because they owe him $20 million a year, and he can't stay out of trouble for alcohol.... problem levels...
• Carmelo news!.... Or.. "news" shall we say... the Nets are reportedly back in the mix... The principals pretty much have to be the same (Harris, Favors, picks, etc.) simply because I don't see them shipping Brook Lopez, and they don't have any additional attractive assets... just an FYI though... this thing isn't near over for anyone...
• NBA Check - Cleveland knocks off the Lakers... yes, CLEVELAND KNOCKS OFF THE LAKERS!... 3 straight losses for LA including the embarrassing blowout to Charlotte, the ineptness against Orlando, and now this... pretty chaotic for LAL... on Cleveland's end, Ramon Sessions exploded for 32, and the Cavs got their season-best win... congrats to them... Dwight Howard throws up a 32/10 in only 29 minutes in a blowout win over hapless Washington... one note on the Wiz.. anytime you can have Cartier Martin and Josh Howard's corpse shoot a combined 3 of 23... you have to do it... to the Hawks... 102-90 loss in NY last night... good things first... all 5 starters in double figures, 50% 3-point shooting... now the bad... Josh Smith shooting 9 jump shots (and 6-16 FGs), Jeff Teague playing only 4 minutes despite the team being +6 while he was out there, shooting 2/3, and being the only person on the team capable of staying in front of Ray Felton... I could go for days... but I won't... I need the All-Star break for the Hawks... Blake Griffin and Kevin Love faced off last night... Griffin won the team battle and put up 29 points... Love put up a typically ridiculous 18/18 and continued his double-double streak... ho-hum... Philadelphia might be good... 24-16 in their last 40 games... and another nice road win in Houston last night...
• College Hoops Nuggets - Purdue knocked off Wisconsin in W. Lafayette... the Boilers are still undefeated at home, and JaJuan Johnson (20 pts, 10 rebs, 4 blocks) is a beast... UConn righted the ship a bit against Georgetown... holding serve at home behind Kemba Walker's 31... and #22 Saint Mary's caught a very unexpected loss last night in San Diego to the 6-21 Toreros... uh.... no idea...
• Toronto Blue Jay slugger Jose Bautista to sign a 5-year, 65 million dollar extension... man, that seems like a lot... he led the MLB in homers with 54 last year, which is obviously a ridiculous output, but it seems very bust-possible... in their defense however, he's been consistently mashing since a swing change mid-season in 2009...

What to watch for Thursday... AND for the rest of the weekend (in case the internet fails me)...

Thursday:

• Spurs @ Bulls - 8:00 TNT - Chicago has the East's best record against the West... Spurs on the rodeo trip... this is a great matchup...
• Mavs @ Suns - 10:30 TNT - Dirk vs. Nash...
• Washington State @ #13 Arizona - 8:30 FSN - Zona is the Pac-10's best right now... but Wazzu is a threat on any given night...
• Richmond @ #25 Temple - 7:00 CBS College Sports - If you have the network (I don't, sigh), this is two tourney teams from the A-10 squaring off...

Friday:

• #12 UConn @ #16 Louisville - 9:00 ESPN - A randomly good friday night college game... enjoy it...
• NBA All-Star Rookie Challenge - 9:00 TNT - Rookie/Soph game... if you the all-star game is frenetic... you haven't seen anything yet....

Saturday:

• NBA All-Star Saturday Night - 8:30 TNT - Worth the watch just to see what Jevale McGee, Blake Griffin, and Demar Derozan come up with...
• #4 Pitt @ St. John's - Noon ESPN - the Johnnies are definitely capable of giant-killing with 5 top-15 wins already this year, but I remain in the camp that Pitt is the class of the Big East...
• #7 Notre Dame @ West Virginia - 1:00 CBS - Another nice Big East matchup... I've admittedly not seen enough of ND, but seems to be a disciplined, talented team...
• Washington @ #13 Arizona - 6:00 ESPN - a rare Pac-10 game on the worldwide leader... pitting the 2 most talented (and best) teams in the Pac-10...
• #24 Utah State @ #23 St. Mary's - 9:00 ESPN2 - This one lost a little luster with the Gaels loss on Wednesday, but two criminally underrated small conference teams... Utah State is legit...

Sunday:

• NBA All-Star Game - 8:00 TNT - All the bells and whistles...
• #3 Ohio State @ #11 Purdue - 1:00 CBS - Awesome Big 10 game... about as evenly matched as it gets with it being at Purdue...
• Georgia Tech @ #5 Duke - 7:45 FSN - Georgia Tech is cover your eyes bad... watch at your own peril...

Enjoy the weekend folks...

All-Star Weekend Quick Picks...

Greetings all... I will be traveling over the weekend so expect limited content (sigh)... wanted to get up my picks for the ASG festivities...

Dunk Contest - Jevale McGee (WAS)

I've been on the record since the contestant list was released that I'm siding with Epic Vale... Yes, I realize that Blake Griffin is involved, but I'm going to say this... I've NEVER seen a more athletic player for their size than Jevale McGee... he's a legit 7-feet, jumps like a swingman, and he's got crazy length... AND he's shown some foolishness in game situations... call it a sleeper if you want... but Griffin is a power dunker more than a "flash" type of guy i.e. Vince, etc., and I feel like unless it turns into a popularity contest, McGee is my favorite... but FYI, don't sleep on late addition Demar Derozan... he was drawing Vince comparisons back to high school and can flyyyy....

3-Point Shootout - Ray Allen (BOS)

I can't pick against Ray... especially when the defending champion is Paul Pierce and I still can't believe he won it last year... Best stroke, most repeatable, etc... he's the favorite... if I had to give a sleeper, it'd be James Jones...

Skills Challenge - Steph Curry (GS)

Honestly? I have no idea... the guy who would win it (again) is Steve Nash, but he's not participating... Rose won it in 2009, but I feel like Curry is overly skilled and has a shot... but what do I know?

And... of course....

The Game - West over East

It's my favorite All-Star game... not saying much (at all) because I hate them in general... but at least there's about 6 minutes where it's legitimately compelling in the 4th quarter if it's close... the West is uber-deep, has more size, and has the best point guard for this type of game (Paul)... the East has Lebron, the best big (Howard), but their bench is pretty bad (considering), and I don't like Rose as an all-star game distributor haha... There it is...


Enjoy the festivities... and please... don't sleep on Epic Vale...

2/16: Franchise Tags, Hoops, etc...

