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.
David West took a bad step in the second quarter. A really bad step -- he could barely jog through the second half, limping heavily. Like it mattered.
West played nearly the entire second half on one leg, scoring 19 points in that span to finish with 40 on the game. He added nine rebounds and six assists, helping New Orleans remain in position to beat Sacramento, which it did on a Rasual Butler three at the buzzer. On the game-winner with the Hornets down two, West managed to screen off two Kings in the paint. An unbelievable performance from West at a time when his team (missing Tyson Chandler and Peja Stojakovic) couldn't possibly survive another injury.
After winning 47 games in 2006-07, the Raptors regressed to an even .500 record this year, in part because of injuries to Jorge Garbajosa, Chris Bosh and T.J. Ford. That said, no matter how well they played, there was no catching the Boston Celtics, who won the division by 25 games.
How They Got to the Dance: By being in the Eastern Conference. A 41-41 record would have left the Raps on the outside looking in were they in the West, but it was good enough to result in a No. 6 seed in the East. That said, there's no doubt that there's enough talent on this team to make the playoffs every year, but they need their key guys to stay durable, and it wouldn't hurt if Andrea Bargnani would finally live up to his No. 1 pick status.
How They Got Bounced:Dwight Howard is without a doubt the most dominant center in the NBA today. There aren't a lot of teams who can slow him down, let alone the Raptors, who are used to playing a more of a finesse game. Howard put up three 20-20 games in the series, helping the Magic dominate the boards while a crew of sharpshooters fired away from three-point land.
Every single night of the playoffs there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the L. Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.
Everyone likes to blame Tracy McGrady when the Rockets. I know it, you know, he knows it. So in light of Houston's series-saving victory on Thursday (going down 0-3 isn't technically the same as being eliminated, but it's close enough), let's allow McGrady to soak in a little bit of the credit for this one: he scored 27 points with five boards, seven assists and a block, playing 43 minutes in Houston's slim 94-92 win. Yes, it took a last-second block by Carl Landry to seal the deal, but the Rockets would be lost without T-Mac.
Also Receiving Votes: It's borderline criminal how much point guard talent the Raptors are hoarding this year. Check out the combined production of Jose Calderon and T.J. Ford on Thursday: 39 points (13-22 FG), 12 boards, 16 assists, two steals and four turnovers in 46 minutes. How'd the Magic fare?
Umm ... not as well. Jameer Neson and Keyon Dooling mustered just 14 points (5-13 FG) and seven assists in 46 minutes. Not surprisingly, the Raps won going away.
Given everything that Jose Calderon had accomplished this year -- and everything that he has on the line as a restricted free agent this summer -- no one, absolutely no one, could fault him for wanting to stay in the starting lineup.
But with his team reeling (the Raps had won just three of their last 14 heading into Wednesday night) and teammate T.J. Ford struggling to adjust to his new role coming off the bench, Calderon took it upon himself to tell Sam Mitchell that he'd take one for the team and accept a demotion.
So far, the move looks genious: Ford scored 13 with nine dimes in 29 minutes against the Pistons, with Calderon chipping in 13 points and four assists in 27 minutes. Ryan McNeill of HOOPSWORLD was there was Calderon explained his decision after the game:
Calderon was asked why he went to Mitchell and asked for a return to the bench and a poised Calderon told the reporter, "I went to him because I thought we needed to change something because something wasn't working.I thought we needed something. We didn't know exactly what was going wrong, or what exactly the problem was, and we still don't know but the good news is we won (tonight). It's good for the Raptors and it's good for the team. That's all we have to think about."
Did you cringe while watching this? I did. Jason Kapono did a nice thing and probably saved T.J. Ford some dough by preventing Ford from bum-rushing the official, but man, was restraining him by the neck really a smart idea? I know Ford isn't made of glass, but I would considered just picking him up around the waist and carrying him to the locker room myself before doing that. As for the rest of the Raptors, they ended getting waxed by 17, falling to the Jazz 96-79 despite the Power Ranger-esque jerseys.
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Cup of Coffee With all due respect to TZ and the game the Kings played (more on that in a second), last night was precisely why the Atlanta Hawks traded for Mike Bibby. He finished the win against his old team with 24 points, 12 assists, five rebounds, one steal, one block, two threes, seven of 14 from the floor and only one turnover. That, folks, is a helluva game. And what we used to think he was capable of on a regular basis, although admittedly, this might have been particularly spite based, given how much it surpasses his "prime" numbers (arguably either his final season in Vancouver or three-four years ago in Sactown). Meaning, Bibby will be good, and you should start him, but this is the exception I think. Not the rule.
Hot Cakes Welcome to your new home, Larry Hughes and Drew Gooden. Hughes finished with 29 points, six assists and three steals while Gooden notched a dub-dub with 10 points and 15 boards. Two can play at this game, Mr. Wallace. They're probably not going to be starters, but they'll be fantasy start worthy. Spite is such a beautiful thing.
