Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.
Amid a fantastic slate top to bottom, Boston at Orlando stood out as the must-watch. And the teams delivered: the Magic ended up with a rollicking two-point victory on the back of Dwight Howard's deft post play and some lovely outside shooting from everyone else. (Which is to say they won this game how they win every other game.)
A lot of players have their own signature shoe but only a select few have an entire brand. Al Harrington recently joined that exclusive club when he recently unveiled his new Protege line. I caught up with Harrington in the visitor's locker room after a recent win in Detroit to talk about the new brand.
The Warriors hosted the Knicks Wednesday night, giving Don Nelson and Al Harrington a chance to finally meet face-to-face and hash out their differences. Except, well, that didn't happen. Instead, the two communicated like they have for most of the year: trading insults with each other through the media.
Before the game, Nelson told reporters that Harrington forced the trade because he wanted more money, and that the only reason things got ugly was because Harrington made it personal. When told of Nelson's comments, Harrington denied ever talking money with his former coach, saying Nelson "just made that up."
FanHouse's NBA Guide gives you a daily look at all the games that matter ... and some that don't.
Look, we recognize that this the arguably the best weekend of football of the year. But if Kerry Collins and Joe Flacco trading getting pounded into the turf, or watching Bryant Westbrook just irritates you, there some options.
SATURDAY HEADLINER: Detroit at Utah, 8PM
Two teams that have been exemplary over the past three years that are struggling to maintain their championship aspirations, but who have been on a tear, putting the pieces back together. Detroit's starting to figure out their rotation after the Allen Iverson trade, and Rodney Stuckey has been lights out. Utah just laid a beatdown of epic proportions on Chris Paul and the Hornets, in defense of the Utah-held "8>3" movement. The Jazz were particularly boosted by the new-and-suddenly-premier Paul Millsap. So you've got Utah's home crowd and the Paul Millsap demolition movement against Detroit's efficiency. Something's gotta give.
SUNDAY HEADLINER: Miami at LA Lakers, 9:30PM
You really need me to break this down? Dwyane Wade's not being talked about in MVP discussions, even though his team is more competitive than expected, he leads the league in scoring, and the rest of his game is nothing to sneeze at.Kobe Bryant, after a sluggish (by his standards, don't get your underwear in a trapezoid, Lakers fans) start, has been absolutely blistering. His line last night almost made me pass out. Now, clearly the Lakers have the better squad and should dominate, but it'll be fun to see the matchup. Of course, if there was ever a night Andrew Bynum should be able to show why people think he'll be the next great NBA center (any day now, seriously), it's Sunday night.
It's pretty easy to feel bad for the city of Cleveland. None of their sports teams can manage to win anything, and everyone seems to believe that LeBron James is headed to New York in 2010. So that's why, when he debuts a new line of Nike shoes called the "LeBron VI Big Apple" on the night the Cavs play the Knicks, you kind of have to chuckle at the general paranoid aura floating out of the city that rocks! (Via Nike Press Release)
The Zoom LeBron VI performance basketball shoe represents the essence of LeBron James: team, toughness, passion and vision. James worked with Nike designer Ken Link to create a shoe that meets his performance needs and the needs of players with a powerful, dynamic style of play.
[...]The shoe's collar has been engineered with a wider opening so it's easier to slip on and wear while maintaining a full-length fit feel. On the collar, graffiti art highlights LeBron's mantras-passion, family, winning, fearless and vision.
But really, it's a strong deal for the Knicks regardless of the piece. Jetting away Rose is better news for this year's win-loss tally -- without Crawford, D'Antoni might really have to play Stephon Marbury! -- but losing Crawford helps in the summer of 2010. Some have suggested Jam might opt out of his final two years and $19.3 million when his early termination option arrives this summer. Fat flippin' chance. If Ben Gordon can't make $10-12 million in this market, Jam Crawford ain't doing it.
A Harrington-Crawford swap gets Donnie Walsh theoretically within reach of a 2010 max contract for a player with 7-8 years of experience (that covers LeBron, Wade, Bosh and Amare). That doesn't account for New York's next two years worth of draft picks or David Lee, so clearly there's a bit more paring left. But if this is indeed the deal, there's no overwhelming need to cut Zach Randolph free any longer. The Knicks can be 2010 players with him.
NBA Essentials ranks our six favorite stories of the day.
