FanHouse 5Things

5 Things ... gives you some insight into some things to look out for on important nights in the NBA.

1. If This Doesn't Stop Them, It's Possible Nothing Will: The Lakers have been unstoppable. Unbeatable. Indestructible. And while they haven't played a back-to-back yet, and they've played the Clippers twice, they were supposed to get challenged by Houston, only to beat them into oblivion. So the Hornets game is intriguing, but really, the Lakers are in another stratosphere right now. Another level. Another dimension. Another conceptual realm filled with butterflies and unicorns for Pau Gasol to ride on. Yet, if there's any team that's not afraid of the Big Bad Bynum and Black Mamba, it's got to be New Orleans, which has already proven it can hang with the big boys. Tonight the Lakers defense, which has been using the strong-side overload faces a weapon that matches up perfectly against it in Chris Paul. Paul can find the open perimeter shooter, and from there, it's up to Peja Stojackovic and James Posey to knock 'em down. But in reality, the Lakers offense may be a bigger problem. Ranked third in efficiency, the Lakers are using a balanced attack from about seven different players to absolutely barrage their opponents. If the Hornets are going to have a chance they have almost no margin of error for turnovers and have to be able to challenge shots without picking up fouls, which no one's been able to do against the Lakers yet. Epic showdown tonight.

It's been a long couple of days for hoops fans waiting to see how the big trade would start to shake out, but our wait comes to an end at around 730PM Eastern, when the Pistons will tip things off in New Jersey against the Nets. Tonight will be our first chance to see Allen Iverson wearing Chauncey Billups' old Pistons number one (which is just going to be weird), and the first look we'll get at Billups playing alongside 'Melo, wearing John Elway's number 7 while running the point for the Nuggets.

Detroit would appear to have a better chance of notching a victory to start this new era, as they're facing a Nets team that's, well, just not that good. They've dropped their last two home games, and got absolutely run off the floor in an 18-point loss to the Suns. Meanwhile, Dallas is coming off a blowout win in San Antonio, against a Spurs team who can only win if someone on their squad decides to drop a double nickel or something.

5 Things ... gives you some insight into some things to look out for on important nights in the NBA.

With 13 games on the slate tonight, there's a lot to keep an eye out for. Here are the big five we came up with.

1. Former Pistons and Their Physicals: Normally no one really cares about Cheikh Samb's kidneys and spine (outside of his Mom, I'm sure. I mean, everyone hopes they're okay, but it's just not a real big topic, you know?). But if the pieces being sent to Denver in the Allen Iverson trade don't get their physicals completed in time, it means we'll have to wait on Iverson to join to the Pistons on the floor, and that makes tonight's game against the Raptors a lot less exciting.

If the particulars do get taken care of, this could be a huge game. Iverson would go up against Jose Calderon who has the Raptors feeling pretty confident. Even without Iverson, though, this game features a stunning array of matchups that the Pistons seem to have a slight advantage in, but may be countered by the star power of Chris Bosh and Jermaine O'Neal. Iverson would definitely tip the game to Detroit's favor, but even then, you don't know how he'll immediately mesh with the offense. Keep your eyes affixed to see if Iverson plays tonight, because this is an immediate test for both teams.

(Update: Looks like he definitely won't play tonight, which means this one leans slightly Toronto's way. Rodney Stuckey, here's your big chance to earn even more minutes.)

During the remainder of the Olympic men's basketball tournament, FanHouse will give you 5 Things to watch for in each game.

Can the Team USA transition game be stopped? Through five pool play games, no one came even remotely close to slowing Team USA's fast break. The central challenge, beyond the overwhelming speed and finishing ability of every single player in red, white and blue, is that the Americans get out in transition so freaking often. The pickpocketing ways of Dwyane Wade and Chris Paul make up one avenue. LeBron James has been an interior disruptor, and the team flies off his deflections, steals and blocks. The team runs out on defensive rebounds, with Dwight Howard and Chris Bosh looking for an outlet guard, and those guards (Jason Kidd and Kobe Bryant, mainly) getting the ball up the court quickly. Even on the rare opponent make, the Americans push. How do you stop all that? You don't. You try to limit it as much as possible, by protecting the ball and slowing the game to a crawl. But nothing you do will prevent a few breakaway dunks from going down.

Can Australia be effective in the half-court offense? The wonderful Xs and Os of Basketball blog took a detailed look at Australia's versatile half-court offense recently, showing how many different ways the Aussies set up shop. Certainly, it's a better system than Germany or China offered, and it's a slower, more deliberate movement-driven offense than Spain runs. (Spain tends to be a bit free-wheeling and quick; Australia is closer to the old slow Princeton ... though there are serious differences.) The United States hasn't been tested in the half-court, really -- it has blown its opponents up way out at midcourt and built big leads before the foe can get settled. With Patrick Mills running Australia's show, the Boomers should be able to get into their offense early. At that point, it will be up to the Americans to show they can play real halfcourt defense.

During the remainder of the Olympic men's basketball tournament, FanHouse will give you 5 Things to watch for in each game.

Can the Team USA transition game be stopped? Through five pool play games, no one came even remotely close to slowing Team USA's fast break. The central challenge, beyond the overwhelming speed and finishing ability of every single player in red, white and blue, is that the Americans get out in transition so freaking often. The pickpocketing ways of Dwyane Wade and Chris Paul make up one avenue. LeBron James has been an interior disruptor, and the team flies off his deflections, steals and blocks. The team runs out on defensive rebounds, with Dwight Howard and Chris Bosh looking for an outlet guard, and those guards (Jason Kidd and Kobe Bryant, mainly) getting the ball up the court quickly. Even on the rare opponent make, the Americans push. How do you stop all that? You don't. You try to limit it as much as possible, by protecting the ball and slowing the game to a crawl. But nothing you do will prevent a few breakaway dunks from going down.

Can Australia be effective in the half-court offense? The wonderful Xs and Os of Basketball blog took a detailed look at Australia's versatile half-court offense recently, showing how many different ways the Aussies set up shop. Certainly, it's a better system than Germany or China offered, and it's a slower, more deliberate movement-driven offense than Spain runs. (Spain tends to be a bit free-wheeling and quick; Australia is closer to the old slow Princeton ... though there are serious differences.) The United States hasn't been tested in the half-court, really -- it has blown its opponents up way out at midcourt and built big leads before the foe can get settled. With Patrick Mills running Australia's show, the Boomers should be able to get into their offense early. At that point, it will be up to the Americans to show they can play real halfcourt defense.