Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Artest speaks on his Christmas fall, hopes to return soon

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Lakers forward Ron Artest still can't remember exactly how he fell at his home on Christmas night. He's just thankful his tumble only left him with a concussion, a deep cut on his left elbow and a little memory loss.

"I'm grateful to be up and talking, and it could have been a whole lot worse," Artest said Tuesday night, speaking about the fall for the first time at halftime of the Lakers' game against Golden State.

The latest misadventure in Artest's unusual career has kept him out of Los Angeles' lineup for three games, but he expects to return soon. He'll run on a treadmill Wednesday to see whether he should attempt to play Friday against Sacramento.

Artest says he was carrying Christmas boxes into his house after returning home from Los Angeles' loss to Cleveland when he slipped near some steps and fell onto concrete. He blacked out for at least two minutes after the fall, and was eventually awakened by his wife -- though he didn't recognize her at first.

"My wife said I was asleep for two or three minutes," Artest said. "It took about an hour to get my senses back. I didn't feel it, that's the scary part."

Artest claims he can't remember many details of his fall -- whether he was walking up his front steps or simply going toward them, or how he fell to injure both his elbow and head. He came to his senses long enough to text Kobe Bryant about his injury before going to the hospital.

His faulty memory persisted last Saturday, but apparently has improved in the past few days. He has seen a doctor every day since the fall, undergoing cognitive tests and evaluation.

Artest was left with a few staples in the back of his head, several stitches in his elbow and the first concussion of his life. The fall also left him with a scrape on his back.

Lamar Odom has taken Artest's place in the Lakers' starting lineup, but the club has struggled defensively without him.

The overall NBA leaders yielded a season-high 118 points in a loss to Phoenix on Saturday, then gave up 103 in a double-overtime win over Sacramento. The Warriors scored 60 points in the first half of Tuesday's game.

No shortage of opinions for Wizards' Haywood

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Before he shut it down, Brendan Haywood's blog was one of the most entertaining reads in the NBA.

It's good to see Brendan Haywood back on the court this season after a 2008-09 that was all but wiped out by injuries. The Washington center appeared in just six games, missing the first 75 after surgery on a torn ligament in his right wrist. Finally suiting up in April, Haywood then sat out the Wizards' finale with a sore back.

Now, at age 30, Washington's longest-tenured player (he was traded twice in summer 2001 between the time he was drafted and his rookie debut but has stayed put since) has been a force on the floor.

Through 29 games, the 7-footer from North Carolina was averaging 9.4 points and a career-best 10.4 rebounds, while shooting 52.2 percent. He ranked 10th in the league in rebounding, third in blocks and third on the Wizards -- behind only Antawn Jamison and Gilbert Arenas -- in efficiency (17.21, 53rd overall in the NBA). Haywood has had six double-doubles and just missed another Monday at Memphis when he finished with 12 points, nine rebounds and five blocks in a 116-111 overtime loss.

Lately, Haywood's aching back has been figurative, owing to the Wizards' 10-19 record. And the uncommonly bad luck to have been whistled for personal fouls with less than 0.3 seconds to play twice in 17 days that led to losses (vs. Indiana and at Memphis). And a ruckus over his blog that, earlier this month, prompted Haywood to go all Urban Meyer on it, taking an indefinite leave of absence from the new-media world. Fortunately, the loquacious big man isn't boycotting media completely -- he's just gone retro, talking with reporters as needed while stepping back from the blogosphere. So I was able to get his take on why he's backed off from his blog:

***

NBA.com: I'll admit, I was a late arrival to your blog -- by the time I started reading it, you already were shutting it down. What's up with that?

Brendan Haywood: I'm intrigued by media. I want to work in media when I'm done playing, and I really enjoyed blogging. I just enjoyed talking about whatever topics are hot. But these days, people get upset about certain things.

NBA.com: Upset? What sort of "upset?''

BH: I blogged that Michael Vick should get a second chance because he paid his debt to society. But we had people calling, talking about how I'm supporting dog fighting. I love blogging, but I can't have people calling [the team], complaining about me when we're not winning. And being in a contract year, it's just not smart. [Haywood makes $6 million this season and will be an unrestricted free agent come July.]

NBA.com: Welcome to our world. In the media, we take as much heat as we dish out these days.

BH: Yeah. If we were in first place, I'd probably still be doing it. But I just felt like, when you're not winning, it's best to be seen and not heard.

NBA.com: Did Wizards management ask you to cool it?

BH: No, the team didn't ask me to do anything. I just did it on my own. We're struggling right now, we need the least amount of distractions possible. Especially with the sensitive nature of how people are today, anything can be interpreted a million different ways.

NBA.com: You did get some good "traffic'' as they say, and a lot of comments.

BH: A lot of pieces had a lot of comments, as far as Tiger, Michael Vick, Obama and what he did in his address to the schools.

NBA.com: You really opened up your blog to non-basketball topics, writing about things like Rush Limbaugh's NFL ownership ambitions and financial planning. You also took on the Magic Johnson-Isiah Thomas rift.

BH: Anybody can talk about, "I went down the lane and got a dunk.'' Or "I blocked a shot.'' That's not fun. What else is going on? What are you doing outside of basketball? What are your thoughts on this issue? If you watch [shows] like Mike & Mike, they talk about sports but they talk about other things too. I think showing who you are and what you care about outside of basketball is very important, media-wise.

NBA.com: Gilbert Arenas seemed to put himself on the map in a bigger way with his Web site and blog. He was one of the league's so-called pioneers at it. But he shut it down, too, earlier this season.

BH: Yeah, I really liked his blog. But he quit for the same reason that I quit. It's one of those things where you're having fun, you're liking doing it, you're loving getting your opinion out there. But there are just so many people who want to be negative and tear things down that you feel like it's not worth it. It's a shame because I'm sure more guys would like to do it, but they're scared to take a stance.

NBA.com: Will this sour you on pursuing a media role going forward?

BH: No, it hasn't soured me at all. I look at it as an education process, because you have to really, really select your words carefully. Because anything can be turned or twisted ... Like when I did my piece on Tiger Woods, we had people calling, saying "Haywood supports abusing women and cheating!'' Uh, noooooo, I didn't say I support that. I said he was wrong from the very start. I said [his wife Elin's] actions were wrong as well. But because my comments weren't in line with what everybody thought I should say -- that Tiger's a bad guy -- some people got upset. Hey, he did some bad things. It is what it is.

NBA.com: Blogging or not, you're still an opinionated guy. You've caused some stirs with comments quoted by reporters. Are you putting on a gag that way, too?

BH: Nah. I'm still going to speak my mind and say what I need to say. I'm probably one of the most opinionated players in the NBA. I've got an opinion on everything, from basketball to football, to politics to music to religion. I try to stay away from the real dicey things, but sometimes I still make people mad. So I figured, "You know what, until we turn this thing around, I'm just going to chill out.''

NBA.com: There is a lot of hypocrisy out there now -- media people want players and celebrities to be open and honest, but many then criticize them if those views don't take a certain side of an issue. Old and new media outlets alike often don't report these days, they simply react to other people's reactions. Then they scold them. And then they wonder why so many athletes stick to clichés and don't open up.

BH: When I [got that reaction] to the Michael Vick blog, that was mind-blowing. I was like, "Wow! Because I say the guy deserves a second chance, people think I'm supporting dog fighting? How do you even make that connection?'' It's been an education, and I'm glad I got it. Because you need to know these things before you get on the other side. You need to understand what's going on.

NBA.com: I see you've handed off the blogging duties to JaVale [McGee, Wizards backup center].

BH: Yeah, hopefully he'll do a good job. He's really young ... To have a good blog, you've got to have something to say. Gilbert's was good because it was cutting edge. I think I got a lot of hits because, basically, what I did was take the conversations that I have every day with my friends or at barber shops and applied it to my blog. At the barber shop, you hear, "What's Obama going to do about this or that?'' People want to hear about that. Right now you can't go anywhere without hearing about Tiger Woods. So all I did was take that roundtable or barber shop mentality and apply it to my blog. And I was able to have some success.

NBA.com: What other media work have you done?

BH: I worked with the WNBA, [doing color commentary of] the Mystics for like two years. I hosted a radio show this summer for a little bit in D.C. I did some in-studio work on our games last season when I was hurt. I'm really interested in the media and how it works Actually, I've done every type of media work I can: In-studio work, live broadcasts, I've done radio. On the computer, typing my thoughts on different topics. I don't know what else is left.

NBA.com: Wait, you haven't written a game story yet?

BH: You know, that's the one part of media that I wouldn't want to work in. I wouldn't want to be a beat reporter.

NBA.com: Why?

BH: It's not my passion. I love commentators. When I see guys like Doug Collins and Hubie Brown, they bring life to games. They have their own signatures, things they say. They educate fans, they're intriguing, they're intellectual, they're funny. I love Jeff Van Gundy -- who knew Jeff Van Gundy was funny until he became a commentator? I love in-studio work. I love Kenny Smith. I love radio shows, because I listen to sports talk radio. I love Mike & Mike and Scott Van Pelt's show. Local shows that we have in D.C. I love all that stuff. I know that being a beat writer is an integral part of sports, but that's not where my heart lies.

NBA.com: What, you mean you don't want to fight a deadline 30 minutes after a game or chase all those stories about groin pulls?

BH: It's a lot of grunt work.

NBA.com: And fly commercial.

BH: Ooh.

NBA.com: What about Facebook and Twitter? NBA players seemed to be pushing the envelope on that "social media'' stuff. You aren't active?