Not the most riveting day of sports... but there's been good hoops... let's go...

• NFL Franchise tags lead the news... this makes me laugh every time... we mentioned the Vick tag yesterday, and today Peyton Manning's exclusive tag rules the headlines... it's pretty hilarious when you realize what it actually means... did anyone actually think Peyton Manning was hitting the market? Why is this news?
• NBA Check - Miami's trio combined for 90 points including 41 from Wade (31 in 1st half) in their road win at Indy... but that wasn't the crazy part... if you haven't seen the Dwyane Wade-to-Lebron-James 90-foot alleyoop pass (link here: http://bit.ly/ei7mYn), get it in your life... OKC blasts the hapless Kings by 30.... 7 guys in double-figures for OKC including 20 off the bench for none other than Daequan Cook... that says it all... The Suns and Jazz played a barnburner last night which PHX won 102-101... Channing Frye led the way with a career game of 31 and 11 to overcome Al Jefferson (32 and 10) and company...
• College Hoops - Ohio State holds court against Michigan State... Sparty actually showed up for this one but it's a tall task to win in Columbus against that loaded squad... Not too much to gleam from the other top 25 wins... Nova, UNC, Missouri and Kentucky all won close-ish games that they were supposed to win... Mountain West darkhorse UNLV wins an ugly, ugly game 49-42 over Air Force... this is noteworthy because Air Force went nearly 13 (thirteen!) minutes without scoring in the 2nd half... and nearly won... uh....
• You know it's 2011 when David Stern is catching all kinds of hype for comments made... on a podcast... he went on the BS Report with Bill Simmons on Monday to discuss all things NBA and his comments about the Hornets are making headlines... Stern candidly revealed that there is a segment of owners who would prefer contracting the Hornets rather than continuing the league-run operation they are currently under... why is this news? It's simple math... and there are too many bottom line-driven owners that don't see anything except dollars and cents.. no surprise here...

What to watch for...

• Hawks @ Knicks - 7:30 SportSouth - This one should be interesting... they meet for the first time since the Marvin Williams fight/Al Horford explosion, and Amare is running his mouth... I'm excited...
• Nuggets @ Bucks - 9:00 ESPN - What a random, random national TV game... Denver is a bad road team (9-18) so Milwaukee is in play here...
• #10 Wisconsin @ #11 Purdue - 6:30 Big Ten Network - Game of the night for me... Wisky is a different team on the road and coming off that giant win on Saturday... I like Purdue here...
• #9 Georgetown @ #12 UConn - 7:00 ESPN3 - Why in the world isn't this game on a TV ESPN channel? We'd rather watch Louisville/Cincy? Really?...
• OK State @ #2 Texas - 9:00 ESPN2 - This is the best of the rest college hoops-wise because OSU is a decent opponent... if you want to watch Duke/UVA (7:00 ESPN2) be my guest... but Virginia stinks...

That'll do it...

2/15: Kansas Goes Down, Pujols, etc...

Greetings... not an overly riveting sports night... but alas, here we are....

• #1 Kansas goes down in a heap... a blowout road loss at K-State thanks to Jacob Pullen's career-high 38... just a combination of Kansas not really showing up, and K-State executing offensively in a way they haven't all year capped by Pullen's 5-6 3 pt showing... he was throwing it in from everywhere... what does it mean? Not a whole lot... but KSU needed this one to have any prayer of an At-Large bid....
• Albert Pujols is likely to be a free agent... I'm interested to see what happens here, but I'm already growing weary of it.. and it's February... could be A-Rod like in free agency...
• The Eagles will franchise tag Mike Vick... zero surprise here... they get to retain his rights, albeit at a high number, but don't have the total commitment of a long-term deal in the star QB range... almost an automatic...
• NBA Check - The Hawks awaken... after being down 7 after 1, the Hawks beat up on Detroit by 22 the rest of the way, and got a road win... Josh Smith led the way with 27 and 14... it has to be the most monotonous team to discuss... I need my Hawks 2nd wind... Charlotte blows out the Lakers? 109-89 and this was hideous basketball from LA... Kobe shot 3 different airballs, and while he managed 20 points, he was pretty bad... Gerald Wallace led 8 guys with 7+ points for Charlotte... Step off, Dante Cunningham... the 'Nova product may have played the best game of his career with 18 and 13 last night in a road win for Portland in Minny... and Houston drains 14 threes in disposing of Denver 121-102... Courtney Lee led the way with 22...

What to watch for...

• Heat @ Pacers - 7:00 NBA TV - The Pacers are really, really interesting and nobody knows it... playing very well under Vogel since O'Brien went away, and their rotation is something to keep an eye on when they're healthy to see how it shakes out...
• Michigan State @ #3 Ohio State - 9:00 ESPN - This would've been a much bigger deal if Michigan State hadn't tanked... but with OSU coming off a loss, and MSU having the talent to beat them, I kinda want to see where these teams are...
• Mississippi State @ #22 Kentucky - 7:00 ESPN - SEC Basketball is so... taxing...

Until later...

2/14: Oh, It's a Holiday...

Greetings...

• February 14, 2011 is certainly a holiday... but not one of those corporate-created, Hallmark-indulging ones... it's the beautiful day that results in pitchers and catchers reporting for Spring Training and the early signs of another baseball season... it's funny because I won't watch much (if any) baseball until opening day (leave me out of Spring training games), but it's just nice to know they are down there....
• The Celtics knocked off the Heat yesterday 85-82... just a weird game all around... Boston got a paltry 0-10 FG, 1 point (one!) effort from Paul Pierce who played 40 minutes somehow, but 6 guys in double figures including a triple-double from Rondo got them the win... Wade was out-of-sorts (6 of 17), Lebron was typical (22/7/7) but the shooter combo of Miller and House were an abysmal 2 of 11 and Joel Anthony played 21 minutes without attempting a shot... yeah... nothing really to gleam... these 2 are going to battle in the playoffs...
• NBA Box Score Check - Orlando holds LA to a season-low 75 points in a 14-point win... Dwight with a dominant 31/13 performance to lead the charge... The Wiz won a road game! And you just knew it'd be in Cleveland lol... 115-100 and they beat up on them throughout... Cleveland is bad, that's not news... I stick to my 2-39/3-38 road prediction for Washington... Okay... Lamarcus Aldridge is a stud... the should've-been-#-1 draft pick put up 36 points in Portland's 5-point road win in Detroit... seems like every night he does this now... and Golden State knocks off OKC at home behind 79 points from Lee/Ellis/Curry, 19 boards from Lee, and 13 dimes for Steph... really nice win for them...
• The ranked teams held serve yesterday in college hoops... Duke, UConn, Georgetown, Purdue, and Arizona all won by semi-comfortable margins in league games against unranked squads... kind of a ho-hum day...