B-Ball, B-Fast is a weekdaily look at last night's NBA action from a fantasy perspective. Bookmark it and visit often.
Cup of Coffee Everywhere I looked in the box scores this morning, it was a point guard doing heavy damage, or some spicy situation involving the point guard unraveling. Hence the name. The biggest shocker might have been the Cavs' decision to start Larry Hughes at point and go big with LeBron James at the two. Hughes responded decently by scoring 40 points with six boards, three dimes and two steals. Makes you wonder what Mike Brown's next move is...
Hot Cakes Seems as if Jameer Nelson, despite Stan Van Gundy's seeming distaste for he and his extension, is back to starting (with 22 points, four boards, four assists last night). Carlos Arroyo initially was going to be handed the gig but Nelson is now back in play. Personally, if he started to go off, I would sell high. Buy low on Arroyo.
Jeff McInnis is starting again. After the Bobcats signed Earl Boykins. The point? Well, besides the fact that you should ignore McInnis for fantasy purposes (10 points and six dimes against Derek Fisher is not offensively spectacular, I'm sorry), you should also probably not take any bets that involve "Sam Vincent as a head coach next year" unless you're laying money against it happening.
B-Ball, B-Fast is a weekdaily look at last night's NBA action from a fantasy perspective. Bookmark it and visit often.
Cup of Coffee Deron Williams didn't really land in the "snub list" because of the abundance of guard talent in the Western Conference, but it's certainly conceivable (especially if you're Deron Williams) to think he got snubbed. He has averaged nearly a double double so far in the season (18.8 points, 9.6 assists) and the Jazz lead the Northwest Division. But as a fantasy owner, expect even better stats in the second half; Deron torched the Hornets -- and All Star Reserve and infinitely juxtaposed fellow draftee Chris Paul -- for 29 points and 11 assists while holding CP3 to six and six of the same. Deron clearly doesn't appreciate being left off the midseason recognition squad so expect him to respond accordingly. (Please note I had a chance to trade Paul for Deron and declined, however.)
Hot Cakes The Mavericks started future-of-the-franchise Jose Barea last night, opting to bring Jason Terry off the bench; Barea didn't have a huge night (three points, four assists, four boards in nineteen minutes) but that's pretty sick multi-cat action for such limited minutes. The results (Mavs win over the Magic) could mean extended minutes for the youngster. Grab him while you can, even if it's only for the short run until Devin Harris' return.
The Raptors will soon add an impact player to their rotation without having to make a trade as T.J. Ford finally looks ready to ready to return from his violent collision with Al Horford back in December. He's been working out with John Lucas in his hometown of Houston and on Sunday worked out with some of his teammates for the first time.
As Sam Mitchell told Dave Feschuk of the Toronto Star, Ford looked rusty, but if all goes well, there's a chance that Ford could return to action as soon as Friday or Saturday. Working out on the side is one thing, but is he in game shape? John Lucas answered that question ... I think:
Though the 6-foot, 165-pound Ford began this season talking about the diligence required to stay strong enough to absorb the NBA pounding, Lucas said Ford got lazy.
"(Before he got hurt) he looked more like one of those rappers, Snoop Dogg. His muscle tone had left because he hadn't done the work," said Lucas. "Now he's going to do that. ... (Yesterday) morning he got up and did it, and every day he's got to do it, maybe for the rest of his life."
I don't really get it. Is Snoop Dogg fat? Whatever Lucas meant, we'll find out soon enough in just a few days. Now the question is, who deserves to be the starter: Ford or Jose Calderon? But that's a post for another day.
T.J. Ford and the Raptors received good news on Wednesday when a spine specialist in Cleveland cleared the diminutive point guard for workouts. But what does that mean? Right now, it's still unclear as no one really knows when exactly he'll return to action for the Raptors, but it's good news nonetheless. From the AP:
"The prognosis is looking good for a full recovery and a return to basketball," Raptors director of media relations Jim LaBumbard said after Toronto beat Philadelphia on Wednesday night.
Ford will return home to Houston and work out with former NBA player John Lucas. Ford and Lucas also worked out together after Ford was injured in 2004.
Ford has been pain-free for a while now and said last month that he's at the point where he's setting his own pace for his return. Above and beyond his physical condition, he's probably dealing with a decent amount of fear: his spinal condition has resulted in him being carried off the court in a stretcher several times in his career. Getting over the mental block of thinking about being hit again will likely prove as difficult as anything else.
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.
Every single night of the playoffs there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the L. 
Given everything that 
B-Ball, B-Fast is a weekdaily look at last night's NBA action from a fantasy perspective. 
B-Ball, B-Fast is a weekdaily look at last night's NBA action from a fantasy perspective. 
B-Ball, B-Fast is a weekdaily look at last night's NBA action from a fantasy perspective. 
The Raptors will soon add an impact player to their rotation without having to make a trade as 