BH: I did Facebook for a while. But it was [too public]. I'm off all that.

NBA.com: Some of your colleagues have gotten in trouble, and fined even, for "tweeting'' during games or otherwise breaching league protocol. You must have an opinion about that.

BH: Yeah -- if that's the rule, that's the rule. You can't say anything bad about anything David Stern has laid down the law on, because David Stern rules this league. You don't want to speak out against him. So whether you've got to pay for it or not, leave it alone.

Jennings' recent struggles nothing to be worried about

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Brandon Jennings is averaging 19.5 ppg this season.

A week into the regular season, I remember a radio interview where the hosts asked me about Brandon Jennings. He had just scored 32 points in a win over the Nuggets and the question was of the "Is the Rookie Of The Year award a cinch?" variety.

I told the hosts to chill, that every mega-talented newcomer benefits early in the season from the opposition's unfamiliarity with their games. Once those scouts and defensive wizards get enough tape, Jennings would inevitably be in for some tough times.

Chris Paul's Hornets were 3-11 in March in his rookie year. He averaged season lows the whole month. Deron Williams came out averaging 14 and 5 in November, then dropped to single digit points for the next three months. It happens. Derrick Rose kept up his production all season, but he was somewhat of an anomaly.

B.J. was due for a slide. I knew it, NBA folks knew it, sane fans knew it. But what does it mean? It means that we shouldn't be treating his tough December as anything other than an inevitable bump on the road for someone destined for greatness.

Jennings, however, is feeling the strain of expectations that come with what is probably the greatest three-week introduction of any little man in recent memory, especially for a guy that was dissed, dismissed and disrespected before he played his first NBA game. The judges and cynics were so surprised that the kid was this dope that the 20- and 30-plus point games he turned in had their worlds in a tizzy. Then he dropped 55. Everyone expected the kid to be Isiah Thomas and Allen Iverson every night and every game.

"I feel like it's a curse because of the 55. It's almost a curse," he was quoted a few days ago. "Now that I've scored 55, everybody expects me to go out there and score big numbers every night. I'm just trying to find my way. Not every night is going to be easy. A lot of teams are changing their defense. So it's not as easy as everyone thinks it is."

B.J. needs to emphasize the blessing part of it, though. You know what his initial explosion did? Yeah, it created the weight of expectations, but it also reimaged him into a likable figure -- lovable and admirable, even. Had he come out struggling, the "bust" and "hype" rhetoric would have perpetuated along with the stigma (even if you don't want to acknowledge it) that was attached to his pioneering decision to tell the mooching, advantage-taking NCAA to go jump off a cliff when he spurned college for pro ball in Italy. His summer wasn't that great either. He had the odd Draft day weirdness of being absent in the green room (because he and his agent weren't sure he'd be a lottery pick) then arriving late to walk across the stage and shake David Stern's hand.

He followed that with an Internet snafu with rapper Joe Budden where he used a bunch of "closed door" language and threw some salt on Ricky Rubio's game. Imagine how the wolves would have swarmed if he opened the season by stinking the joint up? But his early season brilliance and all around humility and good-naturedness has made fans forget all of these missteps. Folks pull for the young dude now.

Perhaps more importantly, though, he proved to himself that he can ball in this league. B.J. is a confident young dude -- one of my favorite pre-Draft quotes was when he said that all his point guard peers and potential draftees might be ranked ahead of him, but that'd only be until they got in a workout together and he blazed them. We all know, though, that nothing can substitute for actually going out and dropping 30 and 50 points on your grown-man competition.

Jennings can now basically settle into being a normal rookie -- forget competing with Tyreke Evans for Rookie of the Year honors ('Reke's rough patch is coming soon enough) and just ball. It's definitely worth noting that, while Jennings is shooting like he has two lazy eyes and a broken left hand, his assist to turnover ratio is nearly three to one. In a pre-Draft interview with AOL Fanhouse, Jennings was asked what he wants to prove and he answered, "That I can run a team, that I'm a pure point guard. Everybody thinks I'm a shoot-first point guard but I'm really a pure point guard, a pass-first point guard."

He's proving that. Game after game, if you watch the young fella ball, you can see the conductor in him.

Last week, before a loss to the Wizards, his worst game of the season, Jennings said, "the main thing is, you just have to keep playing your game. That's what I'm doing now."

In a lot of ways, these recent struggles are exactly what Jennings needed.

Lakers, Spurs dominated the decade

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The Lakers and Spurs combined for seven titles this decade.

Do you realize that all of these "Best of the Decade" lists and shows that you are reading and watching are a year premature?

A decade doesn't start with Year One. After 12 months, you finish Year One. That means you don't finish 10 years, or a decade, until Year Ten is over. The Oughts Decade runs from 2001-2010, not 2000-2009. So all of these lists should be running in December, 2010.

But I respond to the will of the people, and so, here is an All-Decade list, submitted for your approval. Or, disapproval. You know what to do either way: daldridgetnt@gmail.com or Twitter me @daldridgetnt.

Team/Front Office of the Decade (2001-09)

SAN ANTONIO SPURS

Owner Peter Holt, President of Sports Franchises R.C. Buford, Head Coach/President of Spurs Basketball Gregg Popovich

All you need to know about how the San Antonio Spurs do business can be found in their media guide. The players, and their biographies, come first. Then you get the owner and front office bios. That is not the norm; almost every other team puts its owner or ownership group front and center. But the Spurs are different. They've been different all decade, and that's why they're the gold standard in the NBA.

Yes, San Antonio was extremely lucky to win the Tim Duncan Lottery in 1997. But having a superstar is not enough to win four championships in 10 years, as the Spurs have done. Their ability to procure top-notch talent without having other high draft picks, develop that talent and keep that talent without breaking the bank of a medium-sized revenue team puts them head and shoulders above all other teams.

Many will give the Lakers the title of Best in the Decade, and Los Angeles would be a worthy choice. The Lakers took the first three titles of the decade, and if Shaq and Kobe hadn't gone all Days of Our Lives on everybody, they may have won five or six straight. But they did, and the Lakers didn't. Los Angeles has been to more Finals this decade than San Antonio, and with Bryant and Pau Gasol leading the way, the Lakers could be the team of the 10s. But Los Angeles also had three middling seasons after trading O'Neal to Miami, including a 34-48 disaster in 2004-05.

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Tim Duncan and Tony Parker with their '07 hardware.
Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images

By contrast, under Holt, Buford and Popovich, the Spurs have never won fewer than last season's 54 games, won six Midwest/Southwest Division titles (finishing second in the other three seasons), won the three titles and got to five Western Conference finals, and they did so with a payroll that was a fraction of the Lakers' and other top-revenue teams.

Of course, the Spurs reject all such praise.

Told his team was going to be voted the decade's best on Sunday, Buford spent several minutes texting about how good the Lakers have been. Told I wasn't changing my mind, Buford would only say: "We haven't screwed it up that bad."

That's SOP in San Antonio -- a place whose catch phrase is, "get over yourself." It's a Popovich favorite, meaning whatever you think you bring to the party, forget about it. For the Spurs, team and sacrifice trumps everything. It's why Popovich can yell at Duncan, and Duncan doesn't run to the owner or the media to complain. It's why veterans like Michael Finley come late in their careers, knowing they're going to struggle mightily the first year learning Popovich's complex system, especially the defensive rotations. (That's why no one is too worried that Richard Jefferson is struggling so badly. It gets better.)

It's why Popovich can go to Holt, as he did before the 2006-07 season, and said that he -- Holt -- might want to think about making a coaching change, because he -- Popovich -- thought the players were starting to tune him out.

It's why Holt and the ownership group was willing to go deep into the luxury tax this season in order to take one more run at a title.

"Our case, lots of things played out," Holt says. "I get credit, R.C., Pop. But we lucked out on some deals, to be blunt with you. Then we have an ownership group that's strong. No money's come out of that business, ever, at least since 1993. So the debt on the Spurs is way down. And so we as owners have decided for the next couple of years to give us a little bit of a transition period. We're willing to take some (financial) hits. But that's partly because we have so little debt on the business."

It's no coincidence that so many of the Spurs' former executives and coaches have found homes around the league. It's no coincidence that Buford has a close professional relationship with Scott Pioli, who helped build the Patriots' dynasty, and with Mark Shapiro, the longtime general manager of the Cleveland Indians -- who constantly has retooled the Indians when he's been forced to give up on great players his team can no longer afford.

It seems organizations do win championships, after all.

Team of the Decade (single season)

LOS ANGELES LAKERS, 2001-02
REGULAR SEASON: 58-24
PLAYOFFS: 15-4
FINALS: BEAT NEW JERSEY, 4-0

There were championship teams in the Oughts with better records, and some with better stats, but none of them had as devastating a one-two punch as an in-his-prime Shaquille O'Neal and a just-entering-his prime Kobe Bryant. The then-24-year-old Bryant wreaked havoc on defenses that tried to use single coverage on him -- I remember San Antonio hoping Derek Anderson would keep Mamba honest in the postseason the year before -- and averaged 26.6 per playoff game. He could horse it over most teams athletically, and was just about finished learning everything Phil Jackson and Tex Winter could teach about the Triangle. Defensively, he could wreck offenses on the perimeter by himself with his wingspan and footspeed. (Kobe and Derek Fisher were one of the more underrated defensive backcourts of their era.)

And the Diesel? My goodness. A year after destroying Dikembe Mutombo in the Finals, Shaq was unstoppable against poor Jason Collins and Todd MacCullough, averaging 36.3 points, 12.3 rebounds and 2.75 blocks in the sweep, shooting 59.5 percent from the floor. He even shot 66 percent from the foul line!