What to watch for...

• #2 Kansas @ K-State - ESPN 9:00 - This would've been a huge game if K-State didn't fall off the earth... my boy (lol) Frank Martin can't seem to right the ship... but they are capable of keeping this competitive at home in a rivalry game
• West Virginia @ #13 Syracuse - ESPN 7:00 - Typical Big East slugfest... Syracuse is a Jekyll/Hyde team to be sure...
• Spurs @ Nets - 7:00 NBA-TV - The Nets are on TV? Bleh...
• Hawks @ Pistons - 7:30 SportSouth - I typed a 600-word Hawks rant on Saturday that I put on the shelf... that should tell you how I'm feeling about them right now... I have to recommend reading the ESPN TrueHoop Hawks blog over at hoopinionblog.com... Bret is a great writer, and gives insight that few others can...

Until later...

2/11: Jerry Sloan, Ray Allen's 3's, etc...

Greetings... a lot to cover here...

• Jerry Sloan resigns.... so much to say here, but I'll keep it short... Sloan and Deron Williams can't get along... Sloan signs an extension last week (huh!?)... Sloan resigns... the rest of the details are pretty clouded, but it certainly seems as though Deron broke his will on this one... at any rate, Sloan is one of the great coaches of my NBA lifetime, and probably the best coach ever to not win a title... big ups to him on a fantastic career...
• Ray Allen breaks the all-time 3-pt FG made record... this was coming for a long time, but he finally got it done last night... Reggie Miller weeps... Ray has the prettiest J I've ever witnessed... and Reggie & Ray are so far ahead of everyone it's scary...
• NBA Check - The Lakers get a huge win in Boston... despite the fanfare around Ray Allen's record... they rode 20 second-half points from Kobe and a 20/10 from Gasol to a 92-86 road win... there's only so much you can take from this game, but both teams clearly take their intensity to different heights against each other... Arron Afflalo went bonkers after 1 am EST last night... 19 points in the 4th quarter including 13 in the final 5 minutes and the game-winner at the gun... overshadowing 42 points from Melo, and the fact that Chauncey Billups still thinks he's Mr. Big Shot (for another day)... impressive stuff from Afflalo... Dallas was due to drop one after winning 10 straight, and ran into a shooting buzzsaw from Denver late...
• College Hoops - St. John's is a dangerous team... Dwight Hardy went for 33, and the Johnnies decimated UConn in the Garden last night... UConn continues to struggle lately, and we need to remember that this was an unranked team preseason with low expectations... they're coming back to the mean... and Kemba Walker? Still a volume shooter... and Georgia Tech is woeful... I know that very few people care (shouts to John and Trav), but it's bugging me.. 23-77 (30%) shooting for the game... AT HOME... including a ridiculous 51 shot attempts from Rice and Shumpert (28 for Rice is laughable)... I don't even know what to say... any Tech fan knows the issue... firing Paul Hewitt comes at an unbelievable financial cost thanks to the balloon contract he signed in 2004, and I know he can recruit, but the way his players fail to develop, and the consistency by which they underperform is startling....

What to watch for...

• Lakers @ Knicks - ESPN 8:00 - Road back-to-back for an old LA team... means a dangerous spot here in the Garden...
• Suns @ Jazz - ESPN 10:30 - Ty Corbin (former Hawk) makes his debut as Utah's coach... and I'm sure his offense will look great against Phoenix lol... this is a must-see...

2/10: Duke/UNC, Lockout Talk, etc.

Greetings...

• The best college hoops rivalry took the court last night in Cameron Indoor and lived up to the hype... UNC came out ridiculously strong and led 43-29 at the half on the road, but Duke exploded for 50 second half points and a 79-73 come-from-behind win... Nolan Smith was the story with 34 points on 13-23 shooting, and Duke managed to win the game with a paltry 3 of 17 effort from Singler (who admittedly was chasing Harrison Barnes all night, but still)... Seth Curry was key off the bench for Duke with 22 points as well... tough loss for UNC, but encouraging in that they shot 2 of 14 threes, Harrison Barnes shot 3 of 8, and they still nearly won...
• The NFL cancels labor talks for Thursday... after a less-than-encouraging day of negotiations, the 2 sides cancel talks for Thursday citing the distance between the sides... this could get ugly folks...
• There is a circling report that the NCAA has agreed to show every March Madness tournament game in its entirety on one of 4 different channels... basically the greatest day of my life if this happens...
• NBA Check - The Cavs lost their 26th straight... a flat-out bad home loss to Detroit that prompted Byron Scott to go off a bit post-game... he waited this long?... Dejuan Blair with likely the best game of his career... 28 and 11 to lead SA to a comeback 11-point win in Toronto... who needs knee ligaments?... The Knicks are slipping... an 8-point home loss to the undermanned Clips last night and they didn't defend a soul last night (6 Clippers had at least 16 points, 55% FG, 52% 3-pt, etc.)... on the bright side, Dan the Italian shot 14-14 FTs... your guess is as good as mine how he got that many attempts... Dallas has now won 10 straight after a 102-100 win in Sacto... they overcame a bad game from Dirk (10 points) thanks to Terry and Barea combining for 42 off the bench...
• Former Michigan QB Tate Forcier is headed to Miami... this story became a much bigger one than I thought (ESPN.com frontpage and all), but we forget how much attention he got after the 5-0 start in 2009 when there was legit (however funny) Heisman buzz... he'll go down and compete with freshman Stephen Morris when he arrives, but you have to think with the extensive list of schools he visited, he thinks he can get snaps at the U.... good luck Tate...
• NCAA Hoops Check - Villanova drops a wild one to Rutgers... Nova led by 5 with under 10 seconds to go, but a wild 4-point play (with a very questionable foul call) with under a second to go did them in... crazy game... Notre Dame went on a 14-0 run to start overtime against Louisville and went on to win by 10... that's a dangerous basketball team... but how many teams can be this legit from the Big East?... Georgetown with another huge win... my man (lol) JT3 got his first win ever at the Carrier Dome, and I really enjoy Austin Freeman... Wisconsin shot 6 of 33 in the first half... and won... I got nothing.... and my perennial tourney sleeper Utah State saw their 17 game winning streak snapped in Idaho last night... where else would you see that game mentioned?...
• There's a report out there that the Phillies could be in pursuit of Michael Young... I have 2 thoughts here... 1) Michael Young can't play the outfield so I'm a little skeptical... and 2) I really, really hope the Phillies don't get Michael Young... the guy can play and they're stacked enough to where I don't need them upgrading from Polanco to Young...

