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.
If you're not a close follower of the NBA, then just six games or so into the season, we can't necessarily hold it against you if the name Tyreke Evans doesn't ring a bell. Besides being a rookie, Evans plays for the Sacramento Kings, a team that won just 17 games a season ago, and figured to be about as bad this year with stud scorer Kevin Martin sidelined indefinitely with an injury.
But after what Evans did to Deron Williams in leading his undermanned team to a road win in Utah on Saturday, he won't remain anonymous to basketball fans for much longer.
It has become popular nowadays to take a movie or idea that was popular 20 years ago and revitalize it, tweaking it for a more modern touch, in order to attract both new and old audiences. It incorporates the base elements of the original and then features a modern "twist" in order to seem "hip."
In a lot of ways, that's the story of the 2009-10 Dallas Mavericks. They're not the same old Mavericks, but they're not the new Mavericks either.
Now with his seventh NBA team, Drew Gooden has played a variety of roles in his much-traveled NBA career. He is about to have a new one -- starting center for a Western Conference contender, according to a radio report cited by DallasBasketball.com.
When Gooden was signed as a free agent this summer by the Dallas Mavericks, it was widely assumed that he was coming mostly to provide depth in the front court for a veteran team still hoping to make a final push before it starts to rebuild.
On Monday, Mavericks GM Donnie Nelson mentioned at a press event that incumbent starting center Erick Dampier could come off the bench this season. Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News followed up to report that it's not a set-in-stone matter, and that Nelson was just generally speaking about the team's flexibility.
That got Matt Moore and I thinking -- err, talking -- about the Maverick rotation. Our discussion (with a somewhat relevant Magic-Cavs vignette) is after the jump.
On Friday, Warriors captain Stephen Jackson put himself on the trade block. By late Saturday, dots were being connected, and Jackson was being rumored to be a possibility for the Dallas Mavericks.
Mike Fisher of DallasBasketball.com reported that, separate from the Jackson rumor, Golden State coach Don Nelson had been talking to folks in Dallas about potential trades. Of course, Nelson's son Donnie runs the Mavericks front office, which would make this wholly uninteresting ... if not for the ongoing war between the elder Nelson and Mavs owner Mark Cuban, which makes this sort of aisle-reaching notable.
So, is it Jackson that Nelson is trying to peddle? Or is something else going on?
Game 3 of Dallas-Denver ended not just with controversy, but also some angry midcourt action involving Mark Cuban, Josh Howard, Kenyon Martin, Kenyon Martin's mom, Mark Wunderlich, a local cameraman, a local photographer, security guards and other entourage. Above, you'll see Howard angrily yelling at Wunderlich, the referee in best position to call the intentional foul on Antoine Wright. You'll also see Cuban shove a news cameraman.
It's been a postseason full of questionable calls. And no one's really been happy with it. Most times when a team's fans call foul (or no-foul) on the officiating, you can attribute it to homerism and turning a blind eye to a team's mistakes.
Of course, there are exceptions.
The Dallas Mavericks held a two point lead over the Denver Nuggets this afternoon with six seconds left. The Nuggets inbounded and Carmelo Anthony bobbled the ball before recovering and swinging left. Antoine Wright approached Melo at the wing in full knowledge of two facts.
1. The Mavericks had a foul to give.
2. With a one-possession lead on defense with a foul to give, you always foul to interrupt the play.
Wright came at Melo with two seconds on the clock. And that's where things went a little haywire.
Cherry Picking recaps the previous day's NBA playoff action.
The Nuggets have been the most impressive team in the West to this point in the playoffs. They crushed the Hornets so badly that Byron Scott may lose his job and the roster might be overhauled before next season. And now, after a Tuesday night Game 2 victory over the Mavericks, Denver finds itself halfway to the conference finals.
Based on who they've played, though, should we really be considering them as a candidate for one of the best teams in the conference? All signs point to NO.
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.
FanHouse 
Now with his seventh NBA team, 
On Monday, Mavericks GM 
On Friday, Warriors captain 
OK, sure, stacking 
DALLAS -- The Mavericks were on the brink of ending their season and raising all sorts of questions about the direction of the team.
It's been a postseason full of questionable calls. And no one's really been happy with it. Most times when a team's fans call foul (or no-foul) on the officiating, you can attribute it to homerism and turning a blind eye to a team's mistakes. 