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Shaq and Kobe, circa 2002 were unstoppable.
Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images

These Lakers also get the nod because they persevered against a truly worthy opponent -- the Sacramento Kings -- in the best seven-game playoff series of the decade, the '02 Western finals. Sacramento had won 61 regular season games and had home-court advantage. After dominating the Lakers at Staples Center in Game 3, the Kings had a 2-1 series lead, and quickly took a 24-point lead in the first half of Game 4.

But the Lakers rallied , cutting the deficit to 99-97 in the final minute. Bryant missed a leaner in the lane, and Shaq missed a putback. Sacramento's Vlade Divac made a brilliant play, slapping the ball out from under the basket out to the foul line. But it bounced right to Robert Horry, lined up at the top of the key, who drained the most cold-blooded shot in a career full of them, hitting the game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer.

After Bibby's game-winning jumper in Game 5, Sacramento led 3-2. Then came the infamous Game 6, the game of 29 free throws in the fourth quarter by the Lakers, numerous questionable calls against the Kings, and Tim Donaghy's accusations, and conspiracy theories about the officiating that persist to this day. (I will say it again: Game 6 is the one game in 20-plus years that I cannot explain easily, or well.) But still, all that meant is that the Lakers had to win Game 7, on the road, at thunderous Arco Arena. It was the loudest crowd outside of Chicago Stadium during the Jordan Era. The two teams were even through regulation -- there were 16 ties and 19 lead changes -- but the Lakers made free throws in the fourth quarter and overtime, while the Kings bricked 14 of 30 from the line, and Los Angeles survived.

Most of L.A.'s role players -- Fisher, Rick Fox, Horry and Lindsey Hunter -- were tough, defensive-minded veterans. (Devean George, in his second season, was the lone youngster in the team's rotation.) This team, though, wasn't as talented as, say, last season's championship squad. But no one else had a fully-formed Shaq and Kobe, at the height of their powers.

Player of the Decade

KOBE BRYANT, LAKERS

Many have challenged him: Tim Duncan, Jason Kidd, Tracy McGrady, Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony -- and, of course, LeBron. But every time, the answer has been the same: not yet, kid. Every time this decade, Kobe Bean Bryant has made you acknowledge his superiority over the rest, give props to his superior work ethic, unyielding resolve -- and, of late, his team building skills. All of it in the best package this league has seen since Michael Jordan, who was Bryant's clear and present role model.

"He wasn't a bad teammate," said Robert Horry, who played with Bryant on the Threepeat teams.

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DA agrees with you Kobe, you're No. 1
Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images

"He was a very competitive teammate, and some guys may have taken it the wrong way. I didn't. Like, during the season, he might not talk to the guys on the second team for two or three days. People expect you to let things go. He couldn't. He did not want to lose."

Early in Bryant's tenure with the Lakers, Horry recalled, the team had veterans like Brian Shaw and Mitch Richmond. Horry and those guys would frequently play the "string," a shooting game outside the three-point line.

"Kob would always watch us play, but he would never play," Horry said. "Kobe never shot threes in 2001, because he couldn't. But one day he came over and said 'all right, let me play with y'all.' He got eliminated real quick.

"We kept playing all year, and we'd always see Kobe at the other end, working on his threes, working on his threes. He'd come over again, and got his (rear) eliminated again, but he hung in there. He kept working on his threes. By the end of the year, he started winning, and talking (smack) like you see him doing all the time. He was determined not to get his butt whipped."

Bryant grew into greatness as Shaquille O'Neal's second, then his equal. He was just 21 when he showed he could carry a team in the whitest of light and hottest of heat, taking over when Shaq fouled out of Game 4 of the 2000 Finals against Indiana. It was Bryant who scored eight in overtime to give the Lakers the breakthrough victory that would spur them to dynasty. It was Bryant whom the Spurs, L.A.'s rival, couldn't guard in 2002 and 2003, when Los Angeles kept the party going. By the time the Lakers completed their Threepeat, Shaq was acknowledging that Bryant was the future.

Then came the valley.

Whatever happened in that Colorado hotel room in June, 2003, between Bryant and a young woman that was not his wife will always be known only to them. The impact, though, was shattering. Charged with sexual assualt, Bryant had to spend much of the next 14 months, literally, on the defensive, splitting time between court appearances in Colorado and games in Los Angeles. That he continued to dominate on the court was remarkable.

After the charges were dismissed in September, 2004 -- two months after the Lakers traded O'Neal to Miami -- Bryant had to rebuild everything -- his reputation, his endorsements, his relationship with Phil Jackson, who was let go as head coach after the Lakers lost the 2004 Finals to Detroit, only to be re-hired a year later. It did not happen quickly, or easily; there was a disastrous come-from-ahead loss to Phoenix in the first round of the 2006 playoffs, in which Bryant appeared disinterested to shoot in the second half of Game 7, as the game, and the series, and his team, unraveled on the court. There was a demand to be traded when the Lakers came up short again the following postseason.

But, then, came the third act. There is always a third act, right?

The Lakers picked up Pau Gasol from Memphis, and Bryant now had his own second, someone great that wouldn't mind being the second wheel. He gained Jackson's trust, as Jackson re-gained his. Bryant led the Lakers back to the Finals in 2008, when they were outtoughed by the Celtics, but the arc was going back up. Then came a star turn at the Olympics in Beijing, with Bryant hand-picked by Jerry Colangelo to be the uber male on a team full of superegos. Bryant's presence made it okay for the others to be coached by Mike Krzyzewski; he set the tempo and pace for a U.S. team desperate to make up for the horrific experience of the 2004 team in Athens.

Bryant led the U.S. team to gold, then led the Lakers through all comers, en route to a 4-1 victory over Orlando in the Finals, a 15th franchise championship, and Most Valuable Player honors.

Now 31, Bryant is still the standard, the ultimate test for an up and comer, but he doesn't rise to the bait. He knows when to attack -- don't get it twisted, he still can -- and when to lay in the weeds. He trusts his teammates. He believes in the offense. He is, as he always was, beloved by the Lakers' fan base, which always preferred him to Shaq. He is a champion in his own right, owing nothing to no one, a creation all his own, now in his 14th smash season.

Coach of the Decade

PHIL JACKSON, LAKERS

I desperately wanted to give this to Jerry Sloan. Not because I don't recognize the job that Jackson has done, but because Sloan so rarely gets recognition for the job he's done in Utah. (It is an embarassment to my profession that Sloan has yet to win Coach of the Year honors.) I wouldn't have minded giving this to Gregg Popovich, who has molded the Spurs into his own, no-nonsense image.

But you have to give it to Jackson, who broke Red Auerbach's record for championships won last June with title number 10, his fourth with the Lakers, after going six for six with the Bulls.

You cannot ignore the fact that Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal won nothing -- nothing -- until Jackson's arrival in Los Angeles in 2000. You cannot ignore the fact that the Lakers became a dominant team under Jackson, who knew when to challenge, when to push, when to pull back, when to go all Zen on their collective butts and when to keep it real. Jerry Buss got rid of Jackson after the Lakers lost the 2004 Finals, then had the sense to swallow his pride and bring him back a year later, writing check after check (the current tally is $12 million annually) to keep him around. You cannot ignore a coach that's won 71 percent of his games in the NBA and an amazing 51 playoff series.

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If the Lakers win again, where will the 11th ring fit?
Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images

Jackson has, somehow, rebuilt his relationship with Bryant, whom he called "uncoachable" and "narssicistic" in a tell-all book written after the 2004 season. He has, somehow, managed to establish, maintain and keep healthy a relationship with Jeanie Buss, the Lakers' executive vice president, the boss of the business side of the franchise -- and the daughter of Jerry Buss. He has maintained his health after undergoing an emergency angioplasty in 2003 that prevented a massive heart attack and hip replacement surgery in 2006 that left him sitting in a throne-like chair to ease the pain.

He has done all this while being interesting, occasionally profane, always challenging, often condescending but never dull, on his second loose cannon, Ron Artest, after winning three rings with his first, Dennis Rodman. He's on his second megastar, with Bryant in Jordan's place. He's into a second decade with the Lakers after insisting he could never go that long with one team because, inevitably, players would tune out the message.

But he's first among coaches.

All-Decade Team

G: Steve Nash, Suns
G: Kobe Bryant, Lakers
F: Tim Duncan, Spurs
F: Kevin Garnett, Celtics
C: Shaquille O'Neal, Cavaliers

Point guard came down to two worthy candidates: Nash and Jason Kidd. Their credentials reflected their joint dominance: Kidd led the Nets to consecutive Finals appearances in '02 and '03; Nash won consecutive league MVP honors in '05 and '06. Both improved the stats and the bank accounts of teammates: Shawn Marion and Kenyon Martin should both still be tithing to their respective maestros. The Nasty One gets the nod by a hair by virtue of his continuing impact, long after the Mavericks thought he was breaking down and most of the rest of us thought he'd flounder without Mike D'Antoni.

Kobe didn't have any real serious competition at two guard. Reggie Miller retired in 2005; Tracy McGrady hasn't been able to stay healthy. Duncan and Garnett are both power forwards, but it would criminal to dis-include one of them over the likes of Carmelo Anthony or Chris Webber, good as both of them are (and were). LeBron? Didn't get to the L until '03, and he doesn't have any hardware yet. This has been the Shaq Era of centers; everyone else is a pretender to His Shaqnificence.