What to watch for...

• Lakers @ Celtics - 8:00 TNT - There's been some buzz about this being the measuring stick for LAL before they look to make a big move... that's ludicrous if that's the case... 1 game "measuring sticks" are cause for organizational concern rather than on-floor chemistry... anyway, this is a must-watch always...
• Mavs @ Nuggets - 10:30 TNT - Back to back for both teams... Dallas is incredibly hot right now, but with both games on the road, it's a challenge..
• #9 UConn @ St. John's - 7:00 ESPN- Steve Lavin has the red storm back to relevance already.... and Uconn seems capable of blowing this...
• #23 St. Mary's @ Santa Clara - 11:00 ESPNU - The best team in the WCC this year isn't Gonzaga... in fact, I'm not even sure the Zags are even the most talented team (and they always are)... St. Mary's has that title this year... check them out...
• Florida State @ Georgia Tech - 7:00 ESPN2 - If you like pain... watch Paul Hewitt and company...

If you missed it... check out the previous post on 5 questions every NBA fan is asking...

Answering 5 NBA Questions....

Greetings everyone... been getting a lot of questions concerning the NBA and its makeup as we go forward... what does that mean? well, of course I'll take a look at where we stand by answering your questions!....

1. How many teams can win the title as presently constructed? Great question, and one of the most popular in the media this time of here... my answer is 6 with a giant caveat that I believe there's a distinct drop after 4... the list is Boston, LAL, Miami, Chicago, Orlando, and San Antonio for me... with Chicago and Orlando being in the bottom 2... Boston has the best roster makeup, all the experience in the world, and they're clearly right there... LA is the defending champion and feature the same cast of characters with slight upgrades off the bench (when Matt Barnes comes back), no argument.... Miami has the "key 3" and not much else, but it's universally thought that if they could get Haslem back, Miller shooting, and the trio going all at once, they can beat anyone... San Antonio has the best record in the league, the best coach in the league IMO, a healthy Ginobili, and the deepest bench they've had in years... after that? It takes some stretching... Orlando is soooo talented, and I'll give them a small (tiny even) percentage simply b/c if they put it all together (cough, Gil), I could see it.... Chicago is the X-factor... Derrick Rose has made the leap this year, but they haven't had Boozer/Noah playing healthily together yet for any stretch... can't determine until then.... 2 teams to watch? Dallas and OKC... Dallas' record with Dirk in the fold is outstanding, and Cuban seems to make a big move every year... that said, Caron Butler's injury hurt their depth significantly and Brendan Haywood has been a disaster compared to the contract.... OKC has the 2 elite players you need, and Ibaka is developing, but the front-court is under-talented otherwise, and they've seemingly whiffed on a lottery pick in Cole Aldrich...



2. Who is the MVP of the league right now? Man, this is tough this year... I think there are 4 guys who are a cut above right now.... Derrick Rose is carrying Chicago... we've mentioned the lack of Boozer/Noah together, but he also doesn't have a discernable starting 2 guard, he's averaging 25 and 8, and that team is playing over their heads... Kevin Durant is leading the league in scoring by a comfortable margin (29 a game), maintaining efficiency, and OKC is 4th in the West right now but his candidacy is hurt a bit by the emergence of Westbrook and how he played for that first month or so, the case will get stronger and stronger if he keeps the level of the last 6-8 weeks up... Lebron James is Lebron James... best player alive... the team is 37-14 as I write this, and he's bringing it every night... 26/7/7 on a team with another superstar and another top 20 guy?... It's really ludicrous... the argument against 'Bron is that Wade is nearly as valuable (true), and that basically, he's not going to get any votes because everyone hates him (also true)... Dwight Howard was my preseason pick, and he's lived up to it (technicals aside) so far... career-high 22.4 points per, 13.7 rebounds per (which would lead the league if Kevin Love wasn't from another planet), and 2+ blocks to quantify his crazy defensive impact... oh, and his entire team turned over mid-season pretty much.... the case against Dwight is the team record (32-20) but honestly, I'm not sure how he can be objectively blamed for this... he's been awesome... and a darkhorse? How about Amare Stoudemire? My first thought is, "huh?"... but look at it... 26 points/9 boards a game for a team playing well north of their expectations... and how about Dirk Nowitzki? All the guy has done is average 23 a game with utterly ludicrous 53/42/89 percentages on a team that is 36-15 overall but 34-8 (!) with him in the lineup... My pick? Right now, I'd go with Rose... I use a pure "most valuable" definition when I evaluate these things, and frankly, that team has no business being 34-16 with the amount of injury they've had to Boozer and Noah, and the calamity at 2-guard...



3. Can you address the overall situation of the Hawks, both this year, and going forward? Well... that would need to be its own column... but I'll give you the shorthand... This team isn't a title contender this year... Do I think they could possibly beat Orlando in a 1st round series? Well... yes, but only if they had homecourt, and I'd still pick Orlando... anybody else? Go against the Hawks with fervor... The nucleus has basically played to expectations this season... Al Horford is the team's best player in case that memo hasn't gone out yet... 16 points, 10 rebounds, best defender on the roster, and a bonafide all-star... Josh Smith has taken steps back in some areas, and advanced in others... his jump shooting is markedly better this year which is both a blessing and a curse... it is honestly to the point where I almost don't care when he takes uncontested, squared-up threes... he's capable... but the shot selection has regressed immensely, he's taking more long 2s and contested 3s than ever before, and as such, he's taken as his game farther away from the basket... there are positives... like a career high rebounding average (9 a game) and vastly improved FT shooting (up 12% from last year), but he's still an enigma... Joe Johnson was woeful by his standards in November and December... averaging 16 points a game on 39% shooting, but he's returned to the star (not superstar, but star) that he's been in the past few years since January 1 averaging nearly 26 ppg... can't complain... elsewhere, the roster is typically underwhelming... the center position behind Al Horford has been mismanaged by Larry Drew in that Zaza Pachulia (the team's only semi-productive backup in the front court) has given way at times to Jason Collins, Josh Powell, and even Etan Thomas... it's inexplicable to play Collins against anyone but Dwight Howard or Shaq, Josh Powell isn't an NBA player, and Etan Thomas is past the point of age where he can produce... simple as that... the backup small forward spot is still vastly below average with no end in sight, and the point guard situation will make your head spin.... Jeff Teague, while routinely out-performing Mike Bibby in every aspect of the game that doesn't involve jump shooting, catches DNP's regularly, and isn't being allowed to progress even in a backup role... and the aforementioned Bibby is a non-contributor if the jumpshot is going in.... What am I saying? The problems are still the problems... and until the ownership will either a) spend more money, or b) spend money more efficiently.... it's not going to change overall... the Horford/Johnson/Smith/Marvin nucleus (by payroll and otherwise) isn't going to win the NBA title... best case scenario? The Spirit Group realizes this, packages Jamal Crawford's extremely valuable expiring deal into assets instead of letting him walk for free, hits on a low 1st-round pick for the first time since Jason Terry, and improves next year... worst case? They let Crawford go for nothing, play 2011-12 with Jordan Crawford in that role, don't invest in Teague, and markedly decline... but hey... it could be 2004 again, folks... and Billy Knight isn't your GM anymore... things are looking...up?... yeah....