1. Washington Wizards Blog, via Bullets Forever. The Zards are installing a new camera on the baskets at the Verizon Center ... because the current basket cams are too low to capture JaVale McGee in flight! JaVale Cam! 2. NBC Chicago. A tremendous Q&A with two of FreeDarko's writers. The book is out today! (Robo)Cop that! 3. Tim Kawakami. Al Harrington's broken heart bad back has him in bed for two weeks. The Warriors are so weird. 4. Orlando Sentinel. Magic GM Otis Smith on Kings GM Geoff Petrie's eternal quest for Hedo Turkoglu: "Smith said the Kings have been in touch with Orlando since the Magic signed him as a free agent in 2004. He said it has been a while since the Kings made some offers for Turkoglu, and added, laughing, 'They wanted to give us their trash.'" That's bad pool, Otis. Team pride forces me to now blurt out the following: FRAN VASQUEZ JJ REDICK RASHARD LEWIS FOR $200 BILLION. Whew, that felt good. 5. Riverside Press-Enterprise. Phil Jackson on Trevor Ariza: "He's like a ghost out there. Like a shadow. Just all of a sudden he shows on a screen and he's gone. He's a blip and he's away. He runs the court like that." 6. Both Teams Played Hard. It's the 61st edition of the Carnival of the NBA.
A month ago, a spate of reports insisted Tinsley-to-Denver was awaiting the right moment, a sure-thing trade in the pipeline. Things never materialized, and Tinsley has spent the latent period working out in Atlanta while the Pacers rode T.J. Ford (and friends) into an upset of the World Champions.
With Denver out of the equation, how many teams still have a desperate need for a middling, high-priced (relative to the market) point guard signed through 2010-11?
Bay Area media types wrestled over the legitimacy of Al Harrington's reported trade request the last few days. On Wednesday, any lingering questions about whether Harrington wants out were squelched as, erm, Harrington told Marcus Thompson III of the Contra Costa Timeshe wants out.
By itself, that's not terribly exciting. But Harrington's reasons sure pry open the Golden State Pandora's box a little bit.
"I don't think me and Coach is going to work out - because I feel like he uses me in certain ways and I don't think that's going to change. We all know how Nellie is. We all know his history. If you're not one of his dudes, you ain't never going to be one of his dudes. And that's the truth."
For his part, Don Nelson questions how any player could be unhappy in his system, where you're allowed to shoot as soon as you cross mid-court. Nellie simplifies things a little too much in that assessment: isolation basketball (Harrington's strength) isn't the same as Helter Skelter run-and-chuck (Nellie's system). But Nelson is correct in noting that Harrington should be happier with the Golden State way than most other systems.
The most interesting trade rumor at this point is a bit related to this discussion. Tim Kawakami says the Knicks have offered Eddy Curry for Harrington, but the Warriors are pushing for David Lee and salary scraps. Mike D'Antoni sells an offense more disciplined than the system in Oakland ... but I'm not sure Harrington would end up doing more than chucking threes regardless.
Normally, you'd look at an opening night game where the Warriors took the New Orleans Hornets down to the wire without Monta Ellis and say "Hey, that's pretty good! How about these Dubs?!"
Unfortunately, it ignores two points. One, the Warriors still lost, and two, the Warriors completely abandoned the youth movement they centered around all summer. In last night's game, Don Nelson ran a 7 man rotation (outside of a scintillating 23 second performance by C.J. Watson), that featured all veterans, DeMarcus Nelson for about long enough for Nellie to figure out he didn't like him, and Al Harrington who has publically begged, demanded, and pleaded to be traded.
Who got the DNP-CDs? Marco Belinelli. Okay, that's understandable, the guy's never put in a good regular season stretch yet. Marcus Williams. Okay, when you're in the Nellie doghouse, you're in the Nellie doghouse. Brandan Wright. Huh. That's odd. He's a second year guy and they really need to get him some time. Guess he's still in the doghouse, too. Anthony Randolph. What? So after four months of talking about how much you love the kid and gushing over his handle you just sit him and don't play him?
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.
The Warriors hosted the Knicks Wednesday night, giving 
FanHouse's 
So at long last, 
One odd repercussion of the 
Bay Area media types wrestled over the legitimacy of 
Normally, you'd look at an opening night game where the Warriors took the New Orleans Hornets down to the wire without 