Shot of the Decade

May 9, 2007
BY: Derek Fisher, Jazz
SCORE: Utah 120, Golden State 117
TIME REMAINING: 1:06, overtime

Derek Fisher has never, ever begged off from taking big postseason shots. He is the owner of what people in Los Angeles simply call "Point Four," as in, the miraculous shot Fisher hit in Game 5 of the 2004 Western Conference Finalsto beat San Antonio. He hit the game-tying 3 in Game 4 of last season's Finals against Orlando. But they paled in comparison to the shot Fisher hit when he wasn't a Laker, when he wore the home white of the Utah Jazz.

For most of the 2006-07 season, things were going well for Fisher, who'd asked to be traded from Golden State to a contender, and got his wish, mentoring rookie Deron Williams and playing in all 82 games for the Jazz. But everything changed on May 2, when his 10-month old daughter Tatum was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive cancer that had been detected behind her eye. Surgery was necessary, and had to be immediate in order to remove the tumor and same Tatum's life. What had had the potential to be poignant -- a second-round series with his old Warriors teammates -- now was irrelevant, as Fisher and his family flew to New York for Tatum's surgery. Fisher missed Game 1 of the series, and was expected to miss Game 2 at Energy Solutions Arena -- the game was the same day as the operation.

da_fisher.jpg
Derek Fisher was playing for so much more in 2007.
Harry How/NBAE via Getty Images

The operation took more than two hours, but was deemed a success. Fisher and his family took a charter provided by the Jazz back to Salt Lake City, but Fisher had no intention of playing; he wanted to be with Tatum and his family. When the plane landed, though, Fisher got word that Utah had no point guards left; Dee Brown had injured his neck, and Williams was in foul trouble. Fisher had to ask his wife, Candace, if it was okay to leave and go to the arena. She said yes, and off he went. He hadn't touched a ball since the family had gone to New York four days earlier.

Fisher got there with 3:17 left in the third and immediately went in, as the home crowd went wild, not getting time to think about anything. He didn't want to force any shots, though, and spent much of the third and fourth quarters thinking about defense, not scoring. It was Williams who forced the overtime with a runner in the lane with two seconds left in regulation.

Utah jumped out on Golden State in overtime, leading by five with 1:37 to go. But after the Warriors' Stephen Jackson made two free throws, it was a one-possession game.

Williams got a crosscourt pass from Mehmet Okur and drove of the left wing, then passed the ball to the left corner, to the open guy. It was the man who hadn't picked up a basketball in four days, who had begun the day 2,000 miles away, in a New York hospital, hoping his infant daughter would be brave as she faced the fight of her young life, who would have been forgiven by anyone with a pulse if he had begged off and spent the night in his little girl's room.

Fisher didn't hesitate. And he drained it. It was his only shot of the game. The Jazz went on to win the game, and the series.

Buzzer-Beater of the Decade

May 25, 2009
BY: LeBron James, Cavaliers
SCORE: Magic 95, Cavaliers 93
TIME LEFT: :01, fourth quarter

Orlando looked like it was going to sweep both games in Cleveland in the Eastern Conference finals and take a commanding 2-0 lead in the series, when James rose up over Hedo Turkoglu (did Hedo come over late? Reggie thought so) and drained a 27-footer from the top of the key to give the Cavs the improbable win. Orlando still won the series in six but with this shot James only furthered his status as a great postseason performer.

Dunk of the Decade

I have three finalists:

Dec. 20, 2002
BY: Amar'e Stoudemire
OVER: Michael Olowokandi

Pre-microfracture STAT, in his rookie season, rose and flushed over the unlamented Olowokandi, but it's Steph's reaction that makes it immortal.

April 25, 2005
BY: Tracy McGrady
OVER: Shawn Bradley

I was doing sidelines for Game 2 of this first-rounder between Dallas and Houston, and thinking about my next on-air hit, when McGrady went baseline and eviscerated the 7-foot-6 Bradley.

May 11, 2007
BY: Baron Davis
OVER: Andrei Kirilenko

The Warriors were well on their way to winning Game of the 2007 Western Conference semifinals over Utah when Davis went baseline and flushed on AK-47, one of the game's best shot blockers. "Once you see a defender or he's coming in late," Davis later told Sports Illustrated, "and you got enough room to take off and you know you can land comfortably, that's what automatically triggers it for me."

My pick: McGrady. So vicious.

Performance of the Decade

Three more finalists:

January 22, 2006
THE FEAT: 81 points
BY: Kobe Bryant, Lakers

The best thing that can be said about Bryant's night against Toronto -- 28-for-46 from the floor, 18-for-20 from the foul line, seven 3-pointers -- was that the Lakers needed every one of them to come from 18 points down in the second half to overtake the Raptors. There was no showboating, no messing with the integrity of the game (which, in fairness, must be said about Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game in 1962, when the Philadelphia Warriors purposely fouled Knicks players again and again in the final quarter so that they could get Chamberlain more shots). The Lakers needed Bryant to be that otherworldly to win, and he was.

He scored 55 in the second half -- 27 in the third, 28 in the fourth -- to lead the Lakers to a 122-104 win. Only Chamberlain has scored more in an NBA game.

"Not even in my dreams," Bryant told reporters afterward.

Here are all of them, in three minutes.

MAY 31, 2007
THE FEAT: 29 straight points
BY: LeBron James, Cavaliers

He had been terrific in playoff series before, but in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals, James made a lasting mark. Scoring 29 of his team's last 30 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, and the last 25 points in a row, James single-handedly beat one of the league's premier defenses, on the road, in the biggest game of the season. The Pistons tried everything. They went big with Jason Maxiell, and LeBron blew by him; they tried to long with Tayshaun Prince, and James went through him; they tried trapping him, and he shot over them, they tried doubling him, and he drove past them. Then he muscled through all of them for the game-winning drive in the second overtime.

Dec. 9, 2004
THE FEAT: 13 points in 33 seconds
BY: Tracy McGrady, Rockets

The Rockets trailed 74-64 with a minute left when a Yao Ming dunk, followed by a David Padgett steal and dunk, cut the deficit to six. San Antonio's Devin Brown made two free throws with 44.2 seconds left, but the rest was McGrady. He hit a three over Malik Rose with 35 seconds left to make it 76-71, and after Brown made two more foul shots at the other end, McGrady countered again, this time hitting a three while getting fouled by Tim Duncan with 24.3 to go. His free throw brought Houston within 78-75.

Duncan was fouled at 16.2 and made both free throws, but McGrady got Andre Barrett's inbounds pass just before a five-second call, dribbled hard to his right and rose over Bowen for another three with 11.2 seconds remaining, making it 80-78. The Spurs called time and moved the ball to halfcourt. Brown got Brent Barry's inbounds pass and dribbled to the baseline, where Padgett may have shoved him, a little; at any rate, Brown hit the deck and lost the ball, and McGrady came up with him under his basket, eight seconds left.

He dribbled up court, drifted to his left, pulled up in front of Tony Parker and alongside Barry -- who contested the shot, but not close enough that a foul would be called -- and drilled his fourth three in the final minute, giving the Rockets an 81-80 lead with 1.7 seconds left. Parker's desperation heave at the buzzer missed, and Houston had stolen the game, with McGrady scoring 13 of his 33 points in the final 33 seconds.

"I don't know how I got 'em off," McGrady told Craig Sager afterward. But he did.

My pick: James. Bryant was incredible, but the combination of time, place, moment and opponent makes James's achievement stand above the rest.

Assist of the Decade

April 25, 2003
BY: Mo Cheeks, Coach, Portland

I was covering the Mavericks-Blazers first-round series when 13-year-old Miss Gilbert, in a beautiful black and white dress, came out to sing the national anthem. Unfortunately, about 20 seconds in, it became excruiciatingly clear that she had either lost her place, or forgotten the words. (It's a tough song.) She started looking around, and all of us at the Rose Garden thought the same thing: poor kid. Which is when Cheeks walked over from the Portland bench, put his arm around her and started singing, a little off-key, but got her back on track. By the end, we were all singing, a little teary-eyed.

Trade of the Decade

July14, 2004
Los Angeles Lakers trade C SHAQUILLE O'NEAL to the Miami Heat for F LAMAR ODOM, F BRIAN GRANT, G CARON BUTLER and a future first-round draft pick.

It had been rumored for a couple of weeks, but when Shaq gave his blessing, on a Saturday afternoon, and the deal officially went down, it was still a shock. O'Neal had been the lynchpin of the Lakers' three straight titles, and even if he and Kobe had had their issues with one another, the two of them still comprised the league's most unstoppable duo. But owner Jerry Buss had had enough of Shaq's weight issues and his injuries, and decided if he had to pay one of them, it would be the 25-year-old Bryant, not the 32-year-old O'Neal.

Shaq got to four titles first, winning it all in 2006 with Dwyane Wade in Miami, while Bryant's Lakers floundered (it didn't help that they had traded Butler after one season to Washington for, um, Kwame Brown). But that was the highlight of the Diesel's post-Lakers career; he soon started sniping at Pat Riley was shipped in 2007 to Phoenix, which traded him after a year and a half to Cleveland.

Meanwhile, Mitch Kupchak got Pau Gasol from Memphis, drafted Andrew Bynum and brought Derek Fisher back from Utah -- while Odom became an unreplaceable key man in Phil Jackson's rotation, moving the ball, scoring when he had to and making things easier for everybody. The Lakers took Orlando out in five games last season, Kobe had his fourth ring, and all, allegedly, was good between the former feuding teammates.