4. Where will Carmelo land? I have no idea, and if someone tells you they do, they don't know.... the most recent, juicy rumor has him possibly headed to the Lakers in a package for Andrew Bynum... Pretty crazy on the surface... LA gets out from Bynum (who I'm philosophically against), but adds a wing who can't defend, and inserts a bigger problem sharing the ball with Kobe... Denver would snatch decent value for Melo, but again, I don't think Bynum will ever stay healthy long enough to hit his lofty ceiling.... other reports have Melo primed for NY via a 3-way with Minnesota, but the deal makes no sense for the Wolves, and it screams of NY media hype.... in the end, if Denver thinks they have ANY chance to re-sign him? They aren't making the move unless they get full value... and that's a rare occurrence...



5. How much better is the West than the East? It's laughable... listen to this... I believe that THIRTEEN (13!) West teams are better than any of the 7 through 15 teams in the East... the first 5 teams out of the playoffs in the West as of print (Memphis, Phoenix, Houston, Golden State, and LA Clippers) would all beat #7 Philadelphia in a 7-game series right now in my opinion... that's damning... at any rate, the East does sport more title contenders (4 to 2) from the earlier list, which is a small concession, but the depth of talent in the West (just check out the all-star snubs alone) signifies the gap...

So there it is... it's been one of the most fascinating/entertaining seasons in my NBA memory, and I look for it to continue... oh yeah, I didn't make a pick in question #1... let me do that here... with a gun to my head, Boston is the team to beat now that Perkins is back and healthy... done and done...

2/9: Melo/Lakers, Lebron, etc.

Greetings...

• The big story of the day remains the new interest in a Carmelo-to-LA trade centered around Andrew Bynum... I can't stress enough to not overreact to this simply because it's been addressed as early initiation and nothing more... but let's take a look... I don't particularly love the Melo/Kobe fit for LA, but i'm not a Bynum guy at all, so I can see the uptick... for Denver? That's about as big of a name as I've heard in any rumor... a young, skilled 7-footer who could be a nice building piece... if he could ever stay on the court...
• Albert Pujols may be a free agent... this is the first I've published on this story, but it's been brewing for a while.. there's reportedly a February 16 Pujols-imposed deadline for a contract extension before he'll cut off negotiations and become a FA in the following winter... pretty crazy when the best player alive could hit the open market...
• The Titans fire Mike Heimerdinger... this story is odd for 2 reasons... 1) Heimerdinger was the "boss" of newly hired HC Munchak and that must be an odd dynamic when the O-line coach gets the HC job when the OC was also a candidate... and 2) Heimerdinger is a high-profile coordinator because of his resume and his recent bout with cancer... I know one thing, Tennessee better be improved on offense...
• NBA Check - Lebron James led the way on Tuesday with 41 points, 13 boards, and 8 dimes in Miami's 117-112 win over Indiana... he's pretty good... The Hawks were an abomination last night... a 34-point home beatdown keyed by a 33-15 first quarter... the absence of Al Horford is certainly felt, but that's clearly not the catalyst for a disappearing act like this one... Dwight Howard with another 20/20 in Orlando's win last night, but the key was holding Blake Griffin to 10 points/12 boards... it was clear Blake wasn't comfortable playing through the double-teams Orlando threw at him... San Antonio is 43-8... there have been six 43-8 or better starts in NBA history prior to this and they've all won the title... hm... and finally, Zach Randolph (Z-Bo!) put up a 31/14 in Memphis' OT road win in OKC... an impressive win for the Grizz without Rudy Gay, and while Durant had 31/10, he only had 2 in OT... I have to mention Trick-or-Treat Tony Allen with a season-high 27... wow...
• College Hoops - Purdue and Kentucky with mirroring efforts... one win by 14 (Purdue), one by 12 in home games against inferior teams in conference... taking care of business in these spots is what it is about... San Diego State is for real... it's kind of funny how far they fell off the radar with one loss to BYU (aka the Jimmer explosion) but this is still a top-10 team and I'd have them as a 2-seed right now... talented, balanced, and they have Kawhi Leonard who can get their own shot...

What to watch for...

• #21 North Carolina @ #5 Duke - 9:00 ESPN/Jefferson Pilot (in the South) - The headliner... the best rivalry in college hoops takes the stage and this is a must-watch every year regardless of record... UNC is playing better basketball with Kendall Marshall at the point, and Harrison Barnes has it going a bit now... but I like Duke in the game... too much talent/experience...
• #15 Louisville @ #7 Notre Dame - 7:00 ESPNU - Hard to believe ND is the #7 team in the country, but Mike Brey always does a great job...
• #11 Georgetown @ #13 Syracuse - 7:00 ESPN - I'll be the first to tell you that I have no idea how good Syracuse is... but they have the better coach (cough, JT3 alert), and they're playing at the dome...
• #3 Texas @ Oklahoma - 9:00 ESPN2 - If you get sick of Duke/UNC or if it's a blowout, turn on the Canadian connection from Austin...
• Clippers @ Knicks - 7:30 NBA TV - Blake vs. Amare is an interesting visual...
• Nuggets @ Warriors - 10:30 NBA TV - I can't wait to see Chauncey attempt to guard Ellis or Curry if he plays...

