- Baron Davis: 36 points, 18 assists, eight rebounds.
- The Smoking Gun has testimony from "the Auburn Hills incident." Pistons PR man Matt Dobek: "I was sitting at the corner of the court by the Pistons bench, holding coach Brown's crutches. I observed Artest laying on top of the scorer's table, and heard Artest tell Ben Wallace 'You can suck my balls.'" (via Deadspin)
- Life with the new ball, in numbers: Better shooting.
- Mike Wells says trouble's a-brewing in Indianapolis: "Jermaine O’Neal comes walking down the hall clearly upset, he goes inside the room, closes the door and has a heated conversation with the coaching staff. That would raise anybody’s eyebrows if they saw that. Peter May of the Boston Globe and Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald were both outside in the hallway with me when we heard voices raise inside the room. The team’s strength and conditioning coach Shawn Windle was even asked to leave the room so they could talk."
- Billy Hunter is pimping supplements, which strikes me as bizarre and inappropriate. If the union wanted to investigate a whole bunch of supplements and certify those that are not harmful or illegal, that's one thing. But shoving one brand at players? Allegedly with nothing in it for the union? Bizarre at best, and potentially a tad suspicious.
- "The Chris Mullin Show." --"It's a no-look pass to laughter."
- Gatorade's Sport Science Institute is doing research: "...adult basketball players can experience up to a six percent decrease in shooting percentage and a seven percent decrease in sprint times when they are even only two percent dehydrated (the equivalent of a deficit of 4 lbs. of body weight for a 200 lbs. player). Furthermore, performance is impacted whether the dehydration occurs during play or if the players are inadequately hydrated before they start. Based on prior research, GSSI found that a majority of elite athletes involved in stop-and-go sports such as basketball, football and soccer show up to practice and games already at or exceeding this level of dehydration. The research initiative also found that NBA players can lose up to 10.2 lbs or 1.25 gallons of sweat during a game and that more than a quarter of professional players are finishing practices and games still significantly dehydrated despite their efforts to hydrate throughout the course of play." Here's what my track coach always said: drink a little water all day before the big event. You can't keep up once you get your sweat on. More to the point: 1.25 gallons of sweat times 24 players = near flood conditions courtside.
- Bless you, Rolando, for finding an explanation of microfracture knee surgery, which all the cool kids are getting these days: "The surgeon makes a tiny, quarter-inch incision on the affected knee and inserts a long thin scope (arthroscope). This scope allows the surgeon to work directly on the joint area. The surgeon uses an ice pick-like tool called an awl to drill very small holes (“microfractures”) into the bone near the defective cartilage. The injury prompts the body to make new, replacement cartilage. Bone marrow seeps out of the holes, creating a blood clot that releases cartilage-building cells..." Hollinger on microfracture.
- LaMarcus Aldridge nudges past Jamaal Magloire into the starting lineup, which probably says more about Magloire then it does Aldridge.
- Bill Simmons: "Note to reader: Due to scheduling conflicts, I was forced to write the inevitable 'Doc Rivers has been fired!' column before they actually fire him."
- Straight Bangin': "Does anyone else think that Stephon Marbury looks quasi-done? He's not gonna be out of the NBA in the next year or two, but have you seen him this year? He looks like a shell of his former self. He's lethargic, he isn't getting into the lane as much, he is happy to make a pass to initiate the 'offense' and then run away from the play, and most of the time he's scowling and looking unhappy and defeated. It's depressing."
- Brian Windhorst: "LeBron's Nike commercials have a nice niche and excellent production. Especially with the vague Back to School reference. They are way better, and way more expensive, than the weak overall efforts of Dwyane Wade's boring Converse commercials and Kobe Bryant's lame efforts for Sony with the stupid old guy in the Utah Jazz outfit. Carmelo Anthony's new Jordan commercial blows them all away in my opinion. But I'm sometimes a sucker for commercials that have little talking so I know that opinion won't be the popular one."
- Chris Sheridan: "The more I hear about that [Darius] Miles deal, the more it becomes clear how close Isiah was to getting him. There's been some debate over whether it was actually Paul Allen who squashed that deal. What I've heard is that it broke down over a squabble over whether the Knicks would give Portland the No. 20 pick (which became Renaldo Balkman) or the No. 29 pick (Mardy Collins). As for which Knicks has the most trade value (somebody probably has to go once Jared Jeffries starts playing in January), I'd have to say it's Crawford because even though Q is having a much better season, he has a bad back that his team cannot cover through insurance."
- Celtics Beagle: "Did Dave Cowens really take time off from the C's to drive a cab? Yes, he did. He was suffering burnout and took the time to 'clear his head'. Yes, it's also true he celebrated the 1974 championship by sleeping on a park bench in Boston Common, after wandering all over the city to celebrate with everyone he knew." (via Signal vs. Noise) Great point from Kerry Seed: an interesting little thing to consider given all the outrage over Ron Artest doing things outside of basketball.
- Jamie Mottram of SportsBloggersLive just interviewed Adam Morrison. UPDATE: Listen online now. Jamie and I brainstormed some questions before-hand, and of course I recommended something about Morrison's admission that he chews tobacco. Mottram asked, and Morrison says he chews Grizzly brand, because it's the cheapest. (Indeed it is: about a third the price of Copenhagen) Mottram says the interview will be up later today or Monday.
- Don't believe the stories that the Wizards are playing better defense.
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