Innovation of the Decade

The Basketball Blogosphere

At the start of the oughts, there weren't many of us on a national level breaking down the L. Peter Vescey was on NBC, I was on ESPN, Sam Smith was at the Chicago Tribune, Jack McCallum and Jackie MacMullen were at Sports Illustrated, Mark Heisler was at the L.A. Times, Mike Monroe was at the Denver Post and David Moore was at the Dallas Morning News. There were others, but NBA information was pretty much limited to what you read in the papers or saw on TV. Closed shop.

That's over.

The Internet democratized journalism, for good and bad, but more for good. And NBA coverage was no different. Blogging about pro basketball soon became a crowded -- and, in some cases, lucrative -- endeavor.

The pie was big enough that one could carve out a good-sized niche. Chad Ford turned his Pro Basketball Talk blog into a gig with ESPN.com, specializing in draft prospects outside of the U.S.; David Berri, an economics professor, teamed with two other eggheads to apply statistical analysis to the game in their "Wages of Wins" blog; Lang Whitaker made SLAM Magazine (and slamonline.com) must reading with his daily compendium, "The Links;" Larry Coon became the go-to guy on any question relating to the salary cap, collective bargaining agreement or league rules; John Hollinger came up with the Player Efficiency Rating -- PER -- to rate players' per-minute productivity, a stat that has become for the NBA what on-base percentage became for baseball; new stats like pace (points per 48 minutes) and offensive rating (points per 100 possessions) became standard data for anyone looking to look beyond the usual numbers, like field goal percentage and points allowed or scored per game to determine a team's success.

There are too many good blogs to list here, but whether it is a summary of all the NBA news of the day (HoopsHype), a team-centric blog written by fans (Golden State of Mind, 3 Shades of Blue) or an owner (Mark Cuban's BlogMaverick), newspaper-affiliated reporting blogs, blogs that combine amassing of other sites with original reporting (Henry Abbott's TrueHoop) or those that are some combination of everything, there's something to learn from many of them. If you're not reading all of them, you're behind. Including the all-star talent now part of the NBA.com team: blogger Sekou Smith, John Schuhmann, Art Garcia, Fran Blinebury, Steve Aschburner, Shaun Powell, Scott Howard-Cooper and Vince Thomas.

Dribbles

It's not panic time yet in the Assocation, but the clock is running on a couple of teams. For one, the Wizards; for two, Golden State.

Figure New Year's Day for Washington, and if things haven't turned around dramatically, Washington is likely to take a bat to its underachieving, 8-17 roster. There isn't much demand for Gilbert Arenas, despite his showing signs of offensive life during Washington's recent road trip. But Caron Butler has admirers around the league, and Antawn Jamison's perimeter ability at power forward makes him intriguing to many. Teams also are inquring, like always, about second-year center JaVale McGee. But the Wizards are reluctant in the extreme to part with McGee or fifth-year forward Andray Blatche, who's showing signs he gets it.

But they may not have much choice. New ownership, in the likely form of Ted Leonsis, will soon be in place, and after that, it's anyone's guess how patient--or impatient--Leonsis will be with Washington's existing braintrust, headed by team president Ernie Grunfeld.

Out west, the fire sale Golden State is supposedly having is, according to at least one dialed-in personnel man, more an attempt to get out from under a couple of onerous contracts than a legit desire to get rid of Steph Curry, Anthony Randolph and other youngin's, though they will listen to offers for anyone. "You can have (Corey) Maggette, if you want. (Ronny) Turiaf, too," the personnel guy said, but any GM that bites on Maggette's contract (three years and $30.7 million left after this season) needs to have his license revoked. Turiaf (two and $8.3 million left after this season) is just slightly more palatable.

Top O' the World, Ma!

(last week's ranking in brackets)

1) L.A. Lakers [2] (22-4): Strolled through the east on road trip.

2) Boston [1] (21-5): Stumble at home to 76ers costs C's top spot.

3) Atlanta [3] (19-7): Hawks' 8.3 point differential third only to Lakers, Celtics.

4) Dallas [4] (20-8): Impressive win over Cleveland without Nowitzki Sunday.

5) Orlando [5] (20-7): Jameer Nelson back this week.

6) Cleveland [7] (20-8): Sunday began brutal stretch of 11 out of 15 on road.

7) Denver [6] (19-9): George Karl agitating for another big man.

8) Phoenix [8] (18-9): Suns only remaining unbeaten team at home.

9) Utah [9] (16-11): D Wil apologizes for team after horrible effort in Atlanta.

10) Portland [10] (17-12): Schedule gets very tough next two weeks.

11) San Antonio [13] (14-10): Bad break: Matt Bonner out a month.

12) Houston [11] (16-11): McGrady back, but for how long?

13) New Orleans [15] (12-14): Held seven of last eight under 100.

14) Miami [14] (13-12): Players meeting after 28-point home loss to Memphis.

15 Oklahoma City [12] (13-13): Ibaka, Harden giving good bench production.

Team of the Week

Lakers (4-0): After getting a gift schedule to start the season --17 of their first 21 at home -- the only question about Los Angeles was whether it would be as dominant on the road. Answer: a 4-1 trip that included a gift win at Milwaukee and three fairly easy wins at Chicago, New Jersey and Detroit.

Team of the Weak

New Jersey (0-4): It's like picking on the defenseless, but they're beyond terrible. Their deal to play games in Newark next year is in peril. They can't fire the coach again. No team needs it to be 2014 more than the Nets.

Nobobdy asked me, but ...

Do we have to re-think this whole 'Brandon Jennings is a lock for Rookie of the Year' notion?

I was in Milwaukee Saturday to see Jennings go head-to-head with Sacramento's Tyreke Evans, who has ... well, let's just let one member of the Kings' organization who wanted to keep his name out of it put Evans' name in it.

"I think he's the best rookie in the league since Tim Duncan," the Sacramentan said, and, yeah, that's saying something.

A quarter of the way through his first season, Evans has made the ROTY race extremely close. He's averaging 20 points per game, compared with Jennings at 20.3; he's tops among rookies in rebounds (5.1) and second among all point guards in rebounding to Dallas' Jason Kidd; he's second to Jennings among rookies in assists (6.2 to 5.1); he leads rookies in steals (1.52) and is sixth overall in steals among all points. No matter who wins the award, Evans and Jennings -- or, Jennings and Evans, if you prefer -- head a banner crop of point guards.

"I thought in this draft class, a lot of people doubted us," Evans said at his locker Saturday night. "They said this was one of the weakest draft classes that came out. When we was getting drafted, we was like, they don't realize, we're a good group of guys. They just haven't watched enough of us, I guess."

Saturday, Jennings and Evans led their respective, surprising squads in a taut contest that came down to the last second, and each had his hands on the ball down the stretch.

Jennings, two free throws, 1:05 left. Milwaukee, 91-90.

The Kings score on a beautiful play: Beno Udrih, coming hard off a screen, dropped the ball off to Jason Thompson in the paint, who made an excellent touch pass to Spencer Hawes for a go-ahead dunk, 55.3 seconds left. Sacramento, 92-91.

Jennings, two more free throws, 20.4 left. Milwaukee, 93-92.

Evans, looking for all the world like he was still in John Calipari's dribble-drive offense, coming off a screen at the top of the key and dribbling full speed toward the basket, then turning over his shoulder after leaving his feet to find Thompson, who made a very tough short hook in the lane with 11.9 to go. Sacramento, 94-93.

Jennings, who inbounded the ball on the Bucks' last two possessions, coming up with a loose ball after his inbounds pass toward Andrew Bogut was tipped, then hitting an open Ersan Ilyasova for the layin, five seconds left. Milwaukee, 95-94.

Then, Evans, again, taking the ball at the top, getting a screen from Thompson to free him from Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, giving a devastating ball fake to Andrew Bogut to freeze him in his tracks in the paint, crossing him over and going for a reverse layin off the glass with 0.9 seconds left. Sacramento, 96-95. Bogut missed a last-second jumper and the Kings escaped with the road win.

"I think when I'm coming full speed at my defender, I think I'm pretty much unstoppable," Evans said.

Jennings and Evans are both getting their education on a nightly basis. Bigger guards, quicker guards, double-teams, jumping them before they can penetrate, trapping them, picking them up full-court. A week of NBA games is a great education for a young, developing talent.

On Tuesday, Evans made 7-for-9 shots in Portland, but got shut down in the fourth quarter when the Blazers put Brandon Roy on him down the stretch. The next night, he scored at will against the Wizards, getting his 6-6 frame into the paint whenever he wanted, en route to 26 points. And at the end of the game, Evans was one-on-one with the Wizards' Gilbert Arenas in the final moments, with the Kings trying to preserve a two-point lead. Evans guessed that Arenas would try to cross him over ("I watched his chest," Evans said Saturday night), stuck his never-ending left arm out and picked Arenas clean to save the game.

Friday, Evans -- who's been battling tendinitis the last week -- struggled in Minnesota. The Wolves tried to get more physical with him, putting 6-foot-7 Damien Wilkins on Evans, and it worked. Evans was just 4-for-12 from the floor. Afterward, Kings coach Paul Westphal sat his rookie down, for the first time in six weeks.

"Understand," Westphal told him, "that every game is not going to be a masterpiece in this league, and particularly for someone who's only played 25 of them."

Then came Saturday, and a great battle between two teenagers who are the new faces of their franchises, two kids who've known each other since their first days on the court, playing AAU basketball against each other, playing at Rucker Park against each other in the Elite 24 Hoops Classic in 2006, playing against each other as high school phenoms. Always, it seems, playing against each other.

"We beat them, 14 and under, we won the national championship, beat them in the Final Four," Evans said. "They beat us in high school. When he was at Oak Hill, they beat us by one. So when he was at the foul line, I whispered to him, 'give me one. You owe me from Oak Hill.' He started laughing."