Until later...

2/8: Cleveland Futility, Melo, etc...

Greetings...

• The Cleveland Cavaliers aren't good at basketball... 25 straight losses after a 99-96 defeat in Dallas last night... let's be positive first... they showed up and competed last night in a spot where they have no business winning... JJ Hickson has been improved in recent days (26 and 12), and they're even getting productive play from Christian Eyenga... that's about it for positivity... any time your best player is Antawn Jamison in 2011 that's an issue, and the guard play has been borderline offensive... I still think it comes down to Feb. 13 at home vs. Washington to snap the streak...
• Carmelo Anthony put up 50 points and 11 rebounds in a loss last night... the first 50/10 in a loss for anyone in quite a while, but Denver couldn't overcome the loss of Billups and the absence of Nene... and oh, they ran into Kevin Martin and Luis Scola combining for 62...
• Box Score Bits - Lamarcus Aldridge exploded late last night.. 42 points on 15-23 shooting and 8 rebounds to lead Portland over the Bulls despite Derrick Rose's 36... Charlotte knocks off Boston? Yes, you read that right... Gerald Wallace (19 and 16) led Charlotte over the Cs... nothing to see here, just a night off for Boston... Kevin Love continues to be ridiculous... 27 and 17 on the road in NO last night, and he led them to a rare road W.... I referenced this on Twitter yesterday, but is Demarcus Cousins making a run at John Wall for #2 rookie? Another huge game last night (25 and 14) and he's been dominant for about 3 weeks now...
• College Hoops - Kansas put up 103 last night... and not against just anyone... against hated rival (and ranked team) Missouri in a 17-point win... 7 guys had 8 points or more and the Morris brothers combined for 38... Pitt fights back to win a tough roadie in WV... typical grinding offense down the stretch from Pitt in the comeback win... one note on WV... Deniz Kilicli? The guy shoots a Kareem-like sky hook with both hands.... how awesome is that?...
• Tennessee Titans name Mike Munchak head coach... kind of random in that he's a life-time O-line coach but he's a legacy in the organization having played there and seems to be qualified...
• Michael Young asks for a trade from Texas... he seemed genuinely angry/hurt by what's gone down in the offseason... presumably due to being ousted from an everyday job this offseason and portrayed as some sort of "super-sub"... This could get interesting...
• The Super Bowl shattered every ratings record possible... not a big shocker with 2 of the most public teams in the league and 2 big name QB's... but it just shows the NFL's dominance again...

What to watch for...

• Sixers @ Hawks - 7:00 SportSouth - This is a game Atlanta shouldn't lose... but they've been playing down to their competition lately at home, and that could be worrisome...
• Indiana @ #12 Purdue - 7:00 ESPN - Indiana is a bit down talent-wise still, but Tom Crean has had them in some games against decent competition... Purdue is fun to watch just for Jajuan Johnson alone...
• Tennessee @ #18 Kentucky - 9:00 ESPN - Potential SEC East ramifications obviously with these 2 and Florida being the major players in that division...

Enjoy it...

2/7: Super Bowl Wrap, etc.

Greetings...

• Packers 31, Steelers 25... Not the best Super Bowl I've ever seen but it had its moments... Super Bowl MVP Aaron Rodgers had yet another great game.. 24 of 39 for 304 yards and 3 TDs with no INTs, and it should've been more with several drops including a couple big ones from Nelson, and a potential touchdown dropped by James Jones... They got enough on the ground (11 for 52 from James Starks) to keep Pittsburgh semi-honest and they couldn't cover all the GB receivers... For Pittsburgh, the night was marred by mistakes... the early pick 6 by Roethlisberger was a wounded duck that seemed to float forever, and the Mendenhall fumble was enormous... but you have to give credit to GB... they lost their defensive leader and pro-bowl CB Charles Woodson and their #3 corner Sam Shields, and while they gave up some yards to Pittsburgh after that, they made enough plays to hold them off... Roethlisberger had a chance to march the field and vault to instant legend status and he couldn't pull it off.... now? We wait to see if there's football in August...

Elsewhere in life...

• Tom Brady named NFL MVP... the first ever unanimous vote from AP voters and it's a deserving one... he had a 36 to 4 TD/INT ratio... come on lol
• NBA Check - Rajon Rondo with a rare scoring outburst (26 points) to lead Boston over Orlando at home... Dwight had 22 in the first half but Boston clamped down and held him to only 28 for the game... there was a scary injury to Marquis Daniels who was carted off with an apparent neck injury as well... prayers for him... Amare Stoudemire exploded with 41 points on 17 of 21 shooting in a 117-103 win over Philly... I'd call that efficiency... and Dwyane Wade led Miami over the Clip Show with 28/8/8 in the 91-79 win...
• College Hoops - Ohio State rolls on... 82-69 road win over a pretty good Minnesota team... Jared Sullinger led the way as usual with 18 and 13... Michigan State is dead and buried.... they got run out of the gym 82-56 by Wisconsin giving them 10 losses and they look to be in utter despair... Wisconsin is a very, very good team, especially at home, but they were non-competitive...

What to watch for on Monday...

• #15 Missouri @ #2 Kansas - ESPN 9:00 - This is even more interesting than it appears as Kansas takes the court likely without Josh Selby... Mizzou is capable of winning this one, even at the Phog..
• #4 Pittsburgh @ West Virginia - ESPN 7:00 - Backyard brawl... this is 2 grind-it-out Big East teams, and while Pitt is the better team, they're playing without one of their leaders in Ashton Gibbs...
• T-Wolves @ Hornets - NBA TV 8:00 - Minnesota is pretty bad... and Chris Paul should do whatever he wants against that putrid Minny backcourt, but Love vs. West is worth the price of admission...
• Bulls @ Blazers - WGN 10:00 - Gotta love WGN... Portland is always dangerous at home, and I'm not sure Chicago has anyone that can guard Aldridge with Noah out...
• Suns @ Warriors - NBA TV 10:30 - If you like points... and absolutely no defense... this one's for you... but the chance to see mini-Nash (Steph Curry) and real Nash go at it will be fun...

Enjoy...

Super Bowl XLV Preview

Before we begin... I wanted to say that I'm all done with roman numerals for the Super Bowl... at what point is this ridiculous? Am I the only one that feels this way? I have so many questions... alas... Onto the game... I'm stealing a page from Bill Simmons' via Dr. Jack Ramsey and giving you the Dr. Jack breakdown...