... And Nobody Asked You, Either

Molson to Near Beer? From Daniel Thurgood:

This is a follow-up to your recent article about the Jazz having Boozer and the Knicks pick as trade bait. I though I'd play GM again for a minute (I'm sure you get this a lot) There is one player I think could make the Jazz (an) actual contender - Chris Bosh.

He plays both the 4 and 5 so we could have the leagues best 3 man big rotation (Okur-Millsap-Bosh). It helps our match-up problem against the Lakers as he could go toe-to-toe (literally and figuratively) with Gasol. Plus though not a great defender, Bosh is longer and quicker than Boozer and can block a shot. To top it off he's a great locker room guy. Though Utah isn't a big draw to Utah but there are reasons it could work:

1- Boozer can get the most money via sign and trade as you wrote. He may not want to go to Toronto. But as we know. Boozer will follow the money.

2- Toronto is struggling and it is looking more and more like he is a goner. Toronto doesn't want to lose Bosh for nothing. This way they can get an All-star power forward and a top-ten pick.

3 - Bosh can get his big payday and play on a contender.

I'll never say never, but I'd be shocked if Boozer would agree to such a deal, and he'd have to agree to make it work.

Sadly, the Red Lion isn't quite enough. From John Wynn:

I would like one of you to please tell me what the NBA has against the fans in Portland. In the past 58 years of NBA All-Star games, Portland is the only franchise that has not held an all-star game. I understand that the reasons given for not letting Portland host the game are not enough hotel rooms. I ask you, how many rooms do you think you will need in a city (that) supports its franchise as Portland does? I am sending this to hopefully spark a discussion for the 2012 NBA All-Star game.

It's not personal John; it is, indeed, hotel space. All-Star Weekend is not only the league's signature event; it's become one of the entertainment world's biggest get-togethers, along the lines of the MTV Music Awards, or the Essence Festival in New Orleans. You have singers, rappers, actors, musicians, and all their hangers-on, most of the NBA's league office personnel, the players and their families, the media, the league's corporate sponsors and their families and friends, and fans who drive or fly in from around the country and from nearby states and towns--many of whom don't have any tickets for any of the NBA events, but come anyway for the parties--all descending on a city. They all need places to stay. For your typical ASW, the league says, a city needs at least 5,000 available hotel rooms. Portland just doesn't have that at the moment.

MVP Watch

1) Kobe Bryant (34.5 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 4 apg, .510 FG, .780 FT): What would he do with 10 good fingers?

2) Dwight Howard (14.5 ppg, 17.8 rpg, 4.5 bpg, .556 FG): Monster week from Superman.

3) LeBron James (27.5 ppg, 6.25 rpg, 7 apg, .444 FG, .789 FT): Is it possible he's already played 500 games?

4) Kevin Garnett (14.7 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 2.3 bpg, .538 FG, 1,000 FT): Continues to set the tone.

5) Carmelo Anthony (31.8 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 3.5 apg, .448 FG, .884 FT): 30 or more points 18 times this season.

By the Numbers

17 - Consecutive games, according to the Arizona Republic, that the Suns have lost on TNT, including a couple of preseason games, dating back to March 13, 2008, after falling 104-100 Thursday in Portland.

47 - Number of three-point attempts taken by the Knicks on Thursday in their 98-89 loss in Chicago, a franchise record and the second-highest number of threes in league history. (New York made 16 of them).

700 - Career victories for Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich after San Antonio's last-second victory over Indiana Saturday.

I'm Feelin ...

1) Christmas Day Hoops. Morning: unwrapping presents. Afternoon: Lunch w/ fam. Evening: Ballers. If there's a better way to spend 24 hours, let me know.

2) Geoff Petrie, getting it done again. To those who still insist smaller market teams can't compete and rebuild, look at what the Kings' GM has done, for a second time, in one of the league's smallest cities, for a team that desperately needs a revenue-producing building but can't get one. Yes, it was painful stripping the team the past three years, but Petrie has built it back up despite not having a pick higher than fourth overall since 2004: Kevin Martin (26th overall, 2004), Francisco Garcia (23rd, 2005), Spencer Hawes (10th, 2007), Jason Thompson (12th, 2008), Tyreke Evans (fourth, 2009) and Omri Casspi (23rd, 2009).

3) College Coaches, sniping. Bob Knight told a dinner audience at a fundraiser in Indianapolis on Thursday that college basketball lacks integrity, citing the hiring of John Calipari by the University of Kentucky. "You see we've got a coach at Kentucky who put two schools on probation and he's still coaching," Knight said, referring to the vacating of Calipari's Final Four teams at UMass (1996) and Memphis (2008) because of violations. (Calipari was not personally sanctioned by the NCAA in either instance./ Knight is no saint when it comes to mistakes, but someone needs to tell the truth about what college basketball has become.

4) Elton Brand. NIce couple of games out of purgatory.

4a) Marreese Speights. My fantasy team rejoices at your return.

4b) Kyle Korver. Ditto.

5) Carl Landry's face. Any more questions about how tough he and the Rockets are?

6) Pittsburgh 37, Green Bay 36. That's some pretty good December NFL theatre.

7) Memphis at home. That's wins over Dallas, Cleveland and Denver at FedEx Forum in the month of December after Sunday's victory over the Nuggets. Pretty good.

Not Feelin' ...

1) The Eastern Conference, train wreck. The EC has four elite teams -- Boston, Orlando, Cleveland, Atlanta -- and 11, um, mediocrities. Miami, at a robust 13-12, has the fifth spot; everyone else, outside of 2-26 New Jersey, is still in the playoff hunt.

2) Referees Joe Forte, Phil Robinson and Marc Davis, Wednesday night. When a defender takes contact square in the chest, as Milwaukee's Andrew Bogut did in overtime against Kobe Bryant, that's a charge. Period.

3) Me, taking a gratuitious shot at Gilbert Arenas last week. In "Not Feelin'," I noted that Arenas had missed four free throws in the final seconds against Boston and Indiana. The first thing I mentioned, though, was that Arenas has a $111 million contract -- which, if you think about it, which I didn't, has nothing to do with his missing free throws; the misses would have been just as harmful to Washington if he was making, say, $60 million instead. It was just a gratuitous shot, and I was wrong to take it. (What I should have written: "You say you feel healthy. If that's true, you have to make your free throws.")

4) Coach D'Antoni's analogy. No matter what you meant to say about Nate Robinson, dropping Satan into the conversation is a non-starter.

5) My hands and feet, after the three days of shoveling in front of me.

Tweet of the Week

Nothing like a little oatmeal while watching some scooby doo to start the day off right.
--
Kings rookie forward Jon Brockman (@mrjonbrockman), 12:03 p.m., Tuesday, confirming what we all knew. Zoinks.

Mr. Fifteen

This Week's Mr. Fifteen is Bucks center Francisco Elson. The 33-year-old Dutch-born big man has played just four games for Milwaukee this season, totalling 19 minutes. That's a disappointing start for Elson, who'd hoped to back up Andrew Bogut for the Bucks this year after playing 59 games for them in 2008. But Elson has been beaten out for backup minutes this season by Kurt Thomas.

Elson has been in the league since 2003, when he joined Denver four years after the Nuggets took him in the second round of the 1999 draft. (Elson spent those four years playing in Spain--including two with powerhouse F.C. Barcelona. Elson played three seasons for Denver, including his best as an NBA player, 2005-06, when he started 52 games and appeared in 72. That summer, he appeared to strike it rich figuratively and literally by signing a two-year, $6 million deal with San Antonio. He started half of the season for the Spurs, playing in 70 games total, and was a member of San Antonio's last championship team. But he lost playing time the following season to Matt Bonner, and midway through the year he was traded to Seattle.

da_elson.jpg
Francisco Elson
Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images

He signed with Milwaukee last season, starting 23 of 59 games. But his time this season was sucked up by Thomas, who came from San Antonio in the Richard Jefferson trade.

Me: What do you do to keep yourself ready to play?

Francisco Elson: I've been kind of in that position since day one, since I came to the NBA. I remember when I was in Denver, George Karl, he told me I was an insurance policy. Basically, you have to stay in shape by coming to the gym, doing conditioning, getting shots up, exercising with the basketball where you feel the basketball. At times when you do practice, you try to go 100 miles per hour. Because practice is different from the games. If you go through the motions, then obviously, you're not in shape. Because as soon as you step out on the court, it's a different ballgame.

Me: Is there anyone you work with here to keep you sharp?

FE: I mean, every coach on the team helps you out. The only thing you have to do is go ask. You just have to go out there and ask: 'coach, are you coming in tomorrow? Can you work me out?' So that's what you have to do. Or you have to go in there individually. There's always the shotgun. You don't need a coach, basically. Just go out there and work on the shotgun.

Me: Do you think part of the reason you doon't play is that people believe you can handle it?

FE: I don't think so. I mean, sometimes you have to look into the mirror. When you reach a certain age when you look at the NBA, a lot of teams have young guys. If you look at the league right now, a lot of guys are between 19, 20, between 20 and 25. And most of those guys are stars already, like the guys from Portland--Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge. You look at the whole league, everybody is much younger. Because those are the players that become more entertaining. People love to see them play. The older guys are the veterans, because they have been playing for a long time. When you're a veteran, of course you're not going to be happy, because you're sitting on the bench to a younger player. Of course you're not going to be happy. It's a tough situation to handle.

Me: Did you think you'd get more of a shot based on what you did in Denver and around the league?