Secondary - Kicking things off on the backend... Pittsburgh has the defensive POY in Polamalu, some solid but unspectacular corners in McFadden and Taylor (who I like), and the hit-or-miss Ryan Clark at the other safety... for GB? They possess the 2009 DPOY in Charles Woodson (aka one of my favorite players ever for obvious reasons), Tramon Williams (suddenly a shut-down corner with big-play ability... see Ryan, Matt), and some embattled safeties in Collins/Bigby/Peprah... Personally? I like the steadiness of Pittsburgh's corners combined with the big-play ability of Polamalu, but don't discount Woodson and Williams locking down Wallace and Ward... Slight Edge: Pittsburgh

Linebackers - This is a barnburner... Clay Matthews was the 1-B to Polamalu's 1-A for defensive player of the year... AJ Hawk is a guy who's always been underrated IMO, but Bishop and Walden are pretty average from what I've seen... versus the gauntlet that Pittsburgh throws out there... I love Woodley (Wolverine!), Harrison is a beast (just ask Kurt Warner), and Farrior/Timmons in the middle is underrated and about as good as it gets... sorry GB... Edge: Pittsburgh

D-Line - BJ Raji is the best player on either DL right now... he's eating people up, and he gets the benefit of going against a wounded Pouncey or a backup... Cullen Jenkins is elite at times, and Pickett is average at worst... for Pittsburgh, their best D-lineman Aaron Smith was ruled out on Friday and that's a huge blow... Casey Hampton is a load and Ziggy Hood is developing, but they aren't on the level of Raji and Jenkins at this point... Edge: Green Bay

O-Line - I won't pretend to know individual tendencies of interior lineman... I just won't... but I do know this... Roethlisberger is consistently running for his life, they are down both starting OT's, currently playing FLOZELL ADAMS(!), and their all-pro center is walking around in a boot... I haven't been impressed with GB's O-line this year, but it has to go their way... Edge: Green Bay

Wide Receivers/Tight End - Gotta combine the 2 for me... anyway... Jennings vs. Wallace? I'll give it a push... you may be thinking that sounds crazy because Jennings is the more established guy, but they have nearly identical yardage totals (1265 to 1257), similar TD marks (12 to 10), and Jennings has done it in an offense geared to get him some numbers... Driver/Jones/Nelson vs. Ward/Sanders/Brown is pretty firmly in GB's side IMO because Ward isn't the same player anymore, and Jones and Nelson are proven options... at tight end, the edge goes to Pittsburgh with Heath Miller who's one of the best blockers in the league at TE and he doesn't drop anything... This is a tight one... Slight, slight, slight edge: Green Bay

Running Backs - Rashard Mendenhall isn't the most consistent guy in the world... that's the only negative thing I have to say... he was electric against the Jets and is capable of putting up 100 on anybody any week... Moore/Dwyer/Redman are nothing special behind him.... for GB it's a smattering... James Starks has been adequate, Brandon Jackson kind of stinks, and John Kuhn is a fullback who carries the ball... this is the most lopsided so far... Advantage: Pittsburgh

Quarterback - Well here it is... you know the story... Rodgers' numbers are impressive... 3922 yards, 28 TDs, QB rating north of 100, 350+ rushing yards and 4 more scores, and the memory still fresh of his 31/36, 366 yards, 3 TDs demolishing of Atlanta on the road... he's got every skill you'd ever want... the only black mark? He hasn't been here before... on the other end is Ben Roethlisberger... he of Milledgeville and Lake Tahoe fame lol... but we'll leave that out for this purpose... guy has 2 rings and while he was horrendous in the first SB win (9 of 21, 0 TD, 2 INT against Seattle), he played really well in the Arizona super bowl... his numbers aren't as outlandish as Rodgers are, but he has a better TD-INT ratio, similar QB rating (97.0), and he's the teflon man in the backfield... people just bounce off of him... and he's been here before.... For all intensive purposes, it's a coin flip IMO, and that's not a shot at Rodgers... if I had to pick, I'll take him, but Ben is right there... Slightest of advantages: Green Bay

Head Coach - I think Mike Tomlin is the coolest man in America... or at least in the running... but he wins this one more by default than anything else... I'm not a Mike McCarthy fan... I think he's abysmal in game/clock management, he goes into the 4 corners every time they get a lead with the exception of Rodgers turning into Jesus himself against Atlanta, and I just generally don't trust him... plus, if you look at Tomlin, you just feel good about it... done... Advantage: Pittsburgh

I thought about doing an "intangibles" bullet... but really... what does that mean?.... These are 2 storied/stable franchises, so rule out an advantage there.... neither team has done anything (yet) to provoke the other through the media i.e. Shannon Sharpe/Ray Buchanan so rule that out too... We can try to speak to the Roethlisberger dynamic with his newfound "restoration" but we really have no idea... so there it is...

The breakdown above?... 4-4... of course it is....

And now of course... the pick... in the end, this is about as even as the Super Bowl gets and the Vegas line of Green Bay -2.5 indicates that... I've been hearing from all corners all week and the consensus seems to like Green Bay which immediately indicates that I want to go the other way... fade the public!... but I just can't do it... Green Bay is too scary offensively inside, and Pittsburgh has shown they can be thrown on... add in the Pouncey injury (scary against Raji), and I'm not picking against the Aaron Rodgers I saw decimate the Falcons... I can't get the image out of my head... cover your eyes... Green Bay 31, Pittsburgh 23

2/5: Wall-to-Wall Hoops...

Tons of hoop action on Friday night and more coming Saturday... let's get to it...