FE: (Gregg) Popovich gave me a great chance to play. We won the championship, I was very happy. So I felt, this is how it's going to be for the rest of my life. But things change. Teams want to get better, teams want to win a championship. You've got to stay on top of your stuff. What put you through, that's what you have to do. You have to come in early, you have to get your shots, you have to stay in shape, you have to be injury-free. You have to be a pro's pro. Like the guy from L.A., Derek Fisher. Pro's pro. He comes in, he does his work, he runs his team, he does what he has to do. When you're a veteran player you've got to realize that this is what you do, and when a younger player comes in, you're basically stepping down and giving him the ropes. But it's a tough situation, of course, because you love the game and you always want to play.

Me: What do you think you'll do after this season?

FE: Hopefully, I'll get a chance on another team. Because if you think about it, people that know me -- or don't know me -- I've only been playing basketball since I was 16 years old. I started late. This is my seventh year in the NBA, and I had never played basketball before that age. So most of these guys are my age, and they have 14, 15 years of an NBA career. I haven't. So I'm still, I can run with the best of these guys. I can run. I've never had a major injury. So I feel I can play another five, six, seven years. The way I'm built, I should be able to do it. I think I'm still in great shape.

They said it

"I thought you were 36 or 37 until I read the news today. A 33-year-old man who has been a model citizen with so much at stake. This is your first publicly known issue since your started your career, compared to my 50 or more publicly known issues and mistakes."
-- Lakers forward Ron Artest, in "My Letter to Tiger," published Tuesday on Artest's Web site.

"I have to be real and not lie. I'm not going to get it done in the NBA."
-- Knicks center Darko Milicic, to the New York Post, saying that he's definitely going to play in Europe next season after his contract expires. If Milicic goes there and stays, he'll go down in NBA annals as one of the great draft busts of all time.

"I didn't know what to expect. I knew it was going to be different from my experience in Memphis. Winning changes the whole picture."
-- Lakers forward Pau Gasol, who was nice enough to call regarding his involvement with the Hoops for St. Jude http://www.hoopsforstjude.org/ program., on whether being in Los Angeles was everything he could have expected. The website Hoopsworld first reported last week that Gasol was close to a three-year extension with the Lakers through 2014.

Oh. Happy Holidays to all of you, from all of me.


Blazers' tough road trip provides opportunity for Aldridge

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LaMarcus Aldridge hopes trips to his native Dallas during the week of Christmas continue.

This road trip might be the most treacherous for Portland this season. Four games against four legit playoff big boys for a banged up squad trying to get some traction.

The Blazers opened with a split in Florida before hitting Texas for a Dallas-San Antonio back-to-back. They're 2-1, down another man (Joel Przybilla) and down to the final leg Wednesday night before heading back to the Pacific Northwest for a needed day off and a Christmas Night visit by Denver.

As much as some want to get home, LaMarcus Aldridge saw the latter part of the trek as a chance to go home and do some good. The Dallas native spent much of his off day Monday delivering toys to more 700 needy kids at the Kiest Park Recreation Center in Oak Cliff and the Pleasant Oak Recreation Center.

"These are places I grew up in and played basketball in the area," said Aldridge, 24. "I thought it would be a good thing to give back to areas that gave to me. I know these are low-income areas and it was a rewarding experience to see the kids' reactions and to hear some of the stories."

One story that stuck with Aldridge involved a family losing their home in a fire.

"This was their Christmas," he said. "That felt good to hear."

Aldridge hopes these trips to Dallas continue. He wasn't sure how he would pull it off before the season, but fate intervened through the league office. It just so happened he found himself in his hometown the week of Christmas.

"This is something that I want to become a tradition," he said. "Actually, I was trying to figure out how to do this and then the schedule came out. It couldn't have worked out any better."

Aldridge is just one of many players across the league lending a helping hand during the holiday season. Mavericks forward Shawn Marion is providing another big assist in Big D by personally bringing gifts to seven single mothers and their kids Christmas morning.

"I know what it feels like to grow up and have sneakers so old and worn that I had to avoid puddles so that the socks protruding through the soles of my shoes would not get soaked because my mother could not afford new sneakers," he said. "I know what it feels like to have nothing. My mom is a wonderful and strong woman who worked two jobs for a long time to put food on the table to feed us. To come from nothing to something is a blessing and I want to be a blessing to others."

Marion purchased toys, bikes, TVs, clothes, furniture and gift cards through his foundation.

More Christmas tales

The Spurs treat the holidays like make offices do. There's an exchange of names and presents, and just as your cubicle neighbor may be going for the cheap laugh, gag gifts are big.

The best/worst ever might be an oversized nose-hair trimmer given to Manu Ginobili. The Argentine is quite used to the ribbing. Or is that nosing?

"It was like this," Ginobili said, holding his hands about 10 inches apart. "This guy was always making fun of me about the size of my nose, so you can guess who that was."

Step right up Brent Barry of NBA TV fame.

As far teams playing on Christmas, it usually means they're arrived. (New York gets a pass here.) There's a certain spark, at least at first, from suiting up on Dec. 25. Does it wear off for teams that are seemingly on every year, such as the Lakers?

"When you first start becoming a good team, you get excited about being on national TV," Nuggets coach George Karl said. "But I've found the teams that are really kind of bored and frustrated, they're not excited on being on TV and they're the ones that are probably pretty good teams."

Such as the Lakers.

Maynor doesn't change Westbrook's role

It makes sense to question Russell Westbrook's future at point guard with the Thunder after trading for rookie Eric Maynor on Tuesday. Maynor, after all, is a natural point guard, while the supremely-talented Westbrook is still learning the position.

Westbrook, many argue, would be better suited at shooting guard, where his explosiveness and scoring ability would be emphasized. As a playmaker, he's among the league leaders in turnovers at 3.3 per game. (That can't be all bad since LeBron James, Steve Nash, Deron Williams, Gilbert Arenas and teammate Kevin Durant each average at least that many.)

Sure, the goal is to get Westbrook's turnovers down, but not by turning the point guard reigns to Maynor. The Thunder organization was high on the VCU product in the Draft and jumped at the chance to acquire him. More importantly, he's viewed as long-term backup, stress backup, to Westbrook, within team circles.

Maynor, 6-foot-3, averaged 5.2 points, 3.1 assists and 1.5 rebounds in 26 games for Utah. The 20th pick currently ranks fourth in assists, 19th in steals and 24th in scoring among rookies.

As a side note, acquiring Maynor and the contract of Matt Harpring led to OKC waiving Shaun Livingston. It's another setback for the one-time lottery pick, who's still only 24.

Quotable

"Things just keep happening. We don't know the reason why and tonight we lost big Joel [Przybilla] and the other guys came together, they didn't quit, they rallied."
-- Blazers coach Nate McMillan after Tuesday night's win at Dallas.

Starting 5

1. Now the Blazers lose Joel Przybilla. As if they needed another sign that this just isn't their season, they got one.

2. So the Kings rally from five touchdowns down to beat the Bulls. Somewhere the Houston Oilers are popping champagne.

3. Dirk Nowitzki drives it into the teeth of the defense more than you think, just ask Carl Landry. And the Tough Guy of the Week co-winners both scored 27 in their first games back Tuesday.

4. Two hottest teams around -- Lakers and Celtics. Figures.

5. Late Stocking Stuff Dept. The 10 teams playing Christmas are breaking out new player-ID shooting shirts. That means last names on the warm-up garb. After Friday, all teams will wear them on weekends. Check it out at the NBA Store.

Give-n-Go: Pops Mensah-Bonsu

(Interview by NBA.com correspondent Holly MacKenzie)

HM: What did you know about Toronto before you came here?

PMB: I knew it was cold. I knew it was a diverse city, that it had a little bit of European flair to it, but that it was unique in its own style. I was looking forward to what it had to offer. When I came out here, I was just glad the fans accepted me with open arms. I like the way they appreciate the hard work. And, if that's what they appreciate, there's more of that to come.

HM: How did the D-League call ups work for you last year?

PMB: Last year I was called up once or twice. I had a choice between coming here or San Antonio and I chose San Antonio first because, the team I was playing for before, I knew their [San Antonio's] system so I felt more comfortable there. After that was done, I decided to come to Toronto and coach [Jay Triano] gave me a chance to play and threw me out in the fire, the last 20-25 games. I was definitely, definitely appreciative of that.

HM: Now, you had a big dunk and a nasty block against your former [Houston] teammates and afterwards I saw you looking at the bench. What were you saying and how does it feel to do that against the team that let you go?

PMB: I love those guys over there. They're my boys. When I dunked on Carl Landry, he was like, "You got lucky," and I was like, "No, you got unlucky." It was cool, but like I said it was basketball and that's the kind of stuff that happens. It definitely feels a little bit better when you do it against your old team, though.


Disappointment (and heat) mount for Del Negro and Bulls

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Vinny Del Negro and the Bulls are 11-17 heading into Tuesday's game vs. Indiana.

The euphoria after a loss probably did more damage to Vinny Del Negro's future in Chicago than anyone thought at the time. After taking the defending champion Celtics to seven games in what's considered by many as the greatest first-round series ever, the Bulls and their fans came into this season with heightened expectations.

And, maybe, slightly unrealistic ones.

Not living up to those expectations has fueled speculation in the last few weeks that Del Negro's job is on the line. The second-year coach acknowledged and dismissed those rumors again Monday.

"It's funny to me," Del Negro said after practice. "There is nothing to say. You have all these people who have rumors, and they all have their sources. It is just not accurate. I don't have time to deal with rumors."