• Kevin Love added as the Yao Ming injury replacement... you know where I stand... justice was served here... but on the other hand, it's still kind of crazy that Lamarcus Aldridge and Steve Nash are chillin at home while Ray Allen and Joe Johnson play in the all-star game... alas...
• NBA Box Score Check - Dwight Howard put up a 22/15 in Gilbert Arenas' return to DC... Orlando beat up on them 110-92... Dwyane Wade had a triple-double with 22/12/10 in Miami's 109-97 road win over Charlotte... Lebron had a ho-hum 19/8/9 and was close to having dueling trip-dubs.... crazy... Cleveland has lost 23 straight... tying the NBA record, and they did so despite a career night from JJ Hickson who contributed 31 and 15 to the cause... career high 28 for Nene tonight in the loss for Denver... he's still vastly underrated... but 28/10 from Jefferson and 26/12 from D. Williams was too much from Utah... shout-out to Raja Bell as well, who put up 20 huge points and played 41 minutes for the Jazz...
• The Hawks game gets its own section.... Jamal Crawford went nuts in the 3rd quarter (and finished with 34 points) keying a 26-point in 5:30 outburst that gave the Hawks the lead they'd hold onto for dear life... Al Horford knocked down 2 FTs with 0.6 seconds to go for the victory, on a "flagrant" foul by Blake Griffin... I'm very, very glad Horford knocked the FTs down simply because it was an egregious missed call on Griffin... he was whistled for a flagrant foul and it wasn't close (copyright: James)... at any rate, a nice home win for the Hawks thanks to Horford (23 and 12), Crawford, and company...

Other stuff...

• Maurkice Pouncey and Aaron Smith ruled out for the Steelers in the Super Bowl... huge blows on both lines of scrimmage for the Steelers... could change my pick a bit... check out the SB preview post later in the day...
• Vlad Guerrero signs a 1-year, $8 million deal with Baltimore... they suddenly have a ton of right-handed power in Baltimore, it's a shame they don't have any established pitching...
• Sam Bradford and Chaos N. Suh (lol) named the NFL rookies of the year... no surprises here... Bradford was as polished as you ever see a rookie QB, and Suh was dominant from the jump...

What to watch for on a busy Saturday...

• West Virginia @ #12 Villanova - ESPN Noon - Big East hoops with the noon tips.... fantastic
• #11 Kentucky @ #23 Florida - ESPN 9:00 - Gameday is in Gainesville for the battle for SEC supremacy...
• Hawks @ Wizards - NBA TV and SportSouth 7:00 - Back-to-back for the Hawks and a road trip to boot... not a great spot as Washington is a decent home team (13-11)...
• Memphis @ Gonzaga - 4:00 ESPN - This isn't the type of matchup we'd hope for preseason, but still 2 talented squads playing a nice non-conference game... The Zags need this one bad...
• NC State @ #5 Duke - ESPN 6:00 - Duke got the ship righted a bit in pounding on Maryland this week... this is worth turning on just to see Sidney Lowe in the red coat...

Enjoy it... Come back and check out the Super Bowl preview...

2/4: Lebron Explodes, All-Star Reserves, etc.

Greetings all...

• Normally I wouldn't lead with a single regular season NBA game... but when Lebron James goes for 51/11/8 on the road against an East contender in Orlando... it's worth leading with... 17-25 shooting, 14 of 17 FTs, and a ridiculous 23 point, 9/9 FG first quarter... but a big story? Miami nearly blew this one... Orlando cut the seemingly insurmountable lead to 3 on the final possession until Ryan Anderson hoisted a miss with the clocking running down... Dwight Howard shot 3 of 13 from the line, really inexcusable and it curtailed what would've been a dominating performance (he had 16 rebounds)... just kind of a crazy game...
• The All-Star reserves were announced last night... We'll hit the East first... Horford/Garnett/Bosh/Pierce/Johnson/Allen/Rondo is about right... I had originally included Felton in my picks, but he's tailed off a bit, and Ray Allen's shooting numbers are legitimately out of this world... so no beef here.... to the West... Duncan/Gasol/Blake/Dirk/Manu/Williams/Westbrook.... well... that was underwhelming as a Kevin Love supporter... how in the world does a guy who is 1) Leading the league in rebounding with a ridiculous 15.5 per, 2) 6th in the league OVERALL in PER (the best overall statistical measure we have of performance), 3) Top 10 in the league in win shares while playing with a terrible cast (really tough to do), and 4) Likely being the first guy since Moses freaking Malone to average 20/15 for a season... He's having a better season Duncan (blasphemy from me, but it's true), he's having a better season than Gasol, he's having a better (if not infinitely less exciting) season than Blake Griffin, and I'd have him in over Manu and Westbrook if it camed I've long since thought David Stern should announce his injury replacement along with the reserves.... it's absurd...
• Spurs 89, Lakers 88... Still taking a breath from the rant above... here we go... Antonio McDyess hit a tip-in at the gun to pull this out for SA... for them to win, on the road, with Duncan/Ginobili combining to shoot 8-29 is pretty impressive, but you can see some elements of how riveting of a series that can (and hopefully will) be come May... they know how to defend Kobe, LA gets eaten up by dribble penetration, and on the other end, SA doesn't have the pure length to deal with LA up front especially with Duncan in a slightly diminished capacity...
• Andy Pettitte is retiring... just a couple thoughts... first of all, I don't believe it... maybe it's the Clemens thing where he'll just keep being lured back in, maybe even midseason... secondly, I always liked Pettitte... he's done the best job of anyone EVER in managing steroid allegations by getting out in front of them, admitting it, and moving on... and he's been a fantastic pitcher at times... nice career...
• Larry Drew II transferring from UNC... as you may know, I've been a harsh critic lol... at any rate, never want to see a kid leave mid-season, especially on a team that's likely headed for March, and he's still a contributor...
• College Hoops Roundup - Ohio State stays unblemished... Michigan actually led at half in this game, and I was generally happy with the fight I saw there, but too much Jared Sullinger (19 and 15), and you can't win on the road shooting 4 free throws (making only 1).. There was a shake-up in the Pac 10 race... Washington took a bad 12-point loss at Oregon State, and then Arizona knocked off Stanford on the road to take over the conference lead... Derrick Williams is a beast.... and locally, Georgia Tech is a maddening entity.... they shot 27% on the road at Miami last night... 27!... in losing yet another inexplicable road game despite Glen Rice's breakout with 28 points... they were only even in this one because of 28 Miami turnovers, but at 3-5 in the league now... lights out

What to watch for...

• Clippers @ Hawks - 7:30 SportSouth - the Blake Griffin traveling road show hits town... that's enough to watch this one right there....
• Mavs @ Celtics - 8:00 ESPN - This is a really nice matchup... Dallas has Dirk going again, and they're playing better basketball, but I'm not sure they have the weapons to score consistently against Boston...
• Jazz @ Nuggets - 10:30 ESPN - Can't imagine this will generate too much buzz for ESPN... but two 29-win teams in a decent game... it's gotten alot quieter in Denver in recent days, and they're a very good 21-5 at home... like them here..

That's it for today... stay tuned for the Super Bowl preview tomorrow Dr. Jack-style... until then...