Del Negro added that he talks with general manager Gar Forman and vice president John Paxson -- the two holding the keys to his job -- every day and that he hasn't changed his day-to-day approach. He's coaching until someone tells him it's time to stop.

"My focus is getting the team ready for [Tuesday night] against Indiana," Del Negro said.

Last season, the Bulls took the then-defending champion Celtics to the brink of elimination in an epic series. Now, Chicago is a half-game out of the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference. Judging by the mediocrity that's engulfed the conference below fifth-place Miami, the Bulls could be anywhere from sixth to 14th by the end of next week. Being a fringe playoff team is not what the Bulls or their fans anticipated after the Celtics series.

But does that fall squarely on the coach?

Del Negro, by many accounts, hasn't been a commanding presence on the sidelines and has to shoulder his share of the blame. While he isn't responsible for the makeup of the roster, Del Negro must be held accountable for how the team performs and approaches games.

For Derrick Rose to admit the Bulls had a "nonchalant" attitude in the epic 35-point meltdown to Sacramento last week is tantamount to their young star saying the team does not care. While Rose and his teammates ought to take it upon themselves to care every time they slip on those Chicago jerseys, Del Negro should have a say in it, too. Coaches have to inspire. NBA teams are too good, even the bad ones, to take a nonchalant attitude into a game and expect to win.

Some will argue that Del Negro hasn't been given a winning hand after leading Chicago to a 41-41 mark last season, good for an eight-game improvement. Not re-signing Ben Gordon (he went to Detroit for $55 million over five years) is the right financial move given the franchise's long-term plans. But the basketball ledger has taken a huge loss. Not only did Gordon lead the Bulls in scoring (20.7 points a game), but he took just about every big shot.

Forman and Paxson didn't replace those points or that moxie. Luol Deng and Tyrus Thomas were supposed to help pick up that slack, but Thomas just returned to the lineup Saturday after missing all except the first four games. Kirk Hinrich has been dealing with a bad back all season. Gordon, Thomas and Hinrich were key in Chicago taking Boston to the limit.

"Vinny has been victimized by circumstance," said a league source with close ties to the Bulls. "He's not any less of a coach than he was last year. Hopefully [Bulls management] can understand that and stay the course. I think he can develop into an outstanding coach."

The Bulls might not be appreciably better than their 11-17 suggests, but they should be more competitive. Their 17 losses are by an average of 15 points. Two losses are especially galling to Del Negro's critics. Chicago lost to the Nets at home, one of only two wins New Jersey has. And the Bulls' massive collapse against the Kings only served to fuel the firestorm around the coach.

Again, Del Negro said the rumors of his demise don't impact himself or the team.

"Not as much as you would think," said Del Negro, hired without any previous coaching experience. "It is a little frustrating because I know how hard the staff works. You are judged on wins and losses, and I am not pleased where we are at. We have let a few slip away. We need to play better and do so more consistently."

The Bulls rank near the bottom of the league in points per possession this year. Shooting is the biggest difference in their scoring drop, but they're also turning the ball over more and getting to the line less. Chicago actually has improved defensively.

Del Negro sees progress through the fog of losing.

"I can toot my own horn, but that doesn't do anything," he said. "I know the development of the players. There is still a lot of work to be done. It is a process. We are not that far off."

Del Negro might find that notion a hard sell. That kind of speculation can run both ways.


Thunder insider: Family ties made Eric Maynor a point guard


Eric Maynor. Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman
Eric Maynor was born to be a point guard.

His father, George Maynor, played the position for East Carolina in the 1970s.

"He told me when I was little that that’s the position I was going to play no matter how tall I got,” said Maynor, the 6-foot-3 rookie who the Thunder acquired last Tuesday in a trade with Utah.

George Maynor was a fourth-round draft pick by Chicago in 1979. He made it to camp the following year after returning to school for his senior season and was among the final cuts by Eric Maynor’s first NBA coach, Jerry Sloan.

George Maynor never played in the NBA, but the lineage he launched grew into lessons that would eventually turn his skinny son into the 20th overall pick.

Eric Maynor’s basketball dreams began as a young boy in Raeford, N.C. Every day, he would tag along with the older kids to nearby Upchurch gymnasium and watch the big boys play pick-up. Maynor would hoist shots before games and during breaks.

"I couldn’t wait to get older and bigger so I could get out there,” Maynor said.

One of the older kids was Tony Crawford, Maynor’s brother who was six years his senior. Before the basketball love affair got passed down to Maynor it caught a hold of Crawford. Crawford’s talents earned him a spot on the Division II Belmont Abbey’s roster.

Before long, brotherly battles began.

"Sometimes I’d leave bloody,” Maynor said. "He’d put me on the ground and toughen me up. But he taught me a lot playing against me.”

Maynor learned to be tough, physical, to never be intimidated.

"Even if I was getting bloody, he wouldn’t let me call fouls,” Maynor remembered.

Maynor had to play with older players because he was so much more advanced than kids his age.

"But then I realized when I got to college that I had to get better,” Maynor said. "That’s when I knew it was a bunch of guys out here that are way better than me. But I worked so hard that I knew I could get to this league.”

Maynor averaged 22.4 points, 6.2 assists and 3.6 rebounds as a senior at Virginia Commonwealth last season. He won the Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year Award in 2008 and 2009 and was a 2009 AP Honorable Mention selection. He now boasts that Tony doesn’t want any part of him on the court.

Maynor, regarded as a pass-first point guard who sets up his teammates for scores before looking for his own offense, describes himself as a basketball junkie.

"That’s what I love to do and why I’m still doing it right now and am having fun doing it,” Maynor said. "I don’t mind spending the day in the gym.”

Maynor now joins a group of Thunder players who are praised for having the same hard-working mentality.

"That man upstairs puts you in different situations. He put me in a situation right now where I’m with a bunch of young guys that compete hard and work to get better,” Maynor said. "I think this is a good situation for me.”

O'Brien remains unhappy with his lineup

MIAMI -- Indiana Pacers coach Jim O'Brien is going to run out of options with his starting lineup with all the tinkering he's doing.

Until he reaches that point, though, O'Brien plans to continue to try to find the right mix of players.

He is considering shaking up the lineup again after his starters were thoroughly outplayed for the second straight game in their 114-80 loss to the Miami Heat.

"I don't know if we have enough speed in our starting lineup," O'Brien said. "Clearly we are not getting it done. The last couple of games, we have not scored well. We did a good job with that unit to start out the previous three games, but right now it's not working. We need to continue to re-evaluate everything."

The Pacers' starters have been outscored 160-61 in the past two games. The second unit made the game respectable in the second quarter each of the past two nights.

"We can't be playing the way we've been playing in the first unit," starting point guard Earl Watson said. "We have to come out and we have to have a style of play. We have to have a personality. We have to have characteristics. We have to set the tone.

"The second unit played great, but no matter what, we have to get both units to play at the same time at a high level in order for us to compete and win."
A step forward for Granger

Pacers forward Danny Granger took a step, albeit a small one, toward his return from a torn right plantar fascia when he did some light shooting on the court for the first time Saturday.

"It was decent. I haven't really pushed it yet because I don't think I'm at that point yet," Granger said. "The foot is still healing. Each day I try to do more and more on it."

The real test for Granger will come when he starts running. A date for that has yet to be determined.

It has almost been three weeks since the Pacers shut down Granger for at least a month. The team said he could be out up to six weeks.

"There's no chance I'll be out for the full the six weeks," Granger said. "I'm thinking about another two to three weeks."
O'Neal burns former team again

Make it 2-for-2 in good games for Heat center Jermaine O'Neal against his former team this season.

O'Neal, who spent eight seasons with the Pacers, scored 19 points on 6-of-7 shooting and had six rebounds in 19 minutes Sunday. That effort followed a 22-point, 12-rebound performance against them in October.

"It doesn't mean anything," O'Neal said. "When I went into their place, I wanted to have a good game. Not because I was upset . . . I wanted to have a good game for the people that really supported me."

O'Neal said he knew he would be featured in the offense because the Heat thought he had the advantage against Pacers center Roy Hibbert.

"We're a team that goes with the matchups offensively," O'Neal said. "We like to exploit the matchups, and tonight was my night."

Afflalo searching for some offense

Arron Afflalo was shooting just 32.1 percent in his past nine games, but the Nuggets guard swished all three of his first-quarter shots — including two 3s — Sunday night, a reassuring sign.

Before the game, coach George Karl was somewhat down on Afflalo's recent offensive play. "I think Arron is still kind of living in his UCLA days — every play was written to run for him. I think for Arron, it's trying to be a role player, (realizing) it's hard to get shots on a team with dominant offensive players. You've got to work to get shots."

The former Bruin and Detroit Piston entered Sunday averaging 7.5 points per game while starting at shooting guard, primarily for his defense.

"We're not going to run a lot of plays for Arron Afflalo," Karl said. "When we do, he's got to execute that play at a high level, and he might get the ball or might not get the ball. A role player searching for his offensive identity, a lot of it's on him. He's not on my list to make happy offensively."

Afflalo finished 5-for-10 from the field with 13 points.

Making a point.

There are times when Carmelo Anthony or J.R. Smith end up bringing the ball up and playing a quasi-point guard position. On this disturbing trend, Karl said: "I'm definitively, totally against Melo and J.R. being our point guards. When it happens in the flow of the game, fantastic, but there's some games where I don't know who the heck the point guard is out there. It's on me. I allow it, and I like freedom and creativity and versatility, but there's no question that Ty (Lawson) and Chauncey (Billups) should have the ball."